presents
Becoming Part of the Solution:
A Course in Post-Progressive Politics
with Steve McIntosh
About this Course
Post-progressive Politics Offers a Way Forward
Culture wars and hyperpolarized politics are tearing America’s social fabric apart at the seams. Finding a way forward feels urgent yet unclear. In response to this threat to our democracy, author, speaker and Integral leader Steve McIntosh shows how America is poised at a crucial point in its cultural evolution.
There is a way forward...
In his 9-week online course, Becoming Part of the Solution: A Course in Post-Progressive Politics, Steve offers an evolutionary approach to politics that can usher American culture into a new era of social solidarity and transpartisan cooperation.
The course is based on Steve’s acclaimed book, Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself (Paragon House 2020). Participants will be introduced to a powerful new philosophy that allows us to rethink and re-shape the culture war with clarity and empathy. At the heart of this work is an exploration of “cultural intelligence”—the ability to recognize the mutual interdependence of America’s three major worldviews: traditionalism, modernism, and progressivism.
Steve will guide the class to:
- A comprehensive perspective that recognizes how the positive values and enduring accomplishments of all three worldviews form a kind of symbiotic cultural ecosystem where each has an ongoing role to play.
- Participants will receive a certificate of completion for Level 1 Training in Post-Progressive Politics from the Institute for Cultural Evolution.
Join us online for this 9-week series on Wednesday nights from 7-9pm EST beginning on February 17, 2021. All classes will be recorded for future viewing.
Course Curriculum
Week 1
Toward a Politics of Culture
February 17
Hyperpolarization is a cultural problem that requires a cultural solution. In this introduction to Developmental Politics, we will come to appreciate the deep cultural structures that shape our democracy. The challenge of America’s hyperpolarization requires an “outside and above” perspective that’s neither left, right, nor center. Once gained, this overview perspective paves the way for a new kind of politics that can overcome the culture war.
week 2
Modernism, Traditionalism, and Progressivism
February 24
The rise of modernity has created more cultural evolution than any worldview before or since. In fact, modernity is the water in which we swim while valuing the larger cultural ecosystem, particularly the interdependence of traditionalism and progressivism. By examining Progressive Postmodernism inside and out, we appreciate the challenge it poses and the needed new level of care it brings.
week 3
The Political Practice of Integrating Value Polarities
MARCH 3
When faced with a positive-positive value polarity, the best way to advance the values of our preferred pole is to affirm the values of the pole we oppose. By examining polarities on the left and right, we come to see how we can tease apart the dignities from the disasters of each worldview.
week 4
The Post-Progressive Perspective and Method
MARCH 10
The key to quelling our cultural conflict is to expand the scope of what Americans can truly value. This focus on expanding and integrating values constitutes the practice of “cultural intelligence,” which provides the first steps toward “integral consciousness.” Cultural intelligence is the key method for ”post-progressive” politics.
week 5
The Physics of Value
MARCH 17
By recognizing the energetic properties of value, we can improve our definition of improvement itself. This in turn reveals the central political significance of transcendent ideals. This new understanding of the “physics” of value is based on the central “New Truth” of integral philosophy—that consciousness evolves.
week 6
Toward a New American Dream
MARCH 24
Revivifying our collective vision of transcendence can lead to our political renewal. Cultural evolution, on every front of its development, becomes the new American Dream. This insight leads to a threefold strategy for fostering cultural evolution as a political and social project.
week 7
Virtue Practice
MARCH 31
The practice of the virtues can become a politically unifying force in American culture. With the exploration of each virtue, we also put them into practice - specifically, the why, what, and how.
week 8
Reclaiming the Ideal of Progress
APRIL 7
Post-progressive politics seeks to revision and revive American cultural beliefs in civilizational progress. The key to reclaiming our collective vision of progress involves connecting our near-term political progress with the cosmic progress of evolution as a whole.
week 9
Post-Progressive Activism
APRIL 14
The final week focuses on personal activism. We discuss how people can create powerful vehicles for their own political expression. We also review the 5-year activism plan of the Institute for Cultural Evolution for its mission of building a post-progressive political movement.
Join Us for Becoming Part of the Solution, starting on February 17th
9-week online course on Wednesdays 7:00 - 9:00 pm EST
February 17, February 24, March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24, March 31, April 7, April 14
(Weekly talks will be recorded for student viewing should a class be missed.)
About Steve McIntosh
Steve McIntosh, J.D., is president and cofounder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution think tank. He is author of the recent book: Developmental Politics—How America Can Grow Into a Better Version of Itself (Paragon House 2020), and coauthor of: Conscious Leadership—Elevating Humanity Through Business (Penguin 2020), with John Mackey and Carter Phipps. McIntosh is also author of three previous books on integral philosophy.
Before becoming a writer and social entrepreneur, he had a variety of other successful careers, including founding the consumer products company Now & Zen, and practicing law with one of America’s largest firms. His innovative political thinking has been featured on NPR, USA Today, The Daily Beast, Real Clear Politics, The Hill, and in a wide variety of other media. McIntosh is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, and the University of Southern California Business School. His author website is: www.stevemcintosh.com
Acclaim for Steve McIntosh
“Developmental Politics is essential reading for those who are concerned about the dysfunctional condition of America’s democracy.”
― John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Markets, and coauthor of Conscious Capitalism
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