About Integral Life Practice (ILP)
ILP is a theory of human development that is based on the research of over 100 developmental psychologists and a cross-mapping of states of consciousness found in the heart of all major spiritual traditions. The result is a profoundly comprehensive meta-theory of human development. It is nested within the larger frameworks of Integral Theory.
Here I’ll break down the key principles and concepts that come together to make this wonderful and accessible map.
Table of Contents:
Introduction & Credits
The Mind is an Ecosystem, Not a Computer
You have Multiple Intelligences
Lines and Levels of Development
Developing the Four Core Lines.
A Holistic Lens. The Four Quadrants of Integral Theory
States of Consciousness & Psychedelics
Bonus: 4E Cognitive Science and the Cultivation of Wisdom
1. Introduction and Credit
My interpretation of ILP is derived from the works of Ken Wilber and John Vervaeke. They each in their way, brought together extensive history, major spiritual traditions, and rigorous research to produce maps of cultural and individual evolution.
Ken Wilber in a collaborative effort took 100 of the most well-respected maps of developmental psychology and combined them into one meta-theory of development. Documenting numerous stages and capacities beyond the average American adult.
Integral Life Practice was created to make this information easily applicable to support any individual and catalyze their unique development in a holistic, realistic, and sustainable way.
John Vervaeke a contemporary philosopher and cognitive scientist presented an Ecology of Practice for the cultivation of individual and collective wisdom.
These frameworks overlap and confirm one another while also emphasizing different points.
2. The mind is an ecosystem, not a computer
First, let’s change how we think about the mind and development.
The popular metaphor of the mind as a computer has sufficiently spread throughout Western culture, into our conversation, and general self-understanding. It has some major shortcomings. It is good at pointing out certain aspects of the mind, for example how a habit “program” runs in the background unconscious. It fails however to convey anything close to the complexity of the mind functioning as a self-evolving complex living system.
A better metaphor is the mind as an ecosystem, with every part contributing in many seen and unseen non-linear ways to the whole, with every part seen as a whole unto itself with its constituent whole-parts. The bird, the tree, the forest, the river, the microbes, the soil, the hills, the sunlight.
To push the metaphor…People are like psychosomatic ecosystems with a landscape of core material, embodied emotional knots, a climate of mental beliefs and perspectives, weather patterns of moods and nervous system states, and a diverse living network of dynamic interrelating skills, desires, needs, and capacities. All of which lead to an immensely complex, rich, and unique human being.
Can you feel the difference between
programming your mind and gardening your mind?
Good. We’re going to keep playing with the metaphor here and there.
3. Lines and Levels of Development
It is widely accepted among developmental psychologists that people have multiple intelligences.
For example - you may be highly intelligent in mathematics and have very poor relational intelligence. You may have great emotional and relational intelligence, and poor moral intelligence (think skillful tyrant, capable of cunning manipulations).
These different intelligences are referred to as Lines. They each independently go through levels of development.
Levels represent the milestones of development, which entails increasing complex capacity within the specific developmental line.
Let’s look at musical intelligence as an example. As a musician progresses they learn basic scales and song structures. Then more and more modulations, keys, rhythms, multiple voices, and eventually - spontaneous co-creation with other people.
This illustrates an important point. Each level of development Transcends and includes the previous level.
You (as a superb musician) don't have to think about the scales and keys anymore, because your knowing of them is included naturally in the higher-order complexity of your musicianship.
To date, over a dozen of these lines have been identified through research, such as cognition, self-identity, morals, needs, values, affective (emotional), interpersonal, psychosexual, musical, and mathematical.
Learn more about different ways we can work together to support your evolutionary self-unfolding.
4. Developing the 4 core lines
While all developmental lines can potentially serve as modules within an Integral Life Practice, a core set of practices has been identified through current research as the best for fostering both health and holistic development in the most important aspects of the self.
Core practices: Body, Mind/Soul, Spirit, and Shadow
Or kinesthetic, meditative, cognitive, and psychodynamic lines respectively.
Body: Everything involving the health of the body. Practices that strengthen, tone, integrate, relax, build somatic sensitivity, or coordinate complex movements. Also includes habits and practices around sleep, diet, screen use, supplements, drugs & alcohol.
Mind: This involves practices or activities that developmental processes such as creative thinking, memory, focus, problem solving, linguistics, and the capacity to take multiple perspectives on any given topic or scenario.
Spirit: Meditative practice that, in a general sense, can increase our capacity for awareness and/or concentration. “spiritual” practice means awareness training and the development of consciousness into the wider embrace of transpersonal stages.
Shadow: This refers to any practice or activity that intentionally uncovers blindspots, distorted beliefs, or repressed emotions and facilitates the processing of the psychosomatic knot. There is potential for splitting of identity at every stage of development whenever an aspect of self gets transcended but not included in the next stage. Generally, however, it refers to childhood wounding/trauma and resulting distortions of belief and perspective.
Here you can download a map of numerous proven practices for each developmental line, with resources for each practice, and links to online instruction from the best teachers I could find.
I’ll trade you for your email address, where I send a brief, educational newsletter once a month to inspire and catalyze your self-evolution.
5. A Truly Holistic Lens. The Quadrants of Integral Theory
The four dimensions (quadrants) are so fundamental to the patterns of the universe that every major language is built around them.
The “I,” “We,” “It,” and “Its” languaging—can be summarized as the interior and exterior of the individual and collective.
Its relevance here is as a tool for analysis. Like a kaleidoscope, it splits and extends any object or idea we want to look at into its 4 relational dimensions of existence.
Its what I will use in Integral Life Sessions to give a bird’s eye view of someone’s development, but it can be applied to literally anything. That is because everything that exists has an aspect in each of these four quadrants. Nothing exists that does not have co-arising aspects present in all quadrants. Even interior spiritual experiences have correlating delta or theta brain waves, chemical components, cultural interpretations, etc.
For a wonderfully accessible and profoundly thorough walk through these different maps, you can read Ken Wilber’s A Theory of Everything.
7. States of Consciousness & Psychedelics
Human consciousness encompasses a spectrum of states, ranging from the every day—waking (gross), dreaming (subtle), and deep sleep (causal) —to the immensely nuanced altered, peak, and flow/non-dual states. This includes not only beneficial states but also harmful ones, like those associated with psychosis, trauma, and disorientation.
Research underscores the significant benefits altered, peak, and flow states can have on human development. Meditation is particularly valuable, offering a gateway to these altered states and facilitating occasional peak experiences within a non-disoriented framework. It's a practice that increases daily one's access to these transformative states.
Psychedelics, too, offer profound opportunities for growth and self-discovery. However, they carry some risks, potentially leading to traumatizing experiences or delusions if interpreted by our unconscious "shadow" perspectives. Speaking from personal experience, while the overall impact has been immensely positive, there have been challenges with brief delusional periods as I tried to make sense of the world after particularly mind expanding experiences.
Here's the problem that is widely not understood… peak psychedelic and spiritual states are interpreted at whatever developmental level the individual is at (in the cognitive line). This can cause all sorts of unfortunate interpretations of genuine awakening experiences and expanded states.
Coming back to our ecosystem metaphor - where the developmental stage is the landscape/ecosystem, states are like the weather. They can come and go at any time regardless of your psychological development.
Access and familiarity with higher states though beneficial, does not equate to developmental maturity. It does not instantly resolve all your shadow or expand your intelligences. You probably don’t have to try hard to think of a spiritual teacher who had gambling, sex, drug, or power issues even though they are remarkable teachers of consciousness states.
By understanding these dynamics, we can approach our exploration of consciousness with greater wisdom and care, fostering both personal and spiritual growth while acknowledging the complex interplay between different states of being and the development of one’s humanity.
By understanding these dynamics, we can approach our exploration of consciousness with greater wisdom and care, fostering both personal and spiritual growth while acknowledging the complex interplay between different states of being.
In my opinion, nothing seems to be better for preparing or integrating a psychedelic or awakening experience than an established Integral Life Practice.
8. Bonus- Bringing in Cognitive Science and DIME
For those who have read this far, you’ll probably enjoy this brief introduction as well. ILP is so comprehensive, but I’ve been personally so inspired and influenced by John Vervaeke’s work that I had to interweave his framework.
A Basic Integral Life Practice in my opinion meets the additional design criteria of Vervaeke’s D.I.M.E.
D.I.M.E. stands for
Dialogical: These are practices that develop interrelational and self-reflective skills Ex. authentic relating games, reflective journaling, dialectic and dialogos practices
Imaginal: Practices that “bridge spirit and matter”. visualizations, dreamwork, symbolic creative or artistic practices
Mindful: Practices that develop an open, sensitive, and stable concentration of awareness on the present flow of experiences in all realms. Ex. Different meditative practices.
Embodied: Practices that strengthen, tone, integrate, relax, build kinesthetic sensitivity, or coordinate complex movements.
These practices are supported by the framework of 4E cognitive sciences and are aimed at the cultivation of individual and collective wisdom. While there is a clear overlap between “Mindful”, “Embodied”, and “Imaginal” - there is the added relational component of “Dialogical” and in general an encouragement to practice in a community.
Here are the 4 E’s of 4E Cog. Sci in the context of the cultivation of wisdom
Embodied cognition: Our cognitive processes are deeply intertwined with bodily experiences. Our understanding of the world, the decisions we make, and the problems we solve are not just a product of abstract reasoning but are jointly shaped by our somatic and kinesthetic intelligences. Wisdom is not just about abstract reasoning but is also grounded in bodily experiences and somatic attunement.
Embedded cognition. Cognitive processes are not confined to the brain but are instead situated within a broader context that includes the environment, social interactions, and cultural practices. Our thinking is influenced by the specific contexts in which it occurs, including the tools and technologies we use, the social norms and expectations of our communities, and the physical environments in which we operate. Wisdom emerges within specific cultural and social contexts.
Enacted cognition: Cognition is not just a matter of internal mental representations but is actively constructed and shaped as interactions with the environment. Rather than passively processing information, we actively engage with our surroundings, manipulating objects, communicating with others, and performing actions that shape and transform our cognitive processes. Wisdom is not the passive acquisition of knowledge but understanding combined with active enactment through behavior and social interactions.
Extended cognition: Cognitive processes can extend beyond the individual mind to include and be shaped by external tools, artifacts, and resources. We often rely on external aids such as notebooks, calculators, or smartphones to augment our cognitive abilities and store information. These external resources become integrated into our cognitive processes, shaping how we think, see, and solve problems. Wisdom is shaped and supported by external tools and artifacts.
Learn more about different ways we can work together to support your evolutionary self-actualization.
