'The pathology of the State is such that it consumes ever greater segments of the Social web of life. More and more functions of society; human to human exchanges, become human to state exchanges. What occurs then is that man is left cut off from his own society, he becomes ever more alienated from his fellow man, and begins to regard others with ever more suspicion. Society then begins to break down entirely. This is what brought down the Soviet state. We can see this happening today in the US, in Europe and in other places around the world.''..we bear witness to the ever more violent death throes of the current political and economic order. What will rise from the ashes will be the defining question of our time and will determine whether humanity will suffer through another century of war, death, destruction, and tyranny; or if the people will find it in themselves to transcend this emerging "New World Order," to overcome it and institute something else in it's place. Something that honors the inherent rights of all men and women to live their lives in peace and freedom, and to reach their fullest potential.
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From what I have seen there seems to be very little real fundamental understanding of either Economics or Politics in the Integral Movement..
To me it seems that it is of absolutely critical importance for the Integral Movement to address this issue decisively. Failure to do so will leave the door open for all number of unhealthy consequences for humanity and our planet. As I’ve said before Politics is philosophy-in-action. And as we have seen demonstrated in the 20th century, philosophy-in-action can mean life or death for literally hundreds of millions of people. We witnessed the damage that can be done when Red and Blue/Amber use Orange and Green technology to wage war. As Ken Wilbur has said, Red cannot commit genocide with bows and arrows, but it can with machine guns and artillery, with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Imagine if Red, Blue or even Orange and Green get a hold of Integral Biotechnology or Nanotechnology. The results will be horrifying.
In order to prevent such from happening the Integral Movement needs to focus some serious energy on this issue, and not just from a theory standpoint but actually translate it into their daily lives and lifestyles. My aim with this article is to propose what I see as the true organization of an Integral Society, and to show the rest of the Integral Movement the peaceful path toward achieving it.
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..the key characteristic of Panarchy; namely that individuals are generally free to join or leave their communities without necessarily physically moving at all, there is no longer the angst felt by the externally focused individual against a predominantly internally focused community, nor vise versa. Instead individuals would simply gravitate toward communities that reflected their internal or external values.
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I stated above that the state is a social pathology. In order to understand this one must first understand that the state and society are separate and distinct entities. Society is the sum total of peaceful human interaction..
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The pathology of the State is such that it consumes ever greater segments of the Social web of life. More and more functions of society; human to human exchanges, become human to state exchanges. What occurs then is that man is left cut off from his own society, he becomes ever more alienated from his fellow man, and begins to regard others with ever more suspicion. Society then begins to break down entirely. This is what brought down the Soviet state. We can see this happening today in the US, in Europe and in other places around the world.
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It is essential that the Integral community recognize this and position themselves on the forefront so that any emergent pathologies can be effectively addressed and the new paradigm can be guided in the right direction. I believe, however that this Transformation is inevitable in a sense, as Integrally conscious individuals seek each other out through Integral networks formed on Integral technologies, the old ways of social organization are proving to be increasingly ineffectual in comparison. We observe this beginning to happen all around us even today.
In his essay entitled, “Panarchy: Governance in the Network Age,” Paul B. Hartzog describes the process by which old systems of government are being bypassed and overcome by new systems of networked global “governance.” Hartzog points out that “[t]he key distinction between the <i>old</i> system and the <i>new</i> lies in the fact that governance in the old system was achieved <i>through</i> states, whereas in the new system it is not only achieved outside of hierarchies through horizontal networks, but is in fact often achieved <i>in spite</i> of hierarchies.” [italics his] (Hartzog, 2007). What Hartzog perceives is the effectiveness of new IPP to affecting social change, which rely not on lobbying the state through a democratic process, but on completely bypassing the state system, forming a disperse self-organizing global network of committed actors, capable of instantly spreading information amongst their members. Such networks are far more flexible, dynamic, and responsive than the state system, and will ultimately make the state system obsolete. These networks will form “meshworks,” (integrated networks of networks) as the current state systems begin to crumble under their own weight. With their economies failing, counter economies, similar to those envisioned by Samuel Edward Konkin III, will begin to emerge, utilizing new forms of trade, and bypassing the 1<sup>st</sup> Tier state economies entirely. Eventually new economic frameworks emerge, they may come to resemble the sort of “Economics 3.0” envisioned by Michelle Holliday. As she puts it, “[w]ith a view of the economy as a living system, economic leaders will likely be less fix-it men-and-women and more gardeners or farmers, actively cultivating the fertile conditions for life’s processes to flow naturally.” (Holliday 2010)
As these pre-panarchic networks become larger and more influential “meshworks,” and their new economies bypass and supplant the state economies, people will also look to these new integral economies to find more effective alternatives to failing state systems such as healthcare, education, insurance, arbitration and protection. It is conceivable that at some point the failing States will lash out at the emerging panarchy and attempt to suppress it with the only real tool at its disposal; aggression. But the disperse and networked nature of the Panarchy will make it impossible for the State to effectively suppress. Eventually, First Tier systems of government will have no choice but to incorporate themselves into the new Panarchic paradigm.
..The Integral Community is in the best position to serve as arbiters (those who resolve disputes within the panarchy) in the emerging Panarchy, as their worldview has the greatest span, they should quickly become the most reputable and respected in the field, and thus be the most influential in the development of a truly global panarchic meshwork.'
- Bryan O'Doherty,
Panarchy: The Political Paradigm of an Integral Society, January 2012
Context(Global Credit) - Symptoms of Too Much Debt(To Heal)(Reinventing Organizations) - '..news about what happening in the space of organizations going Teal.'(Haptopraxeology) - Humans Are Underrated '..the skills of deeply human interaction .. Learning to be more socially sensitive..'(The Electric Universe) - The Paths to Discovering Our Universe, Past and Present - By Annis Scott
(Open Source Learning) - '..it's not just universities that face extinction..' - 'The Miracle..' - LearningLearning - Spontaneous, Complexity, Electricity - The Unique Individual