Over a recent long Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, integral author and prominent presenter on all things integral, Terry Patten, stopped off in London on his way back to the US to have an open dialogue with EnlightenNext UK Centre managing director Chris Parish.
(To get a flavour of their exchange, watch this video clip of their introductory remarks)
Their agenda was to explore the differences and similarities between the two worldviews that are currently emerging at the leading edges of contemporary philosophy and spirituality: the evolutionary perspective and the integral perspective. I’ve been ruminating over the import and content of their conversation ever since.
What was particularly fascinating about their exchange, aside from the many particulars of what constitutes each perspective, was the underlying orientation from which Patten and Parish were responding to what was, as far as I could tell, a single new understanding of our purpose and function as human beings at this particular moment in time at the dawn of the 21st Century. Of a new human consciousness, in other words. It was as if they were each representing a dominant dimension of our existing level of understanding as a way to describe the new orientation that is unfolding. Between the two of them a new whole, I felt, was being created. Whenever one of them spoke, I was thoroughly able relate to the truth of what they were saying to my own experience yet I knew that it was something much bigger that they were both pointing to and reaching for.
Patten, as the integralist, has a truly awesome intellectual grasp of the terrain, of the integral “map,” and an impressive capacity to articulate the subtleties of integral thought. At one level, I simply enjoyed his ability to use language in such refined ways. He spoke about “structures of meaning-making” and “problematic optical illusions” and other concepts that, though perhaps not perfectly clear, did awaken a level of recognition in my own growing grasp of integral ideas. He was speaking, I believe, from having been looking carefully and closely at the world he inhabits and using his mind in new ways to make sense of what he was observing.
When Parish, the evolutionary, spoke I found myself every bit as enthralled but it wasn’t because my mind was being stretched like with Patten but it was, rather, because I found correspondences in what he was talking about with my own moments of “knowing” that transcended my cognitive reach. His “reports from the edge” were based on what he had experienced, on what he had awakened to, and from how he had developed under the guidance of his spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen. Not that there was any lack of rationality and objectivity in his words, for he, too, was a keen observer of contemporary culture, but the wellspring of positivity and the urge to create a better world that was fueling his comments activated a different part of my interest.
As they continued, they touched on points that begged for more attention and teasing apart. For example, the dual importance of action and reflection, for one. Or the tendency for belief-based inspiration to overshadow the development of more adequate perspectives. Or, even more demanding of careful attention I thought: what constitutes real care at the highest levels of development. Nonetheless, by the end of the evening, it seemed to me as if Patten was expressing a lot of evolutionary passion and Parish was definitely holding a developmental view. Perhaps in the future another moniker will emerge that expresses the ultimate unity of the two views.
There’s rumour that more exchanges between Patten and Parish are in the works. This is very good news because, I realized, what was really going on during their dialogue was the formation of the new structures of engagement with world and culture that they had recognized and were describing. Their interaction was creating the very future they were anticipating—that new integrated, evolutionarily-inspired consciousness.
Thanks Carol! A great summary of what was a fascinating and illuminating dialogue. Glad to hear Terry & Chris are going to continue this much needed discussion. They touched on many important issues which need more time to be explored fully and I know a lot of people are looking forward to the next dialogue.
Fascinating! I wonder if the full audio would be available for purchase download?
Great Kim yes – you can purchase and download the audio from this link here:-
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=392805&interface=
Sounds like a great discussion. Missed it, but your blog clarifies the essence of the difference between the two worldviews.
As I understand you blog, the integral worldview applies a new (higher?) way of using the mind to look at the world and our experience as/in/of it.
The Evolutionary Worldview also uses the mind but the the source of attention is somewhere else – in another part of the interest – that gets turned on by hearing about evolution/that is evolution.
I like this blog because it is not that one perspective is right and the other wrong, but they focus on different parts of us – how mindblowing to think that through Chris Parish’s and Terry Patten’s dialogue the new integrated, evolutionarily inspiered consciousness was created – as they spoke!!!
One more thing: this explains why I – as a convinced, evolutionarily inspiered individual – found it so inspiering to attend an “integral week-end” (the first ever in Sweden). I found that something just “jelled” or “fell into place”: maybe the friction that you describe in your blog generated a sythesis? In any case, it was a very satisfying week-end that gave a taste for more.
Thanks for your commets, Annica. Now I’m intrigued…to learn more about the first-ever integral weekend in Sweden. Can you tell us something about the synthesis you observed and give some details about the weekend? It would be great to take our understanding even further!
Hi Guys,
The last link for purchase expired, so if anyone wants to purchase this talk a new link is now up…
http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=399152&interface=
Thanks,
David
Hi Carol, Hi David,
@Davie: the link works – great!
@Carol: The integral retreat in Höör (south of Sweden) had 26 attendees. Many of whom were contributing with presentations of their own inquiry / work applying an integral perspective, thinking and practice to various fields of life. We were all staying on site from Thursday afternoon til Sunday afternoon so we had a lot of time together. We had a very full schedule of presentations and activities. Various models and topics were touched upon: gender issues, who/what is God?, MHC – Model of Hiearchical Complexity, Conscious Seeing (though the cameralens), integral applications i developing business etc.
The presentations were great, everyone learnt a lot. Beyond the actual transmission of knowledge it was great to see how passionate everyone is about the integral worldview. There was a joy of coming together in such a sigificant number – a sense of a movement starting was very tangible. It was just the beginning.
I have been pondering on your call for more reflection on what was actually happening. I have now listened to the dialogue between Chris and Terry and it helps clarifying some of my own experience of the “retreat”. I have been finding out more about the evolutionary worldview and the integral worldview since then.
The experience I had on the retreat was one of having my own thought-patterns and behavior becoming an object through the presentations that were made. I found it very helpful to see some models representing relations to life/problemsolving at various levels of complexity. I found that these gave a sense of the developmental nature of our human nature that was beyond, or not, pshychological. I really liked that. There was a scientific, non-sentimental touch to the retreat that I really appreciated. My experience was one of being a Christmas tree, that suddenly got lights and decoration on it – and realized that, as a Christmas tree, that is actually part of my purpose.
It was/ is making my perspective more full, and “closer to home” – and at the same time that nagging question was constantly there: what is the difference between the evoltionary and integral perspective?
And yes, the hiearchy of values seems to be it: to place evolution FIRST does change the approach and outcome to just about everything. To but inclusion first – gives another result that can be interesting and valuable, but is different.
It was interesting to see how difficult this was to spot at the time. This points to how new both of these worldviews are. I felt really streched by the integral worldview – as you say in your blog; intellectually – and when I think of how streched I also am by the evolutionary worldview; existentially, I realize that both of these are needed, and that there is A LOT TO DO!!!!
Hi Maria,
Did you want to purchase the MP3 audio of the Terry Patten and Chris Parish dialogue?
This is still possible. Please let me know and I can set up a new link for you.
Regards,
Jody