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For those of you who are interested in Ken Wilber's Integral Theory - most of his books/body of work is highly theoretical and descriptive. This program is supposed to offer a practical component to his integral theory. It was originally released in 2006 (5 DVDs, 2 CDs, 3 booklets) but is available online (details below). In 2008 they turned the program into book format with: Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening Here is an excerpt from the book that also applies to the Integral Life Practice Kit: There are 4 main components/modules to the program: The Body Module - which has 3 components - gross body (developed through physical exercise), subtle body (developed through "energetic" exercise - yoga/breath work, etc) and causal body (developed through awareness/meditation practices) The Spirit Module - the spiritual/consciousness work component The Mind Module - the practice of increasing the capacity to take more nuanced, complex, and accurate perspectives and organizing them through the AQAL Integral Framework - you could call it the cognitive/mental component The Shadow Module - psychotherapy, shadow work, and practices that address emotional mastery. Now these aren't techniques or practices, they could be described more like actionable areas of human growth and development. They teach that there are many different practices/techniques/stuff that you can do that address one or more of these four large areas (I will attach a picture where you can see some examples), but they claim that each of these four main areas have to be worked at in order for individuals to develop integrally. I cannot offer a rating yet as I'm still in the middle of integrating the modules myself, but I find the whole concept very interesting and intuitive. The course itself can be accessed on the internet by following this link I found on Google while looking up details regarding the course: https://s3.amazonaws.com/integral-life-landing-pages/ILPpromo/ILPpromo_download.html I am not sure why or how this is free. I am not sure if this is "piracy". If that is the case, let me know and I will remove it. Again, I found it on the first page of Google results while looking up the course itself. I tried looking up the main site and it seems to be some sort of Amazon storage site? The course itself is a bit dated (I know that Ken Wilber has a new one called Superhuman OS), so maybe they gave up on it or forgot to make it inaccessible? That would be pretty funny. Maybe someone can look into it and let me know. Whichever the case, it's worth checking out.

Read "Recapture the Rapture" by Jamie Wheal or at least watch his video with Rebel Wisdom. You can also read "The Religion of Tomorrow" by Ken Wilber, although that's largely just a reiteration on Integral Theory applied to religion as an example if you're already familiar with that model. Watch "Awakening From The Meaning Crisis" lecture series on YouTube by John Vervaeke. He does touch on a possible re-imagination of religion without the dogmaticism in the later lectures.

Yes. There are a few tips that can help provided you already do meditation. Capture it. Particularly if you're the type who talks to himself a lot keep the phone with a recorder app nearby. If you think more than talk write down the main ideas when you feel like the sudden brainstorm is dying down. Revisit these once in a while and over time the signal will get separated from the noise. Good ideas will tend to stick and resurface again when watching podcasts or reading stuff. You want a record of it so you can pursue further at a later time. This takes me to the second point. Get into the habit of exploring these ideas once captured. Try to formalize to a certain degree a time period when you specifically reflect back on those insight. Meditation is necessary but not sufficient. It will still your mind but will not in and of itself necessarily improve the way you use your mind. You'll be more aware of the mind, gain the capacity to gain distance from it, but training how to use the mind when it needs to be used is a different thing.

I recommend reading "Recapture the Rapture" by Jamie Wheal or at least watching his video with Rebel Wisdom

If, at least in theory, you know that what you are trying to learn will in one way or another bring you closer to what you want, then it becomes a matter of acclimatizing yourself with the initial awkwardness and discomfort specific in learning any new skill. To do this, I found consistent meditation with emphasis on concentration very useful (using breath as an object you bring your attention back to whenever you are distracted). Doing this for one hour a day will increase your capacity to pay attention to whatever you choose regardless of discomfort or frustration. I've noticed clear improvements after about 3-4 weeks. Now specifically to address the sense of discomfort and frustration any disruptive type of practice will help. The most useful for me was Wim Hof breathing method. 2-3 rounds of WH breathing will suffice. Make sure you do it first before sitting down to learn whatever it is you're trying to learn. I've found that it's not a good idea to sit down and learn straight after meditation because my mind is too still, whereas the learning activity requires me to be more mentally active. This is why is supplement with WH breathing right before I start learning (usually after meditating). You can also do a round of breathing whenever you feel like you're starting to get frustrated just to recalibrate. But don't neglect meditation. It's quite invaluable for long term attention training.

Absolutely. I've seen it happen in my and in my best friend to the point where I find the idea that people don't change to be silly. Change is hard, and maybe we can't change people, but people can change. And maybe it would help if we replaced the term "Change" with "Become/Grow". For in this case I feel like "Change" implies that something is lost or left behind, whereas I think it's more the case that something is consciously observed, integrated, and accepted and thus something more novel as well as "whole" emerges as a result.

What you are experiencing is most likely Flow, which is a universal peak experience that can be had within almost any type of activity provided it meets certain conditions that are conductive towards immersion. Modafinil most likely puts you in a state of decreased mental chatter that makes it easier for you to become immersed with the activity you're engaged in, thus leading to a state of Flow. Being in Flow makes the activity you're engaged in intrinsically rewarding. So to answer your question, I think it's both the nootropics and the activity you engage in. And I don't think it's an illusion at all, perhaps the impression that it is an illusion is itself the illusion.

Kindly recommend you watch this

Definitely. I would also encourage anyone to try and engage with the objects they use in day to day life from an "I-thou" perspective rather than "I-it" perspective. If you will, to have respect for an object as part of reality is to honour its final cause. That is, if I own an object, I choose to see it as my duty to use it in such a way that it can meet its potential - that it can actualize the purpose for which it was built. I think this goes hand in hand with minimalism, for if we were to personify objects, we could argue that an object's suffering could be caused by its inutility or its lack of use. There is a sense of pleasure in using objects particularly after a long meditation session. In that state I find that I am much more aware of my direct interaction with an object and I am more able to connect with it as if it were an extension of myself rather than a mere disposable tool. And so I don't merely use an object as a means to an end, rather I extend myself through that object to actualize something of increased novelty which I would have not had access to without it. In more spiritual words, it is reality interacting with itself to find ways of creating itself in more novel ways.

I often see Daniel Schmachtenberger being talked about in the context of systems thinking because his most popular content revolves around that area, but I feel like his depth of understanding goes beyond although he seldomly chooses to address the spiritual or the mystical. I think this video is quite turquoise.

What a beautiful write-up. You're a beautiful person and I hope your parents are aware of that above all societal customs. I don't really have much advice to offer but I wish you all the best and empathise dearly with your struggle. Living on your own is easier than it may seem. There's a few basic routines that you need to create. Limit what you eat to a few recipes that are easy to cook and as healthy as possible. You don't want too much variety, it just takes a lot of time, you want to find a few staple recipes that you'll cook most of the time. You can always cook something fancy once in a while. Clean as you go. Wash the dishes after you're done eating. Only takes a minute or two. Take an hour or so to do a more thorough cleaning once a week, I'm talking hoovering, removing dust with a wet cloth, mopping (pro-tip, you can skip mopping and just clean the messy parts with a napkins and some dezinfectant). You also want to do the washing on the same day every few weeks or once a month depending on how many clothes you wear. Don't let the wardrobe become too cluttered, takes a few minutes to fold the clothes neatly after you do the washing. You want to have two sets of bed sheets so you can cycle between them when the one you're using needs washing. I change mine every 2-3 months, some people do it more often, but it should be fine for a pretty long time if you shower before bed, don't sweat at night, and open the windows to let some fresh air in every day. Know what bills you have to pay and when you have to pay them. Don't procrastinate on this, might be a little overwhelming at first but it becomes a habit after a few months. Don't own a lot of things. You don't want clutter, takes time to clean and can be distracting. House might look a little bit empty at first if you come from a culture where you keep a lot of things in your house (god knows I do), but you'll soon realize how nice it is to live in a clutter free environment. There's three essential things you want to focus on to make your quality of life top notch, and in my opinion those are: 1) Sleep, 2) Diet (whatever works for you, rule of thumb is to try it for a month to see how you feel - some people go for plant based diet, some people go for a very low carb/carnivore diet. Don't listen to people preaching about diets, try it for yourself and see what works best - once you have it, as I said above, have some staple recipes that you cook most of the time. As an example, it only takes me about half an hour two cook, eat, and wash the dishes, and I only eat two times a day, which makes about an hour in total) 3) Meditation (honestly one hour a day has made a lot of my "problems" just fade away). As far as budgeting goes, rent/utilities/food are highest priority. Know how much you need to spend each month on essentials and put that sum aside no matter what, make it non negotiable. The secret is to find a few simple routines that make for a sustainable lifestyle. You just have to stick with them even though if feels awkward and clunky at first. Will save you a lot of time in the long term. Just as a reference, I never did any chores growing up. My family would take care of everything, cooking, cleaning, buying groceries, bills, etc. I had to learn everything from scratch. You'll be absolutely fine.

Amazing series. He's like a Ken Wilber of academia.

Try not to overthink. Increase meditation to one hour a day. Good luck!

Meditate for one hour a day and most of these nuisances will become irrelevant pretty fast.

If you really want to create a commonplace books use Notion.so - it's by far the most advanced note taking service out there, you can structure it however you want. This video is a good representation of what you can create. But bear in mind you don't have to go that deep unless you need to, the service itself is very easy to use.

Not at all, still trying to figure out how to make my life purpose a reality. 50% of my Zone of Genius turns out to be "structuring fragmented information", so there you have it I guess, haha. I also like doing research a lot and my brain gets fired up whenever I come across anything resembling "second-tier" or "yellow". There's this Youtube channel called Rebel Wisdom which is basically a "yellow" goldmine. Once you start looking into the work that some of those people are doing you start to get a much bigger picture, and you just keep coming across interesting stuff and I write that stuff down. Glad you find these useful. Ken Wilber's Integral Theory and John Vervaeke's Awakening From The Meaning Crisis are a good starting point because they give a pretty good big-picture understanding of, well, pretty much everything you'd want to know from a bird's eye view. Meaning Crisis gets a little bit technical and hard to follow after episode 26 when it gets into Cognitive Science stuff, but the first 25 episodes are amazing - basically an account of the evolution of philosophy as we know it. So definitely check out these two. Also I saw that you are not very keen on meditation. I'd kindly as you to reconsider and give it another try at some point. Enligthenment and spirituality aside, it's probably the best bang for the buck thing to do in life. Honestly it feels like a lot of self-help/self-improvement was largely distraction from me meditating one hour every day. Some of the issues you're having in life simply fade away as you meditate, and living in general just becomes more pleasant, experientially speaking. So much so that I kind of stopped caring about spiritual enlightenment, I decided that meditation is simply something I'll do for it's own sake for the rest of my life (Mastery by George Leonard style). If you want a good guide I warmly recommend The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa (John Yates). It's pretty great, covers all the bases, gives you models to help you understand how the mind functions, and sructures the meditation journey across 10 stages (a-la the Ox-Herding Pictures). He's integrating many meditation traditions/meditations models into that one book. It's both accessible and comprehensive. It's with this book that I finally started a consistent meditation habit. And of course, meditation in general is something you want to consider if your calling is seeing what is possible for a human being to achieve in a life-time (becoming superhuman). Also, you probably already know Wim Hof. If you don't check him out, he achieved some pretty mind blowing stuff and is currently teaching his method. Quite simple and effective and very much superhuman, haha. Good luck!

Hey there. Let me help you with a few resources: First of all I recommend John Vervaeke's Awakening From The Meaning Crisis lecture series. John Vervaeke is a cognitive scientist at the University of Toronto and meditation teacher. In this lecture series he aims to integrate fragmented fields such as psychology, philosophy, systems theory, cognitive science, psychedelics, higher states of consciousness, spirituality, and even awakening into a unified theme. The importance of this series cannot be overstated, because these topics have not been addressed in academia before, and John's insights are spot-on thanks to his first person extensive involvement with spiritual practices as well as deep study of philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science. The first 25 episodes are basically a history of philosophy which I believe you will enjoy very much. If your top value is becoming a superhuman then you must consider the idea of the eightfold path in Buddhism. At its core, the idea is that an individual has to develop every area of their life in order to get to a point where they can differentiate and then integrate, thus transcending into a "different plane of existence" if you will. However, the eightfold path as traditionally presented in Buddhism is a relatively mythical/blue oriented doctrine but the principle itself is very much worth looking into. It has been touched upon in Ken Wilber's idea of Integral Life Practice, or the idea that an individual develops through multiple lines of development, of which there are at least 4 that are aboslutely essential for a fully integrated individual. The same idea has been echoed by Vervaeke as "an ecology of practices and psychotechnologies". I warmly recommend that you look into Ken Wilber's Integral Theory. If you have the time and interest, I recommend 4 of his books: Sex Ecology Spirituality (this is the one that references works of philosophy the most, so I imagine you would like to focus on this one if your domain of mastery is philosophy and learn his Integral Model through videos rather than going through the rest of the books) Integral Psychology Integral Spirituality Religion of Tomorrow If you are seriously thinking about becoming a philosopher then I recommend you stop relying on Actualized.org as a resource, it is a starting point more than anything else. I recommend you start looking for resources that you could study in depth. Awakenining From The Meaning Crisis recommends plenty of interesting books, although many are academic in nature. Sex Ecology and Spirituality should point you towards many worthwhile works of philosophy as well. Here are some additional books I recommend: Master and His Emissary - Iain McGilchrist Passion of The Western Mind - Richard Tarnas Maps of Meaning - Jordan Peterson At the same time, maybe you would like to develop a big-picture understanding of philosophy. If so, The Teaching Company has courses that cover all the major philosophers of Western as well as Eastern traditions. I recommend Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition 3rd edition Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition Mind-Body Philosophy Understanding Complexity Many more, they have tons of philosophy courses. I don't condone piracy, but they can be found online for free if you can't pay for the at the moment. Hope these will be of help on your journey. If anything, I recommend at least watching Awakening From The Meaning Crisis and learning a little bit about Integral Theory. Good luck!

I recently got hired as an entry-level technical support agent for a call center. It's my first job and came as a result of deciding that it's time I paused the academic/formal education bubble and got some first-hand experience at being financially independent and investing my time and energy into something more substantial than taking courses I'm not particularly fond of at this period of my life and just chasing grades. Besides that, the Romanian education system does a very poor job at preparing one for the challenges of being a functional citizen and employee, and it feels like it's time I took on the challenge and see where it goes. I was surprised to find a very welcoming environment - the colleagues are diverse in their own ways, friendly, and willing to help, my manager and superiors are all very understanding, the employees of the client that we work with are also polite and rarely become impatient - I don't feel treated as an entry-level employee, I feel more like an individual who decided to join the team and works with people rather than for people. Overall I would say that it's a good example of a corporation transitioning into the green stage, caring about its client as well as employees. When it comes to the actual work there is a learning curve, which, although I don't find particularly interesting, becomes satisfying the more I learn how it works and how to navigate it. I'm trying to look at it through the lenses of Wilber's Integral Model and enjoy the sense that I am part of a bigger context. My team's client is one of the biggest water services in the U.K. and it feels good to know that my work is a little piece of this huge and complicated puzzle. I am glad to say I don't hate my first job. I couldn't say I love it either, but I totally see myself getting into it. There is also the possibility of promotion after as little as 4-5 months. I've been congratulated for the good job I've been doing as a new-joiner so far, and honestly, it feels like a breath of fresh air. It reminds me of the confidence in my potential which got lost throughout the grindy years of formal education which offered little to no motivation. Now I have a couple of questions for those of you who work a 9-5 five job and also do self-actualization: How do you motivate yourself to give your best at your job and exceed expectations? Are there any books your recommend on this topic? I bought the book list but I also want to know which books have helped you personally How do you combine self-actualization with your unrelated full-time job? How can I use this job not only for professional growth, but also for spiritual growth and to become more conscious? How do you go about self-actualization outside your full-time job? What sacrifices do you make to practice and actualize in your free time? What are the most essential self-actualization practices you do? How do you motivate yourself to stay consistent? Is there anything you do to stay focused and energized even after the end of the shift when distractions become tempting? How do you go about setting goals and planning? I recently decided it's time I focused on being consistent in what I do and I'm trying to create a blueprint for the next year, any tips for that? I'm looking forward to studying the topics in "Start Here" on Actualized.org. I am familiar with some of the topics, but I've always lacked consistency and feel that I've been using this research more as an escape than real learning. Do you have any recommendations? Is the Life Purpose Course worth it for my current situation? I have this fear that I don't have enough life experience to work towards a life-purpose yet. I'm thinking about devoting the next three or four years to being consistent in whatever I decide to do so I can learn more about myself. $250 is 70% of my monthly wage (Romanian economy) so I am reluctant to invest the sum for the moment, but still feel like I would benefit from a guided process for finding a direction. Finally, for the older users of the forum, what do you wish you had known when starting out as a 21 year old young adult? Share your wisdom! Thank you for taking the time to read and wish all of you all the best!

It is in the realization of no-meaning that I found the glimpse of the absolute - and for a while I understood that: Only madmen try to make sense of all this There is nothing to run for and nothing to run from There isn't anything out there other than what already is - out there is already here And in both tears and laughter I kept wondering to myself, what do I keep looking for that isn't what I already am; what do I expect to find that is not already here? There's nothing to be looked for, there's nothing to be found, it only is. Why all this suffering, why all this fear, why all these explanations, what for? What meaning, what proof, what sense: when in this meaninglessness I find infinite meaning - when I realize that life is it's own meaning and it cannot grasp or understand itself - it can only be. Thank you for the post, it reminded me of my most intimate experience. I hope one day I'll see "it" as clearly as I did then and forget myself again.

@MLKFan Hey, I'm interested about which of his books you have read or video/audio programs you've watched/heard that triggered this suspicion of him. Maybe it's the way his integral movement is advertised nowadays? I highly recommend one his more personal books "Grace and Grit". It's the story of him and his wife, Treya, who was diagnosed with cancer ten days after they got married and the ensuing fight and reconciliation with the disease. She was planning on writing a book about her fight but didn't live to publish it. Half (maybe a bit more) of the book consists of the manuscript she left behind, so you could say it was co-authored with his wife. You will discover a Wilber who, despite being a Zen practitioner for 15 and prolific transpersonal psychology writer at the time, is still very much a human being who deals with pain and suffering through honesty and awareness. Both him and his wife are inspiring, his wife in particular due to the story in the book. I like his Integral model a lot but this book really reinforced my respect for him, not for being a spiritual teacher or enlightened being, but for his down to earth attitude, awareness of his own weaknesses, humanity, and the honest desire to do good and follow his life purpose. His wife's account is heart-breaking as well as hopeful. To see such a decent human being having to go through such a fight, such suffering, and eventually accept it, make peace with the whole thing and transcend it, is absolutely moving. Edit: Also, to address one of your previous replies, please don't get discouraged! If you want to talk more about it you can reply to this thread. If anything, try to take some kind of inspiration out of the people who have managed to reach a point where they can raise the collective consciousness and genuinely help others. It's much work. Wilber, for example, washed dishes for many years so he could study spirituality, consciousness, and human development. Tolle was severely depressed for years before he got his revelation, and then went from being homeless to being a teacher, which I imagine required just as much work and dedication. If this is your true desire and you keep working at it you will eventually get there. I myself have no idea where I'm heading at the moment, but ultimately, I think all of us reach a point in our lives where we realize that the meaningful life is the one where we live for something bigger than ourselves. I too want to be able to help humanity forward, not necessarily as a spiritual teacher, but in my own way, whichever that will be. I'm still very confused and uncertain about the future but I have faith that if we work to grow and develop ourselves consciously, we will eventually get there. It won't be easy and I suspect that at some point there will be major shifts that will make us reconsider our direction, but it's a path worth following for the simple fact that you know it's the true path towards happiness and fulfillment - not because anybody says so or because it's the 'right' thing to do, but merely for the fact that it's our most honest desire. I realized through my past experiences that, when we truly make peace with ourselves, we inevitably crave to share that peace with those around us and humanity at large, simply because it feels right.

Very interesting. I'm curious about your opinion on Culadasa (John Yates Ph.D) - The Mind Illuminated if you are familiar with it. It outlines a ten-stage system towards the path of Enlightenment, somewhat similar to the Ten Pictures of Ox-Herding. Do you have any experience with binaural-beats enhanced meditation, like Centerpointe's Holosync? I really like the idea of differentiating between formal and informal consciousness work. Could you elaborate a bit on this? Also, what would you recommend to someone who wants to start a consistent meditation practice? What techniques/types of meditation do you recommend to a beginner like me? Is there anything you wish you knew before starting your meditation practice(s)? Are there any specific books/programs/systems/paths you recommend?

I don't have experience with Keto, but I've been on the rather similar Zero-Carb (carnivore) diet for almost 7 months (3 months consistently followed by some more turbulent 4 months of constant cheating). I've had great results. I first learned about it from the "What I've Learned" Youtube Channel. I was in a pretty bad state health wise - nothing life threatening, but the quality of my daily life was really bad. I was very surprised to learn that there are people who only eat meat or animal products; it went against most of the common dieting advice I've known my whole life, but having very little to lose, I decided to give it a go. It was a really good decision and I can say it changed my life to some extent. First of all it helped tremendously with my energy levels. I would almost always wake up tired and continue being tired throughout the day no matter how much sleep I got. I noticed a substantial difference from the second day of zero-carb: my body started to feel really light and doing light physical effort (hikinh, jogging, walking) felt really good and satisfying. This was life-changing for me as I had been in this state of constant tiredness for years prior to this diet. It almost cured my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) symptoms. Before going on this diet I had been dealing with IBS symptoms for over two years. Sometimes it was just constant sharp pains in my lower belly, other times it was a general sensitivity and a dull pain each time I applied pressure or strained the muscles in that area. There was also a constant feeling of bloating, like there was a swelling inside my bowels. Two weeks into the diet all of these were gone. It also solved nausea, brain fog, and, to some extent, general anxiety. I would occasionally experience nausea in the morning and after eating. I never experienced it once on this diet. I would also often experience brain fog, like there was this veil in my awareness which made it hard to focus and collect my thoughts. It went away on the second day. Anxiety was an interesting one and I didn't expect there would be any strong connection between it and nutrition. One week into the diet I realized that the general feeling of anxiety was largely coming from my stomach/bowels; I'm not sure how to describe it - it's like constantly having "butterflies inside the stomach", the sort of feeling you get when you are either excited or anxious about something. In my case it was almost always the latter, and it just went away after one week. I occasionally experience it again when I cheat and overdo it on coffee. Weight loss. I wasn't really interested in this and honestly it was somewhat of a concern during the first month. I was pretty skinny to begin with (a bit of belly) and I started to lose weight during the first month to the point where people I know became somewhat concerned about my health. However, starting the second month my appetite stabilized and I began to eat more. My belly fat went away and I started to notice muscle growth. I started going to the gym and progress was easily noticeable after as little as one month of exercising one hour/day, four days/week. It almost felt like I was cheating. Acne and resistance to cold. I've had moderate face acne since my late teenage years. Three months into the diet it became almost unnoticeable (but returned when I started cheating, especially with sugar). A couple weeks into the diet I also noticed that my resistance to cold weather increased. This was very helpful as I was in an Erasmus mobility in Norway at the time. My hands and feet in particular were cold most of the time, so I was happy to find that it also helped with that. Obviously, this is my own anecdotal experience. I resonated with this diet almost instantly, which I find a little funny because I never really liked meat. I know that most people need about a month or so to adjust, but I experienced improvements from day 1 and I'm really grateful. Feeling healthy is truly life changing and I plan to end my cheating spree as soon as possible. There were very few videos about it on Youtube when I started and that has changed. I see a lot of people who have had similar experiences, even now-former vegans/vegetarians. Goes to show that we need a lot more research on the subject of nutrition. I find this really interesting. It seems a lot of traditional knowledge we have on this topic is at least limited. I would really like to see a lot more long-term, open-minded research being done here. Here is a playlist of some interesting presentations of research data on low-carb diets from the University of Sydney. Good luck and stay healthy! Edit: I recommend to all people who experience some sort of health related issue(s) to try it for a month and see if they notice any improvements. You might be surprised, I know I was.

Category: Systems Thinking, Models Largely developed by American philosopher Ken Wilber, the Integral Theory aims to integrate diverse subjects, such as psychology, spirituality, sociology, politics, ecology, self-actualization and so on, within a single open model in order to explain and make a better sense of the totality of human knowledge and experience. Reasons for this request: First of all, I think a fair amount of individuals would benefit from being exposed to the Integral approach. A possible list of benefits for learning about and understanding this model: Exercising the ability to think in systems - one of the main characteristics of the second tier of psyche development (specifically, stage yellow) as described by the model of Spiral Dynamics. You will become less judgemental because you can empathize with different viewpoints and idea because you understand why they exist, what led to their development and spread (or lack thereof), and how they are influenced by and influence each other. You will develop your Map of Reality a you understand that the external world is comprised of systems within systems that work in tandem with each other and are, in turn, influenced by the internal world As a result, you will increasingly be able to understand a bigger, long-term context in different circumstances and situations within a very complex world Understanding how different areas of human knowledge and experience have value and address different facets of the human experience Understanding how often contradictory areas of knowledge and experience interconnect with one another and how integrating all of them could lead to beneficial outcomes and a complex understanding of humanity and reality - Eastern Spirituality and Western Psychology, for example Developing a better sense and understanding of your own journey, be it spiritual, intellectual, success-oriented, etc, a combination of those or even all of them: You will understand how your life journey can consist of smaller journeys which influence and complement one another This will also help you overcome and prevent certain traps - becoming a 'Zen Devil', for example A bigger open-mindedness Being open to new perspectives Seeing the value in each perspective and integrating the good parts Healthy critical thinking The ability to entertain viewpoints you don't agree with The ability to apply critical thinking to your own critical thinking The ability to offer constructive criticism and opinions A better world and self understanding Getting a better sense of the areas of your growth You might be unaware that a certain area holds you back simply because you are innocently ignorant of it (you might not even know it is related to your growth process) Second of all, a video about the Integral Theory would be a nice complement to Leo's 'intellectual knowledge'/systems thinking category of videos, especially to his Spiral Dynamics series. It could further his viewership's understanding of systems thinking and enable them too see stronger connections, larger patterns as well as subtler ones. From my own experience, I had already been acquainted with Spiral Dynamics (largely thanks to Actualized.org) when I began looking into Integral theory and the latter added a new dimension to my understanding of the former. Lots of "Aha" moments. Third of all, I genuinely think it would help individuals understand spirituality and their own journey/growing/development process better. Many of us come from a rationalist/atheistic background and a materialist metaphysics. Discovering spirituality opens up a new universe of meaning and possibilities, but it can become overwhelming. From my experience, I struggled for quite a while to understand and make sense of all the new viewpoints and perspectives I was being exposed to. There is indeed a learning curve. Some people will tell you to stop trying, because 'you are already enlightened', others will tell you to be very serious about your practice and devotion to this path, and it takes time, research, practice, failure and motivation to understand that both of these viewpoints are true in a sense, although not in the way you expected. Add to this the idea of multiple awakening experiences, the idea of The Map vs The Territory (intellectual understanding vs direct experience), paradox, the same terms being used in different, sometimes even contradicting ways by different spiritual teachers, understanding the tricky nature of the ego - it can get clusterfucky. Growing spiritually certainly involves some emotional distress and confusion. Integral theory helped me make a better sense of "all this" and gave me some very much needed direction - maybe not necessarily 'direction' but the ability 'to navigate' without feeling lost. Last of all, I'm making this request for the sake of availability. There certainly are resources out there on the web if you wish to learn about integral but much of it is just not very accessible/approachable. There certainly are good videos of Wilber explaining the model that you can find on Youtube, but, depending on the context of the video, he tends to focus on certain aspects of the model in particular. There are also articles and essays that do a good job but can be intimidating at first glance. My point is that there isn't yet a video that does a good job introducing this model in an approachable yet not limiting way with a good production value. Actualized.org is a great channel for passing on such interesting ideas. We have seen it with topics such as Spiral Dynamics, Quantum Mechanics, Psychedelics, and more. Integral theory is a good complement to these subjects and could offer a greater context for all of them. @Leo Gura Thank you for the consistently good content and good luck on your retreat! Looking forward to hearing the insights you will have had and the new direction of Actualized.org.

I've been doing some research online on integral theory and would like to know more. His bibliography is rather expansive so I'm looking for some tips on where to start. As I understand, his theory went through different stages of development, the most notable being the introduction of the Quadrants model in Sex, Ecology and Spirituality. I know that he's been adding new things since then (like the integration of Spiral Dynamics), so I have a couple of questions for those who are familiar with his work: Do you recommend reading some of his more popular works in a certain order? What 2 titles do you recommend to someone who hasn't read any of his books but is superficially familiar with his theory?