Thanks to the work of Ken Wilber and others, integral theory has begun to provide thousands of people around the world with a new map for understanding the complex dynamics of just about every aspect of human consciousness and culture—from religion and spirituality to science, business, and politics. And the integral movement is growing. From its humble beginnings on the cultural and philosophical fringes, it has exploded in recent years with the flowering of integral groups, conferences, academic programs, and individual practitioners around the world.

Still, integral is far from being a household word. So WIE Unbound decided to seek out leaders from the integral community and ask them: What will it take to develop integralism into a full-fledged cultural and philosophical movement and really bring it into the mainstream?

In this interview, Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, the founder and chair of JFK University's Integral Theory Department, gave WIE's Joel Pitney his take on the current trajectory of the integral movement. Drawing on over ten years of experience as an integral "scholar-practitioner," Esbjörn-Hargens describes three principal ways that he sees the integral worldview being carried into culture. The first is through a growing number of social networks that are forming through integral discussion salons and online forums in cities across the United States and Europe. Second, Esbjörn-Hargens cites a growing body of practitioners who are successfully applying integral models to specific projects on everything from ecology to international development and corporate leadership. And third, he explains how integral is making an impact on higher education—his own particular area of focus—where several recently formed degree programs in integral theory are starting to give long-sought legitimacy to integral philosophy in the mainstream academic world.

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