Understanding Integral Theory

A recently recorded call with Ken Wilber, introduced by Jim Garrison (as a way to introduce a a 6 week tele-course on A Brief History of Everything: Understanding Integral Theory, offered by Ubiquity University’s Wisdom School of Graduate Studies and The Intelligent Optimist (click here to learn more).

In the 1.5 hour call, Ken weaves an elegant vision of a coming wave of cultural emergence; a wave of integral emergence that heralds an increase of consciousness and compassion, along with the developmentally-earned capacity to better address increasingly complex global challenges.

Click Here to Listen to the Recording.

Ken Wilber is the founder of Integral Institute and the preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development.  Some of his more popular books include Integral Spirituality; No Boundary; Grace and Grit; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality; and the “everything” books: A Brief History of Everything (one of his largest selling books) and A Theory of Everything (probably the shortest introduction to his work).

More on Integral

See What Is Integral?

See also Sex, God, and Integral International Development

 

International Permaculture Day

Today is International Permaculture Day.

www.live.permacultureday.org

This is a good time to consider the investment ideas from the Permaculture movement:

“The time now is of transition, of asking yourself, where do I want my money? Where do I invest my time? Start with yourself. Research this idea of the Great Reskilling and ask yourself what you know already, what you want to know, and what you need! How can you be so much more  than just a “consumer”? What can you produce? What can we produce together? Let’s produce a legacy worth saving.”

– Kenton Zerbin

See Investing: The Option They Never Told You About at the Permaculture Research Institute

Permaculture As a Design System

David Holmgren, co-originator of the Permaculture concept, defines it like this:

“permaculture is a ‘design system based on ecological principles’ (see below) which provides the organising framework for implementing the above vision. In this more limited, but important sense it draws together the diverse skills and ways of living which need to be rediscovered and developed to empower us to move from being dependant consumers to becoming responsible producers.

In this sense, permaculture is not the landscape, or even the skills of organic gardening, sustainable farming, energy efficient building or eco-village development as such, but can be used to design, establish, manage and improve these and all other efforts made by individuals, households and communities towards a sustainable future.”

Co-originator of the permaculture concept, David Holmgren, gives an overview of the design principles as thinking tools that when used together allow us to creatively redesign our environment and our behaviour in a world of less energy and resources. Explore the permaculture ethics and design principles further by visiting www.permacultureprinciples.com.