By Mark Edwards

Keywords: Developmental health, involution, evolution, pathology, Ken Wilber, Integral Theory, quadrants, future studies, agency, communion, interiority, exteriority, agency, evolutionism, individualism, exteriorism, Western, transcend and include, sustainable development, Flatland, value systems, worldviews, developmental levels, developmental lines, developmental stages, developmental psychology

This essay employs three fundamental principles of Integral theory to consider the developmental nature of some of the major pathologies currently afflicting social development at the global level. It has been quite apparent for some time now that there are very powerful global forces which cause immense harm to communities and environments. However, these very forces are also responsible for some of the most important advances in human welfare and social development. There’s a very deadly race in progress between the developmental potential of these movements to create a worthy future for our planet and their destructive capacity to consign humanity and many other innocent parties to the evolutionary scrap heap. How might we better understand how these developmental forces can be held in balance? Is it possible to untangle the beneficial side of these movements from the destructive side? How might we better enunciate and work towards a truly healthy form of global development instead of a socio-centric form of rampant “progress”? This essay presents some considerations on these and associated questions from an integral theory perspective. [Co-Director’s note: This paper includes the following elements of Integral Theory: quadrants, developmental levels, and developmental lines. It includes the concepts of flatland, and “transcend and include”, as well as the principles of Evolution-Involution, Agency-Communion, and Interiority-Exteriority. - Barrett]