Preface

Welcome to the world of Integral! The fact that you have picked up this book means that you are ready to begin not just thinking about Integral but practicing and applying it as well.

This is a truly momentous occasion, to judge from the developmental research itself.

Developmental models are in general agreement that human beings, form birth, go through a series of stages or waves of growth and development.

The lower, earlier, junior stages are initial, partial, and fragmented views of the world, whereas the upper stages are integrated, comprehensive, and genuinely holistic.

Because of this, the earlier stages are often called “first tier,” and the higher stages are called “second tier.”

The difference between the two tiers is truly profound.

As pioneering developmental researcher Clare Graves put it, with second tier an individual “goes through a momentous leap of meaning.”

That leap is what Integral is all about – Integral Thinking and – yes – Integral Practice.

At the Integral stages of development, the entire universe starts to make sense, to hang together, to actually appear as a uni-verse- a “one world”- a single, unified, integrated world, but different practices for growth and development as well.

"Integral Life Practice"