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The new book I’ve been working on since 2016 is titled: Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself. It’s scheduled to be published by Paragon House on March 1, 2020. The Table of Contents and some endorsements are below. Here’s a brief description: Growing hyper-partisan polarization threatens the foundations of American […]
The 2018 midterm results are in. And despite two years of creative destruction, consistent anti-environmental policy moves, and the moral degradation of the office of the presidency, Trumpism has not been thoroughly repudiated by America’s voters. Democrats gained a House majority, but it looks like Republicans have locked up the Senate through 2022 at least. […]
In this episode of The Daily Evolver video podcast, Steve McIntosh and Jeff Salzman take us on a tour through the origins of integral philosophy, starting with G.W.F. Hegel, who first explained the mechanisms of evolution in human history, and on through a stream of philosophers who unified the evolution of matter, consciousness and spirit. […]
The academic publisher Palgrave Macmillan is calling for articles for their upcoming special issue on Cultural Evolution. I’m not sure if ICE will contribute, but I’m glad to see interest in this so I’m passing it along to our readers. — Steve McIntosh Call for papers: Cultural Evolution Palgrave Communications, the open access journal from […]
Does America set a good moral example for the world? NPR’s Phoenix affiliate station KJZZ recently interviewed me about PRRI’s 2017 survey of American values. (PRRI, or Public Religion Research Institute, is a nonpartisan national polling organization). Interviewer Steve Goldtein of NPR was specifically interested in one of PRRI’s survey questions regarding the changing status […]
The Institute for Cultural Evolution’s principals are actively working on two books that are intended to demonstrate how our evolutionary thinking can lead to political progress and renewal. So for the time being we are not actively engaged in organization building. I’m posting this message here on our blog so that the lack of recent […]
This week I attended the Conscious Capitalism organization’s CEO-Summit in Austin, Texas with my ICE colleague Carter Phipps. Our ICE colleague John Mackey, co-author of the book Conscious Capitalism and co-founder of the movement was also there too, of course. Conscious Capitalism began about ten years ago and has now become a large and vibrant movement. Its high-energy CEO-Summit was attended by close to […]
In August 1984 I matriculated at the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville, where I would live for the next three years. Coming from California, I remember being both amused and mildly scandalized by my first encounter with the “Cult of the Lost Cause.” The first shock came at seeing the memorials in the […]
Dear Friends of the Institute for Cultural Evolution, Does the integral political analysis of the Institute for Cultural Evolution (‘ICE’) intrigue you? Would you like to learn more about the thinking and practices that animate ICE’s perspectives? If so, we invite you to join us in August for a three day seminar in Boulder, Colorado, […]
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More of this, please: Very smart people, representing the best of the Modern and Progressive worldviews, respectfully debating the nuances of a primary front in the culture war.
http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/who-gets-to-say-with-john-mcwhorter/id1382983397?i=1000514986883
Most issues, like gun control, push directly against the values of one worldview or another, but it is interesting to find a stuck issue, like campaign finance reform, that is supported by all three major worldviews:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/inside-the-koch-backed-effort-to-block-the-largest-election-reform-bill-in-half-a-century
We’re now on week 7 of my 9-week course on Post-Progressive Politics. I’m pleased to say our 50 person group has gelled nicely—they’re asking tough questions and making great progress. It’s an honor to be with these fine folks every Wednesday night!
Wicked problems are so complex, they can’t be solved by the same level of thinking that created them. Regulating social media is a wicked problem that is begging for a post-progressive solution that can see & balance all the conflicting values involved.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/3/24/22349186/facebook-zuckerberg-testimony-section-230-reform-proposal
Steve McIntosh & Jeff Salzman visit with two young leaders, Gary Sheng & Zoë Jenkins, who are activating higher consciousness in Generation Z through their organization Civics Unplugged.#CivicsUnplugged #GarySheng #ZoëJenkins #JeffSalzman #SteveMcIntosh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q0gFqJ6vFY
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What Does “Transcendence” Mean?
“Transcendence” or “the transcendent” generally refers to the people and things that are ultimately more important than yourself or your perceived self-interest. For example, that which is transcendent for you could include: Your family, humanity, your deepest convictions, the environment, God, Oneness, your country, animals, freedom, adventure, art, science, a better world, or anything you consider authentically “higher.” Your personal ideals of transcendence are grounded in the people and things that you’re dedicated to, and might even lay down your life for, if it became necessary. Your ideals of transcendence therefore help define your life’s higher purposes.
The word transcendence is used in this exercise as an umbrella term that is friendly to both spiritual and secular notions of transcendent higher purposes. In other words, you don’t have to be religious to recognize the significance of transcendent ideals. Our attraction to a greater good that lies beyond ourselves—our ceaseless striving to serve something higher and create something better—is a fundamental part of what makes us human.
The connection between your ideals of transcendence, your virtues, and your basic moral obligations—to self, to others, and to the transcendent—is illustrated by the graphic below. The specific virtues shown in this graphic are the 7 fundamental virtues, but the specific 7 virtues you choose in this exercise may differ from these classical 7.
For more on virtues and their relationship with transcendence, see the book Developmental Politics, by this exercise’s author, Steve McIntosh.