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 H.B. Augustine is a junior undergraduate student at Denison University studying Philosophy and Communication. He has started a publishing organization called "Integral Publishing House" - contact him at august_h@denison.edu if interested in publishing Integral material. Integral Politics
A Brief Outline of and
Introduction to the Integral Era
Henry Augustine
The Postmodern Era
Symbolically, perhaps we can see that Postmodernity “officially” “began” with Darwin's Origin of Species, or with Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Practically, we can see that the transitory period began with Kant, ending sometime during the middle of the 19th century. By this time, a portion of the world had already entered Postmodernity and was already beginning to experience its distinct effects. The first sub-era of Postmodernity constitutes the first half of the 19th century, the incubation phase – the thesis. For convenience's sake, let us say that this particular period began with Kant and that it ended with Darwin. The second sub-era began with Darwin and if not with WWI, then it Certainly ended with WWII. The third and final Postmodern sub-era began with WWI/WWII, and let us view that it symbolically (and perhaps archetypally) ended with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Postmodernity, in its essence, was simply retaliation against all the wrongs of Modernity. Just as Modernity was made from all the positives of Premodernity, so Postmodernity was made from all the negatives of Modernity. Relative to the dimensional foundation of the Big Three, Postmodernity emphasized the subjective and intersubjective aspects of the World – as opposed to just the objective. Postmodernity was pluralistic in essence and was likewise against objectivity or structuralization of any kind. This extreme pluralism, for philosophy, led to an extreme skepticism and relativism for the philosophic community. However, more positively speaking, we can see that the pluralism of Postmodernity as the first period of the Integral Era has led us to the second period we are now in, and is leading us toward the third and final one we will experience relatively soon.
Let us call the middle period of the Integral Era the Holistic Era. The Holistic Era exploded in the 1990s and will continue for an un-Certain amount of time. We may note that the this particular period has not yet affected the world at large. However, it is significant that during that and this time, a relatively large amount of people have been affected by such a worldview inducing them to perceive life more holistically as opposed to linearly than before. Because of this significant emergence – despite its not yet having any significant practical affection –, this means that we can consider the Holistic Era, the second period of the greater Integral Era, to have already begun. We may note, though, that the Integral Era is still in its incubation phase, just as Modernity was in that of its own until the 18th century.
The Integral Era
Following the Postmodern and Holistic, the third and final period constituting the whole of the Integral Era is rightfully what we can likewise call the Integral Era. Just as the Postmodern allowed the Holistic to emerge, so the Holistic will allow the Integral to shower all its Goodness, Beauty, and Truth upon this planet as an entirety. Let us now examine the definitive characteristics as they pertain to society relative to the Integral Era – as well as beyond such.
- morality: kosmocentric
- expression: (not yet experienced)
- worldview: integral
- technology: (not yet experienced)
- authority: “leader” / holonic world government
- economy: “harmonious free market”
- education: universal and perfected
- architecture: (not yet experienced)
Morality
To begin, we can see that the morality of the Integral Era will necessarily be universally kosmocentric, which means that all humans embrace a kosmocentric basic moral intuition. Integral allows the individual to become kosmocentric – to embrace everything as an equal though different manifestation of one's Self – because Integral necessarily includes a valid and sound ontological explication. This superior explication is a result of Integral's ontological knowledge and understanding namely coming from Eastern mystic sources.
When we realize that “we” are All that Exists, and when we realize that “we” Exist as God and Spirit in order to Experience Itself, then so do “we” acknowledge that kosmocentricism is as “common sense” an approach to life as is eating meat for a carnivore. In contrast to our being able to know what the future of Integral morality will be, we instead cannot know what the future of widespread Integral art will be, as we can only speculate, supported by a Certain degree of probability and, hence, belief.
Expression
Integral art, above all that we can most strongly believe, will have more in common intellectuality incorporated into its composition. In other words, Integral artists alike will recognize that Beauty and Truth correspond to one another in archetypal ways. Something that is (theoretically) objectively more Beautiful than is another thing is such because it corresponds to a greater Idea than does the other. The greater the Idea, the more Beautiful the art. Integral art, to summarize, will eventually master the capture of as much of Beauty as is humanly possible; or, at least, it will do so significantly more than do the current Postmodern standings. Moving along, we can obviously agree that the worldview of the Integral Era will necessarily be Gebser's fifth and final “integral” level amid his famous psychological spectrum. To continue, we can also acknowledge that technology – like art – will be extremely more advanced and usefully administered than we see even today.
Technology
With research in stem-cell development and experimentation in particle physics, we will likely be able to create both life and stuff, the latter meaning virtually any physical “thing” as a concrete objective relative to our perception. Technology, by the time the Integral Era has fully taken effect, will be so spectacular that we will at once realize how precisely our species as a coherent whole has imitated what an organic brain or mechanic computer itself does. Our technology will allow communication between any person at any place on Earth to converse directly, in many forms, just as a neuron, in holonic proportion, so fluidly exchanges its respective data with another. In short, we can expect Integral technology will make the world into a sort of “epic amusement park” – that is, relative to people who are able to appreciate it for its relative significance. Next from the technology of the Integral Era, we can point to the nature of authority and see that it, too, will be nearly perfected.
Authority
Authority will harmoniously synthesize the role of the individual with that of the collective, together operating in compatibility and productivity. First, the purpose of authority will be changed, no longer as “keeping society from chaos” and instead as “maintaining the organization, harmony, and splendor of Earth as a whole.” The establishment of governance will have as much central authority as is necessary to maintain such organization, harmony, and splendor. Despite how central it is, authority will Certainly be structured as holonically as effectively possible.
Even in federalist nation-states such as Germany, there is not nearly as much holonic efficiency as there could be. Furthermore, as of now, there exists nothing greater than what we can call a world-state. The only existing world-state, as of now, is the European Union. However, after the level of world-state, there is yet one more and it pertains directly to Integralized authority. This Integralized authority cannot exist if but one world-state exists, though – for there must be roughly as many world-states as there are continents comprising Earth's total geography.
Once the rest of the world is united under world-state establishments, these themselves will unite in order to form the first world government, consisting of roughly (and surely not necessarily) seven world-states. The provincial structure of this complete world political system will be arranged as practically and as precisely as we can muster. Relative to the total geography and population of each continent/world-state, such will be divided into an appropriate smaller number of states. The sample principle will then apply to each of these states, and so forth, until finally, the smallest unit under governance will be a community, consisting of no more than 100 members living amongst one another. Each province will be in perfect proportion with the others. Each contributing member overseeing each province, likewise, will possess extraordinary moral, communicative, and cognitive abilities. Moving along, the economy of the Integral Era will be what we have decided to call a harmonious free market.
Economy
We have already agreed that the only purpose of governmental economic regulation is if the economy would be less harmonious without it. Implicitly, the economy would be less harmonious with such intervention if and only if a significant number of the individuals constituting it were not acting as they should be. We can agree, though, that everyone in the Integral Era will know not to act as he or she should not; therefore, there will be no need for governmental economic regulation. The economy is most harmonious when its constituents individually and independently are doing what for which they are passionate and what at which they are skilled. There is no need for government to interfere with the course of people's constructive lives, i.e. their vocations, when such vocations are in accordance with each person's respective Destiny. We can also see that Integral education will be another of the most notable aspects illustrating this upcoming Era.
Education
Integral education will be structured as logically as possible, which necessarily means that it will be structured as holistically as possible. Fields of inquiry and the overall structure as such will be in strict accord with the undeniable fundamentals of AQAL (and not necessarily the arguably deniable ones). In short and in preview of our upcoming sufficient articulation on Integral education, among others, we can see that it will likewise, and finally, be universal. Everyone in the Integral Era will receive virtually an equally effective Integral education. Lastly, we can alas only speculate as to what Integral architecture will be.
Architecture
If we had to answer this question, then we could strongly guess that all architecture of the Integral Era will embody the synthesis between mechanical and aesthetic perfection. Of course, “perfection” in this case is still ultimately relative – but it will be so much more perfect than the common architecture we see today that to label it “perfect” would not be so dull and inaccurate on our part. Architects will acknowledge that architecture itself is an important aspect of society, since it embodies the way society looks, relative to our primary and most important sensible faculty (i.e. sight).
Architects will be required, for instance, to not only master the dynamics of mathematics and engineering, but also to master those of aesthetics and art. We can expect the cities of the Integral Era each to resemble and to some extent embody the same degree of Beauty that something as magnificent as the Sistine Chapel or Taj Mahal itself does. Now that we have initially imagined what such a Society will be like, let us look more closely by scrutinizing the specific theoretical natures of Integral government, Integral economics, and Integral education, in addition to Integral architecture.
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