Love and Integral Evolution

Integral Evolution: An Interview with David Loye

By Russ Volckmann

David Loye is one of those people that the longer you get to know them the more you begin to discover a bit of their depth and breadth of perspective and creativity in the world. His publications speak for themselves. His network with leading scientists and thinkers around the world is equally impressive.

Actually, my first contact was with David’s wife, Riane Eisler, author of the Chalice and the Blade (among other books written with and without David). Despite the fact that they live over the hill from me, I did not meet her face to face right away. Rather, I interviewed her over the telephone for the Integral Leadership Review, which I publish and edit. When I first approached her about doing the interview she suggested that I should interview David, but I did not know David Loye’s work at all. In that interview I discovered more about Riane’s work and the extent of their partnership. In fact, they are prime movers of a partnership approach to leadership that they promote through a nonprofit center and in a Master’s program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

My conversation with Riane piqued my curiosity about David’s work and I bought one of his books, Darwin’s Lost Theory of Love. Here I found evidence of the extraordinary scope and depth of David’s work that made him a natural candidate for an interview. The only question was would I use it in Integral Leadership Review or in Integral Review: such is the quality of his interests and intellect.

Read the Entire Interview: Here

DAVID LOYE is a psychologist, evolutionary systems scientist, World War II veteran and the author of many books on Darwin, moral evolution, evolution theory, history, poetry, love and social action. David is also co-founder of the multinational General Evolution Research Group and World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution.

WorldChanging Team

From WorldChanging Team:

Crackdown against 'environmental criminals' follows Greenpeace report

Slaughtering the Amazon from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

Some of the world's top footwear brands, including Clarks, Adidas, Nike and Timberland, have demanded an immediate moratorium on destruction of the Amazon rainforest from their leather suppliers in Brazil.

The move is the first major development since the Guardian revealed a three-year undercover investigation by Greenpeace in June. The investigation said leading Brazilian suppliers of leather and beef for products sold in Britain had obtained cattle from farms involved in illegal deforestation.

Integral Capital the Global Commons

In the following podcast host John D. Schmidt continues his wide-ranging exploration of the strengths and limitations of our current economic/financial system. His aim: a comprehensive understanding of current socioeconomic realities on the way to realizing desirable and sustainable futures.

His guest and co-explorer in this project is James Quilligan - an analyst and administra­tor in the field of international development since 1975. Quilligan has served as policy advisor to many international politicians and leaders, including Pierre Trudeau, François Mitterrand and Jimmy Carter. He has also served as an advisor for several United Nations programs and international development organizations.

Quilligan has recently been applying an integral approach as an economic consultant to government agencies in 26 countries, including the United States. In this podcast Quilligan introduces a view of the future built upon expanded perspectives of the global commons and what he calls "integral capital". Integral capital, Quilligan explains, includes explicit recognition of private capital, public capital, commons capital, and personal capital—and how they come together as a platform for future transformation.

The dialogue between these leaders intentionally showcases the intricate relationships between systems, structures, and behaviors (the exterior forms of life) and the many dimensions of culture and mindsets (the inner nature of life) that inform them.

Listen to the Podcast Here:
Transformation: The Commons and Integral Capital

JOHN D. SCHMIT is the founder and CEO of Avastone Consulting, an international consultancy committed to the vitality and sustainability of client organizations and the larger global community. He serves as advisor to global corporations and nongovernmental enterprises, and is a thinker, designer, and practitioner in integral approaches to complex challenges and human development.

Don Beck on Spiral Dynamics as Change MetaTheory

In this presentation, Dr. Don Beck, an internationally known consultant and co-author of Spiral Dynamics, argues that we need a multileveled, multi-perspectival, integrated theory of human values to be able to understand the complexities of human societies. Dr. Beck also describes how spiral dynamics can facilitate communication and foster change at every level of human civilization.

Part One



Watch: Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

See Also:

• From the New World Order to the Next Global Mesh
• Don Beck on Resilience and Emergence
• Stages of Social Development
• Human Capacities in the Integral Age
• Premature Integral?

Buddhism and Democracy

A New Democracy

By Roshi Joan Halifax

"My continuing passion is to part a curtain that invisible veil of indifference that falls between us and that blinds us to each other's presence, each other's wonder, each other's human plight." -- Eudora Welty

About a thousand years ago in China, the interactions between Zen teachers and students began to be collected. These interactions were called koans which means ‘public case.’ As koans were being collected in China, Chaco Canyon was being constructed. It is interesting to be in a place where the structure of the buildings and the orientation of the buildings were an endeavor to create clarity and coherence in a universe that was perceived as being fundamentally indeterminate. Koans are very much in that same spirit. They are a means wherein people can contemplate an interaction from a thousand years ago that points to a quality within the human psyche, which has the capacity for deep discernment, for clarity. We’re in an indeterminate time when discernment and clarity are useful.

I think many of us yesterday morning sat in front of our television sets and our computers watching the historical inauguration, and here at Upaya were many people in the zendo sitting in front of a huge screen watching the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama. I was reminded that many of my friends on Facebook gave themselves the middle name of Hussein as a way of using an identity marker to peel away the associations with an identity that turns us against half of the world and thus ourselves. I thought it a wonderful joke and a skillful means.

The koan that I’d like to present this afternoon as we touch into this exploration of Buddhism, democracy and Obama is a simple one. It is from Basho, a 17th century monk-poet and teacher who ended up eschewing the so-called social life. He walked around the countryside in Northern Japan and composed many wonderful haiku that we continue to appreciate many years later.

A Monk once asked Basho: “What is the essence of your practice?”
Basho replied: “Whatever is needed.”

Read More: Here

Towards an Integral Sensibility in Education

From Ted.Com:

Mae Jemison is an astronaut, a doctor, an art collector, a dancer ... Telling stories from her own education and from her time in space, she calls on educators to teach both the arts and sciences, both intuition and logic, as one -- to create bold thinkers.