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The Integral (Meta-) Studies Blog

The IFIS blog contains two kinds of entries:

a) reflections about recent IFIS Colloquium sessions 

b) considerations about big picture science.

The latter are a place for reflecting on the emergence of integrative varieties of meta-level science and how they can be practiced in research activities and inquiry settings of all kinds.
The notion of "integral" is used here to refer to all those meta-level knowledge traditions that have an integrative purpose.

By using the tags you can search for specific keywords or contents.

Latest Blog entries:

 

Learnings from Online Colloqium 80 - Exploring coherence

The IFIS colloquium "Exploring coherence" was held online in June 2025 and participants were invited to experiment, explore, reflect and exchange around the topic of coherence. Here is a summary of participants' experiences, with some of the original quotes, prompted by the 2 kick-off question

  1. Where do you notice coherence or incoherence in your communities?

Body-Mindedness: An Online-Live learning journey on Personal Coherence

Unlocking Deeper Harmony: How Embodied Practices Transform Our Inner and Outer Worlds
For those of us navigating the complexities of modern life, the quest for harmony—a state of balanced flow between chaos and order—often feels like an elusive ideal. We seek alignment not just in our external systems, but deeply within ourselves. But what if the key to unlocking this deeper harmony lies not just in intellectual understanding, but in our very own bodies? 

Exploring (in)coherence in communities of change agents using Sensemaker®. What "outliers" reveal about a system

As part of our EU-Erasmus+ project Cohere+, and supported by the associate partner Cynefin Company, a Sensemaker® capture** was designed in order to tap into hidden assumptions, underlying patterns, and unarticulated needs around the topic of coherence.

Magische Momente beim Dialogabend "Medien"

Wieder einmal hatte unser Kooperationsprojekt, die Aktion Brückenschlag, zu einem Dialogabend eingeladen, diesmal zum Thema „Medien“.  20 Bürger/innen waren gekommen, um miteinander zu erforschen, welche Rolle Medien bei der Entstehung von Polarisierung und gesellschaftlicher Spaltung spielen, und wie wir selbst davon betroffen sind – oder womöglich durch die Art unserer eigenen Mediennutzung selbst dazu beitragen.

Integral Politics and Coherence

The Strategic Partnership Cohere+ explores the quality of what we call coherence in social fields, in particular the field of of social change makers working towards transformative change. The underlying assumption is that if groups of people are in a coherent state, cooperation flows much more easily and effortlessly than if there was some kind of unaddressed tension or conflict in the shared relational space.

Wie Konflikte entstehen und wie wir sie lösen können - Inspirationen aus Spiral Dynamics

Was haben unsere Werte und die darunter liegenden Bedürfnisse damit zu tun, wie wir uns in Konflikten verhalten – und wie unsere Konflikte überhaupt entstehen? – Alles, so jedenfalls die These von Prof. Clare W. Graves, Urheber der später als Spiral Dynamics bekannt gewordenen Modells der Entwicklung von Wertesystemen im Menschen und Gesellschaften.

Arbeit am kollektiven Schatten - Deep Democracy und der Umgang mit der AfD

Ein dickes Brett haben wir im letzten Integralen Politischen Salon gebohrt – oder besser: angebohrt, denn die Arbeit mit und an kollektiven Schatten erfordert letztlich ein stetiges, tieferes Bemühen als es im Rahmen eines einzigen Online-Salons leistbar ist.