Integral politics involves appreciating what’s good, true, and beautiful and what’s missing in every worldview in our culture. This is neither the mushy middle nor mere theory, but instead a practical way forward in a puzzling world. The idea of integral politics is straightforward: listen closely to every perspective, take the best, and jettison the rest. Breathe in the truth. Breathe out the partial nature of it. Just as a good health program involves supplementing different practices, integral politics asks: why not also supplement different worldviews?
A Leading Voice Of Integral Politics
For many years, Jeff Salzman has been a leading voice of integral politics. Through his podcast, The Daily Evolver, Jeff has brought this integral vantage point to everything from Presidential politics to #metoo to movies to economics.
This week, Jeff joins me to describe the tribal, warrior, traditional, modern, and postmodern worldviews and the many ways they battle in today’s politics. We discuss political correctness on college campuses, Cold War anticommunism, why God is both everywhere and nowhere, how life is a heartbreaking catastrophe yet we go on, the post-war liberal consensus and how it shattered, what Jeff does when encountering politicians who trigger him, why psychopaths are people too, and how as a young adult Jeff got tired of sitting through yet another heterosexual love scene at the movies. Integral politics has something to say about all of this!
Integral Politics Stretches The Mind
This discussion of integral politics will stretch your mind, and it’s longer than our average episode, so you’ll get extended mind-stretching! (Note: the audio quality on my end in this interview is less than usual. I don’t know why.)
The Amiel Show is taking a six-week summer break, so you will have time to savor this conversation before I return with a new episode in September.
In other news, I turned 49 on Tuesday. I am dedicating my 50th year on the planet to sharing my interviews and ideas with more people. Way more people. I call it the Big Tribe project. You are a huge part of it, so here’s step one: if you are intrigued or inspired by what you hear, please share this interview with friends and encourage them to subscribe to the podcast.
I’m also offering a free copy of my E-Book, Leading When You’re Ticked Off And Other Tips For Mastering Complexity, in this blog post on my web site.
Highlights
* 9:00 The discipline and faith of the traditional worldview. Jeff as church camper of the year.
* 14:00 As humanity moves forward, there are more stages of development present
* 21:00 There is a hierarchy of growth that is natural and beautiful
* 26:30 Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants
* 31:00 We get sick to death of the stage we’re at
* 38:00 Posmodernism and “Where the fuck am I” in this movie?
* 46:00 In a good-versus-evil society, you’d be irresponsible to not annihilate your enemy
* 1:04:00 When you have a stack of worldviews at war with each other
* 1:10:00 It’s good we’re battling in comments sections, not with clubs and knives
* 1:24:00 The power of Mr. Trump’s shameless grandiose ego
Listen to the Podcast
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The Daily Evolver podcast
Integral politics involves appreciating what’s good, true, and beautiful and what’s missing in every worldview in our culture. This is neither the mushy middle nor mere theory, but instead a practical way forward in a puzzling world. The idea of integral politics is straightforward: listen closely to every perspective, take the best, and jettison the rest. Breathe in the truth. Breathe out the partial nature of it.
