Lessons from the 20th
Century for the 21st
Century
Some Major Events in the 20th
Century
The
20th
century was a
most extraordinary century. It was also marked by horrible
events: two world wars, the holocaust and other genocides and
atrocities. Soviet communism with its regime of terror
eventually collapsed, but capitalism became deeply entrenched
and the poor remained poor or became even poorer.
Three major forces dominated society, especially in the West:
science/technology, capitalism, and mass media. Religion
still played a role, but was increasingly replaced by
science, which, to a great extent, became scientism, a
scientific pseudo-religion. Of course, enormous advances were
made in science and technology: Einstein’s relativity
theories, quantum mechanics, the elucidation of the genetic
code that eventually led to genetic engineering, recognition
of the importance of information besides matter and energy,
the Internet, to name just a few. Great innovations occurred
also in the arts. The industrial age led to the information
age. Mass media became dominant: radio, TV, the Internet and
social networks, enhanced by a variety of digital devices
such as the mobile phone, smart phone, etc. The mass media
supported a capitalist consumer society that focused on
growth – unfortunately growth for the rich, not the poor.
Materialism flourished in mainstream science and society, but
an increasing number of people suffered from depression and
other psychological problems. America became the superpower
of the world, but still has much poverty and crime. As a
response to its imperialist foreign politics, resistance and
terrorism arose.
Lessons
The following lessons, which so far have been learned only by
few people and few segments of society, do not produce the
temporary superficial happiness that consumer society offers,
but a more profound happiness that can be reached only
through major personal and social transformation.
Economics, Politics, and Society
In the midst of
all the misery of the 20th
century many
positive and healing voices arose. E. F. Schumacher published a
book entitled
Small is
Beautiful.
The message of
this book is not only a corrective to capitalism and our
consumer society that embrace the opposite ideal, but also
an incentive for a healthier and happier life based on
spiritual values. This book, like others, reminds us of
the
limits to growth and advocates
a
sustainable economy and life in
harmony with nature. It emphasizes that economics should not
be divorced from
ethics, and in many
ways it resonates with the
UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
Earth Charter, and some aspects of feminism such as
eco-feminism.
Following Schumacher’s advice would not have led to the
enormous debt of many individuals, families, organizations,
companies, and governments. Following Schumacher’s advice
would not have led to the financial crises that resulted from
overspending and an obsession with “bigger and bigger,”
fueled by relentless advertising of goods and services of our
consumer society. Instead it would have encouraged
individuals and society to search for a more profound
happiness based on spiritual insights (see below).
Our materialistic, money-worshipping society has conditioned
us to believe that we need much money to be happy. However,
it is well known that the richest people are not necessarily
happier than people with a very modest income or maybe no
income at all. Daniel Suelo leads a happy
life in a cave in Utah with zero money. Although his
life-style seems extreme and exceptional, living with a
rather modest income can be compatible with profound
happiness and can point the way to a sustainable,
debt-free society.
Another lesson we could learn from the 20th century and
preceding centuries: Beware of dictators. Politics may
explain how they get into their powerful positions. But
economics may also play a much more important role than we
normally realize. Laurence Rees pointed out
that "in good economic times, during the mid-to-late
twenties in Germany, Hitler was thought charismatic by
only a bunch of fanatics...so that in the 1928 election
the Nazis polled only 2.6% of the vote. Yet less than five
years later Hitler was chancellor of Germany and leader of
the the most popular political party in the country. What
changed was the economic situation... and in that context,
Hitler...seemed to be the bringer of salvation." Even
democratically elected leaders may use poor economic
situations as a pretext to undermine democracy and destroy
civil liberties.
Science, Philosophy, and Society
Many lessons can
be learned from
science and philosophy. Contrary to the
hubris and unrealistic belief of the Age of the Enlightenment
and the 19th
century that
science and technology will eventually resolve all problems,
20th
century science
and philosophy taught us
humility, which
unfortunately has not yet become part of our mainstream
culture. Important discoveries have shown
limits to reason, rationality, science, systematic philosophy
and communication through language.
Freud and
Jung pointed out
that our conscious rationality is only the tip of an
iceberg of a non-rational subconscious.
Thomas Kuhn,
Paul Feyerabend, and others
have shown that science is limited because it is based on
questionable philosophical assumptions, which are often
defended like religious dogma (see, for example,
Biology as Ideology
by
Richard Lewontin and
The Science Delusion
by
Rupert Sheldrake). Hence, science appears inherently
biased and incomplete. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alfred
Korzybski, and others showed how language, which we use in
science, philosophy, and everyday life, removes us from
reality, from that which is. So how can any verbal
scientific or philosophical statement or theory tell us
the truth? Kurt Gödel demonstrated that even mathematics,
a cornerstone of much modern science, remains incomplete.
20th
century
physics has taught us
many important lessons, most of which unfortunately have not
yet become sufficiently part of our mainstream
culture.
Einstein taught us
relativity in
physics;
Korzybski and postmodernists emphasized
relativity and relativism in many aspects of our culture.
Although some postmodernists may have exaggerated relativity
and thus may have led us to rather nihilistic conclusions,
one can hardly deny that many statements and theories are
based on a specific point of view. If one takes another point
of view, things may look different. Thus, different points of
view complement and enrich our understanding. Niels Bohr, the
founder of the
complementarity principle
in physics,
resolved the controversy whether light consists of waves
or particles in terms of the complementarity principle:
depending on how we look at light, it may appear as
particles or waves. Thus, the two views complement each
other. Bohr emphasized that the complementarity principle
is also useful in many areas outside physics (see, for
example, the chapter on Complementarity in my book
Wilber's AQAL Map and Beyond). It leads to
tolerance of different,
even contradictory points of view. Thus it could serve as an
antidote to fundamentalism in religion, culture, and science.
The recognition of complementarity implies
both/and logic in addition to
the traditional Aristotelian either/or logic that is still
the predominant logic in our society and even in many
branches of science such as the life sciences. According to
both/and logic, light can manifest as both waves and
particles, a proposition can be both true and false, that is,
true to some extent and false to some extent.
Fuzzy
logic has been
developed to deal with such fuzzy situations that are very
common. Even in popular thinking it is sometimes
recognized that there can be “a grain of truth” in a
proposition that is considered “false.” Hence, the
dichotomy of the traditional either/or logic - that has
still a firm grip on the majority of people – can be
transcended. Such transcendence could help us to avoid
many unrealistically one-sided confrontations and even
wars. As long as we continue thinking that a man or an
organization or a nation is either good or evil, we remain
locked into an impasse. Both/and logic and fuzzy logic can
liberate us from this destructive fixation. For this
reason I called these kinds of logic
healing logic or a
healing
way of thinking.
One of the greatest lessons we could have learned – but
unfortunately very few people have learned – includes
Korzybski’s Structural
Differential, which
illustrates that our perception of reality is only a
selection of a part of it, filtered out by our limiting
senses and nervous system; and our description of our
perception is even more limited because language cannot
completely encompass our perception. Think of a sunset.
What you perceive is not identical with what is actually
happening. For example, you cannot perceive ultraviolet.
And your description of your perception is a further
abstraction that omits much of the richness of your
perception. For this reason
Korzybski concluded:
“Whatever
you might
say
something “is”,
it
is not.” What it is
cannot be conveyed through words. Therefore, Korzybski
referred to reality as the unspeakable, as mystery. If we
could remain aware of this, we could avoid many conflicts and
even wars because we could no longer insist that we can
verbally state the truth. And remaining aware of the
unspeakable mystery would avoid falling into nihilism of
which so many critics of postmodernism are afraid. In the
experience of the mystery we are united, in opposing dogmas
we are divided and often ready to fight and destroy. However,
when different and even opposite tenets are considered
complementary, the destructiveness is avoided; tolerance is
possible. And as we experience the
mystery beyond
language, logic, and reason, we even transcend relativity
and complementarity (see also Steve Stockdale's
website).
The 20th
century has been
called the century of complementarity. Others called it the
century of uncertainty. David Peat entitled his book on the
20th
century
From
Certainty to Uncertainty. Heisenberg
introduced the
uncertainty principle in quantum
physics. Korzybski extended it to other areas. Thus
uncertainty has become a general limitation whose
recognition could counteract dogmatism and fundamentalism
that are still widespread in our society. Like
complementarity, uncertainty leads to humility, to the
recognition that we can longer claim to be certain that
our preferred point of view is the only one that is
tenable. Much conflict and even wars could be avoided if
complmentarity and uncertainty were recognized.
We encounter uncertainty also in one of the greatest
scientific and mathematical breakthroughs of the
20th
century:
complexity or
chaos theory that deals
with nonlinear, unpredictable phenomena. The most famous
and popular of these phenomena is the so-called butterfly
effect, whereby a butterfly fluttering its wings in China
may influence the weather in America. But chaos theory has
many other aspects and applications. It has been
introduced “into the heart of science. Today chaos theory,
along with its associated notions of fractals, strange
attractors, and self-organizing systems, has been applied
to everything from sociology to psychology, from business
consulting to the neurosciences. As a metaphor it has
found its way into contemporary novels. As a technique it
is responsible for the special effects of so many movies”
(F. David Peat. 2001. From
Certainty to Uncertainty, p. 115).
According to chaos theory, chaos may arise out of order
and order may arise out of chaos. The slightest
disturbance of a phenomenon that appears stable (such as a
butterfly fluttering its wings) may send it into chaos. It
has been suggested that life happens at the edge of chaos,
where order and chaos meet and can easily switch into one
another. This means we have to come to grips with chaos
and uncertianty. Pema Chödrön’s book Comfortable with
Uncertainty can be very
helpful in this respect. Contrary to a widespread belief
that we need certainty, Pema Chödrön shows that we
can be profoundly happy living with uncertainty instead of
chasing illusory certainty.
Another important lesson: the phenomenon of emergence, which
means that a system has emergent properties that cannot be
found by examining the system’s parts. For example, a bird
can fly, but its cells and genes cannot. One of the major
limitations of modern biology and medicine: its obsession
with parts of organisms, its ambition to reduce everything to
cells and genes. Systems thinking and organicism consitute
important contributions that could counteract these
reductionist tendencies. Richard Lewontin et al. in
their book
Not in our Genes:
Biology,
Ideology, and Human Nature pointed out
pitfalls of genetic reductionism. Unfortunately, most
biologists and medical researchers are still caught in the
gene-centric way of thinking, which hinders major
breakthroughs in many areas. Billions, if not trillions of
dollars have been spent for cancer research and only very
limited progress has been made because of the insistence on a
predominantly reductionist approach. Genetic engineering, which also
uses the reductionist approach, poses enormous risks and
dangers to society and the planet, as Mae-Wan Ho and others
have pointed out.
Although mainstream thinking is still predominantly
reductionist, the importance of
holistic understanding has been pointed
out by many authors including
Ludwig von Bertalanffy,
Paul Weiss, and
Fritjof Capra. In physics -
which has become more holistic than biology –
David Bohm made the
distinction between an explicate and implicate order. In
the explicate order we see separate objects, whereas the
implicate order represents oneness. The ultimate ground of
the explicate and implicate orders is
holomovement, the movement
of the whole of existence. Thus, Bohm points to both
wholeness and dynamics.
Process philosophy also
emphasizes that process is primary to objects that are
abstracted from the underlying process.Time-lapse photography
illustrates
the dynamic where it seems imperceptible. Hence, dynamics
appears all-pervasive. Many people then ask themselves how
we can feel secure in a world where nothing remains
ultimately stable. In his book
The Wisdom of Insecurity,
Alan
Watts shows that we can feel secure by accepting and being
the flux, which seems a major challenge for most people in a
culture that aims at control and security.
In the flux everything appears connected. In physics
interconnectedness has been most strikingly demonstrated
through
non-locality, which means
that entangled elementary particles remain connected even
after traveling for enormous distances in opposite
directions. In
ecology we have learned
that because of interconnectedness
pollution may easily spread
from one location to another. We remain integral parts
of
the web of life, of
Gaia, and the
universe. Therefore, in a sense what we do to others and
the environment we do to ourselves.
Awareness of this interconnectedness will lead to greater
responsibility and respect for the environment.
According to Darwinism and capitalism that reinforce each
other, competition reigns the world; cooperation plays only a
minor role or no role at all (see, for example,
Biophilosophy
(Chapter 8.7) by
Rolf Sattler). Hence, it is considered natural to be selfish,
aggressive and competitive. However, some researchers in the
20th
century found
that
cooperation is widespread in nature. Hence, it is
also natural to cooperate! We need not go against nature when
we cooperate.
Many of the above lessons of 20th
century science
challenge our traditional ways of thinking and living. Much
of what we have taken for granted now has to be reevaluated.
For example, we thought that the question "What is the length
of a piece of string?" has a simple answer. Not so anymore.
Depending on our measuring devices (a ruler, laser, or
light), we may get different answers. According to fractal
geometry, a piece of string may be infinite. And according to
quantum physics as espoused by Schrödinger a string has no
length: we create the length through our observation, that
is, our interaction with the string.
Language and Linguistics
One lesson we can
learn from linguistics – and other sciences - is that one
person or one school of thinking can dominate a whole
discipline and suppress and/or ridicule other ways of
thinking. For example, since the last century Noam Chomsky
has dominated linguistics with his theory of a universal
grammar, a deep structure that supposedly applies to all
languages. However, some linguists and philosophers provided
evidence to the contrary. Thus, Benjamin Lee Whorf
demonstrated that certain Amerindian languages such as Nootka
appear verb-based and do not follow the common noun-verb
structure. For example, the Nootka would not say “The sun
shines,” or “It shines;” they would simply say “shining,”
which means there is no agent that does the shining. Or with
regard to creating, there is no creator who does the
creating: there is just the activity of creating. Hence, no
necessity of a Creator – God. As these examples show,
a
verb-based language can have
far-reaching consequences on how we perceive and interpret
the world. It reveals a world that is basically
dynamic.
Process is primary as in process
philosophy.
But in languages with a noun-verb (subject-predicate)
structure, process is secondary and entities referred to by
nouns or pronouns are primary. Thus, languages with a
noun-verb structure portray a world fragmented into entities
such as you and I and plants and animals and so on. Oneness
is obscured; fragmentation is reinforced through each
sentence we utter. Thus language conditions us to take
fragmentation for granted. In fact, we may not even see it as
fragmentation. We may believe that in reality subjects and
objects are separate (for more on this subject see David
Peat's website on language &
linguistics).
In his book
Science and
Sanity,
Korzybski pointed out
that the way we commonly use language often leads to much
distortion of what is actually going on and thus
contributes to the insanity in our society. He suggested
the following
extensional devices to bring our
language more in accordance with reality and thus to
reduce insanity (see also General Semantics):
1. Indexing –
Whereas a category defines commonalities, indexing retrieves
the differences within the category. Thus, instead of only
seeing the category A, we can be aware of A1, A2, A3, etc.
For example, instead of just referring to the category liar,
we can index, that is, differentiate between liar1, liar 2,
liar3, etc, all of which differ in important respects. Or
instead of only referring to love, we can differentiate
between love1, love2, love3, etc. Such indexing may help
overcome futile discussions on whether he loves her or not.
Therefore, “by using indexes, we remind ourselves of the
important differences between individual people, ‘objects’,
events, etc.” (Susan and Bruce Kodish. 2011.
Drive Yourself
Sane, p. 171).
2. Dating – Since everything changes over time, it is
important to reflect time in our language. To do this we can
add the date of an event. For example, instead of simply
referring to John, we can say John-January 1, 2012, John
March 15-2012, etc. This helps us to realize that we change,
and therefore referring simply to an individual John without
a time reference may miss crucial differences. For example,
John-January 1, 2012 might have behaved in a nasty way,
whereas John-March 15, 2012 appeared very loving.
3. Etc. – We can add ‘etc.’ to indicate that we cannot say
all, that something else could have and maybe should have
been added to provide a more complete picture. For example,
if we say ‘John a liar,’ this is a very incomplete and
therefore misleading statement about John. He is also
charming, intelligent, sensitive, etc. For this reason, if we
want to say that John is a liar, it would be appropriate to
say ‘John is a liar, etc.” If, in addition we index and date
this statement, we can provide a much better description of
John, which would render interpersonal relationships more
appropriate and less destructive. The same applies to many
other situations, including statements about organizations,
ethnic groups, nations, etc. One might argue that we can be
aware of the ‘etc.’ without adding it explicitly. However,
explicit use of ‘etc.’ promotes an etc. attitude. “When we
have an et cetera or non-allness attitude, we ask ourselves:
What might I have left out? What else? What other effects
does this have, etc.?” (Kodish, ibid., p. 174). In other
words, it creates openness. We know that the last word has
not been said.
4. Quotes and Hyphens – Quotes are used to draw attention to
terms that may be problematical in various ways. Hyphens are
used to connect terms that suggest a separation that does not
exist in reality. For example, since body and mind are not
separate entities, we write body-mind to indicate their
connection or unity. In a similar manner we refer to
space-time, organism-environment, etc.
In their
excellent book
Drive Yourself Sane
(Chapter 13),
Susan and Bruce Kodish suggested additional extensional
devices that render our language more appropriate and
reduce neurosis and insanity. However, like Korzybski,
they emphasize that reality cannot be fully captured
through words and language (see above Korzybski's
Structural Differential); hence the importance of
silence.
Psychology
Gestalt
psychology, humanistic psychology, transpersonal psychology,
and integral psychology were important innovations in the
20th
century and
taught us important lessons.
Gestalt psychology emphasized a
holistic approach to psychology, which resonates well with
holism in science.
Humanistic psychology, also
holistic, focused on meaning, values, personal
responsibility, human potential, spirituality, and
self-actualization.
Transpersonal psychology
went beyond
the limited self toward the universal Self, thus
emphasizing self-transcendent spiritual experience.
Integral psychology comprises
transcendence and immanence, the experience of the
unmanifest and the manifest (see below under Integral
Philosophy and Spirituality).
During the 20th
century much
evidence was obtained for
parapsychological phenomena of
extrasensory perception (psi) such as telepathy
and clairvoyance (see Dean Radin. 1997.
The Conscious Universe. The Scientific
Truth of Psychic Phenomena, and
Rupert Sheldrake. 2012.The
Science Delusion, Chapter 9).
Health and Healing
Especially in the
West and Westernized countries, 20th
century
healthcare was dominated by conventional
materialistic/mechanistic medicine. However, alternative
holistic modalities of healing, although harshly condemned by
the conservative medical establishment, often proved helpful
where conventional medicine failed. Many people relieved
headaches and other ailments through acupuncture, alleviated
all sorts of aches through herbal medicine, homeopathy, and
other holistic methods. Some people even recovered from
severe illnesses such as cancer through methods of
alternative holistic medicine. Usually these successes were
dismissed as anecdotal and unscientific by the conservative
medical establishment. However, alternative holistic medicine
is
not always as unscientific as purported by the medical
establishment. In alternative medicine such as, for
example, herbal medicine the scientific methodology of
conventional medicine has been used for a long time (see,
for example, Daniel B. Mowrey. 1986. The
Scientific Validation of Herbal
Medicine).
William Bengston provided
scientific evidence that hands-on-healing can cure cancer
(William Bengston. 2010. The Energy Cure). Many other
alternative methods are supported scientifically. However,
some successful alternative methods may surpass the
strictures of conventional scientific methodology. They
demonstrate the limitations of conventional scientific
methodology (see, for example, Rolf Sattler. 2001.
Non-conventional medicines and holism. Holistic Science
and Human Values 5: 1-15).
In many, but not all cases, treatment through alternative
holistic methods seems preferable for the following reasons:
1. Healing
through alternative methods appears much less hampered by
negative side effects than in conventional medicine.
2. Healing through alternative methods is far less expensive
than in conventional medicine.
3. Healing through alternative holistic methods contributes
to the well-being of the whole person and not only the sick
part.
4. Healing through alternative methods creates less pollution
than conventional methods that involve all sorts of chemical
compounds, many of which may be detrimental to our health and
the environment.
5. Finally, alternative medicine is very useful for the
prevention of illness and thus again reduces greatly
healthcare cost.
In spite of all the advantages of alternative holistic
medicine, it is very much controlled and suppressed by what
Dr. Guylaine Lanctôt called the "medical mafia": the medical
establishment, the pharmaceutical industry, and governments
(Guylaine Lanctôt. 1995. The Medical Mafia. How to get out of
it alive and take back our health & wealth).
Art
Fine arts,
literature, and music contributed many novel aspects to our
enjoyment and understanding of reality.
Impressionism that began in
the 19th
century and
still left its mark at the beginning of the
20th
century
explored and played with light as never before in the
history of humankind. In
abstract art objects were
no longer needed as fundamental elements of a
picture.
Surrealism, in visual
art and literature, presented connections invisible in
realistic art, stressing the subconscious, imagination,
dream, and the disinterested play of thought (see, for
example, The Modern
Mind by Peter
Watson).
Literature and poetry went beyond constraints and forms that
were accepted in the19th
century and
addressed important issues of the 20th
century. Music
also liberated itself from constraints to produce new
tonalities and soundscapes. In his
happenings, John Cage
relinquished all constraints, allowing the listeners to
create whatever they would feel like, thus breaking down
the barrier between artist and audience. Ultimately, music
led to silence. In John Cage’s 4’ 33” (1952), the pianist
sits in front of the piano without touching it, in
complete silence, for four minutes and thirty three
seconds. According to John Cage’s instructions, this piece
can also be “performed” on any other instrument for any
amount of time. Here, music becomes
silent meditation.
Spirituality
Already at the
end of the 19th century Nietzsche had declared, “God is
dead.” Subsequently, during the course of the
20th
century we
witnessed in the Western world a decline of organized
dogmatic religion. At the same time interest in spirituality
increased. Practitioners of Eastern religions such as
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Daoism came to Western countries and
instructed people in various forms of meditation and other
spiritual practices such as yoga, qigong, and taiji (that can
be seen as dynamic forms of meditation). Yoga, especially
hatha yoga, that emphasized physical exercises, became so
widespread that it can almost be considered part of Western
mainstream culture.
Through insight, spontaneous happenings, and the practice
of
dynamic, sitting or standing
meditation our ordinary
ego-centered state of consciousness can be relaxed and
even transcended in an experience of universal wholeness
and oneness (see Shinzen Young's mandala on
5 Ways to Know
Yourself). Ultimately,
this experience can become a way of Being that is beyond
religious dogma.
At the end of the 20th century Eckhart Tolle published his
book The Power of Now
(1997). This
book has a transformative power that leads to a "sense of
freedom that comes from letting go of self-identification
with one's own personal history and life-situation, and a
newfound inner peace that arises as one learns to
relinquish mental/emotional resistance to the "suchness"
of the present moment" (The Power
of Now, 2004, pp.
XIV-XV). Thus, the power of Now opens up eternity and
infinite space, the "timeless and formless realm of Being"
(ibid., p. 49).
Many books and teachings by other spiritual masters have also
pointed out the way to spiritual transformation. Most of
these masters follow more or less spiritual wisdom traditions
such as, for example, Tibetain Buddhism or Christian
mysticism. Others such as, for example, Krishnamurti, Eckhart
Tolle, or Byron Katie, do not rely
on particular traditions. Osho, a
provocative modern mystic, presented his own vision and
was able to explain the wisdom of many spiritual
traditions in the context of 20th century society.
Laughter and Silence
The
20th
century began
with the publication of Henri Bergson’s book
Le
Rire (1900), meaning
laughter in English. Subsequently, other authors and
spiritual masters drew attention to the importance of
laughter. Toward the end of the century, in 1995, Madan
Kataria, and East-Indian physician, and his wife, a yoga
teacher, founded
Laughter Yoga, a new form
of yoga that, like traditional forms of yoga, has as its
aim liberation. For liberation to happen we have to
transcend our enslavement by the thinking mind that
fragments the world and thus creates the basis for
antagonism and fear. Engaging in total laughter
instantaneously frees us from this enslavement because one
cannot profoundly laugh and think at the same time. Thus,
laughter is like an instant vacation from the thinking
mind and all the worries that are created by the thinking
mind. Hence, paradoxically, the result of laughing is
peace and silence – silence in which we are one with
existence as it can also happen in other profound
meditations.
Laughter, other forms
of meditation, and
silence are great
gifts and lesson of the 20th
century. They
may help us to transcend suffering and nihilism.
Integral Philosophy and Integral Spirituality - Integral Life
Practice
Integral
philosophy and spirituality have been advanced by Sri
Aurobindo, Haridas Chaudhuri, Jean Gebser, Don Beck, Allan
Combs, Stanislav Grof, Michael Murphy, Roger Walsh, Ken
Wilber, Erwin Laszlo, Thomas McFarlane, and others. Some
authors have referred to an integral movement, which can be
defined in a narrow and wide sense (see, for example, Alan
Kazlev’s comprehensive article “Redefining Integral”).
Integration constitutes the major aim of the integral
movement – integration of East and West (especially Eastern
spirituality and Western psychotherapy), the manifest and the
unmanifest (or the namable and the unnamable), science and
spirituality, body, mind, soul, and spirit, etc.
Ken Wilber’s
AQAL map presents
an integration of body, mind, and spirit in self, culture,
and nature (or in art, morals, and science). This
integration can be practiced and cultivated in one’s
personal life (as Integral Life Practice), in integral
science, integral medicine, integral ecology, integral
politics, integral law, integral governance, integral
business, integral education, integral religion, etc.
(see, for example,
A Theory of Everything
by
Ken Wilber). Integral practice in all these areas requires
awareness that anything can be experienced at different
levels in terms of a specific culture, subjectively in
one’s self, and objectively. Major levels include body,
mind and spirit. Finer differentiations and other
conceptualizations of levels can be made (see, for
example, the
AQAL chart and
Integral
Spirituality by Ken
Wilber).
Since
Integral Life Practice
includes
practice and cultivation of the body, mind, soul, and
spirit, it is more comprehensive and inclusive than
certain religious and spiritual practices that denigrate
the body or bodily oriented practices that neglect the
soul and spirit. And since an integral map such as
the
AQAL map allows us to
be aware of major levels and dimensions of reality,
including ourselves, we are better equipped to navigate
through challenging and difficult situations, and we can
become more fully human and achieve greater happiness even
in adverse situations.
Education
In most schools,
colleges, and universities, 20th
century education
emphasized memorization and the acquisition of practical and
intellectual skills such as language skills, mathematical
skills, scientific and technological skills, etc. It tended
to be head-oriented, neglecting soul and spirit. Even the
physical body was not sufficiently trained because physical
education was not offered every day. It has been shown,
however, that more physical exercise is not only beneficial
for the body but improves also academic performance.
Besides more physical exercise, it would be desirable to
exercise mind, soul, and spirit. With regard to
the mind, students should learn lessons such as the ones I
included in this essay. With regard to the soul, students
should learn how to deal with negative emotions such as
anger, jealousy, and fear. They should learn
nonviolent communication
and take a
course in peace studies. With regard to spirit, students
should be able to pursue a spiritual path of their liking
such as yoga, taiji, various forms of dynamic, sitting and
standing meditation, etc.
In general, schools and universities should offer an
education based on a holistic
approach, an integral
philosophy, integral spirituality, and integral life
practice as described in the above section. So far very
few schools, colleges, and universities have moved in this
direction: Waldorf schools, founded by Rudolf Steiner,
Schumacher College in England, California Institute of
Integral Studies, Integral Institute, Integral University,
and Naropa University in the US, and others. Some
exceptional teachers and professors at conventional
schools, colleges, and universities offer a more integral
education and sometimes risk losing their position because
they subvert the official curricula that limit education
to a fraction of the intellect and a bit of physical
exercise.
Reminder
Since the lessons
of the 20th
century include
incompleteness and uncertainty, this article also remains
incomplete and cannot claim certainty. The search for lessons
to be learned remains open-ended and the experience of the
mystery beyond words can emerge at any moment...
References
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Korzybski, A. 1996. Science and
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New
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Mowrey, Daniel B. 1986. The
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New
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Peat, F. D. 2001. From
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Sattler, R. 1986. Biophilosophy.
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Holistic Science and Human Values 5: 1-15
Schumacher, E. F. 1973. Small is
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For a long list
of lessons see An Open Book with Alternative Titles in
Materialism,
Holism, and Mysticism - A Mandala
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