Eric Reynolds

Gaia Orion [caption id="attachment_14988" align="aligncenter" width="2400"] Integral Map 1.0[/caption]

Creation of the painting Integral Map 1.0*

I have to admit that it took me a long time to grasp the full scope of Integral theory (and I am still working on it!). It is primarily  a comprehensive map of a complex whole while being beautifully simple and elegant. Many of my themes already explored the stages of one’s life in a spiral motion so when I came across the integral world it felt only natural to tackle the ambitious task of translating the stages of development and quadrants into a painting. My goal was to create a harmonious design that doesn’t only touch and transform the viewer but also contributes to inform and teach the world about the ground breaking framework of Integral thought. The Structure: These four shapes are the structure of my integral map: – a spiral for the levels of development that are evolving. – gold concentric circles to represent expanding consciousness from egocentric to cosmos-centric. – I see this expansion as our heart centre (where spirit and body meet) opening up. For this reason, the gold concentric circle after post-Integral is a heart lotus creating a mandala which gives the painting a spirit of wholeness. – the circle divided into 4 sections represents the quadrants as we know them. Having the quadrants was Bence Ganti’s contribution which made the painting a true useful tool to understand Integral theory. The Colors Then the colors! One of the most confusing (and annoying) parts of integral learning is this mix up of colors between Ken Wilber and Don Beck. It’s difficult enough to figure out the whole thing that is supposed to be simple and elegant! Even Jeff Salzmann admitted to me that he hates it every time he has to say ‘amber-blue’ or ‘yellow-turquoise’.  I guess it’s part of life, it just can’t be perfect, it has to put this little annoying rock in our Integral shoe! Also as an artist I never understood the logic of either color chart. I find Wilber’s a little bit more sensible since it uses the rainbow sequence. We said rainbow, right? So where is yellow? It’s a primary color and it’s not even in the chart! That bugged me for the longest time, I could never get that.. until… When I painted the integral map I had my aha moment: Ken decided to use the diffracted light color sequence but in the spirit of being ‘inclusive’ he did his best to match Don Beck’s existing colors. This way some stages match: red, orange and green stages. Anyway in my painting I used Wilber’s colors (if you know my art you’ll know that I love rainbows) and I added a ribbon of Don Beck’s colors unfolding along each stage. The stages From the Big Bang to Integral I found simple symbolic scenes to express each level so that when we look at them we can get an immediate ‘feel’ of each stage in their respective quadrants. For instance, amber upper left is someone bathed in the shining light of an almighty god; orange upper right is a marathon runner reaching for high performance; lower right green is a new city line built in nature with renewable energy; teal lower left is a spiral of people evolving together. This Integral map – created to be presented at the 2016 European Integral Conference in Hungary – is called ‘Integral Map 1.0.’ I invite everyone to participate in the evolution of this painting by giving their feedback, ideas and suggestions to make this Integral Map painting project an on-going  developing theme. The point is to make it better, clearer, to find ways to express the various aspects of Integral philosophy in a playful and colorful visual manner. Throughout the history of humanity art has always been a beacon of every era, staying as a long lasting testament of what emerged in each culture at different periods. Let’s invite the artists to participate in Integral world culture with their visions! This painting is only one of them. I am honoured to be part of this avant-garde movement, participating via my artwork in this incredible evolution! Note: On my way back from the 2016 Integral European Conference in Hungary I lost my Integral Map 1.0 in the subway in Paris… to read about this crazy story click here *This article was originally posted at http://gaiaorion.com/creation-of-the-painting-integral-map-1-0/

About the Artist

Gaia Orion is an integral artist that has gained international recognition by participating in many worldwide projects that are working toward constructive world change. She has exhibited in Spain, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, the U.S.A and Canada with a recent solo show in Paris, France. In sharing the artwork and connecting with others she discovered that these transformational themes are part of a larger visionary movement that is active in society today... as deep ecology, social justice, conscious politic, alternative economy, and so on...

Uniting our vision and natural talents can become a catalyst for individual and collective change so that we can move together toward a healthier humanity. www.gaiaorion.com     Sign up for my bi-annual newsletter

  With this release we offer the final five articles of 2016. They are: Otto Laske’s How Roy Bhaskar Expanded and Deepened the Notion of Adult Cognitive Development: A Succinct History of the DialecticalThought Form Framework (DTF). Jim Ritchie-Dunham and Maureen Metcalf’s Co-hosting: Creating Optimal Experience for Team Interactions. Eugene Pustoshkin’s Transformations on the Path to Really Teal […]

Eric Reynolds It has been a joy putting together this issue, not the least of which has to do with working side by side with my partner and wife, associate editor Natasha Mantler. Plus, we have an extra full issue for you to mark the end of the summer, not to mention a number of […]

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“The Integral Self is both fierce and compassionate. Fierce compassion heals. David Whyte says: ‘The blade is so sharp it cuts things together, not apart’ (Whyte, 1997). The inner work of the Integral transformation is shadow work – work that integrates shadow elements into a larger, more inclusion construction of the self. This ‘cutting things […]

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Otto Laske “The major problems in the world (today) are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think.” – Gregory Bateson “Logic merely defines how the world must be if we are to successfully apply certain techniques.” – Roy Bhaskar This article explains in the most simple terms possible how […]

Jim Ritchie-Dunham and Maureen Metcalf This paper provides a high-level framework for leaders to refine their approach to increasing team effectiveness by leveraging the concept of “room to roam.” Room to roam looks at five key variables we believe are foundation when looking at leadership successful performance in groups. For people working in groups, we […]

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Alexander Malakhov Translated from Russian by Eugene Pustoshkin Those philosophers, who disagreed with the new regime but stayed in the country, suffered tragic fate. One characteristic example of that is Pavel Florenskiy (1882–1937), who was known as “the Russian Leonardo da Vinci.” His first book The Pillar and Ground of the Truth, written when he […]

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Lynn Harrison, PhD This is a story about how coaching based on integral leadership concepts helped bring about the successful transformation of a leader formerly viewed by coworkers as highly abrasive. For deep and sustained change to occur, the work needed to explore not only externally visible behaviors and practices, but the powerful inner values, […]

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Zach Schlosser Abstract In this paper I outline a trans-lineage spirituality rooted in our intrinsic and discovered desires. I begin with a critique of Buddhism and then draw on insights from Saniel Bonder’s work developing the contemporary awakening school Waking Down in Mutuality, Bonnitta Roy’s Process Model of Integral Theory and her notion of View, Bruce […]

Greg Park Abstract In today’s successful twenty first century business organisation the operational leader is to be regarded less as the “dinosaur”, to be culled in the interests of efficiency, but rather as the pivotal leadership role in re-defining and effectively implementing an alternative organisational logic. This new leadership logic takes into account, in an […]

Marco Antonio Robledo Abstract 3D-Management is an integral meta-theory of management that integrates organizational knowledge in an integral, balanced and non-marginalizing framework. It stands for Three-Dimensional Management, in reference to the three fundamental and irreducible dimensions (the Big Three) that integral management should address: science, arts and ethics, which refer respectively to the techno-economical, the […]

Detlev Bohle   Service excellence, knowledge intensive service development and wisdom based services are discussed. The review of the present of wisdom based services is based on integral theory. Abstract From the complex landscape of needs of companies and individuals alike a new type of services is emerging for which the terminus wisdom based services […]

Said E. Dawlabani #IEC2016 – Keynote Speech Now we’re going to focus fully on the state of the capitalist system. Today, capitalism is experiencing one of the most profound challenges in its history. Some leading thinkers believe that it might not even survive the current technological disruption. We’re going to take a look at some of […]

Heidi Gutekunst, Hilary Bradbury and Dana Carman About the Eros/Power Workshop I will use just two adjectives: shocking and revealing! Shocking because of the very loving but professional way it led me to explore deep and hidden aspects about my sexuality and sensuality, both male and female sides, with which I rarely make contact. And revealing because […]

Thomas A. Habib Abstract A couples line of development is proposed from an integral perspective. The couples line specifies developmental stages, tasks for each stage and describes cultural messages that impede development. It reveals the nature and effects of an integral concept called a pre/trans fallacy unique to early intimate relationships and how this often […]

Todd J. Barry Abstract:  Leadership is, at times, the calling out and identification of lack of leadership.  This paper uses a case study to propose an original idea, that of policy by tautologies in the George W. Bush administration and the international community.  A tautology is a type of circular group reasoning.  While President Bush […]

Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk Note to reader: Traditional humanitarianism seeks to alleviate a symptom. Integral humanitarianism views an individual project as a Systemic remedy. Identifying where within the ecological, social, cultural and economic systems one can have the greatest positive impact and what methods should be used is Social Acupuncture. The people’s transformation into conscious cultural […]

Alain Volz This article is an English translation of an article previously published in Dutch on July 2nd 2016. With special thanks to Michiel Doorn who helped with the translation. Those that know me are aware that, already for five years, I have been traveling between Ghana and the Netherlands. In Ghana, I work with […]

Alain Volz Story of an emerging Social Economy that combines tradition with innovation.  In this article I will describe the journey Umar Mohammed and I are travelling as Leap into Life Dipaliya and how my journey started. Those who know the Star Trek series recognize the first sentence written here above. Though we haven’t left […]

Ádám Olgyay Harald Harung and Frederick Travis (2016). Excellence through Mind-Brain Development: The Secrets of World Class Performers. London, UK. Routledge. We all want excellence and happiness. Thousands of books have been written on the topic of high performance and the secrets of success. There are two basic challenges. First, there are many competing ideas of […]

John Stewart Otto Laske, Dialectical Thinking for Integral Leaders: A Primer. Tucson: Integral Publishers, 2015. Gregory Bateson famously said: “The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think.” This statement of Bateson’s identifies a serious issue for humanity. If our thinking does not enable us […]

Jackie Damrau Judith L. Glick-Smith (2016). Flow-Based Leadership: What the best firefighters can teach you about leadership and making hard decisions. Technics Publishers. Flow-Based Leadership: What the Best Firefighters Can Teach You About Leadership and Making Hard Decisions is about the leadership in the world of firefighting. These individuals have split seconds in which to […]