Integrative implications and the hidden dynamics of denial

Self-reflexive Challenges of Integrative Futures (Part #6)

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The issue then is what does all that constitute? What happened to simplicity? What happened to a simple integrative truth or insight -- philosophical or religious? The inconvenient truth about truth would seem to be that its simplicity is not to be found where it would be most convenient for it to be. Is the very size of the collection in process of creating a cognitive analogue to that of overpopulation? Of course many of the integrative works on display are pushing for the uniqueness of their own perspective. But why the assumption that the rest of the world should be persuaded of the merit of that truth above all others?

The challenge is then of how one prefers to explore competing alternative understandings of "integrative". It is within such a context that causal layered analysis (CLA) has a role to play as presented by Sohail Inayatullah (The Causal Layered Analysis Reader: Theory and Case Studies of an Integrative and Transformative Methodology, 2004).

There is something unsatisfactory about discourse with strategic implications when it is challenged by lack of self-reflexivity -- especially when those who disagree with the implications exploit any such weakness to oppose them. Is "integral futures" to be assessed in relation to CLA as a "better mousetrap" as the arguments of the critiques of C. Riedy (2008), R. S. Slaughter (2008) and J Voros (2008) would seem to imply? Or should be assessed as a "mousetrap" which subsumes the functionality of CLA, rendering the latter of problematic significance. Marcus Bussey (2008) skillfully explores the implications of this attitude as he detects its manifestation in their arguments.

The irritation for any observer of the quest for "integrative" is this obsessive need to be right and to marginalize others as wrong or inferior -- with little consideration of for whom this evaluation may usefully hold. From the perspective of Jones 7-fold axes of bias, it is the degree of separation of preferred integration within that space that then determines how wrong each perceives the other to be. The challenge is what then?

Perhaps most tragic -- in a period when contrasting perspectives are presumably essential to governance in crisis -- is the manner in which preferences and problematic dynamics engender forms of discourse that are rarely if ever "integrated" into "integrative" frameworks.

This is most evident between the leaders of distinct approaches -- who are not renowned for enhancing the quality of their dialogue (if they ever meet) to ensure the emergence of higher levels of integrative insight. To make the point as vividly as possible this has been described elsewhere by the author using the metaphor of body odour (Epistemological challenge of cognitive body odour: exploring the underside of dialogue, 2006). It is not so much whether we can share each other's "vision", it is that many of our decisions are based on whether the initiative of the other "smells" right. Decision-makers, especially entrepreneurs, may talk about "vision" in public but they may well act on "smell" in private -- whether attracted or repelled by cognitive pheromones, as discussed previously (Metaphor and the language of futures, Futures, 25, 2, 1993, pp. 275-288). Rather than "vision" or "smell", Wilber (1999) has favoured "taste".

This ignored integrative issue is currently exemplified in the very specific case of the future strategic integration for a future Mediterranean Union as proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and opposed by Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany. As indicated by Ian Traynor (Germany pours cold water on Sarkozy union, The Guardian, 14 March 2008):

Diplomats say the fundamental problem is one of personal chemistry, with Merkel's self-effacing sobriety jarring with Sarkozy's attention-seeking theatricality.

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