Ken Wilber, Ed Kowalczyk, and Stuart Davis, along with two dozen I-I friends, met at the Boulder house for a "mini-rave" focusing on Integral Art and Transformative Practice. What followed was an afternoon of vibrant discussion and electrifying performances, centered on the themes: What is the relation of art and transformation? How can art be part of an integral transformative practice?
As Ken notes in his introductory remarks, one of the goals of Integral Institute is to resurrect the concept of the avant garde. "Avant garde" in the broadest sense refers to anyone who is pushing the evolutionary edge. However, historically, it has often been the artists who have pushed it most profoundly. That's because artists, as Ken points out, have a freedom to experiment that people in most other vocations don't.
Of course, for just that reason, avant-garde art has often been the product of some
less-than-balanced souls. But if the leading edge is now integral, then we can look to artists whose consciousness is integrally informed to give us glimpses of a saner, more inclusive future—and the radical potentials that await us there.
Also central to the conversation is the notion of Integral Transformative Practice, and how it can serve the unfolding of conscious evolution. The essential idea of ITP is that the more human capacities one exercises simultaneously, the more rapid the human transformation, and the more profound the human creativity. Think of ITP as spiritual cross-training: the exercise of body, mind, soul, and spirit in self, culture, and nature. (For more on ITP, check out Michael Murphy and George Leonard's dialogue on the history and importance of ITP here.)
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