Originally published at: https://integrallife.com/making-sense-of-the-new-right/
What happens when an entire political movement loses its center of gravity and fragments into conspiracy theories, tech libertarianism, and religious separatism? Philosopher David Storey uses Integral Theory to map the post-Trump American Right and explore whether a truly developmental conservatism might emerge from the chaos.
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An interesting and informative talk with David Storey! It was also an introduction for me to Integral Catholicism.
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I voted for trump after reading kens book, trump and the post truth world. In every election previously I had voted for a Democrat, Hillary and Biden included.
It got to the point at a progressive, Buddhist university where it felt like I was literally being sacrificed/martyred because I wasn’t adhering to far left liberal ideals.
This pathology of the left, boomeritis as I deemed it in wilber’s language, and wokeness, left me feeling fractured, disenfranchised and deeply, deeply hated.
Then trump hit the stage and started saying things back to the left that made sense to me. He fought against transgenderism, the same people who had called me transphobic when I came to the school with a genuine curiosity about the LGBTQ community, willing to set aside whatever confusions I had with them to learn about them, only to be scapegoated when I missed a pronoun by accident. I was called a pedophile publicly, shamed, betrayed and asked to leave the university. This only entrenched my hatred of “the left”.
Now I am caught in a very difficult situation. I practice meditation still, have been for twenty years. I am healing and growing back my ability to learn from the left rather than disagree with them. But it is a long road ahead. Most of my friends are liberals and hate trump viscerally. My roommate would probably ask me to leave if I told him I voted for trump and the meditation center i practice in would have serious reservations in letting me lead my Monday meditations there if they found out. The kava bar I go to is also deeply liberal.
It’s a scary time for me. Everyone seems so deeply, deeply angry and tribal, it’s a miracle I haven’t been found out yet. I’ve had to hide this since trump was elected for fear of losing my communities and place to live. Deep paranoia just for being conservative.
I’ve started praying at an evangelical church. Actually I started two years ago. I don’t care very much for the people, but I like how relaxed and upbeat they all seem to be. I can sit there and pray without being disturbed for the most part. I pray for liberals, for the church itself and it’s congregants, for trump, and for conservative as well. I pray directly to Jesus because he’s the only one who makes sense to me anymore because he cares. I also think of Buddha when I meditate at the meditation center.
I understand now that the problem is that traditionalism is being dismantled. I understand that the red shadow in both sides is to blame.
Thank you, ken. I even have a bumper sticker that says, “thank you ken wilber” but I haven’t put it on my car.
But yes, thank you ken for shining a light. God bless you, sir