Steve McIntosh - Birth of the Integral Worldview

This is the third in a series of interviews with integral thinker Steve McIntosh. When speaking about the history of integral philosophy, Hegel, Bergson, Whitehead, Aurobindo, Teilhard, Gebser, and Wilber comprise the A-list of names most often cited as the creators and significant contributors to this powerful theory of consciousness and all-encompassing evolutionary worldview. In this third installment in our series, Steve McIntosh speaks with EnlightenNext's Carter Phipps about the historical, cultural, and philosophical development of integral thought. Beginning with the first emergence of a truly integral view in the work of the great nineteenth-century German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel, McIntosh tracks its slow disappearance and brilliant reemergence 150 years later with the work of Henri Bergson and Alfred North Whitehead; and then further with Sri Aurobindo, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jean Gebser; and continuing today in the work of Ken Wilber. McIntosh manages to cover huge swaths of cultural history, philosophical exegesis, and personal commentary without ever losing sight of the golden thread running through it all: the miraculous emergence and ongoing evolution of consciousness in the awakening human being—and its potential to shape our lives and our culture into more holistic, creative, and integrated forms.

BIO

Steve McIntosh is an activist working to apply cutting-edge philosophy to bring about positive social progress. His primary focus centers around researching, writing, and speaking on the topic of the integral philosophy of evolution. Steve is author of the book Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution. Additionally, as part of his philosophical activism, in 2004 Steve founded the Project for Integral World Federation, a non-profit organization dedicated to cultural evolution.

In addition to his philosophical work, Steve is also a lawyer and the founder and president of Now & Zen, Inc. Now & Zen is a profitable consumer products marketing and manufacturing company creating popular "natural lifestyle products" (each designed by Steve), such as its best selling product, The Zen Alarm Clock®. Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1995, Now & Zen's mission is to create a national brand of products that make a real difference in people's lives and bring beauty to their environment.

Prior to founding Now & Zen, Steve was Director of Corporate Development and General Counsel of Celestial Seasonings tea company. He has also worked as an investment banker with Morgan Grenfell Capital Financing, and as a corporate lawyer with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco. Steve is an honors graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and the University of Southern California Business School.