The Daily Evolver

Today Jeff welcomes his friend Diane Musho Hamilton to discuss the latest turnings in the #MeToo movement and the cultural education we’re all receiving regarding sex and power. Diane and Jeff look at the upside of the movement, as well as its inevitable overreach. They look at how it heals historic patterns of abuse, and what it is blind and hostile too. And they look to integral consciousness, t...

Let’s welcome 2018 with the recognition that in terms of human flourishing – nutrition, health, lifespan, peace, freedom – we are living in the best of times. Acknowledging this fact is not to turn away from the suffering of the world or to minimize the dangers we face. The integral move is to include all of it, and to take heart even in the midst of a cultural narrative of anger and despair. Jeff...

A conversation with Doshin Michael Nelson, founder of Integral Zen. The upside of the Green postmodern stage of development is astonishing. After countless centuries of brutality, culminating in the horrors of World War II, this new leading edge of consciousness emerged with an ethos of sensitivity and a mission to rehabilitate the victims of history, including the slaves of the Red power stage, t...

In this episode I talk with Corey deVos of Integral Life, and Episcopal priest Fr. John Forman about the message of Christmas and how we can enjoy a deeper experience of the season. Father John Forman answered the call to priesthood in mid-life, after a career in business (he was a co-creator of the original Integral Institute business seminars) and is now Rector of the Episcopal Church in Burion,...

In this episode Jeff looks at yesterday’s victory of Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in the special U.S. Senate election in Alabama. It is a vivid show of integral stage theory and represents the waning of the state’s Old Testament and Old Confederacy identity, as more Alabamans resonate with modern values that demand respect for minorities and women. Though the election was state-wi...

Today we look at the case, heard last week in the U.S. Supreme Court, of the Colorado baker who refuses to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. The case pits competing American values of freedom of speech (and freedom from compelled speech) and the principle of tolerance and equal access in the public spheres of life. It’s a very significant case, the first to deal with on-the-ground ramificati...

The emergence of the internet and social media has been spectacularly fruitful for the evolution of humanity. They connect the world, put all information at our fingertips and provide endless opportunities for self-expression, community and creativity. In recent times, however, we have seen the dark side of technology arise: customized newsfeeds that seal us off from opposing world views, stoking...

The rise of capitalism, starting a couple hundred years ago, has been a spectacularly positive development for humanity, creating enormous material wealth that raised billions of people out of poverty. In the last 40 years, however, it has been gamed so that the vast majority of economic growth flows to the elites who own and manage the systems of wealth creation. The Republican tax plan doubles d...

Jeff talks with Dr. Keith Witt about the great consciousness raising our culture is going through regarding sexual harassment. Dr Keith’s prescription for a healthier, safer future: more sex! He advocates for a pro-sex culture where sexuality is normalized from childhood, where power dynamics are above board, and where sexual polarity is given its full, juicy expression in a container of mutual ad...

The hopes and fears surrounding the advent of artificial intelligence are fantastical, from Ray Kurzweil’s promise of spiritual machines to Elon Musk’s warnings of killer robots. And yes, some version of that future is barreling toward us at an ever-increasing speed, says philosopher of technology professor Michael Zimmerman, who is Jeff’s guest today. In this episode Michael and Jeff make importa...

Steve McIntosh joins Jeff and Corey for an in-depth exploration into the energetic qualities of the three primary virtues of Goodness, Beauty, and Truth. Steve describes how these virtues can both enrich our cognitive understanding of the universe around us, while also deepening and reinvigorating our own ongoing spiritual practice. If you’d like to go deeper into Steve’s work, you should pick up...

Today Jeff considers comments from “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski which imply that women have an extra responsibility to resist Donald Trump. He also quotes former first lady Michelle Obama saying that if a woman voted for Trump it is because “[you] don’t like your [own] voice. You like the thing you’re told to like.” This is a projection of progressive (green altitude) values on all women,...

Ann Coulter’s provocative personality often obscures two aspects of her that are far more important: she is a devoted Christian and committed nationalist. She thinks multiculturalism is dangerous and that Western culture rooted in a Judeo-Christian tradition creates superior societies. She advocated for Trump enthusiastically, and wrote a popular book In Trump We Trust, E Pluribus Awesome! to supp...

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday: few obligations, a nice dinner and a reminder to be grateful for life’s blessings – and the blessing of life itself! Gratitude is itself a practice in many spiritual traditions and it is a worthy part of an integral practice. In this episode I take a look at the power of gratitude through an integral lens. Happy Thanksgiving!

In this episode I reflect on a conversation Corey DeVos and I had with African American scholar Greg Thomas, where we explored what a more integral approach to race relations might look like. Greg is influenced by his mentor, Albert Murray, who, writing in the 60’s challenged the postmodern narrative that reduced race (and much of human relations in general) to hard constructs of victim and oppres...

American politics is riveted on bombshell accusations involving Judge Roy Moore, who is running for U.S. Senate from the state of Alabama. In a story reported in the Washington Post, he is accused by five women of molesting them when they were 14 – 16 years old. He proclaims his innocence, claims he always “got their mother’s permission” when dating young girls, and calls the charges a political s...

Today we are joined by Greg Thomas, who has thought and written extensively on one of the most vexing conundrums in our culture: race relations. Greg attempts to chart a new course, one that includes the postmodern insight into oppression and its effects, but challenges its fixation on racial and victim identity. He appeals to us to appreciate the lived history of black folk and how traditional bl...

Most integralists are waist to neck deep in the postmodern world view, which we refer to as the Green altitude of development. Our emerging Integral sensibility chafes against the limits of Green, yet we remain deeply identified in ways that are worth carrying forward. The upsides of Green are astonishing: after countless centuries of brutality, culminating in the horrors of World War II, a new le...

Dr. Keith Witt talks to Jeff Salzman about the negative effects today’s polarized politics are having upon people’s psychological health, and the strategies you need to become more resilient — and less reactive — to the many stresses of our time. Topics include: The psychological effects of Donald Trump’s “bully” style of leadership, and how to counter those effects. Clearing up the confusion betw...

Jeff and Corey answer some questions from our listeners in this special Q&A episode of The Daily Evolver. Comment #1 from Michael, who recommended that when we have difficult conversations with other people to not just “be willing to be influenced” (an upper left quadrant activity) but to “pay attention to your nervous system” (an upper right quadrant activity). Question #2 from Howie: how do...

Climate change is one of the most difficult and complex problems the globe is facing right now — one that requires a certain degree of development to even perceive, yet poses a potential existential threat to billions of people across the planet. And yet, it has proven very difficult to create the political will within the United States to actually do something about it — largely because of the wa...

The end of ISIS as an occupying army is official with the fall of Raqqa, Syria two weeks ago. ISIS’s defeat was never in question: holy warriors led by God were never a match for the Goliath of modernity. But ISIS lives on in the minds and hearts of its true believers, some of whom would be oh so happy to take jihad to the Great Satan using modern weapons they could never themselves create. This t...

In this episode I take a look at a paradoxical move in vertical development: where we embrace our own radical uniqueness and express it in relation to other beings who are also utterly unique. It’s a new and more vivid integration of the individual and collective realms of reality, and out of it emerges a possibility for a more fruitful, happy and fulfilling life. Once again we are helped out by S...

The gradual breakdown and reorganization of the prevailing world order–“the great release”–continues. In today’s Daily Evolver Jeff, Corey and Robb look at today’s groundbreaking headlines to explain how Red and Amber-centered populism, led by President Trump, gained power in order to combat the stagnation brought on by too much cultural and economic power consolidated in too few hands. Today, wit...

In the wake of the Trump election, many progressives are realizing that one way forward is to reach out to their political opponents, at least to establish a basic human connection. Today Jeff looks at four recent attempts to do that: by comedian Sarah Silverman, philosopher George Lakoff, Vox political correspondent Liz Plank and New York Times columnist David Brooks. Corey also adds some of his...