Discovering How Politics of Dignity Counters Politics of Fear

In September 2015 the Centre for Human Emergence Netherlands explored with me a proposition: The politics of fear can be trumped by the politics of dignity, regarding refugees, immigrants and voters.

We explored this question (drawn from Angela Merkel’s challenge to Europe in the face of the tide of refugees) using Systemic Constellation Work (SCW). SCW is a core process methodology that Integral City uses to do research and development to expand our ways of knowing the archetype of Integral City as a reflective organ for Gaia. SCW supports presencing, prototyping and processing for issues, questions, situations and challenges encountered by the Integral City Community of Practice.

SCW as a methodology taps into the collective unconscious (or Knowing Field (KF)) and reveals to participants, the archetypal patterns embedded in the field of the human system of interest. (SCW’s derive from Bert Hellinger’s family system constellation work that has expanded into many human systems including organizations, social issues, indigenous tribes, nations and in the case of Integral City – cities.)

Our NL experiment began with identifying the key Elements of this proposition: Fear, Dignity, Refugees, Migrants, Voters, Trump (the verb not the US mogul), Policy and Politicians.  An eighth element self-identified as Non-Voters.

Mapping out the Knowing Field (KF) within the circle of about 20 Witnesses, volunteers stepped forward to represent the Elements across 2 intersecting axes: Future/Past and Below/Above.

The first pattern within the KF was very chaotic with Elements strewn about helter-skelter – Policy bumping into Refugees attempting to move to the Future; Dignity being elbowed aside by Voters and Migrants; Politicians positioning themselves close to the Past and Non-Voters (expressing anger) stepping right outside the Circle of Witnesses. Fear started out close to the Past – and started talking argumentatively with little intention of shutting up. Trump hovered with no direction. Another new Element emerged as a possibility – Courage – who became a disembodied position (marked by a card) almost out of the circle above the Future axis point.

The second pattern with the KF emerged when Fear made his way from the Past to close to the Future, causing a ripple effect where the other Elements stretched out in a zig-zag pattern along the Future/Past axis like this:

Future

Fear          Refugees

Voters   Migrants

Dignity                (Courage disembodied)

Something Missing    Trump

Politicians

Past

Non-Voters

Meanwhile Fear kept up his verbal rant, taunting the Facilitator and other Elements. In the midst of this a mystery Element emerged that we simply recognized as “Something Missing” and Courage became embodied by a tall imposing man.

In the third and final pattern, the Facilitator demanded that Fear lie down and “be quiet” slightly offside from the Future.

This move precipitated a final pattern where Courage moved quite compassionately to stand beside Fear, while standing behind Dignity. From the zig-zag of Pattern 2, the other Elements moved so that the Refugees and Something Missing became the centre of a circle held by Dignity (located at 12 o’clock), Policy (located at 3) Voters (at 7) and Migrants (at 10).  Politicians, Trump, Non-Voters (now happy with the outcome) clustered together behind Past.

Politics of Dignity Trumps Politics of Fear

Comments from Witnesses and Non-Voters produced the insight that the “Something Missing” was Respect (as it relates to the Integral City Master Code). We also received a reframe of the proposition: The Politics of Dignity can trump the politics of fear by respecting refugees, migrants and voters.

A post-SCW debrief produced these insights for Individuals, CHE NL and the World in Transition (resonating with the sequence of the Master Code – Take Care of Self, Others, Place-Planet):

For Individuals

I have a better sense of Dignity.

I recognize the importance of Courage.

I was struck by the importance of Non-Voters in the world (and that they represent both ancestors and marginalized voices).

Politics doesn’t represent the people.

We didn’t need Policy – Policy self-organizes what is in everybody.

This is a complex issue and we made visible many intentions related to it.

Politicians never solve problems.

Everything got easier when the Refugees moved into the centre – when they were in the centre, Light came in.

I sensed a strange connection between Dignity and the Non-Voters.

I see so much potential in the Refugees.

Actually there is no separation between Refugees and Voters.

I have more respect for the Refugee(s).

I am struck by the power of Fear and Not Knowing.

Fear recalibrates Not Knowing.

Courage is replaced by Self-Confidence.

Our final image was like a ship pointed towards the Future with the circle in the centre. I am curious about the Element of “Something Missing”.

Perhaps this is like (Clare Graves’) Never-Ending Quest? – Where Fear disappears as Integral thinking and approaches emerge – maybe that allows Fear to even recalibrate as Unknowing?

 

For Centre for Human Emergence NL

CHE NL started by looking for core problem underlying refugee crisis.

This is an exercise in consciousness to step up to global consciousness.

Simply talking is not enough.

When Fear is out of the way, the systems self-organize.

We can work on our self/selves.

Politicians don’t seem to be part of the game.

Spiral Dynamics integral shows us multiple levels of Dignity and Fear.

We can’t design solution that is a one size fits all. There are needs for Purple/Red and Blue/Orange solutions (and even the basics of Beige).

We must look for the half a step ahead of the natural leadership that is being expressed.

For the World in Transition

The original proposition is a major challenge but it can unify EU.

Politicians relate to Politics of Fear.

Voters relate to Politics of Dignity

Even such a serious inquiry produces moments of truth and humanity.

We need to work our self/selves to make change.

Core Values (like attending to Basics of Life, Belonging, Self-Expression, and Respect for Life-Giving Order) underlie the possibilities for positive change.

~

The concluding reframe of the proposition helped us to discover how the Politics of Dignity can counter the politics of fear when both Courage and Respect are practised by people – especially when they combine their role as Voters with their role as Hosts.  Individuals, associations/organizations, communities, cities and nations all play roles in enabling The Politics of Dignity to trump the politics of fear by respecting refugees, migrants and voters.

(And since we completed this inquiry 6 weeks ago, the steadfastness of Angela Merkel to enact a Politics of Dignity in the face of mounting difficulties seems to embody the qualities of Courage, Dignity and Respect.)

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Integral City Reflective Organ – December Solstice 2014: Celebrating the Mystery of Power

This newsletter is published quarterly using a cycle of perspectives on the Integral City viewed from: Planet, People, Place and Power. The theme of this issue is Power.

The concept of morphic or Akashic fields creates the possibility that we could harness the intelligence that is concentrated in the city to generate much greater (more complex) intelligence capacities than we have ever dreamed of. If we could truly learn how to think together, we could harness the massive leverage of parallel processing that has enabled us to design modern computers and neural networks (like the linking of personal computers for the SETI extraterrestrial life search project). If we can do this, we will see a significant phase shift in human intelligence that will give cities major new incentives to create optimal life conditions to better support human existence. By the same token, in an optimistic spirit, I anticipate that when this intelligence is harnessed we will finally have the power to add value to life on Earth that is both sustainable (not over-using resources) and emergent (always creating new capacities from existing resources).  

Hamilton, M. (2008). Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive. Gabriola Island BC: New Society Publishers, p. 73

 

Solstice Reflections on the Spirit of the City

Cities, like beehives, are urban energetic nodes linked within a global energetic body, which we experience biophysically, psychologically, culturally and socially. After I published Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive,readers asked, where is the chapter on spirituality?

The first time I heard the question I was stunned! Mostly because I felt the entire book had been written for, by and as Spirit. It was an outpouring of appreciation for the mystery of Spirit manifested in the city – its power to change individual and family lives, create organic chains of interconnected organizations and alter the landscapes of eco-regions.

The Light of cities can be seen from space. As this light emanates from our cities outward from the planet, I think of them as power exchanges that light up the face of the Kosmos – the bright evidence of humans, who have evolved as Gaia’s reflective organs, showing the Kosmos reflecting on herself.

I love the pivot points of Winter and Summer Solstice that remind us of how the Light that touches the planet has the power to influence our relationship to Spirit. In the southern hemisphere solstice celebrations revel in the longest day of summer, and in the north, we turn on the power to our Christmas decorations, to Light up the longest night. It’s as though the interconnected net of cities in the north and south swings on a Yin and Yang energy flow that shifts the power of Light to Light the power of city Spirit around the world.

Perhaps it is this bi-seasonal pulse that flowed through my energetic body and lighted the Spirit of the Integral City to come to life in the book?

(PS: For an exploration of Spirituality in the Human Hive – check out the peer reviewed article in the Resources section below.)

December Solstice: Mystery of City Spirit

Cities generate habitats for Love!!. People come to love their city in powerful and palpable ways. They will die to defend it against overwhelming odds (like those who refused to succumb to the 900 day siege of Leningrad; or the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki; or the shunning of Hanford, Washington).

People sense the spirit of a city. This spirit is palpable and shared by city residents who sense when it is healthy, stressed or damaged and fight to return it to a state of well-being. We have seen, with the visibility of modern disasters, that outsiders will even rally to restore the spirit of the city.

One such, “outsider” is Olivia Fermi, granddaughter of Enrico Fermi, part of the scientific team that developed the atomic bomb – which was the source of one the most potent experiences of power ever experienced by any city. Olivia has created a project (and a blog), she calls “On the Neutron Trail” and has journeyed to Hanford, where the plutonium was made for the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki, and which now is the site of one of the world’s largest environmental recovery projects. She has also recently visited Nagasaki and Hiroshima to visit the shrines in both cities and most importantly to meet citizens who are survivors of the World War II bombings.

Olivia says: “To this day, humanity struggles to make sense of what happened. Victory? Tragedy? These questions are part of a larger movement toward healing that I hope to support with my Neutron Trail journey.” Read more about her visit to Nagasaki here and Hiroshima here.

Citizens – and city visitors – with intentions like these, create the true spirit of a city. The expression and realization of intentions lie at the heart of the city’s energy — its joie de vivre, its esprit de corps. Citizen intentions dictate whether individuals experience happiness, well-being and quality of life in the city. It is imperative for cities to nourish the capacities of citizen consciousness – whether that be tending shrines, or telling stories to strangers, or healing others on peace missions (like the Peace Boat that has visited many cities around the world), so that the ever-increasing levels of complexity that exist in today’s cities gain minds, hearts and spirits equal to living optimally under these complex life conditions.

(Adapted from Hamilton, M. (2008). Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive. Gabriola Island BC: New Society Publishers, p. 147)

From Russia with Love: A Short History of the Power of a Strange Attractor 

Symbols and logos seem to have the power of “strange attractors” with a life of their own. Let me tell you the story of the Integral City Compass Logo. It was first created in the late 80’s when I delivered programs under the name Global Learning Connections, with a special focus on Navigating for Profits. My graphic designer proposed Logo 1 in Figure 1 for the work. I especially liked the logo because in the centre two people appeared to join hands and push outwards into the waves of directionality marked by the nested quarter circles and arrows.

Figure 1: History of Integral City Logos

In the early 2000’s, this Logo transformed with my work and company name into Logo 2 for Integral City Meshworks. You can see it morphed into a full compass rose, as the Integral Quadrants gave new meaning to our first Integral City website.

The next step, arose after the publication of the Integral City book in 2008, when a new designer crafted Logo 3 as the home page flash compass of Integral City’s 12 Intelligences:

The next iteration came for our ad in the ITC2010 brochure. Logo 4 was a Turquoise version that reflected our theme of Meshworking in the Human Hive.

These four logo variations (and more) are still alive and working their magic as symbols on reports, blog banners and favicons.

But with the mystery that powers strange attractors, the logo has started to inspire others to adapt to Integral City opportunities. In the last two years ARGO has emerged – the Association for City Development in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia.

Figure 2: Logo for Association of City Development, Izhevsk, Udmurtia, Russia

With permission to utilize a variation of Integral City’s logo (Figure 2) ARGO clearly connected their online webinars and in-city workshops to Integral City’s mission. And then ARGO conceived and promoted across the city and through the media – an invitation to Urbanfest 2014, where city planners and the 4 voices from 44 cities in Russia, convened in Izhevsk, in May 2014. There the logo marked street banners, magazine ads and the ARGO website.

ARGO’s most recent surprise use of the logo (in Figure 3) came from this full page ad published in GOROD (City) to thank all the people who contributed to Urbanfest 2014.

Who knew that one small quadrant of a compass designed as a logo in 1989 could act like a seed and grow into the symbol of a whole urban festival half way around the world a quarter of a century later? That is the mystery of a Strange Attractor that seems to have its own power to inspire Light and Love on our Planet of Cities.

Figure 3: ARGO Thank You Ad in GOROD – Can you find your name?

 

Quadrants of Conscious and Compassionate Power

UL/ Monterrey, Mexico has been the site of a number of powerful conferences on Peace, Oneness and Universal Values in the last months and years. Integral City had the honour to contribute to planning for the Monterrey World Values Conference and Global Oneness Day and continues with contributions towards 2015 values research, with our colleagues in The Hague Centre.

LL/ Karen Armstrong’s, Charter for Compassion is taking root in many cities and growingCompassionate Communities. Armstrong says:

“A compassionate city is an uncomfortable city!  A city that is uncomfortable when anyone is homeless or hungry.  Uncomfortable if every child isn’t loved and given rich opportunities to grow and thrive.  Uncomfortable when as a community we don’t treat our neighbors as we would wish to be treated.”

Compassion lies at the root of Integral City’s Master Code: Take care of yourself, take care of each other, take care of this place/planet – so we encourage cities to take steps to sign the Charter for Compassion.

LR/ ISO Announces New Standard for Cities. With our interest in city values and vital signs monitors, we were excited to see the recent announcement of International Standards Organization, City Standard ISO37120 – read more about it here.

LR/ AQAL A recent Glocalism journal’s call for papers on Glocalism has created a wealth of provocative papers on the boundaries between the city and the globe. Read more here.

AQAL/  City Trigger points are country tipping points was our blog for June, 2014.We wrote about the issue of how cities would become cultural trigger points for country tipping points.While drawing on the Iraq situation at time of writing, subsequent events in Donetsk, Ukraine and Ferguson, and New York USA are demonstrating how quickly this reality of the power of city to impact the power (and powerlessness) of nation (and world) is accelerating.

AQAL/ While the Economist writes about Policing in America, Values, Compassion and Performance Standards will become the crucial therapeutic “power weapons of choice”to heal open wounds of culture and worldview clashes and move cities toward the new governance structures the world’s cultures long for.

 

Celebrating “Power-focus” in the Coming Quarter that Lights Up 2014 and 2015 

December 21 marks the start of what IC calls the Power Quarter (from December 21 to March 20). What powers of imagination and meshworking do you bring to celebrate Light and Love and Life in the City at this time of year? What Mystery and Stories create rituals for sharing with loved ones?  We notice the power of cities expanding their influence on our Planet of Cities. Visit us at Integral City Collective on Face book and post a short update or a photo.

Finally, December 21, 2014, marks the 100th Anniversary of Clare W. Graves, the psychologist and researcher extraordinaire who has empowered all the insights of Spiral Dynamics IntegralTM and the Centres for Human Emergence around the world as well as the idea of the Momentous Leap that lies at the heart of a New Story for a Planet of Integral Cities. Deep bows to Graves, and the lineage of “Momentous Leapers” he has inspired.

Meshful Blessings for December Solstice from

Marilyn Hamilton and the Integral City Core Team

PS

Here are some Resources for amplifying Power in the Human Hive:

1. FREE peer reviewed Journal Article on Integral Spirituality in the Human Hive: a Primer – by Marilyn Hamilton

2. Blog Series celebrating the New Story of the City for World Cities Day.

3. The Story of The Integral City 2.0 Online Conference: A Fractal Non-Local Leap Toward Kosmocentricity has just been released in the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, Vol. 9, No. 1

4. Register for the fourth Integral Living Room (ILR) October 29 – November 2, 2015. This ILR will explore A Trans-Rational Soul Initiation, bringing together an integral approach to subtle energy, second-tier shamanism and ceremony, the soul, and our life’s purpose. It plans to be rich, multidimensional, and the process of preparing for it will be profound. For Special Alumni Registration click here.

5. Watch for the January, 2015 issue of Integral Leadership Review – a special issue on Canada (guest edited by Integral City Founder, Marilyn Hamilton) has contributions that build leadership capacities for an emerging Planet of Integral Cities across teams, organizations, sectors and cities.

The New Story – a Web of Conversations from Chihuly Glass Gallery, Seattle, WA

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How Adult Development Creates Conditions to Optimize Integral City Impact

It is amazing to realize that we can optimize the impact of Integral City frameworks in the world simply because adult development is possible.

Integral City Map 3: The Scalar Fractal Relationship of Micro, Meso and Macro Human Systems

As a pioneering transpersonal psychologist, Roger Walsh emphasized this point at IEC,  he explored how to optimize the impacts of the integral paradigm everywhere.

While integral thinkers not only belong to the school that adult development is a natural phenomenon, many of them are leaders in explaining, developing and promoting capacity development in bio-psycho-cultural-social dimensions. (Ken Wilber, in Integral Psychology, charted the developmental stages named by more than 70 psychologists, psychotherapists, deveopmentalists and researchers). Some of the stage paths have more granularity than others, but all of them identify three developmental levels that are active in cities. Walsh called them: pre-conventional or mythic (also known as pre-modern); conventional or rational (also known as modern); and post-conventional or worldcentric (also known as post-modern).

Integral City is a meta-paradigm – it organizes and aligns the paradigms of human systems within the city, so that the patterns of the “human hive” – the natural living system of the city — can be recognized. As a meta-paradigm for the meso-scale of human systems, it serves the macro-scale of national and planetary systems, but it also depends on the micro-scales of human systems that make it up – the holarchy of social groups to which we all belong (as symbolized in Integral City Map 2).

Interestingly our manifestation of adult development can vary depending on which group we are interacting with – the most advanced worldcentric thinker can devolve to pre-modern sports fan at the World Cup; the most accomplished integral practitioner can happily enjoy the trappings of modernism that make possible all the “mod cons” of the city from flashy car to smart phone; and the most devout integral spiritual leader can appreciate the shamanic practices of Amazonian tribes.

But what distinguishes the adult who practices an integral way of life is the capacity to see all of these experiences as choices that allow and demand the adult to be aware of both their objective qualities and subjective states, and thereby support the facility to make different choices when appropriate.

The capacities to think, act, relate and create along a spectrum of personal conduct, that can be consciously linked to adult development, is in distinct contrast to the majority of people in cities. Most people have not yet discovered that adult psychological development does not cease with the biological maturity of the body. Adult psychological development for many people atrophies when they leave their school and/or their faith teachers and is “normalized” by regular association with peers who live within similar constraints – thus reinforcing the beliefs and behaviors of tribes, clans and cultures.

Moreover, in today’s cities tribes, clans and cultures have converged from the many geographies of the world, each believing that they have the “one right way” and prepared to challenge, fight and even kill others who do not comply with it. In terms of adult development we could say that too many people are arrested at a pre-conventional or conventional stages of development. And the melting pot of the city ensures that the encounter of people at different stages of development will guarantee conflicts and clashes because of their differing worldviews, values and psychological capacities. So there appears to be an optimizing logic that one of the essential weapons to address and vanquish these clashes is through creating the conditions of ongoing adult development. (Core evidence for this argument, might come from the research the “simple” act of educating women in the developing-world, which has improved quality of life measurable in economic, cultural and social terms.)

Some people have misinterpreted the Integral City’s paradigm to be a vision of the city at a steady state and stage of the post-conventional level of development. However, I do not believe that is likely or possible. Firstly, each person in the city traverses the stages of development (as far as they choose and/or are supported). Secondly they do this amidst the ecology of continuously dynamic demographics of the multitude of human lifecycles in cities. Therefore, it seems that these two co-existing conditions will ensure that all stages of human development will always be with us in the Integral City. The dynamics of human systems in cities is precisely what makes them ever-complex and adaptive.

Which brings us back to the proposition that optimizing the impact of Integral City rests on the discovery that adult human development is possible. The development of the city as a complex human system, depends on the assumption that each individual has the possibility of a lifelong learning journey. This is a basic premise that underlies any expectation that the quality of life in the city can be optimized through living with Integral principles.

As Clare Graves reminded us, adult development is a “never-ending quest”. Perhaps creating habitats that optimize the opportunities for adult development is one of the greatest values that Integral City design has to offer the world? Through individual adult development we can then create the conditions to support the intelligences of “WE-space” that has always seemed to me to be the eventual natural legacy of optimizing the impact of the Integral City.

 

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Recapitulating Principles for Planet of Integral Cities

Let’s recap core blogs that explore the Principles that could guide a Planet of Integral Cities.

Recently we explored the evolutionary context of the life-giving Principles of  Anthro-Bio-Cosmo emergence (thanks to Integral Geographer Dr. Brian Eddy).

In a much earlier blog we introduced the Principles of Living Systems (developed by Evolutionary Biologist Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris)

Then we introduced the Complex Spiral of Anthropic Principles , derived from developmental evolutionary research of Spiral Dynamics integral (initiated by Dr. Clare Graves and Dr. Don Beck).

We have also explored the core Principle of the Master Code (derived from my exploration of the principles underlying the 12 Integral City Intelligences).

With these suite of principles in place we can then turn to the individual city and recall the Principles related to:

• Integral City Map 1 (Polarities), Map 2 (Creativity), Map 3 (Change), Map 4 (Structures), Map 5 (Spirituality)
• Integral City Intelligences
• Almere Principles

This summary of the Principles we have explored gives us a meta from which to notice how Integral City Process, Practise and Structures rest on these Principles.

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Integral City Map 1: Loving the Polarities in the City

Integral City how do I map thee? Let me count the ways … starting with Map 1.

Integral City Map 1:The Four Quadrant Eight Level Map of Reality
(Adapted from the work of Ken Wilber, Don Beck)

When I started to explore the Integral framework for cities I was influenced both by the work of Ken Wilber and Don Beck’s Spiral Dynamics model. Meshing the insights from both, I settled on what is now called Map 1 because it gives a comprehensive whole-systems view of the city.

I have described the merits of this map in the audio (and printed) book, Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences in the Human Hive. I also discussed it with Ken Wilber during our Integral City 2.0 Online Conference (and Integral Life) Interview. Map 1 as a whole captures the Integral Intelligences of the city. It also frames the context of each of the intelligences in the four quadrants: Upper Left / Inner, Upper Right / Outer, Lower Left / Cultural- Storytelling and Lower Right / Systems-Structural. (I have blogged extensively about all these intelligences elsewhere – just follow the links if you want the details.)

Today, let me explore this 4 quadrant, 8 level Map 1, with the language of Pattern Dynamics (TM), developed by Tim Winton. Map 1 could easily be related to several of Winton’s Patterns. Because it is by definition a whole systems map, it integrates many elements in one Map – so it could relate to the Dynamics Pattern. And it is also has an appearance of a strong Structure Pattern. And in the very centre of Map 1 is the evolutionary spiral – so it relates to the meta-pattern of Source.

But what fascinates me most about this Map 1 is that it depicts the many Polarity Patterns in the city and reveals how the interplay of opposites in the city naturally creates energies that arise from the tensions between the poles.

The Polarities in the city that can be traced in Map 1 follow spectrums with directions that can be anchored horizontally, vertically and diagonally. They represent Perspectives, Realities and Worldviews. Here is just one way we can simply name them, just experimenting with one directional anchor for each set.

Perspectives (vertical)

• I vs WE
• IT vs ITS

Realities (horizontal)

• Intentional vs Bio-physical
• Cultural vs Social

Worldviews/Values Systems (diagonal – 8 Levels in each quadrant)

• Objective Integral vs Intersubjective Integral
• Subjective Post-Post Modern vs Interobjective Post-Post Modern

Map 1 reveals aspects of the Pattern of Polarity because it reveals seven qualities identified by the language of Pattern Dynamics (TM):

1. Expansion/Contraction: Map 1 is a fractal pattern that can be applied to human systems in the city at multiple scales: an individual life, a group of people, an organization, a community or a city.

2. Concentration/Diffusion: Map 1 has both a center and a boundary that captures the concentration of the energy of individual humans, and special interest groups (e.g. recreational teams, reading clubs or professional associations)  and the diffusion of this energy across the many groups of humans in the city such as families, work places and neighbourhoods. (We will talk more about this in another blog, when we discuss Map 2.)

3. Input/Output: The Polarity pattern suggests that there is a directionality and/or tension from the input of the centre of one pole/quadrant to the perimeter of that pole/quadrant in the city; e.g. this might show up in business supply chains where more complex integral worldviews (of say, advanced IT systems) transcend and include less complex post-modern, modern and pre-modern worldviews.

4. Flows/Stores: One pole/quadrant can act as a store from which others emerge: e.g. collective values systems contain and influence individual values systems.

5. Order/Chaos: The self-organizing quality of chaos in Map 1 is not so readily apparent. Map 1 appears very ordered and one has to assume that chaos is ever-present as an invisible quality of this map (and be comforted by the discovery in complexity theory, that we “get order for free” as systems do self-organize). We will discuss this quality more easily when we look at Map 3 (in subsequent blogs).

6. Competition/Cooperation: This quality as it is embedded in Map 1 is usually associated with the tensions between worldviews (particularly the competitive I-Me-Mine levels of complexity and the cooperative We-Us-Our levels of complexity). Clare Graves had the insight that the human species had evolved a survival strategy, that kept it alternately, swinging between the individuated “Express Self” poles (where innovation often occurs) and the collective “Sacrifice Self” poles (where shared governance can emerge).

7. Masculine/Feminine: This gendered aspect of polarity is not readily apparent from Map 1. But with interpretation from research on masculine/feminine qualities, many studies indicate that the masculine is more commonly attracted to the objective (action) and interobjective (systems) poles, while the feminine is more commonly attracted to the subjective (emotional) and intersubjective (relationship) poles.

Integral City how do I map thee? Map 1 reveals a richly polarized system where opposites both require one another to strengthen their own anchor of expression and also constantly change one another in order for the whole city system to survive. If you love the possibilities that emerge from the polarities of the city, Map 1 shows the evolutionarily adaptable opposites that give a whole new meaning to “pole dance” at a city scale.

In future blogs we explore other ways to map the whole city system through the Integral City Maps identified as Maps 2, 3, 4, and 5.

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Inner Intelligence – The Reflective “I” Power of the Human Hive

The Human Hive is powered by individuals. This is rather paradoxical because it is the collection of people that we tend to notice in the Human Hive. But the collective (or in terms of the Integral Model, the social holon) is composed of individual holons. Individual people are whole systems who power and empower the collective.

Each person has an Inner Intelligence that is the “I” power of the city. Inner Intelligence is the seat of intentional consciousness, attention, interior experience and intelligences or lines of development, including but not limited to: emotional, cognitive and spiritual intelligences. The research of Howard Gardner, Ken Wilber and Clare Graves all support the theory that our Inner Intelligences exist in multiple lines that parallel, support, influence and amplify one another. If you think of each intelligence like a note on an instrument, each of us has a distinct combination of Inner Intelligences that emerge as a unique and beautifully coloured “chord”.

Our Inner Intelligences translate into intentional consciousness. When we hear (or more likely just imagine) the chords of consciousness sounding individually in the city, we realize how highly complex and highly dynamic is the life of consciousness in the city. If we were able to examine the city like a PET scan or fMRI scan does a brain, we would see that intentional intelligences are constantly being turned on and off, energized in different centers, and that intelligences are widely distributed. We would also see its sleeping, waking, dreaming cycles as individuals came and went from centers of rest, recreation, work and transportation. We might even start to see a city divided into left hemispheres (where the doing tasks of work and industry are located) and right hemispheres (where the being and belonging relationships of home and recreation are located). Or we might see/hear – in an experience of inner synesthesia – the city’s cognitive, emotional, cultural and spiritual intelligences. Each of us is a pulsing, throbbing cell in Gaia’s  reflective organ (as James Lovelock proposes)!!

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This blog is a prologue to the Integral City webinar conference  City 2.0 Co-Creating the Future of the Human Hive . We are inventing a new operating system for the city.  Click to get more details re the Free Expo and eLaboratory membership  scheduled September 4-27  2012. You are invited to attend and participate.

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