The following wiki entry is an Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice
It includes information on the Integral Operating System Basic and the AQAL Map.
This entry requires significant editing into separate pages and entries. However, its value to human operation is significant and worth having available in its original form until such time as it can be further separated into individual entries.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice.
Overview
During the last 30 years, we have witnessed a historical first: all of the world’s cultures are now available to us. In the past, if you were born, say, a Chinese, you likely spent your entire life in one culture, often in one province, sometimes in
one house, living and loving and dying on one small plot of land. But today, not
only are people geographically mobile, we can study, and have studied, virtually every known culture on the planet. In the global village, all cultures are exposed to each other.
Knowledge itself is now global. This means that, also for the first time, the sum total of human knowledge is available to us—the knowledge, experience, wisdom and reflection of all major human civilizations—premodern, modern, and postmodern—are open to study by anyone.
What if we took literally everything that all the various cultures have to tell us about human potential—about spiritual growth, psychological growth, social growth—and put it all on the table? What if we attempted to find the critically essential keys to human growth, based on the sum total of human knowledge now open to us? What if we attempted, based on extensive cross-cultural study, to use all of the world’s great traditions to create a composite map, a comprehensive map, an all-inclusive or integral map that included the best elements from all of them?
Sound complicated, complex, daunting? In a sense, it is. But in another sense, the results turn out to be surprisingly simple and elegant. Over the last several decades, there has indeed been an extensive search for a comprehensive map of human potentials. This map uses all the known systems and models of human growth—from the ancient shamans and sages to today’s breakthroughs in cognitive science—and distills their major components into 5 simple factors, factors that are the essential elements or keys to unlocking and facilitating human evolution. Welcome to the Integral Model.
An Integral or Comprehensive Map
What are these 5 elements? We call them quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. As you will see, all of these elements are, right now, available in your own awareness. These 5 elements are not merely theoretical concepts; they are aspects of your own experience, contours of your own consciousness, as you can easily verify for yourself as we proceed.
What is the point of using this Integral Map or Model? First, whether you are working in business, medicine, psychotherapy, law, ecology, or simply everyday living and learning, the Integral Map helps make sure that you are “touching all the bases.” If you are trying to fly over the Rocky Mountains, the more accurate a map you have, the less likely you will crash. An Integral Approach insures that you are utilizing the full range of resources for any situation, with the greater likelihood of success.
Second, if you learn to spot these 5 elements in your own awareness—and because they are there in any event—then you can more easily appreciate them, exercise them, use them… and thereby vastly accelerate your own growth and development to higher, wider, deeper ways of being. A simple familiarity with the 5 elements in the Integral Model will help you orient yourself more easily and fully in this exciting journey of discovery and awakening.
In short, the Integral Approach helps you see both yourself and the world around you in more comprehensive and effective ways. But one thing is important to realize from the start. The Integral Map is just a map. It is not the territory. We certainly don’t want to confuse the map with the territory, but neither do we want to be working with an inaccurate or faulty map. The Integral Map is just a map, but it is the most complete and accurate map we have at this time.
What Is an IOS?
IOS simply means Integral Operating System. In an information network, an operating system is the infrastructure that allows various software programs to operate. We use Integral Operating System or IOS as another phrase for the Integral Map. The point is simply that, if you are running any “software” in your life—such as your business, work, play, or relationships—you want the best operating system you can find, and IOS fits that bill. In touching all the bases, it allows the most effective programs to be used. This is just another way of talking about the comprehensive and inclusive nature of the Integral Model. We will also be exploring what is perhaps the most important use of the Integral Map or Operating System. Because an IOS can be used to help index any activity—from art to dance to business to psychology to politics to ecology—it allows each of those domains to talk to the others. Using IOS, business has the terminology with which to communicate fully with ecology, which can communicate with art, which can communicate with law, which can communicate with poetry and education and medicine and spirituality. In the history of humankind, this has never really happened before.
At Integral University, by using an Integral Map or Integral Operating System, we are able to facilitate and dramatically accelerate cross-disciplinary and trans- disciplinary knowledge, thus creating the worlds’ first truly integral learning community.
But it all starts with these simple 5 elements in the contours of your own consciousness.
States of Consciousness
We said that all of the aspects of the 5 elements of the Integral Model are available, right now, in your own awareness. What follows is therefore, in a sense, a guided tour of your own experience. So why don’t you come along with us and see if you can spot some of these features arising in your own awareness right now.
Some of these features refer to subjective realities in you, some refer to objective realities out there in the world, and others refer to collective or communal realities shared with others. Let’s start with states of consciousness, which refer to subjective realities.
Everybody is familiar with major states of consciousness, such as waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Right now, you are in a waking state of consciousness (or, if you are tired, perhaps a daydream state of consciousness). There are all sorts of different states of consciousness, including meditative states (induced by yoga, contemplation, meditation, and so on); altered states (such as drug- induced); and a variety of peak experiences, many of which can be triggered by intense experiences like making love, walking in nature, or listening to exquisite music.
The great wisdom traditions (such as Christian mysticism, Vedanta Hinduism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and Jewish Kabbalah) maintain that the 3 natural states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, and deep formless sleep—actually contain a treasure trove of spiritual wisdom and spiritual awakening…. if we know how to use them correctly. In a special sense, which we will explore as we go along, the 3 great natural states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep contain an entire spectrum of spiritual enlightenment.
But on a much simpler, more mundane level, everybody experiences various sorts of states of consciousness, and these states often provide profound motivation, meaning, and drives, in both yourself and others. In any particular situation, states of consciousness may not be a very important factor, or they may be the determining factor, but no integral approach can afford to ignore them.
Whenever you are using IOS, you will automatically be prompted to check and see if you are touching bases with these important subjective realities.
Stages or Levels of Development
There’s an interesting thing about states of consciousness: they come and
they go. Even great peak experiences or altered states, no matter how profound,
will come, stay a bit, then pass. No matter how wonderful their capacities, they
are temporary.
Where states of consciousness are temporary, stages of consciousness are
permanent. Stages represent the actual milestones of growth and development.
Once you are at a stage, it is an enduring acquisition. For example, once a child
develops through the linguistic stages of development, the child has permanent
access to language. Language isn’t present one minute and gone the next. The
same thing happens with other types of growth. Once you stably reach a stage of
growth and development, you can access the qualities of that stage—such as
greater consciousness, more embracing love, higher ethical callings, greater
intelligence and awareness—virtually any time you want. Passing states have
been converted to permanent traits.
How many stages of development are there? Well, remember that in any
map, the way you divide and represent the actual territory is somewhat arbitrary.
For example, how many degrees are there between freezing and boiling water? If
you use a Centigrade scale or “map,” there are 100 degrees between freezing and
boiling. But if you use a Fahrenheit scale, freezing is at 32 and boiling is at 212,
so there are 180 degrees between them. Which is right? Both of them. It just
depends upon how you want to slice that pie.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 7
The same is true of stages. There are all sorts of ways to slice and dice
development, and therefore there are all sorts of stage conceptions. All of them
can be useful. In the chakra system, for example, there are 7 major stages or
levels of consciousness. Jean Gebser, the famous anthropologist, uses 5:
archaic, magic, mythic, rational, and integral. Certain Western psychological
models have 8, 12, or more levels of development. Which is right? All of them; it
just depends on what you want to keep track of in growth and development.
“Stages of development” are also referred to as “levels of development,” the
idea being that each stage represents a level of organization or a level of
complexity. For example, in the sequence from atoms to molecules to cells to
organisms, each of those stages of evolution involves a greater level of
complexity. The word “level” is not meant in a rigid or exclusionary fashion, but
simply to indicate that there are important emergent qualities that tend to come
into being in a discrete or quantum-like fashion, and these developmental levels
are important aspects of many natural phenomena.
Generally, in the Integral Model, we work with around 8 to 10 stages or levels
of consciousness development. We have found, after years of field work, that
more stages than that are too cumbersome, and less than that, too vague. One
stage conception we often use is that of Spiral Dynamics Integral, founded by Don
Beck based on the research of Clare Graves. We also use stages of self
development pioneered by Jane Loevinger and Susann Cook-Greuter; and orders
of consciousness, researched by Robert Kegan. But there are many other useful
stage conceptions available with the Integral Approach, and you can adopt any of
them that are appropriate to your situation.
A Simple Example
To show what is involved with levels or stages, let’s use a very simple model
possessing only 3 of them. If we look at moral development, for example, we find
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that an infant at birth has not yet been socialized into the culture’s ethics and
conventions; this is called the preconventional stage. It is also called
egocentric, in that the infant’s awareness is largely self-absorbed. But as the
young child begins to learn its culture’s rules and norms, it grows into the
conventional stage of morals. This stage is also called ethnocentric, in that it
centers on the child’s particular group, tribe, clan, or nation, and it therefore tends
to exclude care for those not of one’s group. But at the next major stage of moral
development, the postconventional stage, the individual’s identity expands once
again, this time to include a care and concern for all peoples, regardless of race,
color, sex, or creed, which is why this stage is also called worldcentric.
Thus, moral development tends to move from “me” (egocentric) to “us”
(ethnocentric) to “all of us” (worldcentric)—a good example of the unfolding stages
of consciousness.
Another way to picture these 3 stages is as body, mind, and spirit. Those
words all have many valid meanings, but when used specifically to refer to stages,
they mean:
Stage 1, which is dominated by my gross physical reality, is the “body” stage
(using body in its typical meaning of gross body). Since you are identified merely
with the separate bodily organism and its survival drives, this is also the “me”
stage.
Stage 2 is the “mind” stage, where identity expands from the isolated gross
body and starts to share relationships with many others, based perhaps on shared
values, mutual interests, common ideals, or shared dreams. Because I can use
the mind to take the role of others—to put myself in their shoes and feel what it is
like to be them—my identity expands from “me” to “us” (the move from egocentric
to ethnocentric).
With stage 3, my identity expands once again, this time from an identity with
“us” to an identity with “all of us” (the move from ethnocentric to worldcentric).
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Here I begin to understand that, in addition to the wonderful diversity of humans
and cultures, there are also similarities and shared commonalities. Discovering
the commonwealth of all beings is the move from ethnocentric to worldcentric, and
is “spiritual” in the sense of things common to all sentient beings.
That is one way to view the unfolding from body to mind to spirit, where each
of them is considered as a stage, wave, or level of unfolding care and
consciousness, moving from egocentric to ethnocentric to worldcentric.
We will be returning to stages of evolution and development, each time
exploring them from a new angle. For now, all that is required is an understanding
that by “stages” we mean progressive and permanent milestones along the
evolutionary path of your own unfolding. Whether we talk stages of
consciousness, stages of energy, stages of culture, stages of spiritual realization,
stages of moral development, and so on, we are talking of these important and
fundamental rungs in the unfolding of your higher, deeper, wider potentials.
Whenever you use IOS, you will automatically be prompted to check and see
if you have included the important stage aspects of any situation, which will
dramatically increase your likelihood of success, whether that success be
measured in terms of personal transformation, social change, excellence in
business, care for others, or simple satisfaction in life.
Lines of Development: I’m Good at Some Things, Not-So-Good at Others….
Have you ever noticed how unevenly developed virtually all of us are? Some
people are highly developed in, say, logical thinking, but poorly developed in
emotional feelings. Some people have highly advanced cognitive development
(they’re very smart) but poor moral development (they’re mean and ruthless).
Some people excel in emotional intelligence, but can’t add 2 plus 2.
Howard Gardner made this concept fairly well-known using the idea of
multiple intelligences. Human beings have a variety of intelligences, such as
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cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, musical intelligence, kinesthetic
intelligence, and so on. Most people excel in one or two of those, but do poorly in
the others. This is not necessarily or even usually a bad thing; part of integral
wisdom is finding where one excels and thus where one can best offer the world
one’s deepest gifts.
But this does mean that we need to be aware of our strengths (or the
intelligences with which we can shine) as well as our weaknesses (where we do
poorly or even pathologically). And this brings us to another of our 5 essential
elements: our multiples intelligences or developmental lines. So far we have
looked at states and stages; what are lines or multiple intelligences?
Various multiple intelligences include: cognitive, interpersonal, moral,
emotional, and aesthetic. Why do we also call them developmental lines?
Because those intelligences show growth and development. They unfold in
progressive stages. What are those progressive stages? The stages we just
outlined.
In other words, each multiple intelligence grows—or can grow—through the 3
major stages (or through any of the stages of any of the developmental models,
whether 3 stages, 5 stages, 7 or more; remember, these are all like Centigrade
and Fahrenheit). You can have cognitive development to stage 1, to stage 2, and
to stage 3, for example.
Likewise with the other intelligences. Emotional development to stage 1
means that you have developed the capacity for emotions centering on “me,”
especially the emotions and drives of hunger, survival, and self-protection. If you
continue to grow emotionally from stage 1 to stage 2—or from egocentric to
ethnocentric—you will expand from “me” to “us,” and begin to develop emotional
commitments and attachments to loved ones, members of your family, close
friends, perhaps your whole tribe or whole nation. If you grow into stage-3
emotions, you will develop the further capacity for a care and compassion that
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reaches beyond your own tribe or nation and attempts to include all human beings
and even all sentient beings in a worldcentric care and compassion.
And remember, because these are stages, you have attained them in a
permanent fashion. Before that happens, any of these capacities will be merely
passing states: you will plug into some of them, if at all, in a temporary fashion—
great peak experiences of expanded knowing and being, wondrous “aha!”
experiences, profound altered glimpses into your own higher possibilities. But
with practice, you will convert those states into stages, or permanent traits in the
territory of you.
The Psychograph
There is a fairly easy way to represent these intelligences or multiple lines. In
figure 1, we have drawn a simple graph showing the 3 major stages (or levels of
development) and five of the most important intelligences (or lines of
development). Through the major stages or levels of development, the
various lines unfold. The 3 levels or stages can apply to any developmental
line—sexual, cognitive, spiritual, emotional, moral, and so on.
In figure 1, we have shown somebody who excels in cognitive development
and is good at moral development, but does poorly in interpersonal intelligence
and really poorly in emotional intelligence. Other individuals would, of course,
have a different “psychograph.”
The psychograph helps to spot where your greatest potentials are. You very
likely already know what you excel in and what you don’t. But part of the Integral
Approach is learning to refine considerably this knowledge of your own contours,
so that you can more confidently deal with both your own strengths and
weaknesses as well as those of others.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 12
Figure 1. Psychograph
The psychograph also helps us spot the ways that virtually all of us are
unevenly developed, and thus helps prevent us from thinking that just because we
are terrific in one area we must be terrific in all the others. In fact, usually the
opposite. More than one leader, spiritual teacher, or politician has spectacularly
crashed through lack of an understanding of these simple realities.
To be “integrally developed” does not mean that you have to excel in all the
known intelligences, or that all of your lines have to be at level 3. But it does
mean that you develop a very good sense of what your own psychograph is
actually like, so that with a much more integral self-image you can plan your future
development. For some people, this will indeed mean strengthening certain
intelligences that are so weak they are causing problems. For others, this will
mean clearing up a serious problem or pathology in one line (such as the
emotional-sexual). And for others, simply recognizing where their strengths and
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weaknesses lie, and planning accordingly. Using an integral map, we can scope
out our own psychographs with more assurance.
Thus, to be “integrally informed” does not mean you have to master all lines
of development, just be aware of them. If you then chose to remedy any
unbalances, that is part of Integral Transformative Practice, which actually helps to
increase levels of development through an integrated approach.
Notice another very important point. In certain types of psychological and
spiritual training, you can be introduced to a full spectrum of states of
consciousness and bodily experiences right from the start—as a peak experience,
meditative experience, shamanic state, altered state, and so on. The reason that
this is possible is that the many of the major states of consciousness (such as
waking-gross, dreaming-subtle, and formless-causal) are ever-present
possibilities. So you can very quickly be introduced to many higher states of
consciousness.
You cannot, however, be introduced to all the qualities of higher stages
without actual growth and practice. You can have a peak experience of higher
states, because many of them are ever-present. But you cannot have a peak
experience of a higher stage, because stages unfold sequentially. Stages build
upon their predecessors in very concrete ways, so they cannot be skipped: like
atoms to molecules to cells to organisms, you can’t go from atoms to cells and
skip molecules. This is one of the many important differences between states and
stages.
However, with repeated practice of contacting higher states, your own stages
of development will tend to unfold in a much faster and easier way. There is, in
fact, considerable experimental evidence demonstrating exactly that. The more
you are plunged into authentic higher states of consciousness—such as
meditative states—then the faster you will grow and develop through any of the
stages of consciousness. It is as if higher-states training acts as a lubricant on the
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 14
spiral of development, helping you to disidentify with a lower stage so that the next
higher stage can emerge, until you can stably remain at higher levels of
awareness on an ongoing basis, whereupon a passing state has become a
permanent trait. These types of higher-states training, such as meditation, are a
part of any integral approach to transformation.
In short, you cannot skip actual stages, but you can accelerate your growth
through them by using various types of Integral Transformative Practices, and
these transformative practices are an important part of the Integral Approach.
What Type: Boy or Girl?
The next component is easy: each of the previous components has a
masculine and feminine type.
There are two basic ideas here: one has to do with the idea of types
themselves; and the other, with masculine and feminine as one example of types.
Types simply refers to items that can be present at virtually any stage or state.
One common typology, for example, is the Myers-Briggs (whose main types are
feeling, thinking, sensing, and intuiting). You can be any of those types at
virtually any stage of development. These kind of “horizontal typologies” can
be very useful, especially when combined with levels, lines, and states. To show
what is involved, we can use “masculine” and “feminine.”
Carol Gilligan, in her enormously influential book In a Different Voice, pointed
out that both men and women tend to develop through 3 or 4 major levels or
stages of moral development. Pointing to a great deal of research evidence,
Gilligan noted that these 3 or 4 moral stages can be called preconventional,
conventional, postconventional, and integrated. These are actually quite similar to
the 3 simple developmental stages we are using, this time applied to moral
intelligence.
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Gilligan found that stage 1 is a morality centered entirely on “me” (hence this
preconventional stage or level is also called egocentric). Stage-2 moral
development is centered on “us,” so that my identity has expanded from just me to
include other human beings of my group (hence this conventional stage is often
called ethnocentric, traditional, or conformist). With stage-3 moral development,
my identity expands once again, this time from “us” to “all of us,” or all human
beings (or even all sentient beings)—and hence this stage is often called
worldcentric. I now have care and compassion, not just for me (egocentric), and
not just for my family, my tribe, or my nation (ethnocentric), but for all of humanity,
for all men and women everywhere, regardless of race, color, sex, or creed
(worldcentric). And if I develop even further, at stage-4 moral development, which
Gilligan calls integrated, then….
Well, before we look at the important conclusion of Gilligan’s work, let’s first
note her major contribution. Gilligan strongly agreed that women, like men,
develop through those 3 or 4 major hierarchical stages of growth. Gilligan herself
correctly refers to these stages as hierarchical because each stage has a higher
capacity for care and compassion. But she said that women progress through
those stages using a different type of logic—they develop “in a different voice.”
Male logic, or a man’s voice, tends to be based on terms of autonomy, justice,
and rights; whereas women’s logic or voice tends to be based on terms of
relationship, care, and responsibility. Men tend toward agency; women tend
toward communion. Men follow rules; women follow connections. Men look;
women touch. Men tend toward individualism, women toward relationship. One
of Gilligan’s favorite stories: A little boy and girl are playing; the boy says, “Let’s
play pirates!” The girl says, “Let’s play like we live next door to each other.” Boy:
“No, I want to play pirates!” “Okay, you play the pirate who lives next door.”
Little boys don’t like girls around when they are playing games like baseball,
because the two voices clash badly, and often hilariously. Some boys are playing
baseball, a kid takes his third strike and is out, so he starts to cry. The other boys
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 16
stand unmoved until the kid stops crying; after all, a rule is a rule, and the rule is:
three strikes and you’re out. Gilligan points out that if a girl is around, she will
usually say, “Ah, come on, give him another try!” The girl sees him crying and
wants to help, wants to connect, wants to heal. This, however, drives the boys
nuts, who are doing this game as an initiation into the world of rules and male
logic. Gilligan says that the boys will therefore hurt feelings in order to save the
rules; the girls will break the rules in order to save the feelings.
In a different voice. Both the girls and boys will develop through the 3 or 4
developmental stages of moral growth (egocentric to ethnocentric to worldcentric
to integrated), but they will do so in a different voice, using a different logic.
Gilligan specifically calls these hierarchical stages in women selfish (which is
egocentric), care (which is ethnocentric), universal care (which is worldcentric),
and integrated. Again, why are they hierarchical? Because each stage is a
higher capacity for care and compassion. (Not all hierarchies are bad, and this a
good example of why.)
So, integrated or stage 4—what is that? At the 4th and highest stage of moral
development that we are aware of, the masculine and feminine voices in each of
us tend to become integrated, according to Gilligan. This does not mean that a
person at this stage starts to lose the distinctions between masculine and
feminine, and hence become a kind of bland, androgynous, asexual being. In
fact, masculine and feminine dimensions might become more intensified. But it
does mean the individuals start to befriend both the masculine and feminine
modes in themselves, even if they characteristically act predominantly from one or
the other.
Have you ever seen a caduceus (the symbol of the medical profession)? It’s
a staff with two serpents crisscrossing it, and wings at the top of the staff (see fig.
2). The staff itself represents the central spinal column; where the serpents cross
the staff represents the individual chakras moving up the spine from the lowest to
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the highest; and the two serpents themselves represent solar and lunar (or
masculine and feminine) energies at each of the chakras.
Figure 2. Caduceus
That’s the crucial point. The 7 chakras, which are simply a more complex
version of the 3 simple levels or stages, represent 7 levels of consciousness and
energy available to all human beings. (The first three chakras—food, sex, and
power—are roughly stage 1; chakras four and five—relational heart and
communication—are basically stage 2; and chakras six and seven—psychic and
spiritual—are the epitome of stage 3). The important point here is that, according
to the traditions, each of those 7 levels has a masculine and feminine aspect,
type, or “voice.” Neither masculine nor feminine is higher or better; they are two
equivalent types at each of the levels of consciousness.
This means, for example, that with chakra 3 (the egocentric-power chakra),
there is a masculine and feminine version of the same chakra: at that chakra-level,
males tend toward power exercised autonomously (“My way or the highway!”),
women tend toward power exercised communally or socially (“Do it this way or I
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won’t talk to you”). And so on with the other major chakras, each of them having a
solar and lunar, or masculine and feminine dimension; neither is more
fundamental, neither can be ignored.
At the 7th chakra, however, notice that the masculine and feminine serpents
both disappear into their ground or source. Masculine and feminine meet and
unite at the crown—they literally become one. And that is what Gilligan found with
her stage-4 moral development: the two voices in each person become integrated,
so that there is a paradoxical union of autonomy and relationship, rights and
responsibilities, agency and communion, wisdom and compassion, justice and
mercy, masculine and feminine.
The important point is that whenever you use IOS, you are automatically
checking any situation—in yourself, in others, in an organization, in a culture—and
making sure that you include both the masculine and feminine types so as to be
as comprehensive and inclusive as possible. If you believe that there are no
major differences between masculine and feminine—or if you are suspicious of
such differences—then that is fine, too, and you can treat them the same if you
want. We are simply saying that, in either case, make sure you touch bases with
both the masculine and feminine, however you view them.
But more than that, there are numerous other “horizontal typologies” that can
be very helpful when part of a comprehensive IOS, and the Integral Approach
draws on any or all of those typologies as appropriate. “Types” are as important as
quadrants, levels, lines, and states.
Sick Boy, Sick Girl
There’s an interesting thing about types. You can have healthy and unhealthy
versions of them. To say that somebody is caught in an unhealthy type is not a
way to judge them but to understand and communicate more clearly and
effectively with them.
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For example, if each stage of development has a masculine and feminine
dimension, each of those can be healthy or unhealthy, which we sometimes call
“sick boy, sick girl.” This is simply another kind of horizontal typing, but one that
can be extremely useful.
If the healthy masculine principle tends toward autonomy, strength,
independence, and freedom, when that principle becomes unhealthy or
pathological, all of those positive virtues either over- or under-fire. There is not
just autonomy, but alienation; not just strength, but domination; not just
independence, but morbid fear of relationship and commitment; not just a drive
toward freedom, but a drive to destroy. The unhealthy masculine principle does
not transcend in freedom, but dominates in fear.
If the healthy feminine principle tends toward flowing, relationship, care, and
compassion, the unhealthy feminine flounders in each of those. Instead of being
in relationship, she becomes lost in relationship. Instead of a healthy self in
communion with others, she loses her self altogether and is dominated by the
relationships she is in. Not a connection, but a fusion; not a flow state, but a panic
state; not a communion, but a melt-down. The unhealthy feminine principle does
not find fullness in connection, but chaos in fusion.
Using IOS, you will find ways to identify both the healthy and unhealthy
masculine and feminine dimensions operating in yourself and in others. But the
important point about this section is simple: various typologies have their
usefulness in helping us to understand and communicate with others. And with
any typology, there are healthy and unhealthy versions of a type. Pointing to an
unhealthy type is not a way to judge people but a way to understand and
communicate with them more clearly and effectively.
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There’s Even Room for Many Bodies
Let’s return now to states of consciousness in order to make a final point
before bringing this all together in an integral conclusion.
States of consciousness do not hover in the air, dangling and disembodied.
On the contrary, every mind has its body. For every state of consciousness, there
is a felt energetic component, an embodied feeling, a concrete vehicle which
provides the actual support for any state of awareness.
Let’s use a simple example from the wisdom traditions. Because each of us
has the 3 great states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, and formless sleep—
the wisdom traditions maintain that each of us has 3 bodies, which are often called
the gross body, the subtle body, and the causal body.
3 bodies? Are you kidding me? Isn’t one body enough? But keep in mind a
few things. For the wisdom traditions, a “body” simply means a mode of
experience or energetic feeling. So there is coarse or gross experience, subtle or
refined experience, and very subtle or causal experience. These are what are
philosophers would call “phenomenological realities,” or realities as they present
themselves to our immediate awareness. Right now, you have access to a gross
body and its gross energy, a subtle body and its subtle energy, and a causal body
and its causal energy.
What’s an example of these 3 bodies? Notice that, right now, you are in a
waking state of awareness; as such, you are aware of your gross body—the
physical, material, sensorimotor body. But when you dream at night, there is no
gross physical body; it seems to have vanished. You are aware in the dream
state, yet you don’t have a gross body of dense matter but a subtle body of light,
energy, emotional feelings, fluid and flowing images. In the dream state, the mind
and soul are set free to create as they please, to imagine vast worlds not tied to
gross sensory realities but reaching out, almost magically, to touch other souls,
other people and far-off places, wild and radiant images cascading to the rhythm
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 21
of the heart’s desire. When somebody like Martin Luther King says, “I have a
dream,” that is a good example of tapping into the great potential of visionary
dreaming, where the mind is set free to soar to its highest possibilities.
As you pass from the dream state with its subtle body into the deep-sleep
state, even thoughts and images drop away, and there is only a vast emptiness, a
formless expanse beyond any individual “I” or ego or self. The great wisdom
traditions maintain that in this state—which might seem like merely a blank or
nothingness—we are actually plunged into a vast formless realm, a great
Emptiness or Ground of being, an expanse of consciousness that seems almost
infinite. Along with this almost infinite expanse there is an almost infinite body or
energy—the causal body, the body of the finest, most subtle experience possible,
a great formlessness out of which creative possibilities can arise.
Of course, many people do not experience that deep state in such a full
fashion. But again, the traditions are unanimous that this formless state and its
causal body can be entered in full awareness, whereupon they, too, yield their
extraordinary potentials for growth and awareness.
The point, once again, is simply that whenever IOS is being utilized, it reminds
us to check in with our waking-state realities, our subtle-state dreams and visions
and innovative ideas, as well as our own open, formless ground of possibilities
that is the source of so much creativity. The important point about the Integral
Approach is that we want to touch bases with as many potentials as possible so
as to miss nothing in terms of possible solutions.
Consciousness and Complexity
Perhaps 3 bodies are just too “far out”? Well, remember that these are
phenomenological realities, or experiential realities, but there is a simpler, less far-
out way to look at them, this time grounded in hard-headed science. It is this:
every level of interior consciousness is accompanied by a level of exterior physical
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 22
complexity. The greater the consciousness, the more complex the system
housing it.
For example, in living organisms, the reptilian brain stem is accompanied by
a rudimentary interior consciousness of basic drives such as food and hunger,
physiological sensations and sensorimotor actions (everything that we earlier
called “gross,” or centered on the “me”). By the time we get to the more complex
limbic system, basic sensations have expanded and evolved to include quite
sophisticated feelings, desires, emotional-sexual impulses and needs (hence, the
beginning of what we called the subtle body, which can expand from “me” to “us”).
As evolution proceeds to even more complex physical structures, such as the
triune brain with its neocortex, consciousness once again expands to a
worldcentric awareness of “all of us” (and thus even begins to tap into what we
called the causal body.)
That is a very simple example of the fact that increasing interior
consciousness is accompanied by increasing exterior complexity of the systems
housing it. When using IOS, we often look at both the interior levels of
consciousness and the corresponding exterior levels of physical complexity, since
including both of them results in a much more balanced and inclusive approach.
We will see exactly what this means in a moment.
And Now: How Do They All Fit Together?
IOS—and the Integral Model—would be merely a “heap” if it did not suggest a
way that all of these various components are related. How do they all fit together?
It’s one thing to simply lay all the pieces of the cross-cultural survey on the table
and say, “They’re all important!,” and quite another to spot the patterns that
actually connect all the pieces. Discovering the profound patterns that connect
is a major accomplishment of the Integral Approach.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 23
In this concluding section, we will briefly outline these patterns, all of which
together are sometimes referred to as A-Q-A-L (pronounced ah-qwal), which is
shorthand for “all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types”—and those
are simply the components that we have already outlined (except the quadrants,
which we will get to momentarily). AQAL is just another term for IOS or the
Integral Model, but one that is often used to specifically designate this particular
approach.
At the beginning of this introduction, we said that all 5 components of the
Integral Model were items that are available to your awareness right now, and this
is true of the quadrants as well.
Did you ever notice that major languages have what are called first-person,
second-person, and third-person pronouns? First-person means “the person
who is speaking,” so that includes pronouns like I, me, mine (in the singular), and
we, us, ours (in the plural). Second-person means “the person who is spoken
to,” which includes pronouns like you and yours. Third-person means “the
person or thing being spoken about,” such as he, him, she, her, they, them, it, and
its.
Thus, if I am speaking to you about my new car, “I” am first person, “you” are
second person, and the new car (or “it”) is third person. Now, if you and I are
talking and communicating, we will indicate this by using, for example, the word
“we,” as in, “We understand each other.” “We” is technically first-person plural,
but if you and I are communicating, then your second person and my first person
are part of this extraordinary “we.” Thus second person is sometimes indicated as
“you/we,” or “thou/we,” or sometimes just “we.”
So we can therefore simplify first-, second-, and third-person as “I,” “we,” and
“it.”
That all seems trivial, doesn’t it? Boring maybe? So let’s try this. Instead of
saying “we,” “it,” and “I,” what if we said the Good, the True, and the Beautiful?
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 24
And what if we said that the Good, the True, and the Beautiful are dimensions of
your very own being at each and every level of growth and development? And
that through an integral transformative practice, you can discover deeper and
deeper dimensions of your own Goodness, your own Truth, and your own Beauty?
Hmm, definitely more interesting. The Good, the True, and the Beautiful are
simply variations on first-, second-, and third-person pronouns found in all major
languages, and they are found in all major languages because Truth, Goodness,
and Beauty are very real dimensions of reality to which language has adapted.
Third-person (or “it”) refers to objective truth, which is best investigated by
science. Second-person (or “you/we”) refers to Goodness, or the ways that we—
that you and I—treat each other, and whether we do so with decency, honesty,
and respect. In other words, basic morality. And first-person deals with the “I,”
with self and self-expression, art and aesthetics, and the beauty that is in the eye
(or the “I”) of the beholder.
So the “I,” “we,” and “it” dimensions of experience really refer to: art, morals,
and science. Or self, culture, and nature. Or the Beautiful, the Good, and the
True.
And the point is that every event in the manifest world has all three of those
dimensions. You can look at any event from the point of view of the “I” (or how I
personally see and feel about the event); from the point of view of the “we” (how
not just I but others see the event); and as an “it” (or the objective facts of the
event).
Thus, an integrally informed path will therefore take all of those dimensions into
account, and thus arrive at a more comprehensive and effective approach—in the
“I” and the “we” and the “it”—or in self and culture and nature.
If you leave out science, or leave out art, or leave out morals, something is
going to be missing, something will get broken. Self and culture and nature are
liberated together or not at all. So fundamental are these dimensions of “I,” “we,”
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 25
and “it” that we call them the four quadrants, and we make them a foundation of
the integral framework or IOS. (We arrive at “four” quadrants by subdividing “it”
into singular “it” and plural “its,” as we will see.) A few diagrams will help clarity
the basic points.
Figure 3. The Quadrants
Figure 3 is a schematic of the four quadrants. It shows the “I” (the inside of
the individual), the “it” (the outside of the individual), the “we” (the inside of the
collective), and the “its” (the outside of the collective). In other words, the four
quadrants—which are the four fundamental perspectives on any occasion (or the
four basic ways of looking at anything)—turn out to be fairly simple: they are the
inside and the outside of the individual and the collective.
Figures 4 and 5 show a few of the details of the four quadrants. (Some of
these are technical terms that needn’t be bothered with for this basic introduction;
simply look at the diagrams and get a sense of the different types of items you
might find in each of the quadrants.)
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 26
Figure 4. Some Details of the Quadrants
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 27
Figure 5. Quadrants Focused on Humans
For example, in the Upper-Left quadrant (the interior of the individual), you
find your own immediate thoughts, feelings, sensations, and so on (all described
in first-person terms). But if you look at your individual being from the outside, in
the terms not of subjective awareness but objective science, you find
neurotransmitters, a limbic system, the neocortex, complex molecular structures,
cells, organ systems, DNA, and so on—all described in third-person objective
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 28
terms (“it” and “its”). The Upper-Right quadrant is therefore what any event looks
like from the outside. This especially includes its physical behavior; its material
components; its matter and energy; and its concrete body—for all those are items
that can be referred to in some sort of objective, third-person, or “it” fashion.
That is what you or your organism looks like from the outside, in an objective-
it stance, made of matter and energy and objects; whereas from the inside, you
find not neurotransmitters but feelings, not limbic systems but intense desires, not
a neocortex but inward visions, not matter-energy but consciousness, all
described in first-person immediateness. Which of those views is right? Both of
them, according to the integral approach. They are two different views of the
same occasion, namely you. The problems start when you try to deny or dismiss
either of those perspectives. All four quadrants need to be included in any integral
view.
The connections continue. Notice that every “I” is in relationship with other I’s,
which means that every “I” is a member of numerous we’s. These “we’s”
represent not just individual but group (or collective) consciousness, not just
subjective but intersubjective awareness—or culture in the broadest sense. This
is indicated in the Lower-Left quadrant. Likewise, every “we” has an exterior, or
what it looks like from the outside, and this is the Lower-Right quadrant. The
Lower Left is often called the cultural dimension (or the inside awareness of the
group—its worldview, its shared values, shared feelings, and so forth), and the
Lower Right the social dimension (or the exterior forms and behaviors of the
group, which are studied by third-person sciences such as systems theory).
Again, the quadrants are simply the inside and the outside of the individual
and the collective, and the point is that all four quadrants need to be included if
we want to be as integral as possible.
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We are now at a point where we can start to put all the pieces together. The
major components we previously examined were states, levels, lines, and types.
Let’s start with levels or stages.
All four quadrants show growth, development, or evolution. That is, they all
show some sort of stages or levels of development, not as rigid rungs in a ladder
but as fluid and flowing waves of unfolding. This happens everywhere in the
natural world, just as an oak unfolds from an acorn through stages of growth and
development, or a Siberian tiger grows from a fertilized egg to an adult organism
in well-defined stages of growth and development. Likewise with humans in
certain important ways. We have already seen several of these stages as they
apply to humans. In the Upper Left or “I,” for example, the self unfolds from body
to mind to spirit. In the Upper Right, bodily energy phenomenologically expands
from gross to subtle to causal. In the Lower Left, the “we” expands from
egocentric to ethnocentric to worldcentric. This expansion of group awareness
allows social systems—in the Lower Right—to expand from simple groups to more
complex systems like nations and eventually even to global systems. These 3
simple stages in each of the quadrants are represented in figure 6.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 30
Figure 6. AQAL
Let’s move from levels to lines. Developmental lines occur in all four
quadrants, but because we are focusing on personal development, we can look at
how some of these lines appear in the Upper-Left quadrant. As we saw, there are
over a dozen different multiple intelligences or developmental lines. Some of the
more important include:
• the cognitive line (or awareness of what is)
• the moral line (awareness of what should be)
• emotional or affective line (the spectrum of emotions)
• the interpersonal line (how I socially relate to others)
• the needs line (such as Maslow’s needs hierarchy)
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 31
• the self-identity line (or “who am I?,” such as Loevinger’s ego development)
• the aesthetic line (or the line of self-expression, beauty, art, and felt meaning)
• the psychosexual line, which in its broadest sense means the entire
spectrum of Eros (gross to subtle to causal)
• the spiritual line (where “spirit” is viewed not just as Ground, and not just as
the highest stage, but as its own line of unfolding)
• the values line (or what a person considers most important, a line studied by
Clare Graves and made popular by Spiral Dynamics)
All of those developmental lines can move through the basic stages or levels.
All of them can be included in the psychograph. If we use stage or level
conceptions such as Robert Kegan’s, Jane Loevinger’s, or Clare Graves’s, then
we would have 5, 8, or even more levels of development with which we could
follow the natural unfolding of developmental lines or streams. Again, it is not a
matter of which of them is right or wrong; it is a matter of how much “granularity”
or “complexity” you need to more adequately understand a given situation.
We already gave one diagram of a psychograph (fig. 1). Figure 7 is another,
taken from a Notre Dame business school presentation that uses the AQAL
model in business.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 32
Figure 7. Another Version of the Psychograph
As noted, all of the quadrants have developmental lines. We just focused on
those in the Upper Left. In the Upper-Right quadrant, when it comes to humans,
one of the most important is the bodily matter-energy line, which runs, as we saw,
from gross energy to subtle energy to causal energy. As a developmental
sequence, this refers to the permanent acquisition of a capacity to consciously
master these energetic components of your being (otherwise, they appear merely
as states). The Upper-Right quadrant also refers to all of the exterior behavior,
actions, and movements of my objective body (gross, subtle, or causal).
In the Lower-Left quadrant, cultural development itself often unfolds in waves,
moving from what the pioneering genius Jean Gebser called archaic to magic to
mythic to mental to integral and higher. In the Lower-Right quadrant, systems
theory investigates the collective social systems that evolve (and that, in humans,
include stages such as foraging to agrarian to industrial to informational systems).
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In figure 5, we simplified this to “group, nation, and global,” but the general idea is
simply that of unfolding levels of greater social complexity that are integrated into
wider systems. Again, for this simple overview, details are not as important as a
general grasp of the unfolding nature of all four quadrants, which can include
expanding spheres of consciousness, care, culture, and nature. In short, the I and
the we and it can evolve. Self and culture and nature can all develop and evolve.
We can now quickly finish with the other components. States occur in all
quadrants (from weather states to states of consciousness). We focused on
states of consciousness in the Upper Left (waking, dreaming, sleeping), and on
energetic states in the Upper Right (gross, subtle, causal). Of course, if any of
those become permanent acquisitions, they have become stages, not states.
There are types in all of the quadrants, too, but we focused on masculine and
feminine types as they appear in individuals. The masculine principle identifies
more with agency and the feminine identifies more with communion, but the point
is that every person has both of these components. Finally, as was saw, there is
an unhealthy type of masculine and feminine at all available stages—sick boy
and sick girl at all stages.
Seem complicated? In a sense it is. But in another sense, the extraordinary
complexity of humans and their relation to the universe can be simplified
enormously by touching bases with the quadrants (the fact that every event can
be looked at as an I, we, or it); developmental lines (or multiple intelligences), all
of which move through developmental levels (from body to mind to spirit); with
states and types at each of those levels.
That Integral Model—“all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types”—
is the simplest model that can handle all of the truly essential items. We
sometimes shorten all of that to simply “all quadrants, all levels”—or AQAL—
where the quadrants are, for example, self, culture, and nature, and the levels are
body, mind, and spirit, so we say that the Integral Approach involves the
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 34
cultivation of body, mind, and spirit in self, culture, and nature. The simplest
version of this is shown in figure 6, and if you have a general understanding of that
diagram, the rest is fairly easy.
IOS Apps
Let’s conclude this Introduction to IOS Basic by giving a few quick examples of its
application or “apps.”
Integral Medicine
Nowhere is the Integral Model more immediately applicable than in medicine,
and it is being increasingly adopted by health care facilities around the world. A
quick trip through the quadrants will show why an integral model can be helpful.
Orthodox or conventional medicine is a classic Upper-Right quadrant
approach. It deals almost entirely with the physical organism using physical
interventions: surgery, drugs, medication, and behavioral modification. Orthodox
medicine believes essentially in the physical causes of physical illness, and
therefore prescribes mostly physical interventions. But the Integral Model claims
that every physical event (UR) has at least four dimensions (the quadrants), and
thus even physical illness must be looked at from all four quadrants (not to
mention levels, which we will address later). The integral model does not claim
the Upper-Right quadrant is not important, only that it is, as it were, only one-
fourth of the story.
The recent explosion of interest in alternative care—not to mention such
disciplines as psychoneuroimmunology—has made it quite clear that the person’s
interior states (their emotions, psychological attitude, imagery, and intentions) play
a crucial role in both the cause and the cure of even physical illness. In other
words, the Upper-Left quadrant is a key ingredient in any comprehensive medical
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 35
care. Visualization, affirmation, and conscious use of imagery have been shown
to play a significant role in the management of most illnesses, and outcomes have
been shown to depend on emotional states and mental outlook.
But as important as those subjective factors are, individual consciousness
does not exist in a vacuum; it exists inextricably embedded in shared cultural
values, beliefs, and worldviews. How a culture (LL) views a particular illness—
with care and compassion or derision and scorn—can have a profound impact on
how an individual copes with that illness (UL), which can directly affect the course
of the physical illness itself (UR). The Lower-Left quadrant includes all of the
enormous number of intersubjective factors that are crucial in any human
interaction—such as the shared communication between doctor and patient; the
attitudes of family and friends and how they are conveyed to the patient; the
cultural acceptance (or derogation) of the particular illness (e.g., AIDS); and the
very values of the culture that the illness itself threatens. All of those factors are to
some degree causative in any physical illness and cure (simply because every
occasion has four quadrants).
Of course, in practice, this quadrant needs to be limited to those factors that
can be effectively engaged—perhaps doctor and patient communication skills,
family and friends support groups, and a general understanding of cultural
judgments and their effects on illness. Studies consistently show, for example,
that cancer patients in support groups live longer than those without similar
cultural support. Some of the more relevant factors from the Lower-Left quadrant
are thus crucial in any comprehensive medical care.
The Lower-Right quadrant concerns all those material, economic, and social
factors that are almost never counted as part of the disease entity, but in fact—like
every other quadrant—are causative in both disease and cure. A social system
that cannot deliver food will kill you (as famine-racked countries demonstrate daily,
alas). In the real world, where every entity has all four quadrants, a virus in the
UR quadrant might be the focal issue, but without a social system (LR) that can
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 36
deliver treatment, you will die. That is not a separate issue; it is central to the
issue, because all occasions have four quadrants. The Lower-Right quadrant
includes factors such as economics, insurance, social delivery systems, and even
things as simple as how a hospital room is physically laid out (does it allow ease
of movement, access to visitors, etc.)—not to mention items like environmental
toxins.
The forgoing items refer to the “all-quadrant” aspect of the cause and
management of illness. The “all-level” part refers to the fact that individuals
have—at least—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels in each of those
quadrants (see fig. 6). Some illnesses have largely physical causes and physical
cures (get hit by a bus, break your leg). But most illnesses have causes and
cures that include emotional, mental, and spiritual components. Literally hundreds
of researchers from around the world have added immeasurably to our
understanding of the “multi-level” nature of disease and cure (including invaluable
additions from the great wisdom traditions, shamanic to Tibetan). The point is
simply that by adding these levels to the quadrants, a much more
comprehensive—and effective—medical model begins to emerge.
In short, a truly effective and comprehensive medical plan would be all-
quadrant, all-level: the idea is simply that each quadrant or dimension (fig. 3)—I,
we, and it—has physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels or waves (fig. 6),
and a truly integral treatment would take all of these realities into account. Not
only is this type of integral treatment more effective, it is for that reason more cost-
efficient—which is why even organizational medicine is looking at it more closely.
Integral Business
Applications of the Integral Model have recently exploded in business,
perhaps, again, because the applications are so immediate and obvious. The
quadrants give the four “environments” or dimensions in which a product must
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 37
survive, and the levels give the types of values that will be both producing and
buying the product. Research into the values hierarchy—such as Maslow’s and
Graves’s (e.g., Spiral Dynamics), which has already had an enormous influence
on business and “VALS”—can be combined with the quadrants (which show how
these levels of values appear in the four different environments)—to give a truly
comprehensive map of the marketplace (which covers both traditional markets
and cybermarkets).
Moreover, leadership training programs, based on an integral model, have
also begun to flourish. There are today four major theories of business
management (Theory X, which stresses individual behavior; Theory Y, which
focuses on psychological understanding; cultural management, which stresses
organizational culture; and systems management, which emphasizes the social
system and its governance). These four management theories are in fact the four
quadrants, and that an integral model would necessarily include all four
approaches. Add levels and lines, and an incredibly rich and sophisticated model
of leadership emerges, which is easily the most comprehensive available today.
Relational and Socially Engaged Spirituality
The major implication of an all-quadrant, all-level approach to spirituality is
that physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels of being should be
simultaneously exercised in self, culture, and nature (i.e., in the I, we, and it
domains). There are many variations on this theme, ranging from Integral
Transformative Practice to socially engaged spirituality to relationships as spiritual
path. The implications of an integral spirituality are profound and widespread, and
just beginning to have an impact.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 38
Integral Ecology
Integral or AQAL ecology has already been pioneered by several associates
at Integral Institute, and promises to revolutionize both how we think about
environmental issues and how we pragmatically address and remedy them.
The basic idea is simple: anything less than an integral or comprehensive
approach to environmental issues is doomed to failure. Both the interior (or Left-
Hand) and the exterior (or Right-Hand) quadrants need to be taken into account.
Exterior environmental sustainability is clearly needed; but without a growth and
development in the interior domains to worldcentric levels of values and
consciousness, then the environment remains gravely at risk. Those focusing
only on exterior solutions are contributing to the problem. Self, culture, and nature
must be liberated together or not at all. How to do so is the focus of Integral
Ecology.
Summary and Conclusion
Those are a few of the “applications” or apps of the Integral Model. We can
now conclude with a brief summary of the main points of the model itself.
AQAL is short for “all quadrants, all levels”—which itself is short for “all
quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types,” which are simply 5 of the most
basic elements that need to be included in any truly integral or comprehensive
approach.
When AQAL is used as a guiding framework to organize or understand any
activity, we call it an Integral Operating System, or simply IOS Basic. More
advanced forms of IOS are available, but IOS Basic has all of the essential
elements to get anybody started toward a more comprehensive, inclusive, and
effective approach.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 39
Of course, IOS is just a map, nothing more. It is not the territory. But, as far
as we can tell, it is the most comprehensive map that we possess at this time.
Moreover—and this is important—the Integral Map itself insists that we go to the
real territory and not get caught in mere words, ideas, or concepts. Remember
that the quadrants are just a version of first-, second-, and third-person realities?
Well, the Integral Map and IOS are just third-person words, they are abstractions,
a series of “it” signs and symbols. But those third-person words insist that we also
include first-person direct feelings, experiences, and consciousness as well as
second-person dialogue, contact, and interpersonal care. The Integral Map itself
says: this map is just a third-person map, so don’t forget the other important
realities, all of which should be included in any comprehensive approach.
Here’s one other important conclusion. IOS is a neutral framework; it does
not tell you what to think, or force any particular ideologies on you, or coerce your
awareness in any fashion. For example, to say that human beings have waking,
dreaming, and deep sleep states is not to say what you should think while awake
or what you should see while dreaming. It simply says, if you want to be
comprehensive, be sure and include waking and dreaming and sleeping states.
Likewise, to say that all occasions have four quadrants—or simply “I,” “we,”
and “it” dimensions—is not to say what the “I” should do, or the “we” should do, or
the “it” should do. It simply says, if you are trying to include all the important
possibilities, be sure to include first- and second- and third-person perspectives,
because they are present in all major languages the world over.
Precisely because IOS is a neutral framework, it can be used to bring more
clarity, care, and comprehensiveness to virtually any situation, making success
much more likely, whether that success be measured in terms of personal
transformation, social change, excellence in business, care for others, or simple
happiness in life.
Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice. Page 40
But perhaps most important of all, because IOS can be used by any
discipline—from medicine to art to business to spirituality to politics to ecology—
then we can, for the first time in history, begin an extensive and fruitful dialogue
between all of these disciplines. A person using IOS in business can talk easily
and effectively with a person using IOS in poetry, dance, or the arts, simply
because they now have a common language—or a common operating system—
with which to communicate. When you are using IOS, not only can you run
hundreds of different programs on it, all of those programs can now communicate
with each other and learn from each other, thus advancing an evolutionary
unfolding to even greater dimensions of being and knowing and acting.
This is why Integral University is the world’s first integral learning
community. Because all of the various human activities, previously separated by
incommensurate languages and terminologies, can in fact begin to effectively
communicate with each other by running an Integral Operating System, each of
those disciplines can begin to converse with, and learn from, the others. This has
never effectively happened anywhere in history, which is why, indeed, the Integral
adventure is about to begin.
However we look at it, it all comes down to a few simple points. In your own
growth and development, you have the capacity to take self, culture, and nature to
increasingly higher, wider, and deeper modes of being, expanding from an
isolated identity of “me” to an fuller identity of “us” to an even deeper identity with “all of us”—with all sentient beings everywhere—as your own capacity for Truth and Goodness and Beauty deepens and expands. Ever-greater consciousness with an ever-wider embrace, which is realized in self, embodied in nature, and expressed in culture.
Thus, to cultivate body, mind, and spirit in self, culture, and nature. This
is the extraordinary aim and goal of Integral University, and we would love to have
you join us in this exciting adventure.
Thanks to Integral Naked for the above information.
© 2003 – 2004 Integral Naked.
http://www.integralnaked.org
