Integral approach:

5 basic components

Created by Eugene Pustoshkin

Today we have access to…

…all cultures and knowledge in the world

How can we not get lost in all of it?
We need a road map
A bad map*

*will not work

A good map is better than a bad map.
Integral approach
— the most comprehensive,
simple, and accurate map
 5 basic factors

 Quadrants
 Levels
 Lines
 States
 Types
 5 basic factors

Tracking them allows one to:

• Take what’s needed into account
• Fully realize
– one’s own potential
– potential of one’s own activities
Quadrants
 Quadrants
Basic perspectives on
• a human being
• any issue

Main pronouns:
1st person — “I”
2nd person — “You” (“Thou”) *
3rd person singular — “It”
3rd person plural — “Its”

* In the dialogue of “I” + “Thou” the miracle

of “We” emerges that is based on mutual
understanding
YOU I

I + YOU = WE

I am telling you…
…about my new bike*
* Bicycle — “it. ”
 ITS
Interobjective connections
• ecosystems
• environment
• systems theory
 4 quadrants
— interior and exterior sides
of individual and collective
dimensions
 Left-Hand
Quadrants
— interior side
 Right-Hand
Quadrants
— exterior side
Upper Quadrants
— individual dimension
Lower Quadrants
— collective dimension
 4 quadrants
Each occasion or event can
always be looked through the
perspective of each of these
quadrants.
 4 quadrants
Each occasion or event always
manifests simultaneously in
all 4 quadrants.
 4 quadrants
Thus, an occasion that is seen
in one quadrant always has
correlates in other three
quadrants.
 A thought
came across
my mind!
This thought is accompanied by activation of neurons in the brain
My thinking is molded to a large degree by the culture that I inhabit
My organism exists within communicative webs of objective social
systems
Thus,
 Upper-Left Quadrant
• I, the cognizing subject

• My direct experiences,
feelings, thoughts

• Meaning or depth that I find in

my activities

CONSCIOUSNESS
Validity claim:
• subjective truthfulness (honesty,
sincerety)

Example of a methodology:
• introspection
 Upper-Right Quadrant
• It, the cognized object

• Objective organism

• Objectively measurable:
• behavior
• neural activation
• hormones
MATERIAL OBJECT
Validity claim:
• objective truth

Example of a methodology:
• biology, physiology
 Lower-Left Quadrant
• We, cultural context

• Interpersonal communication

• Worldview shared in the

group
• Group values
• Corporative ethics
CULTURE
Validity claim:
• intersubjective justness

Example of methodology:
• hermeneutics
 Lower-Right Quadrant
• Its, interobjective connections

• Techno-economic mode of
production

• Environment, ecosystems

SOCIAL SYSTEM
Validity claims:
• functional fit

Example of methodology:
• systems theory
 Levels of
Development
 Evolution
• Evolution manifests in all quadrants.
• Each new level of development transcends but includes the previous one: from
matter to life to mind to soul to Spirit; from physics to psychology to theology to
mysticism.
 Upper-Left (“I”)
• Evolution of individual consciousness.
• Development of cognitive capacities:
• preoperational cognition
• concrete operational cognition
• formal operational cognition
• postformal cognition (vision logic)
 Upper-Right (“It”)
• Evolution of objective organism.
• Evolutionary stages of the brain*:
• reptile brain: brain stem
• instinctual behavior
• basic survival programs
• mammalian brain: limbic system
• affective reactions
• emotional responses
• “language of feelings”
• human brain: neocortex
• thinking
• rationality
• verbal language

* The Triune Brain theory (McLean)

 Lower-Left (“We”)
• Cultural evolution.
• Progress of worldviews:
• egocentrism
• narcissism (the world as extension of
me)
• early childhood
• ethnocentrism
• nationalism (perspective of only my
group of people)
• fascism
• fundamentalism
• worldcentrism
• cosmopolitism (perspectives of all
groups of people in the world)
• global ecological consciousness
 Lower-Right (“Its”)
• Evolution of social systems
and technologies.
• Techno-economic mode of
production:
• foraging
• horticultural
• agrarian
• industrial
• informational
Lines of Development
 Upper-Left (“I”)
• Theory of multiple intelligences
(H. Gardner)
• Lines of development of:
• cognition (J. Piaget)
• psychosexual (S. Freud)
• emotional intelligence (D. Goleman)
• hierarchy of needs (A. Maslow)
• values (C. Graves, Spiral Dynamics)
• self or ego development (S. Cook-
Greuter)
• moral development (L. Kohlberg)
• and so on
 Lower-Right (“Its”)
• Lines of development:
• techno-economic mode of
production
• geopolitical structures
• evolution of social systems
/ ecosystems
 Upper-Right (“It”)
• Lines of development:
• biological growth
• neurophysiological development
• evolution of behavior
 Lower-Left (“We”)
• Lines of development:
• cultural worldviews
• shared values
• mutual understanding
• group identity
 States of
Consciousness
 Waking
— gross state of consciousness
 Dreaming
— subtle state of consciousness
Deep dreamless sleep
— causal state of consciousness
Types
 Typologies

• Masculine and
feminine types
• C. G. Jung’s
psychological types
• Enneagram
So,
Thank you for your attention!