Effective altruism is a topic that I can find nowhere on this website or forum, but which, from my understanding of integral theory, I would expect most people at an integral level of development to be deeply interested in. Effective altruists want to combine their head (growing up) and heart (waking up) in order to do the most good possible in the world.
I think both communities could possibly learn a lot from each other. On the one hand I think that knowing integral theory can be very helpful in determining more effective strategies for doing good. Indeed, becoming more integral-minded and help others on their path might be one of the most effective strategies available. On the other hand, I think that the effective altruism community can give a lot of advice and inspiration to people in this community that are interested in doing more good and reducing suffering in the world.
To be honest I am not (yet) really part of either community, but I would just like to see a bigger overlap between them, since I think it would connect people with similar intentions, and open up potentially very meaningful conversations between them.
One thing that I really admire about (people who identify as) effective altruists is that a lot of them donate 10% of their income (or in some cases even more) to what they consider to be effective charities (and discussions between them can help every person in making an informed and well considered choice in this regard).
I would love to know if there are any people on this forum that are already familiar with effective altruism, and also people who have some interesting thoughts/opinions/viewpoints that they want to share. For people interested to learn more about EA (as it is commonly abbreviated), one good starting point would be their main website: https://www.effectivealtruism.org/.
As a sidenote, I only recently subscribed to the Integral Life platform, and I have to say that I really enjoy the content so far and am interested and excited to dive more deeply in all of the topics in order to speed up my personal growth and become a more compassionate, loving, grown-up and integral/integrated human being
First off, welcome to Integral Life! I am very happy that you say you enjoy your membership so far. I hope you will remain active in this community!
As for “effective altruism”, I am unfamiliar with that particular phrase, but I would say the general spirit of the phrase, as you describe it, is deeply resonant with what we do here at Integral Life.
You might be particularly interested in Roger Walsh’s work, as it sounds like what you are describing is very congruent with some of the themes he likes to speak to — selfless service, karma yoga, and the idea of the “gnostic intermediary”. I’ll put up a few links for you below.
This is a general theme that often gets surfaced on my Inhabit series with Ryan Oelke, so I encourage you to check that out too!
