What is Integral? (By Kelly Sosan Bearer)

by Kelly Sosan Bearer

The Integral map is a comprehensive approach to human growth and development, developed by philosopher Ken Wilber, that lays out all that the various world cultures have to tell us about human potential- spiritual growth, psychological growth, social and cultural growth. The Integral map uses all the known systems and models of human growth and distills their major components into five simple factors that are essential elements or keys to unlocking and facilitating human evolution.

So, why learn this map? By learning the Integral map, we are not merely learning a set of theoretical concepts, but rather aspects available in our very own awareness right now. And by exercising these elements, we can accelerate our growth and development to higher, wider, and deeper ways of being and serving in the world.

The Integral map can be applied to everything in our lives, from our professional careers, to our relationships, to our health and well being, as well as to any and all disciplines, such as, business, technology, psychology, education, politics, art, spirituality, sexuality, and the environment.

The Integral approach is the unification of contrasts. It helps us to see with our minds and hearts, deeply feeling interiors while steadily observing exteriors. The Integral approach provides us with the opportunity for fullness and freedom with greater capacities to express compassion and love. Integral is the practice of living fully, in a seamless and passionate integration of mind, body and spirit. From this embodied integration, we are able to transform our lives.

But more than just a map, the Integral approach is an invitation to directly experience our own reality, right here, right now. The call is to integrate, to take a panoramic view of self, culture and nature, and to embrace the insights and tools that serve the highest potential of All.

In short, the Integral Approach helps us to better understand ourselves, others, and the world by providing a framework that embraces seemingly opposing worldviews and perspectives in a way that mends wounds, includes the marginalized, heals the personal and rejoins the systemic in an integrated embrace of greater care, wisdom, and discernment.

Kelly Sosan Bearer is the Executive Producer, Host, and Co-Founder of Integral Chicks Podcast. Kelly is the Curator for Integral Spiritual Experience. She also serves as the Chief Executive Officer for iEvolve: Global Practice Community. Follow her on Twitter @KellyBearer.

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