What It Means to Be Integral
ICN Foundational Identities – Part 2
When we started Integral Christian Network, we began by reaching out to those who had read Paul’s book Integral Christianity and had been moved to contact him. The book and idea of an evolving Christianity understood through the lens of Integral Theory was compelling and exciting to a number of folks, including myself!
They would email Paul asking, “Does this exist anywhere?” “Are there Integral churches out there?” and “Where can I find others who resonate with this?”
It’s what led me to seek out Paul, to get together and discover our immediate, mystical soul connection. And to ask, “What if we could bring together those scattered and often lonely folk who are on this spiritual journey and create meaningful, generative community through it?”
As such, we began with those who were pretty familiar with the core concepts of Integral Christianity that Paul explored in his book. Since then, over three years ago now, numerous others have found this community and come into our WeSpace groups and other practices. They have found us on google, on social media, through word of mouth, and in many other ways. Perhaps drawn by the desire for authentic mystical community, for evolving Christianity, for embodied spiritual practice, or any number of other yearnings.
So then it’s not uncommon to find people asking, “What does ‘integral’ mean?”
And that’s a good question.
Three Definitions of “Integral”
Let’s begin with a few definitions that might help us get a better sense of this word that might feel familiar, but also perhaps a little mysterious.
The first definition is probably the primary sense of what most, including myself, think of when I hear the word—and that is to be “integrative.” To hold together all of the parts that make up the whole. Bringing together all that is essential to arrive at completion.
Another common understanding of integral is related to its use in arithmetic, pertaining to being a whole integer and not a fraction. This relates somewhat to the sense of movement or development at specific intervals: stages or structures of consciousness, which Paul will be writing about in the next series.
(This is not including the mathematical understanding of “integral” in calculus, which is above my pay grade! If anyone has any understanding of how that applies, let us know in the comments below.)
And then we also use this word to convey that something is really important, something indispensable and vital. That which is necessary for the completeness of the whole. You can be the judge of whether this definition applies!
So we primarily go with the first definition, that it is about integration. And it is through integration that we can come into wholeness or a sense of “completion.” However, this completion of integration then opens up a new evolution or mutation, through which we become something new, something even more complete—with a new dimension.
This takes us into considering Integral Theory and the field of origin behind it.
Integral Theory and the History of Integral Philosophy
Most people who are familiar with Integral as it relates to the camp of philosophical/spiritual/psychological understanding have come to it through Ken Wilber, the originator of “Integral Theory” and main popularizer of the Integral tradition. Many Christians have discovered him through the teachings of Richard Rohr, Jim Marion, and of course, Paul Smith.
Bringing together the newer discovery of evolution and integrating it with ancient spiritual wisdom, the tradition began with Sri Aurobindo in the early 20th century. Leading together with Mirra Alfassa, Integral Yoga focused on the concentrated evolution of being—the unfolding manifestations of spirit that come forth in stages of human evolution, consciously integrating the divine on earth.
Unaware of Aurobindo’s work at first, Jean Gebser tapped into the same spirit by describing the structures of human consciousness unfolding toward what he also called the Integral. His seminal work, The Ever-Present Origin is perhaps the foundational expression of the integral tradition in the West. Later in life he met Aurobindo and experienced a significant spiritual transmission.
Drawing heavily on Aurobindo and Gebser, as well as a vast array of other sources, Wilber brought forth over the last 50 years what he called “a comprehensive theory of everything.” While it’s gone through a number of iterations, its main movements are often described as:
Waking Up – progression of awakening conscious awareness through states of consciousness
Growing Up – moving through evolutionary stages of development toward greater maturity
Cleaning Up – healing through shadow work and psychological self-awareness
Showing Up – serving humanity in the world
He’s also recently added “Opening Up,” which speaks to the need to come together in community and supportive relationships. There are a few other essential components as well—it’s a pretty complex theory, as you might imagine for something trying to encompass “everything”!
In Paul’s book, Integral Christianity, he took these main elements and applied them to the state of Christianity, the church, and individual Christians today. He described so many of the current dynamics through the understanding of stages, states, standpoints, shadow, and steps. It’s well worth the read if you haven’t before!
It’s been over 10 years since that book came out, and many further evolutions and learnings have come since then. Many of those have been detailed through our weekly articles—which have been deeply informed by our practices together in community, as well as some healthy reintegration of aspects from Gebser, corrections from Jorge Ferrer, and applications from numerous Integral and post-Integral experiments and communities in what has recently been called the current “liminal web” space.
Now, you don’t have to be knowledgeable about all this to engage in this community, to have meaningful spiritual connection and transformative experiences of growth. You don’t even really have to care about all this “Integral” stuff to be a vital part of the life-giving being and becoming in our community. Just as one doesn’t have to claim the identity of “Christian” to be here either. Again, the point is not exclusivity.
But it is a pretty major orienting foundation for understanding the deeper theory, practices, research, and directionality of why and how we do a lot of things we do together.
With that in mind, here are a few of those fundamental qualities.
Qualities of a Christian, Mystical Integralism
As you may have gathered, the Integral field of understanding is extremely comprehensive and has many different facets. Some of these are included in how we’ll look at mysticism next week—and others were baked into how we looked at Christianity in the previous article.
They all intersect and overlap with one another, but here are a few qualities that pertain particularly to our applications of the Integral tradition.
Embracing the Journey of Evolution
One of the absolute fundamental aspects of any integral perspective is that of an ongoing process of consciousness becoming. Of the evolution of life toward something more, something better, something more whole, more just, more complete.
We are not in the midst of a static reality that simply must be maintained or preserved. Our work is not conserving a condition of the past or holding onto previous religious forms and expressions. Though nor are we buying into the myth of modern progress and the disease of more.
In embracing an evolutionary perspective and orientation, we are coming into conscious participation with the movement of eros, with the vital urge of life to create and to thrive. To bring forth and become an active part of the process of the generative unfolding, of the manifestation of heaven and earth, of divine participation.
We call this the loving evolution of Christianity and the world.
Aurobindo, Gebser, and Wilber all saw this coming forth a little differently—through a process of divine involution, the integration of structures of consciousness, or the transcending and including of stages of development, respectively.
As referenced earlier, the next series starting in a couple of weeks will be on these stages/structures of consciousness.
Unveiling the Structures of Awareness and Perspective
Another primary element of integral is the process of disentangling ourselves from being trapped in a limited structure of awareness.
Wilber has described this as escaping “flatland.” If you are trapped in a two-dimensional reality, you have no concept of a 3D shape of things unless you are somehow able to come up off the page and find a new shape—indeed, even a whole new dimension. This will feel like a completely new reality.
This is sometimes expressed as being aware of being aware, of making the subject of one reality the object of the next, or unfolding into a new structure of consciousness through mutation as a result of completions of integration.
We don’t know how limited and confined we are in our current standpoint until we are able to open up into something more expansive, something more intensive, something liberating from the old.
We have perhaps experienced this previously in our life and can look back on our narrow and naïve selves, hopefully with compassion. And then in humility, we can understand that we are still on that journey of growth. There is more ahead that we don’t even know we don’t know. It’s foreign to us now because it is of another dimension, of a different stage of values and perspective. Is there any way to open ourselves up to that next thing, whatever that may be?
Well, yes and no. Because describing those realities will only make so much sense from our current point of reference. Sometimes integral can get stuck here, trying to put into mental form that which can only be fully experienced in the later structure/stages. Our ego doesn’t often like that, and so further map-making ensues. More discussion and debate. More perspectival jousting that gets us nowhere.
On the “yes” side, understanding with complexity the dynamics of this dimension and what traps us here can be extremely useful to broadening our perspective and opening our horizons on what is possible and even where to look. Integral Theory components such as the four quadrants, lines of development, and typologies can all be very helpful in understanding how our lenses of perspective shape what we see.
So long as we don’t use all of that knowledge to just further reinforce our identified self and current perspective.
Healing toward Wholeness
Another key aspect of Integral related to our perception and awareness is the element of shadow. Shadow-work is the psychological process of coming to recognize the hidden weaknesses, strengths, shortcomings, and instincts that we have buried inside ourselves because we have found them unacceptable or untenable to live with. We then project these things out onto other people rather than own them in ourselves.
Jesus called this decrying the speck in your neighbor’s eye rather than the log in your own. Of course, how can we see with our eyes that which is in our eye? Or how do we find that which we’ve hidden with the subconscious intent to forget?
The 3-2-1 Process is one integral practice of individually coming to recognize our shadow. But what I’ve found most helpful is the gift of community when it comes to unveiling shadow. This can be a delicate process, but when we invite others to share in love what they are seeing, powerful transformation is possible. It’s something we can do in our WeSpace groups or with our closest friends and family who we trust.
Regularly asking yourself and others, “What am I not seeing right now?” or “What is our collective shadow?” are powerful questions to keep our awareness open and moving toward emotional and spiritual health.
Shadow work is one way of coming into our emotional wholeness and healing. It is representative of our choice to continue to grow, to learn, and to heal. To not stay stuck in the past or trapped by our wounds.
This is perhaps one of the most vital aspects of an Integral Christianity, because so many have been hurt and wounded by the church, by forms of Christianity, by previous and ongoing abuses.
The work of deconstruction, of differentiating and getting away from these abusive forms is essential and necessary. Even if not experienced as abusive, even the confining limitations of previous stages of faith must be left. This is a healthy process of growth and evolution—even if it means leaving Christianity!
And then, when the time is right, we keep going. For as long as we are still reacting against it, then it still has power over us. Full healing will lead us to the place of letting go, of no longer defining ourselves or our spiritual journey by our wounds, by what we have come out of/through, by what we’re against rather than what we want to be for.
Crucially, this can only really happen when we in some way are able to “come home.” To reembrace and reintegrate those parts of ourselves that were wounded and frozen.
This may include coming home to a better version of Christianity, at least that is the hope of our work here. And many have found that deeply healing. Or it may necessitate other forms and symbols to keep us going through into other ways of reintegrating.
Moving toward the new, yes, but also bringing forward the best of what has come before. In ourselves and in our traditions, including forms of Christianity—and of Integral. If it still fits and resonates. When we are ready.
This is how we heal. It is also how we might find the wholeness within and even unfold into the next mutation, the next evolution of consciousness.
We find that the essential piece that makes this possible, that ties it together with real transformative power is our third foundational identity, the mystical, which we’ll explore next week.