A Pause...
I’ve been doing some thinking about our little enterprise here, “Glimpsing Integral.”
Uh, huh?
Yes, we’ve been going along for 7 months now, with at least one post per week.
That’s pretty good, right?
From a production standpoint, yes, but from a readership standpoint, no. You see, I don’t have personal aspirations for becoming well known, but I do have aspirations for Integral Theory to become more generally known and applied.
In the Substack world, there are periodic postings from writers and communications experts about how to build readership, and I admit, I have not applied any of this advice yet. So, it might be an instance of “I didn’t try it and it didn’t work.”
Hmmm, that makes sense. Would you like some feedback from me?
Sure! Be nice.
Off the top of my head, it seems like you are spending a lot of time explaining the theory. Seven months in you’ve explained one of the five elements of Integral and just introduced the second one. That seems kinda slow.
I’ve been thinking about that. I would say that, content-wise, I’m probably at least 50% of the way through the basic theory introduction, not one-fifth, as it may appear. The “center of gravity” of the theory, the developmental perspective of growing through levels or stages is the most important feature of Integral. Quadrants, which I’ve just started is maybe 25% of the content, and Lines, States, and Types make up the remaining 25%. These are my guesses, not anyone else.
That gives me perspective on your perspective. I wasn’t aware of that.
OK, another thing is that I lose track of why you think this is important. I like our conversations and you explain things so I understand them, but the why sometimes evades me. I’ve been wondering about a couple of things: First, could you beef up your orientation, or make changes that help it flow better? And second, could you give more examples of applying Integral to the real world? I know enough about it now that I often wonder, “How could we apply integral to politics, or social justice, or climate change, or AI?”
I just re-read a part of Wilber’s A Theory of Everything, which is maybe some of his most succinct and compelling writing, even though it is not as well known as A Brief History of Everything. As I was reading, I was wondering how I might bring it to you and our readers. I will think some more about that, maybe as a framework for updating the Orientation posts.
As far as the “applications” of the Theory go, I think once I finish the Quadrants posts, I can jump into more of those discussions because the most important 75% of the Theory will be introduced. I’m struck, like you, almost daily with the idea that “Integral has something useful to say about this!” But I won’t ignore the remaining elements. I will get to them but take my time doing so.
So how will this affect our conversations and your posting schedule?
I’m not sure. I don’t want to disrupt the logical flow. It’s a little like changing a major component in your car while driving down the road. I should have a better answer for you in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, if you are reading this, I would appreciate your feedback too. Just think of yourself as my conversation partner and ask away!
Many thanks!
Gary