Terry Patten
(USA)
Title of contribution:
Making Integral More Integral
Where & when:
Making Integral More Integral
Integral Theory makes space for pretty much every truth — even some important and timely postmodern truths, values and practices that Ken Wilber has not foregrounded. His critics attack these omissions, but Integral theory can instead evolve to include them and become “more integral.” Healthy green sensibilities are alert to the problems and limits of linear, abstract, agentic, and progress-focused metanarratives. Instead they foreground care, communion, respect for different perspectives, intuitive knowing, heart intelligence and devotion — as well as soul work, indigenous wisdom, earth-based spirituality, somatic and eco- psychology — and also the limits of growth and progress, the traumatic legacies of white supremacy and colonialism, the importance of civic engagement and responsibility, and the urgent and fundamental social transformations implied by our ecological and civilizational predicament. This talk will describe how these important postmodern truths can be integrated by Integral Theory, allowing it to become more adequate and to gain broader acceptance. “Things are far too serious for us to lose our sense of humor!”
About Terry Patten:
Terry Patten is a philosopher, activist, consultant, teacher, and social entrepreneur. He is the author of A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, and Integral Life Practice, which he co-wrote with Ken Wilber, Adam Leonard, and Marco Morelli. He has taught ILP to over ten thousand people during the last 15 years.
He also founded the consciousness technology company Tools for Exploration, led the team at the HeartMath Institute that developed their first heart-rate variability monitor, and is currently involved in businesses engaged in restorative forestry, developing fossil-fuel alternatives, addressing collective trauma, and empowering human beings to reclaim our data, online relationships, and power. He leads the nonprofit organizations Bay Area Integral and A New Republic of the Heart and hosts the podcast, State of Emergence
