On June 5th, I had the pleasure of meeting Steve McIntosh, author of Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution, and his upcoming publication, Evolution’s Purpose: An Integral Interpretation of the Scientific Story of Our Origins. Steve was part of a panel discussion entitled, “Cultural Evolution: The Solution to Practically Every Problem” that occurred later that evening. He is a member of the “Evolutionary Leaders” group started by Deepak Chopra, founder and president of Now and Zen, and most recently, a member of a new think tank, The Institute for Cultural Evolution.
Steve takes me through the big themes in his book: explaining what the purpose of evolution is through integral philosophy, rooted in a dialectic of history and reaching back to philosophers like Hegel, Whitehead, and the mystic Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin. I’ve always found McIntosh to one of the most unique integral authors in that he offers his own interpretations. His first book, Integral Consciousness, offered both praise and criticism of Integral Theory, as popularized by Ken Wilber.
The conversation was compelling and energized– you won’t find a more articulate expression of the integral-evolutionary philosophy. Hope you enjoy our dialogue:
For anyone interested, you can read excerpts from Steve’s book here: http://www.stevemcintosh.com/Evolutions-Purpose-TOC.php
“As we will explore throughout this book, the evident purpose of evolution is to grow toward ever-widening realizations of beauty, truth, and goodness; and it is through the generation of these most intrinsic forms of value that evolution expresses its spiritual message.” – Preface
And for a video interview Steve did touching on the difficult subject of progress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1OzLgQT1hw&feature=plcp
Thank you so much for this great interview. keep up your good work.
Thanks Ivan! I appreciate you giving your ear to the conversation.
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