Integral – a definition

Integral – a definition

For those not familiar with it, we should first clarify what we mean when we use the term integral. The dictionary definition of integral is “possessing everything essential or significant; complete; whole.”

Integral approaches (whether to medicine, education, psychology, ecology, politics, etc.) seek to incorporate all of the essential perspectives, approaches, and schools of thought into a unified, comprehensive, inclusive, and empirically accurate framework

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How is Integral philosophy different from what’s come before?

The main difference between the Integral and other schools of thought is that in Integral philosophy, evolution is the central activity of the universe.

According to Integral thought, the universe as a whole is evolving towards greater complexity and interconnection. Because of evolution, the universe is becoming more orderly and organized over time.

Integral philosophers also note that our evolving universe is a creative universe. Through evolution, it generates increasing diversity and variety.

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And so the fundamental perspectives are I, we, and it. And there are a lot of variations on that—it turns out to be the same as the “Beautiful, the Good, and the True”, or “Art, Morals, and Science”, or frankly the “Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha”.

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Evolution itself, going from atoms to molecules, to cells, to organisms—that’s a classic developmental or evolutionary sequence.   

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Integral philosophers include some science and spirituality in making their models, but not too much:

 

• If you go heavy on the science and study of the external world, you touch too lightly on internal consciousness, an increasingly powerful factor shaping the universe.

• If you include too much spirituality, you don’t get a clear picture of what’s going on in the external world.

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Um siðferðisþroska ego – famili  – tribe – nation – earth – etc

egocentric – etnocentric – worldcentric – kosmocentric

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