Integral Theory and Practice workshop by: Maharlika Integral

Maharlika Integral is a closed-knit organization in Davao City promoting integral awareness and praxis to different urban and rural communities in the region. Part of the group’s effort to promote integral theory & action, they launched Training and Embodied Development program - a series of intensive workshops in collaboration with local communities. The workshop aims to awaken ‘integrality’ by co-creatively extracting and exploring the components of integral theory.

In collaboration with Nanilac Crew, Maharlika Integral facilitated a one day-intensive workshop last March 31, 2019. The morning session covered the basic tenets of integral theory and practice - the three universal perspectives (I, We, It), how they appear in the languages of the world and form the basis of art, science and morals or first person, second person and third person perspectives; lines of development (omnipresent multiple intelligences), the foundational ideas of Gardner (1983) followed by an experiential workshop using a visual model called ‘multiple intelligence pit’.

Types of development (the different personality, culture, body/behavior and systemic types) touching a bit on psychometric tools such as MBTI, 16PF, Big 5, etc., how eastern contemplative traditions view typologies and how they can merge together in a meta synthesized perspective of typologies. The discussion was then followed by a brief group exercise to acknowledge the different typologies present in self, culture and nature.

  

Then discussion of ‘states of consciousness’ followed. The interactive discussion was experiential in a way that participants were presented with a series of images and phrases containing different emotional triggers, the revealed the fluctuating nature of states of consciousness. After the embodied group exercise, the facilitators presented how ‘consciousness’ is understood by modern science (neurologically and psychologically) covering the classic conscious/subconscious/unconscious/superconscious states; trained states, body states and mystical experiences using the Wilber-Combs lattice - as a framework for interpreting mystical experiences.

 

In the early part of the afternoon, the workshop proceeded with levels of development - presenting the different ontological models of Piaget (1936), Loevinger (1976), Kohlberg (1958), Maslow (1943), Graves (1970), Kegan (1994). Also included in the contents are centers of gravity, transcend and include principle, development gaps, and complexity theory. The catch of the discussion was to let the participants see how the different ontologies meet and how they can work together to paint a more comprehensive picture of human development. In the latter part of this phase, Spiral Dynamics (2006) was discussed including anthropological timeline, basic themes, quest, political organization, economic infrastructure, ecological alliance, spiritual expression and cultural themes. The contents of this discussion was complimented with videos and individual reflection to enhance a deeper understanding.

   

The final part of the workshop consisted of a brief discussion of the quadrants and how lines, types, stages and levels can be unified into a single matrix-map. In the last phase, Integral Life Practice was briefly discussed to demonstrate how the theory can be applied to personal and collective lives. Workbooks and further information were distributed for further learning.

If you are curious to know what Integral Theory & Practice is and how it can complement your life, work and current projects, feel free to contact Maharlika Integral at nucleus@maharlikaintegral.org

You can also contact them via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/maharlikaintegralevolution