We have integrated Wilber's four-quadrant model, Eddy's Eco-AQAL model, & our own wisdom to illustrate a dynamic four dimensional circle of integral

community healing and development.

 

Model of Integral Community Healing and Development

 

 

The model is intended to highlight the many different ways people can make a contribution to the wise evolution of their communities. There are two main axes of community participation. The north/south axis represents the locus of attention of the wisdom community development activity from the individual at the top to the general public on the bottom. The west/east axis measures the arena of the community's primary focus, from the inner human to the left all the way to the broadest planetary 'eco-social' systems on the right.

 

You will see that we've attached more than one word to each axis. This is to acknowledge that the various dimensions of community life are more fluid, multivalent, and organic than can be captured by a solitary word. We want to convey a 'felt sense' we have for these different dimensions. While the axes generally correspond with Wilber's model, we've added the extra descriptors to suggest how these dimensions specifically manifest in the context of communities. (Of course, it might be possible that we just haven't nailed it yet! The model is our first pass, best approximation of people's experience in communities, and we look forward to refining it in dialogue with other integral community healing & development theorists.)

 

One principal integrating theme is the addition of a circle in the middle of the quadrant model. This circle allows us to more clearly represent integral approaches that are deliberately intended to affect multiple dimensions simultaneously. A good example is Worldwork, developed by psychologist Arnie Mindell. This work often takes place in the context of a public event attended by a large and diverse cross-section of a community. The facilitators establish a context in which participants are encouraged to bring up issues that may be underlying community tensions, particularly issues related to social power and status, such as class, race, gender, etc. Then these issues are processed by the group using methods informed by depth psychology that can effect powerful inner and outer changes in the individual group members and the group as a whole. Worldwork is clearly an integral approach in that it can affect all the dimensions simultaneously. Profound inner personal and outer behavioral change can occur in individuals, relational and cultural dynamics within the community can be transformed, and social systems can also be affected, especially if community activists and civic leaders are present at the workshop. Thus Worldwork could not be placed in any one of the four quadrants without misrepresenting its intrinsically integral impact.

 

Hence we propose the circle in the middle as the proper place for integral processes and perspectives. We call it "Integral Circles" because most of these integral approaches incorporate the circle format in one form or another, and we see circle work as being at the heart of integral community healing and development.

 

Another integrating theme is to specifically include ecological work in the right hand quadrants. Our rationale is that, at least from the conventional Western perspective, engaging with the 'environment' is engaging with that which is 'exterior' to us. Of course, that perspective is precisely what is challenged in many eco-spiritual approaches such as Deep Ecology, which invite us to recognize both the interior, subjective dimension of the plants, animals, creeks, mountains, etc, that make up "the environment" and the fact that we are not essentially separate from them. In our model, such approaches belong in the integral circle in the middle. However, ecological work that does not explicitly recognize or focus on the interior dimension, such as many private permaculture projects, community gardens, or certain types of environmental lobby groups, belongs on the right hand side of the map.

 

A final integrating theme is to use arrows & an outer circular "membrane" to represent the dynamic flow of wisdom throughout the wisdom community field.

 

This model is not merely a picture of the connections between a static set of community particles. Wisdom community healing & development is a vibrant, endless wave of impulses that ripples through people, their intimate groups, and their larger communities. It is a constant dance of an inexplicably intricately woven web of interrelationships. If we could trace one sample dance step, we could imagine that one person's private decision to start a community recycling program might lead their local school to study their recycling patterns. Say one of the school parents just happens to run the regional community recycling program. After listening to their son's school news report of the day over dinner, they're inspired to start a campaign to pay clients to radically reduce waste in the whole region. This leads the school to recycle more & earn money for new textbooks, eliminates the need for two new landfills which saves four endangered marshland species, and motivates the original recycler's daughter to choose a career in waste management during which she solves a critical issue in nuclear waste disposal, which. . . and the dance goes on and on.

 

It is highly unlikely that most of the people involved in this dance are aware of the tremendous impact that they are having on each other. We never know where wisdom will lead. All we have to do is to decide to be willing to take that next dance step of our own.

 

Exploring the quadrants

Let's take a brief look at each quadrant.

 

The Upper Left quadrant is that dimension of community life that concerns our own inner personal healing and development. As noted on the map, the practice of meditation and individual psychotherapy are examples of work in this dimension. Psychotherapy group work is included here too, because it is very often focused primarily on the inner process of individuals, but it is located further down the private-public axis because the work is done in a group context. We consider inner personal work an important and relevant aspect of integral community development work because, as noted above, healthy individuals are typically the ones most capable of making an authentic contribution to communities, and a healthy community IS one that allows its members to mature and individuate, which usually requires some kind of inner process.

 

The Upper Right quadrant concerns those aspects of community life related to our outer personal development and personal ecological interests. Personal coaching is listed as an example because, in contrast to individual psychotherapy, it tends to be more focused on helping the client achieve external goals and shift external behavior. Similarly, 12 step groups are listed because their focus is typically on supporting group members to not engage in a particular behavior, i.e., their addiction. (Both personal coaching and 12 step groups also clearly work with the inner dimension, but their bottom line focus is on external behavior, which is why they belong in this quadrant.) As noted above, we consider ecological work to belong to both of the right hand quadrants when that work is mainly focused on the exterior task, rather than the interior process (such as in Deep Ecology). Ecological work belongs in the Upper Right, rather than Lower Right, when the work is done in a relatively personal context, such as work on a private permaculture project, small community garden, or with individual animals.

 

The Lower Right quadrant is the dimension of Eco-Social Systems. The Social Systems part of it is the same as Wilber's model - those formal, external collective systems that organize society: governance, legal and justice systems, the economy, media, the military, etc. Professional associations, paid work itself, and civic interest groups, such as road associations and political lobby groups, belong here, since these are fundamentally task-oriented groups engaging with the social, political, and economic infrastructure of society. What we want to highlight here is the Eco-Systems side of this quadrant. The Earth Community as a whole has its own collective organizing systems, of which human social systems can be seen as but one expression. These mighty systems include the world's forests, oceans, rivers, mountain ranges, and so on. There are also local and regional systems, such as local water catchment areas, local rainforests, local food chains (not fastfood chains!), and so on. Work to protect these ecological systems belongs in this quadrant.

 

The Lower Left quadrant is the realm of culture, family, and relationships. In contrast to the official, task-oriented nature of groups belonging to the Lower Right quadrant, groups in the Lower Left are more informal and relationship-oriented. Social and recreational groups belong here, such as our example of a bridge group. A public religious ceremony, such a church service, also belongs in this quadrant, but further 'south' because of its more public, communal nature. Other examples of community development work belonging in this quadrant include community arts, such as community theater, and community celebration events, such as community fairs.

 

Applying the model

Traditional approaches to community development have tended to be heavily weighted toward external solutions, such as developing innovative economic policies, housing programs, sustainable technology, and so on. They have also tended to focus on making changes at the systems level, and have paid less attention to nurturing the individual development of community members, especially their inner personal development. Thus traditional approaches have tended to focus on the exterior-collective dimension of communities (lower-right quadrant). While these approaches are crucial, what the model makes clear is that a truly integral approach needs to take into account the importance of the individual and interior dimensions of communities, such as the quality and depth of community dialogue or the interior moral and spiritual healing & development of individual community members.

 

Different kinds of community healing & development interventions are called for once we acknowledge the existence and importance of the individual and interior dimensions. For example, integral community asset mapping and citizen-developed quality of life indicators are approaches that include more qualitative dimensions in their assessments of community health and prosperity. Circle work, dialogue, and various forms of conscious community conversations are practices that acknowledge the qualitative dimension of how people relate to each other. It's not just the mere fact of getting people to talk together that's important, but the quality, depth, and openness of the dialogue that counts - and can also nurture the inner personal growth of participants. Community healing circles bring the inner personal and communal dimensions together by providing a space for people to engage in spiritual practices (such as prayer, meditation, or ritual) with the intention of sending healing energy or blessings to the community at large. Steward councils bridge the lower left and right quadrants by bringing together those community leaders who are willing to hold a big picture, systems view of their communities for regular quality dialogues.