About the Integral Approach

The integral approach (also called integral psychology or integral philosophy) is a grand synthesis of all the major psychologies of the West and meditative traditions of the East. For the 21st century in the era of global connectedness, we also need a global psychology that takes into account all systems out there, and instead of asking “Which is true?” suggests that all have truth and connects them into a unified theory of human psychology.

What is psychology after all? Knowledge about the inner subjective world. If we take this common sense definition, then it is easy to see that meditative traditions such as yoga, Buddhism, Christian mysticism, or shamanism are not religions but descriptions, maps, guides, and exercises to explore and develop our inner world. The West has developed the scientific approach, and the East and tribal shamanic traditions have developed the experiential-intuitive approach. It’s time to let go of the rigid “only science” approach and give space for meditative exploration and wisdom too. The two need to be integrated. We don’t reject science; we love it and study it and integrate other sources of knowledge with it.

By the end of the 20th century, all schools of psychology and all spiritual traditions from all cultures had become available and could be studied and practiced. A lot of people studied many of them in the1970s and, realizing their awesomeness, they gave up the “either-or” approach and followed the “and-and” approach. That resulted in a thirst and search for a meaningful, scholarly, and precise synthesis: a grand unified theory of psycho-spirituality—the integral approach.

Ken Wilber, American writer, philosopher, and theoretical psychologist, managed to crack the code and offer this synthesis in the 1970s. It has become a globally accepted and recognized approach and is followed by many experts in the fields of psychology, psychotherapy, personal growth, self-development, spiritual teaching, coaching, organizational development, leadership, economics, politics, and medicine.

The integral approach is a developmental-evolutionary approach that describes the stages of development of the human psyche and also the stages of cultural-societal evolution. It explains the complex phenomena that we see today in our personal lives and relationships, our organizations and businesses, and in our national and international world in economics, politics, and society.