Nish Dubashia joins Brendan to discuss the topic of evolutionary spirituality, using the Spiral Dynamics framework to consider how religious conceptions evolve through the different value memes. Beginning with a synopsis of the basic structure of the religious narrative, Nish then shows how this story takes different forms as it finds expression through the different developmental stages. The progression charted, some important ideas are then considered: What is the relationship of self and spirit along this evolution? Does the spiral of development lead to some kind of non-dual awareness? If so, how do we understand this? What role might evolutionary spirituality play in our broader culture?   0:00 Introduction 0:54 The Structure of the Story of Religion   The Story at Different Levels:  8:11 The Story at PURPLE (Animist) 9:43 The Story at RED (Faustian) 12:04 The Story at BLUE (Post-Faustian) 15:10 The Story at ORANGE (Modern) 17:44 The Story at GREEN (Postmodern) 22:50 The Story at YELLOW (Metamodern) 26:21 The Story at TURQOISE (forthcoming?)   28:47 Religion and Development: A Universal Experience 31:20 The Evolution of Religious Narrative AS a Religious Narrative? 35:10 The Coevolution of Self and Spirit 38:02 Spirit as a Subject? Reification, Projection, and Myth 44:00 The End of the Story: Non-Duality? 50:08 Emptiness/Form: On the Evolution of Consciousness towards Ultimate Consciousness 1:03:00 Development and the Study of Religion 1:06:08 Evolutionary Spirituality and the Meaning Crisis 1:14:15 'Dancing with Angels': Nish's Book on Developing beyond Unhealthy Blue 1:21:39 More on Nish's Work/Upcoming Events   Nish's Presentation: The Evolution of Religion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3X20WGbMAw  Nish's Website https://integraldream.com/

Andrés Gómez Emilsson of the Qualia Research Institute joins Brendan to discuss "the universal plot": what's it all about and what matters most? Andrés says the big story is one of consciousness vs. pure replicators, the struggle to resist brute, value-neutral replication processes and maximize instead the positive valence possibilities of universal consciousness. Andrés considers how this narrative emerges as the most nuanced and developmentally advanced of the various ethical stories of the past (compared to "Good vs. Evil," for instance), and considers some of the theoretical/philosophical axioms on which it's based. What then is the relationship between consciousness and replication? How do we ensure we privilege positive conscious states over parasitic replication? How does it relate to the evolution of consciousness, and avoid the pitfalls of asceticism?   0:00 Introduction  2:21 The Universal Plot at Different Levels 16:17 What is the Relationship of Consciousness to Replication? 24:07 What is the Source of Valence if not the Replication Impulse? 26:55 What is the Telos of the Evolution of Consciousness? 30:44 Integrating Replication with Consciousness 36:48 Towards Omega: How do We Engineer Paradise?  48:13 Critique 1: Evolutionary Complexity vs. Human Intellectual Hubris 54:00 Critique 2: Is this Just Gnosticism 2.0? 57:18 A Developmental Metanarrative   "A Universal Plot - Consciousness vs. Pure Replicators: Gene Servants or Blissful Autopoietic Beings?" video mentioned in the podcast: https://youtu.be/nGmETz-wDMc  "The Universal Plot: Consciousness vs. Pure Replicators" blog post mentioned in the podcast: https://www.qualiaresearchinstitute.org/blog/universal-plot

Matt Segall joins Brendan to talk about the relationship of process philosophy and the thinking of A. N. Whitehead to the formulation of an emerging metanarrative in metamodernity. In the context of our 13.7 billion years of emergent complexification, how does the story of consciousness evolution relate to issues such as dualism and the hard problem of consciousness, panpsychism, divine creativity, and mystical union?  Matt Segall's faculty bio:  Matthew D. Segall, PhD, received his doctoral degree in 2016 from the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. His dissertation was titled Cosmotheanthropic Imagination in the Post-Kantian Process Philosophy of Schelling and Whitehead. It grapples with the limits to knowledge of reality imposed by Kant's transcendental form of philosophy and argues that Schelling and Whitehead's process-oriented approach (described in his dissertation as a "descendental" form of philosophy) shows the way across the Kantian threshold to renewed experiential contact with reality. He teaches courses on German Idealism and process philosophy for the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS. He blogs regularly at footnotes2plato.com.

Layman Pascal returns to discuss the relationship of Nietzsche's thought to integral and metamodern frameworks in light of recent debates with the "Dark Renaissance." Is there a pre/trans fallacy in Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals? What's the connection between the Will to Power and Whitehead's "Creativity" or Wilber's "Eros"? How does the meaning of "power" change across the metamemes and up the stack of complexity?

Brendan Graham Dempsey talks to Julyan Davey about his immensely prescient and rich essay, "Towards a Metamodern Spirituality," a must-read for anyone interested in the topic of religion and spirituality in metamodernity: https://medium.com/the-phoenix-project/towards-a-metamodern-spirituality-6d71f958a2e0.

Theory and ritual artist Scoutleader Wiley talks to Brendan about metamodern magick, a post-postmodern psychotechnology of re-enchantment that utilizes ironic sincerity and informed naivete to (re)connect us with meaning and the Earth. How can we engage with ritual and mythos beyond superstition and gullibility? What ends does ritual accomplish that a purely rational and objective stance to experience cannot? How can laughing at ourselves help us take the sacred seriously? 0:00 Introduction 1:36 A Need for New Rituals: Personal and Communal Meaning-Making 9:05 Magic vs. Magick: Objective vs. Transjective Transformation 15:26 Acausal-Representational Systems (ARS) 18:52 Regenerative Reverence: An "As If" Spirituality 35:09 "Make Coffee Like You Give a Fuck": Creating Ritual and Living Mindfully 44:23 Spiritual Vulnerability and Ironic Sincerity 47:51 Necessary Subversion

Dr. Gregg Henriques talks to Brendan about his Unified Theory of Knowledge (UTOK) framework and how it promisingly contributes to the effort of articulating a sciency-friendly post-postmodern grand narrative for our confused and meaning-hungry times. Gregg helps clarify points of overlap as well as distinction between other post-postmodern maps, while zeroing in on the specific existential challenge of our day, which UTOK clarifies and contextualizes. Finally, the two consider how we might, through ironic sincerity, co-create a set of living symbols that can help teach the full "wisdom stack" we'll need to not only survive but thrive beyond the imminent transformations of the metaverse and the "digital identity problem." 0:00 Introduction 1:31 Overview of the Unified Theory of Knowledge (UTOK) 7:18 UTOK and Metamodernism 15:46 UTOK and Integral Theory 28:08 Mapping the Complexification Domains 38:09 Brendan: How the Metanarrative Answers the Crisis of Psychological Studies 39:17 UTOK and the Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness 49:57 The "God" Question 58:06 A Spiritual Omega Point or Posthumanist Singularity? The Need for a Wisdom Stack 1:03:44 The Need for a New Mythology: A New Meaning amidst the Meaning Crisis

Joe Lightfoot talks to Brendan about the "Liminal Web," a term he coined for an emerging online community of metatheorists, systems poets, and sensemakers. Discussion quickly moves from mapping this online subculture to exploring its possible futures for deepening connection and embodiment. What are the potentials of purely virtual communitas? Are there in-person communal structures into which this online momentum might be transferred? What are the ingredients of successful communities more generally? What makes this loose network different than other would-be changemakers of the past? Where is it all going, and what is its significance?   0:00 Introduction  2:01 The Liminal Web  4:55 Mapping Mapmakers: A Perspective on the Perspective-Takers  7:48 A Certain Kind of Engagement  9:45 Materializing the Meta-Tribe IRL  25:38 Charitability, Development, and Exclusion  35:57 Post-Postmodern Systems Change  42:22 The Importance of Being Earnest: Heroic Humility and the Dao of Service  56:26 Dancing Dialecticians and the Ever-Receding Absolute  1:01:25 Sacred Simplicity Beyond Complexity

Feeling stuck in his meditation practice and looking for guidance from a 4th Path adept, Brendan talks again to Roger Thisdell, someone who has attained a new default experience of mind as permanently centerless and without the sense of a singly, positioned epistemic agent (i.e., what in traditional language might be called "enlightenment"). Both thought it might be helpful to explore some instructional guidance in a podcast setting, where the process could be shared for others' benefit. In this context, Roger asks some probing questions and offers some helpful tips and suggestions for cultivating awakening.    0:00 Introduction  2:54 Brendan Describes His Path and Motivation towards Waking Up  9:12 (Clarifying Nonduality)  12:22 Brendan Tries to Describe His Phenomenological Sense of Self  16:47 Shifting Perspective through Thought  21:50 Symbolizing Awakened Consciousness 29:45 Beyond Equanimity: Zeroing in on the "Self"  40:54 The Uses of Conception to Change Perception  42:39 Building Motivation  48:07 Fire Kasina  50:45 Being vs. Striving  54:52 Building Metacognition  59:11 Naming Our Motivations

Brendan talks to Henry Andrews about the legacy of Clare Graves's work, which formed the basis of the Spiral Dynamics framework, which has in turn highly influenced the articulation of integral theory. After going over some of the history, the discussion then turns to the "Great Stage Theory Debate" (Henry's coinage) initiated by a comment by Nora Bateson on social media that re-ignited debate over long-standing critiques of stage theories in general.   0:00 Introduction  2:53 Stage 1: The Research of Clare Graves  12:53 Stage 2: Don Beck, Christopher Cowan, and Spiral Dynamics  20:01 Stage 3: Ken Wilber and SDi  24:46 Stage 4: Hanzi Freinacht and Political Metamodernism 28:11 The "Great Stage Theory Debate": Seeking a "Both/And" Approach  46:04 Debate in the Social Media Landscape 47:59 Transcending the Stage of Stage Theorization: Practice for Playing Jazz