Latest Podcasts
Trump anxiety, Gun madness & Weinstein’s fall
Highlights from the week of Oct 9
I’m really enjoying doing my daily web show (Mon-Thur) on Integral Live. It gives me a forum to bring an integral perspective to the events of the day, in real time. This week’s podcast includes:
1) The Trumpometer has ticked from incompetent to dangerous. His base still loves him and progressives still hate him, but the mainstream middle, including Republicans like Sen Bob Corker, are warning of WWIII.
2) The Las Vegas shooter highlights the price of America’s second amendment: high-tech guns in the hands of homocidal maniacs. Yet what’s up with the ongoing paradox of increasing gun ownership and decreasing gun violence?
3)Male domination of women is nothing new. Though modernity and postmodernity seek to dismantled it, pockets of patriarchy continue to flourish in the strangest places, even liberal Hollywood. Till last week…
read more and access podcast...Latest Podcasts
The Power of Mutual Awakening
My conversation with Patricia Albere
Hey Folks,
Today I’d like to share a conversation I had with one of my favorite evolutionary teachers, Patricia Albere, about her beautiful new book: Evolutionary Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Mutual Awakening.
Patricia is the founder of The Evolutionary Collective, a group of committed integral practitioners who are investigating relationship itself as a means of spiritual awakening.
I hosted Patricia as she started the Collective several years ago at Boulder Integral. I loved working with her; Patricia has a special, right-on-schedule realization, and the gift of real spiritual leadership in sharing it with others. Here’s the blurb I wrote for her book:
“Patricia Albere has been conducting basic research into what it is to evolve in mutuality with other people. This book is a report from the frontiers of her explorations. What she has discovered is that love is not just an emotion but an evolutionary force, a force that drives all the fragments of the universe – including us – toward greater connection and wholeness.”
You can find out more about Patricia’s new book Evolutionary Relationships here. And if you are seriously interested in the practice of mutual awakening, consider buying the book by Sunday, 10/8/17 and you’ll get complimentary tuition to her four-part course, Mutual Trust.
read more and access podcast...About integral theory
Integral theory is a school of philosophy that seeks to integrate all of human wisdom into a new, emergent worldview that is able to accommodate the gifts of all previous worldviews, including those which have been historically at odds: science and religion, eastern and western, and pre-modern, modern and post-modern. Read more
About Jeff Salzman
I am an integralist, an evolutionary, and a public commentator who, swimming against the current of prevailing culture, is heartened by the state and future of things. It seems to me self-evident that life is animated by the power of evolution, inside and out, and that we are riding a geyser of emergence toward a sacred world. Read more
Recent favorites
Donald Trump Has A Very Small Amygdala
In this episode I attempt once again to plumb the shallows of Donald Trump's mind.
I was spurred by an article in The Atlantic magazine about children who have been diagnosed with “callous and unempathetic traits.” In many ways Trump fits the profile of these children, who to a surprising degree do not respond to disapproval or punishments, but do respond to praise and rewards. The article reports on interesting new treatments that are helping these kids grow into better adults.
Unfortunately, at age 71 Trump may be a lost cause. In the last part of the podcast I look at some of the ramifications of his psychological profile, specifically as it relates to North Korea.
read more and access podcast...
Trump: the Anti-Green Backlash Begins – An interview with Ken Wilber
The Trump Presidency is an evolutionary correction for a culture whose leading edge “is in a 50-car pileup.” This is the thesis of Ken Wilber’s excellent new eBook, Trump and a Post-Truth World, and the kickoff point of a wide ranging conversation I had with Ken last week. Here's Ken's argument:
Every now and then, evolution itself has to adjust course, in light of new information on how its path is unfolding, and it starts (apparently spontaneously but with this deeper morphic field actually operating) by making various moves that are, in effect, self-correcting evolutionary realignments. The leading-edge of cultural evolution is today—and has been for four or five decades—the green wave (“green” meaning the basic stage of human development known to various developmental models as pluralistic, postmodern, relativistic, individualistic, beginning self-actualization, human-bond, multicultural, etc.—and generically referred to as “postmodern”).
read more and access podcast...
Pre-Truth, Post-Truth and Beyond
Inaugurated with bogus crowd claims and tales of voter fraud, the post-truth presidency of Donald Trump is upon us. Trump lives in a Red “warrior” worldspace alive with apparitions, rumors, conspiracies, and above all, scheming enemies. Placed in the...
read more and access podcast...
The 50,000 Year Culture War
In today’s episode I am the guest of Stephen T. Harper as he kicks off his new podcast, “What’s Your Theory?”, where he interviews people who have “good answers to big questions about how the world works.” And do I have a theory for him!
One of the key tenets of integral theory is that human consciousness and culture evolve, and that’s where Steve and I focus. With his enthusiastic curiosity and flex-flow mind, Steve helps me map the “evolution of the interior” from the dawn of humanity to the present day where integral theory is so helpful for making sense of our world.
While this podcast is an introduction to integral theory, we use plenty of up-to-the minute topics and headlines to tell the story. Established students of integral theory will get an overview and refresher, and newbies will get a good basic understanding of a foundational integral principle. If you have friends who are interested in an integral on-ramp, this is a conversation you might consider sharing with them as well.
read more and access podcast...Self-Love: Feeling whole in our incompleteness
The Shrink and the Pundit is an ongoing discussion between Jeff and his longtime friend, Dr. Keith Witt, a leading Integral psychotherapist.
In this podcast they explore the topic of self-love. Dr. Keith traces the relationship that each of us has with our own “self-sense” from birth (actually gestation), when we fall from the paradise of the womb and begin the process of growth into ever new worlds of conditional love. That pattern continues until we reach higher stages of development, where a more integrated sense of self is able to love what has previously been in shadow.
Listen in as Jeff and Dr. Keith discuss how to cultivate “a warm sense of oneness with yourself as being good, caring and beautiful.”
read more and access podcast...
Facilitating Vertical Development – A Conversation with Beena Sharma
In this podcast, Beena and I discuss what she and her team are learning about how adults grow through the predictable stages of adult development while still remaining true to their own journey. We examine how we can consciously participate in our own evolution and growth in a way that creates a more fulfilling, healthy, conscious and fruitful life.
read more and access podcast...
Flying At Integral: A Conversation with Jason Lange
In this episode I am the guest of my longtime friend and integral comrade, Jason Lange, on his new podcast Do The Evolution. We hit some juicy territory in our conversation so I’m sharing it with you here on The Daily Evolver. There are certain questions that...
read more and access podcast...
Is the System Rigged? Yes, and it’s coming along nicely …
If there's one thing that people on both ends of the political spectrum can agree on, it's this: the system is rigged. But an integral view asks, “which system?” A historical survey reveals that over time humanity has created a series of political/economic systems, each designed to right the wrongs of the previous system. Essentially, the workings of any system is seen as corruption by people at the next stage of development. This bigger “System” of cultural evolution continues to create “systems” that are ever more equitable and humane. In this podcast Jeff explores what corruption looks like now, and how it relates to the US presidential election.
read more and access podcast...
The world according to Wilber
Ken Wilber is my hero. I mean that quite literally because Ken rescued me from a life of confusion, fear and frustration as I tried to make sense of our crazy, mixed up world. Ken’s insights organized life on Planet Earth from a disjointed mess into an elegant whole.
read more and access podcast...Let us hear from you
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Daily Evolver Archives
Trump anxiety, Gun madness & Weinstein’s fall
Highlights from the week of Oct 9
I’m really enjoying doing my daily web show (Mon-Thur) on Integral Live. It gives me a forum to bring an integral perspective to the events of the day, in real time. This week’s podcast includes:
1) The Trumpometer has ticked from incompetent to dangerous. His base still loves him and progressives still hate him, but the mainstream middle, including Republicans like Sen Bob Corker, are warning of WWIII.
2) The Las Vegas shooter highlights the price of America’s second amendment: high-tech guns in the hands of homocidal maniacs. Yet what’s up with the ongoing paradox of increasing gun ownership and decreasing gun violence?
3)Male domination of women is nothing new. Though modernity and postmodernity seek to dismantled it, pockets of patriarchy continue to flourish in the strangest places, even liberal Hollywood. Till last week…
The Power of Mutual Awakening
My conversation with Patricia Albere
Hey Folks,
Today I’d like to share a conversation I had with one of my favorite evolutionary teachers, Patricia Albere, about her beautiful new book: Evolutionary Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Mutual Awakening.
Patricia is the founder of The Evolutionary Collective, a group of committed integral practitioners who are investigating relationship itself as a means of spiritual awakening.
I hosted Patricia as she started the Collective several years ago at Boulder Integral. I loved working with her; Patricia has a special, right-on-schedule realization, and the gift of real spiritual leadership in sharing it with others. Here’s the blurb I wrote for her book:
“Patricia Albere has been conducting basic research into what it is to evolve in mutuality with other people. This book is a report from the frontiers of her explorations. What she has discovered is that love is not just an emotion but an evolutionary force, a force that drives all the fragments of the universe – including us – toward greater connection and wholeness.”
You can find out more about Patricia’s new book Evolutionary Relationships here. And if you are seriously interested in the practice of mutual awakening, consider buying the book by Sunday, 10/8/17 and you’ll get complimentary tuition to her four-part course, Mutual Trust.
Donald Trump Has A Very Small Amygdala
New research into people who lack empathy, and how to deal with them
In this episode I attempt once again to plumb the shallows of Donald Trump's mind.
I was spurred by an article in The Atlantic magazine about children who have been diagnosed with “callous and unempathetic traits.” In many ways Trump fits the profile of these children, who to a surprising degree do not respond to disapproval or punishments, but do respond to praise and rewards. The article reports on interesting new treatments that are helping these kids grow into better adults.
Unfortunately, at age 71 Trump may be a lost cause. In the last part of the podcast I look at some of the ramifications of his psychological profile, specifically as it relates to North Korea.
The Daily Evolver is now live DAILY!
Join me Mondays through Thursdays on Integral Live ...
When I started the Daily Evolver ten years ago my fantasy was to comment on politics and culture in real time, every day.
It turns out that new technology - and a kind offer from my friends at Integral Life - has enabled me to do just that. I love the casual daily vibe and have committed to do an episode four days a week: Mondays through Thursdays. I also offer the week's highlights as an audio podcast on this site.
What do I cover? The same stuff I’ve always talked about on the Daily Evolver: it could be a look at that day’s headlines, or a movie critique, or some insight from my life and loved ones.
Is Climate Changing Us?
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma heat up the debate
This week the topic was obvious: Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the dual storms that battered Texas and Florida in the last couple weeks.
In this episode we look at how the climate debate has exacerbated the polarization of our culture, particularly between traditionalists and postmodernists. How is it that the political right and left can have such radically different views of what’s happening with our global climate, and what, if anything, should be done about it? Are we deadlocked? Can we fight our way forward? And why can't science just settle things?
As always integral theory helps us sort things out. I hope you enjoy the podcast!
The 50,000 Year Culture War
My appearance on “What’s Your Theory?” podcast
In today’s episode I am the guest of Stephen T. Harper as he kicks off his new podcast, “What’s Your Theory?”, where he interviews people who have “good answers to big questions about how the world works.” And do I have a theory for him!
One of the key tenets of integral theory is that human consciousness and culture evolve, and that’s where Steve and I focus. With his enthusiastic curiosity and flex-flow mind, Steve helps me map the “evolution of the interior” from the dawn of humanity to the present day where integral theory is so helpful for making sense of our world.
While this podcast is an introduction to integral theory, we use plenty of up-to-the minute topics and headlines to tell the story. Established students of integral theory will get an overview and refresher, and newbies will get a good basic understanding of a foundational integral principle. If you have friends who are interested in an integral on-ramp, this is a conversation you might consider sharing with them as well.
Intimacy, Longevity, and Happiness
In this episode of Shrink and Pundit, integral psychotherapist Dr Keith Witt and I talk about how intimacy, longevity and happiness are programmed into the human genome, and accessible to all of us. But at a cost.
Keith recently participated in an extraordinary conference called Plenitude near Sintra, Portugal. The conference brought together experts from around the world to explore a multidimensional approach to aging well.
Join us in our discussion of some surprising and not so surprising data about the current state of longevity research and how it relates to intimacy and happiness from an AQAL perspective.
The Trump Era, Month Five
In this podcast we’ve spliced together the audio from three Facebook Live videos I’ve done over the last couple weeks. I’m really liking these quickie videos as they are giving me a chance to comment on current events in real time, which is particularly handy now that the news is coming at us so fast.
Here are the three topics I explore in this podcast:
02:36 Trump is Irredeemably Red
19:18 Loyalty vs Law
37:53 The Uncivil War
Facilitating Vertical Development – A Conversation with Beena Sharma
In this podcast, Beena and I discuss what she and her team are learning about how adults grow through the predictable stages of adult development while still remaining true to their own journey. We examine how we can consciously participate in our own evolution and growth in a way that creates a more fulfilling, healthy, conscious and fruitful life.
Flying At Integral: A Conversation with Jason Lange
In this episode I am the guest of my longtime friend and integral comrade, Jason Lange, on his new podcast Do The Evolution. We hit some juicy territory in our conversation so I’m sharing it with you here on The Daily Evolver. There are certain questions that...
Irritation as a Spiritual Practice – A conversation with Diane Musho Hamilton
Diane Musho Hamilton is at the forefront of one of the most significant spiritual emergents in contemporary culture: the realization of the power of our everyday relationships, even troubled ones, as a means of awakening.
For many progressive spiritual practitioners it no longer feels like enough to merely follow an individual meditation practice, as valuable as that is. We want to apply our enlarged selves, skillfully and in real time, to the circumstances of our complex lives, and particularly to our relationships with others.
The spiritual potency of relationship is a subject Diane Musho Hamilton explores in her new book, The Zen of You and Me: A Guide to Getting Along with Just About Anyone. Diane grounds her teaching in the enduring cosmic polarity between difference and sameness. It is the sameness we share with others that provides comfort and safety, and the differences we have with them that bring liveliness and creativity. As integralists we are called to integrate these polarities into a deeper mutuality.
Diane’s approach is particularly relevant to the contemporary social challenge of relating to our American family as it continues to polarize both culturally and politically.
I always feel a little bit wiser after a conversation with my dear friend Diane. I hope you do too!
Transforming Trauma Into Power – A two-part conversation with Dr. Keith Witt
Life is wounding. For some of us our wounds are inflicted in the form of major traumas such as a serious injury, painful divorce, career failure or act of abuse or violence. More often, however, we are merely called on to suffer the slings and arrows of everyday life, which can also leave their mark.
Contemporary psychology has revealed two major insights into trauma. One is that trauma is pervasive: two-thirds of Americans report experiencing a major trauma in their lives. The other is that trauma is toxic, often kicking off lifetime patterns of depression, anxiety and addiction. One study showed that people who suffer six or more of ten different categories of adverse events lived on average twenty years less that people who had had experienced none of those categories of adverse events.
Whether large or little, some trauma is inevitable and necessary for healthy development. Shocks and setbacks shape who we are and can provide the opportunity to develop resilience and a larger perspective.