The interiority of our exterior reality

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This issue came up in the very contentions chat on information warfare…I am not much interested in warfare so I thought I would start a new topic.

I have been involved in Integral thought scene for 25+ years and it has been very helpful to me in navigating the complexity of multiple world views, my state experiences, and many other things. I would say Integral has been one of the most important aspects of my life. Lately, I find the world so crazy even integral isn’t helping me much. I pop back in from time to time to see what’s up and it’s just not doing it for me anymore. I get it may be just a “it’s me not you” thing, but this thought line is intriguing to me, so I thought I would see where it goes since I’m sure it will take some time for Corey to work out a new class.

I do think the whole interior and exterior of each quadrant is sometimes an overlooked aspect of Integral. I think so much of the, what felt to me, as manic nature of communication on the information warfare chat is due to this overlooked aspect. I am not as whip smart and articulate as most who are attracted to this space, but I am pretty intuitive, so bear with me.

What I keep seeing in communications that gets so toxic between “right vs left” is they are always saying the same thing and cant see it. When it comes to “finding solutions” things go off the rails, but I see that as a “programming problem” meaning we haven’t taken the time to understand the issue prior to moving into solutions. I cant quite put a finger on what is the missing ingredient here in the integral pie. Is it the interiors of the lower right or do we need to deepen our understanding of our collective interiors while really honoring the spiral, (I do think Integral still tends towards a condescending tone towards “lower WV” ?

I see this everywhere in both local and global scenes. Even in issues I am an expert in locally (where we are mostly all on a similar political page), I just cant find any space to be heard and I see plans being implemented that I KNOW will fail, but there is nothing to do since everyone just wants to steam roll everything and everyone. This is the same dynamic I was seeing in the chat…it’s everywhere at this point.

What I see is some kind of interiority of the exterior being overlooked. Because we can’t see there is an interiority of the exterior, we do not trust each other. I am seeing really tragic results and I have been in positions where I felt if I had the skills to navigate it differently that maybe a better result could have occurred. I would love to hear others thoughts on this.

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Hello Michelle,

I am really bearing with you on this one, and here are my thoughts.

I like to add Jungs personalities to my understanding of Spiral dynamics. I guess this is what is meant by interior and exterior. First Sensing, split into thinking and feeling (masculine and feminine) and Intuition, split into thinking and feeling (masculine and feminine). And possibly what you intuit, is that there is (not too sure about this, but if you google it) a 1 intuitve for every 3 sensing person. And there are some further difficulties as well.

We tend to grow our dominant function the most, and then the rest based on which is closest. So if you are Sensing thinking, next you develop Se Feeling, then Intuitive Thinking and then In Feeling. And if you are Intuitive Feeling, next would be In Thinking, then Se Feeling and then Se Thinking.

This development does not happen one after the other, but there is a gap in integration. If you are Green and In Feeling/Feminine, with a high level of integration, your In Thinking/Masculine might be at Blue, and less integrated. Sensing might also be lower, and with more of a cherry picking with regards to what you have learnt. Which might be an important reason why people claim there is a 2 level gap between where people say they are and where they «really» are.

And usually what your highest level does, is paint the rest with its colours, so it gives off a sense of congruity/wholesness. But if you separate them, and look at them on at a time, Colour-washing is the norm, not the exception.

Full circle back to your experience of feeling steam rolled. There are more Sensing inclined people, and it makes sense that the interior/intuitve perepectives are far less Implemented. You experience it personally, you notice it locally, globally and in how we have build society, and it hurts to see, I guess, because you want to contribute. At least that is what I experience from this post, a deep longing for contribution, and was what made me want to reply, among other things.
I wanted to share a similar longing, and my pains with the missing integration not only in myself, but also around me.

The interior reality is real. I divide it into a thinking/masculine “Conceptual” side and an Feeling/feminine “Energetic” side, ideally further integrated. I can contribute intentionally in creating an Interior Oasis from a desert. A desert that will survive and thrive beyond our lifetime. And it isn’t idealisme or a dream, it is a Reality, and is based on my competence, not some sort of vague utopia. It is also a rational choice, since I view my goals through a lense of a couple of hundred years. It might be «Stupid» to toil in the freaking Desert, but this kind of Desert is dangerous. Left to its own devices, it would swallow up the forest one tree at the time.

When I look at where I am at with regards to exterior reality, my strongest Sensing function is around an inquisitive 12-13 year old. Moreover, Sensing scares me. It has this addictive pull to it, wanting to do, create, build indefinitely. Which I am not that used to. And my weakest around 5-6.

If we are only as strong as our weakest link, I am currently 5-6 years old. On a global level Intuition seems, from my experience and some superficial research, to be the weakest link because it is where the most people struggle the most. Personally, I will balance myself out quicker my improving Sensing. But on this forum and I guess in IEC as well, improving Intuition is the quickest way to balance.