Articles from Integral Leadership Review 3/7 – Steps towards an Integral Tomorrow 2016- 03- 04 15:03:39 Alexander Malakhov with Eugene Pustoshkin
Alexander Malakhov, wit h Eugene Pust oshkin
In t he past hundred years numerous t hinkers around t he world—f rom t he Unit ed St at es t o t he Soviet Union and India— came t o believe t hat if t he human civilizat ion want s t o survive and reach new horizons, societ ies and people t hat const it ut e t hose societ ies must overcome f ragment ariness and prevailing prejudices and learn t o see t he t ot al abundant diversit y of perspect ives t hat comprise realit y. In synchrony t o t hat , a rediscovery of t he realm of spirit happened, t he inexhaust ibilit y and mult if acet edness of which has manif est ed it self wit h unprecedent ed ut t ermost clarit y. Insight s and syst emat ic st udies conduct ed in t he past years
have convincingly demonst rat ed t hat t hese t endencies seem t o be not random f luct uat ions of hist ory but a genuine manif est at ion of t he evolut ion of t he Kosmos which discloses it self in emergence of new levels of consciousness. T he avant -garde of st udying t his new Integral consciousness has included a number of scholars and act ivist s, among whom Ken Wilber has been t he most import ant f igure f or t he past f ew decades. In 1995, he published his monument al book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, in which he suggest ed an ef f ect ive and all-inclusive f ramework, now known as Int egral T heory or AQAL. Soon it acquired proponent s among represent at ives of various f ields—scient ist s and religious act ivist s, business leaders and art ist s—and t he emergence of t he Int egral Inst it ut e f ost ered t alk of t he beginning of an Int egral movement . Despit e t his movement ’s het erodoxical and amorphous charact er, it seems undeniable t hat it s nat ural and unit ive goal is a comprehensive assist ing of t he coming of t he Int egral Age. Even in t he case if some opt imist ic est imat es are right , and t he Int egral Age is t he next st ep in t he evolut ion of humanit y, it s arrival is not predet ermined and relies upon overcoming ext remely serious problems. In our opinion, t oday t he Int egral movement uses only a part of it s pot ent ial and has insuf f icient inf luence in order t o have a t angible impact on global processes. It s pot ent ial can be act ualized and deepened, but in order f or t his t o happen we have t o st art discussing dif f icult quest ions and be prepared t o correct our st andpoint s. In t his t ext we will begin a discussion of f our issues which have crucial import ance f or t he Int egral Movement . T he f irst issue is relat ed t o Integral identity. Who can be considered “Int egral”? In no way we should speak about est ablishing some sort of “Int egral inquisit ion” or developing of inf allible dogmat ics; however, we wit ness a sharp necessit y of est ablishing a minimal set of worldview, et hical, and pract ical crit eria which give one t he right (and privilege) t o belong t o t he Int egral movement . So f ar, we could dist inguish t hree approaches t o ident it y: (1) based on solidarit y wit h Ken Wilber’s works; (2) based on a broader Int egral int ent ionalit y t owards synt hesis and all-inclusion; and (3) based on int erior int uit ive resonance which emerges when you get acquaint ed wit h someone’s views. It is not ewort hy t hat one of t en encount ers also a negat ive ident it y, when a person exist s in t he f ield of Int egral and assert s him- or herself almost exclusively t hrough crit icizing Wilber. What is a minimal “Int egral credo”? It would hardly include agreement wit h Wilber’s approach, even wit h it s cent ral t enet s, such as t he exist ence of quadrant s and post -met aphysics. T oo many people who const it ut e “t he glory and joy” of Int egral t hought (Ervin Laszlo, Allan Combs, St eve McInt osh, et c.) might pref er t heir own maps and t heories. We also doubt t hat one can be a part icipant of t he Int egral movement and at t he same t ime be a proponent of reduct ionism or hard physicalism, f undament alism or some sort of ideology which is based on xenophobia. Part icipant s of t he Int egral movement would hardly disagree wit h t he necessit y of such limit at ions. However, t here are
st andpoint s wit h an ambivalent st at us in t he Int egral worldview: is t here t he t ranscendent al realit y (God, Spirit ); does consciousness cease t o exist wit h t he deat h of t he brain; does myst ical experience bring f ort h genuine knowledge; what is t he meaning and nat ure of evolut ion; are t here levels of consciousness? An alt ernat ive variant would be t o develop a credo based on a shared vision of t he f ut ure—of t he Int egral age—and also based on specif ic principles of it s act ualizat ion, while bracket ing a major part of worldviewrelat ed issues. Given a cert ain painf ulness of t he quest ion of ident it y and boundaries, especially in t he people who are prone t o boomerit is, one should enact a maximum-level delicacy and t ransparency in def ining such a credo. In an ideal sit uat ion such an init iat ive would be arise f rom uncont est ed leaders of Int egral t hought . T he second issue is relat ed t o achieving a t ruly global vision. T he majorit y of Int egral act ivist s live in USA; some number of individuals live in ot her developed count ries; at t he same t ime t he major part of t he world has virt ually no voice in t he Int egral movement . T his result s in t hat t he Int egral discourse t ends t o be t ailored f or America, it is of t en grounded in mainst ream American media, not always ref lect ing t he sit uat ion in ot her part s of t he world. We see a genuine solut ion in cult ivat ing nat ive Int egral communit ies around t he world. T hese communit ies would be capable t o equally part icipat e in t he f rat ernal-and-sororal dialogue wit h Int egral communit ies of America and Europe. In many regions a signif icant problem is posed by language barriers and a lack or insuf f icient amount of Int egral lit erat ure in nat ive languages, which seriously undermines popularizat ion of Int egral views in t he world. T he opposit e is also t rue: Int egral and int egrally-inf ormed works, writ t en in languages ot her t han English, could f or decades remain unknown t o t he English-speaking Int egral communit y. When one t akes int o considerat ion t hese circumst ances, it becomes obvious t hat we need t o creat e an int ernat ional t ranslat ion hub t hat coordinat es t his specif ic direct ion of work. It should also be not ed t hat development of Int egral t hought in t he count ries which do not belong t o t he cat egory of “developed” can have a series of unpredict able emergent benef it s, of t en relat ed t o apparent def icit s of t hese cult ures. T he usual modernist idea about t he supremacy of t he West and t he t endency t owards monological west ernizat ion, despit e all ef f ort s of post modern, is st ill solidly ingrained (af t er being indoct rinat ed by mass cult ure) in minds of not only West ern cit izens, but also represent at ives of nat ive t radit ions. Despit e t he f act t hat West does seem t o have scient if ic, t echnological, mass-cult ure and economic advant ages and also larger populat ions of people t hat represent Int egral levels of consciousness, t he lands which do not belong t o t he mainst ream of developed count ries of t he West ern world, nevert heless, st ill can serve as a crucible f or smelt ing awareness int o Int egral consciousness. Economic and social hardships could creat e serious obst acles f or well-being of individuals and ent ire societ ies, yet t hey could also serve as growt h opport unit ies. For example, in some regions (such as, perhaps, Russia) f rust rat ion of
consciousness under t he condit ions of “st able inst abilit y” and “half -decay” of predominant ideologies could, ideally, f ost er rapid dis-ident if icat ion f rom t he t rance of ordinary convent ional lif e and ret urn t owards deeper and more int egral f oundat ions of cult ure. General f unct ioning and conduct ing Int egral research in such count ries could be less f inancially cost ly, while Int egral leadership, execut ed in a proper way, could have great er impact in t he long t erm. Furt hermore, in such count ries int egrat ive breakt hrough could occur in pract ical cult ural and phenomenological approaches (such as in psychology and psychot herapy) do not require large t echnological and economic invest ment s, but long-t erm (of t en lif e-long) commit ment s on t he level of individuals and ent ire research groups. T he growt h of consciousness it self does not necessarily require being plugged int o and dependent upon t he mainst ream of t echno-scient if ic progress and economic prosperit y. Anot her side of t his issue is t he process of deep int egrat ion of t he ent ire spect rum of available perspect ives. While some perspect ives were caref ully st udied and t ranscended by Int egral scholars, ot her perspect ives have received much less at t ent ion. For inst ance, has Int egral t hough really included all essent ial t hings which can be f ound in scholast ics and kalam, imyaslaviye and irfan, and dozens of lineages, schools, and t radit ions which could be f ound in Christ ianit y and Islam? Almost f rom any point of view t he answer is “no.” T here is st ill a possibilit y t hat , having st udied only a part of t he whole t errit ory, Int egral scholars excessively hurried t o compose a general map, while relying upon ext rapolat ions and dubious generalizat ions. At an init ial st age it was just if ied and inevit able, but now t he maps t hat we current ly have require f urt her det ailing, ref inement , and checking. Who knows, it may be t hat whole new cont inent s will be drawn on t he Int egral map. T he t hird issue should be added t o what is said above—t hat is, t he issue of scientif ic application of Int egral T heory and Int egral St udies. Even t hough now we have access t o hundreds, if not t housands, of publicat ions t hat are based on t he Int egral f ramework, we should underst and t hat t his is only an init ial st age of a huge amount of work t hat requires ef f ort s of a t en-f old great er number of Int egral scholars-pract it ioners t han what we have now. Due t o t his reason special ef f ort s should be direct ed at int roducing academia t o t he Int egral f ramework and t raining new scholars and scient ist s wit hin t he Int egral movement . We t hink it would be usef ul t o compose a cat alogue of “unsolved problems” and “blank spot s” of Int egral T heory—various t opics which are t o be of research and explorat ory priorit y f or Int egral scholars, especially in t he condit ions of limit ed resources. Specif ic at t ent ion should be paid t o crit ically import ant t enet s in order t o make sure t hat t hey have an impeccable evidence base and could serve as f oundat ions f or f urt her development of t he f ield. Despit e t he import ance of t he academic direct ion wit hin t he Int egral movement , we should not e t hat academic appreciat ion cannot be an end in it self f or t he Int egral movement . From a long-t erm perspect ive, unless a t endency t owards radical shif t in values of scient if ic communit y emerges, we
should give pref erence t o creat ing an independent research inf rast ruct ure which would serve as a cont ainer f or act ualizat ion of t he Int egral vision and, part icularly, support ing t ranspersonal experience. At last , t he f ourt h issue: t he quest ion of development and accept ing a program or road map, wit hout which it is impossible t o t ransf orm t he Int egral movement int o a signif icant f orce. If our shared goal is t o accelerat e t he coming of t he Int egral Age, t hen what t asks and challenges should be resolved on t he way t owards it ? How would we det ermine how many st eps have already been made, how many st eps we st ill have t o make, and where we st umbled and have t o get up and resume our journey? As in t he case wit h t he credo, such a program would be ef f ect ive only if it becomes support ed by a majorit y of leaders and part icipant s of t he Int egral movement . Annually, t he world sees emergence of numerous declarat ions and manif est s t hat pract ically lead t o not hing. In order f or t he Int egral program not t o join t heir list , it s developers must have a high level of compet ency, and it s signers must have t he willingness t o act in accordance wit h it , somet imes revisioning t heir previous plans and making compromises f or t he sake of accelerat ing t he coming of Int egral Age, which, wit hout a slight est exaggerat ion, would be benef icial f or all sent ient beings. In addit ion t o support ing nat ive Int egral communit ies around t he world and creat ing our own research inf rast ruct ure, an especially import ant t ask f or t he f ut ure Int egral movement will be t he creat ion of media plat f orms and largescale educat ional project s t hat are capable t o t ransmit t he Int egral message t o every human being on t he planet . *** Most at t empt s t o change t he world have f ailed. Most visionaries and revolut ionaries f ailed t o act ualize t heir dreams, and t hey t hemselves were f orsaken. But t here are also examples of t he opposit e: how t he f ew inspired millions, and persecut ed ascet ics became f ounders of a millenium-old civilizat ion. T he period of bif urcat ion in which we have f ound ourselves in, wit h it s t ot al unpredict abilit y and supersonic rat es of change, gives us a chance f or realizat ion of t he bravest dream which could only be cont ained in our mind. T hose who aspire f or t ransf ormat ion of t he human being, f or discovering new reaches of consciousness, f or t ransf igurat ion of t he ent ire Kosmos share t his bold and audacious dream. If you, just like us, belong t o t his kind of people, t hen t his t ext is addressed t o you. Wit h love and in prayers, Alexander Malakhov Eugene Pust oshkin
About the Authors
Alexander Malakhov, M.S.W., is an int egral scholar-pract it ioner & PhD Researcher at Pacif ic Nat ional Universit y (Khabarovsk, Russia). His main int erest s include Int egral T heory, world philosophy, relat ionship bet ween religion and science, alt ered st at es of consciousness, and human liberat ion. He is t he f ounder of “Quadrant s: Int egral Lab” and an Associat e Edit or of Eros & Kosmos (see: ht t p://eroskosmos.org/english). Cont act email:
[email protected] Eugene Pustoshkin is an int egral psychologist , t ranslat or, and int egral scholar-pract it ioner. He lives in St . Pet ersburg, Russia, and current ly serves as t he Chief Edit or of Eros & Kosmos (see: ht t p://eroskosmos.org/english), t he Russian Int egral online magazine he co-f ounded; he is also t he Bureau Chief / Associat e Edit or f or Russia at Integral Leadership Review. Eugene graduat ed as specialist in clinical psychology f rom St . Pet ersburg St at e Universit y, and now maint ains privat e pract ice, of f ering counseling in Int egral psychot herapy and ment oring in Int egral T heory. He t ranslat ed several books by Ken Wilber and works of ot her Int egral aut hors. Since 2014, he has been organizing and co-f acilit at ing (t oget her wit h Helsinki-based t herapist Sergey Kupriyanov, PhD in Medicine) Holoscendence workshops in Russia and ot her count ries. Cont act email: eapust
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