Integral

Ryan and Corey begin by taking a look at some of the central cultural, technological, and behavioral challenges that take us further away from our most authentic expression, wonderfully illuminated by Jonathan Haidt’s recent article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid”

. We were both very excited about Jonathan’s piece, which resonates deeply with so many of the critical themes we’ve explored in the Inhabit series over the months and years. In his article, Haidt identifies three primary factors that bind society together: social capital

(extensive social networks with high levels

of trust), strong institutions

, and shared stories

. He then explores how each of these became so compromised in our civilization, and suggests some possible interventions (what I often call “enfoldment mechanisms”) in order to get things moving in the right direction again. And here is how Haidt describes these “enfoldment mechanisms” as they are supposed to exist in our governing institutions: In our conversation, Ryan and I try to pick up where Jonathan left off, suggesting that we need to install these sorts of enfoldment mechanisms in our own interior operating systems

, as much as in our exterior/collective

operating systems. In other words, we cannot transform these systems “out there” unless we work to transform our own consciousness and communities “in here”. How do we do so? Ryan and I try to answer this question by looking at two fundamental lines

of development — the intrapersonal

line (how we relate to ourselves), and the interpersonal

line (how we relate to each other), and using those to help supplement the advice given by Haidt in his article so we can engage these problems in all four quadrants

simultaneously. We begin with the intrapersonal, distilling some timeless wisdom from two different spiritual

lineages — the notion of “Right Speech” in Buddhism, and the Quaker practice of “letting your next words come from your highest Self” — two complementary micro-practices that can help us to better align ourselves with our own inner source of wisdom and compassion, to communicate with greater purpose and authenticity, and to bring as much conscious embodiment

to our online interactions as we unconsciously

do when we are face-to-face. Here are some basic tips to help you practice speaking from your own highest Self, however you might define it: Next we take a look at our interpersonal engagements, and how we can use Integral ideas to facilitate more healthy and rewarding community experiences. While interviewing Stefan Schultz for our Integral Journalism in the Disinformation Age

discussion, he included some different strategies that each developmental stage uses for what he calls their “conference culture”. Ryan and I unpack this idea a bit more in this episode, noticing how these different cultures often play themselves out in our various online community spaces. We therefore thought it may be helpful to make some of these mutually-shared subjects into objects of awareness, in order to create more shared agreement between us around the sorts of standards we want to hold ourselves to while interacting with each other: We hope you enjoy this discussion! Let us know what you think in the comments below. Written and produced by Corey deVos