We’re hiring!
The Institute for Cultural Evolution is hiring! We’re recruiting for a Communications Manager and an Operations Assistant. We’re looking for people who are excited to grow with us. [...]
The Institute for Cultural Evolution is hiring! We’re recruiting for a Communications Manager and an Operations Assistant. We’re looking for people who are excited to grow with us. [...]
The Developmental Alliance is a growing community of people who identify with the emerging developmental perspective on politics and culture. We meet for Zoom conversations every second Wednesday [...]
Just published in the Institute for Cultural Evolution’s online political magazine, The Developmentalist, a substantial new article by me: Does Human Nature Evolve? “The key question [...]
We’re pleased to announce a new article by Institute for Cultural Evolution Senior Fellow Greg Thomas: Considering Deracialization: A Response to Glenn Loury and Clifton Roscoe Read it now [...]
We’re excited to welcome our organization’s new Executive Director: Stephanie Lepp. Stephanie will work closely with our President and Board of Directors to bring the Institute of Cultural [...]
I’m excited to share my latest podcast with Glenn Loury on The Glenn Show. Professor Loury is a courageous thought leader who transcends left and right. In our conversation, we discuss [...]
I’m pleased to share the podcast conversation I recently had with philosopher and spiritual seeker Tim Freke. We discussed evolutionary spirituality and theology. Then beginning at 52:40, we had [...]
The Institute for Cultural Evolution has hired Kevin Kretschmer as our new Communications Director. Kevin is a long-time developmentalist and brings a wealth of experience in communications, [...]
We’re pleased to share Carter Phipps' latest article in The Developmentalist: Can We Make Governing Great Again? In it, he suggests that our crisis of expertise is really a crisis of governance, [...]
The Institute for Cultural Evolution is pleased to announce the publication of Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself as an audiobook. This acclaimed book of [...]
Institute for Cultural Evolution
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The Institute for Cultural Evolution is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization.
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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.
