Validation for Einstein; Funeral for Scalia. Plus, America’s gun-love

Ripples in the fabric of space/time

Einstein’s general theory of relativity got its final proof this month as scientists detected the bending of space and time that he predicted one hundred years ago.

The world that Einstein showed us is so much stranger than what we could have imagined. It blew up our safe perceptions about time and space and light and gravity. But the mechanistic universe we inhabited until then wasn’t wrong, it was just partial. General relativity includes and transcends Newtonian physics.

So what effect does a four-dimensional reality, one that is interpenetrated with time, have on our view of the world? Is everything that has ever happened still reverberating in this very moment? Jeff looks at general relativity through the lens of integral theory and considers the implications.

The death of Scalia highlights the challenges of our polarized government

In the second segment Jeff is joined live in the studio by Steve McIntosh, integral author and president of the non-profit Institute for Cultural Evolution (ICE). It’s a perfect time to discuss Steve’s new paper “Overcoming Polarization by Evolving Both Right and Left: How Polarity Theory Provides a Path to Political Progress”.

Within a hour of the announcement of the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last week, the Republican leadership announced they would not even consider a nominee put up by President Obama to replace the conservative icon. This is an illustration of just how divided and dysfunctional our political process has become. Is it any wonder that the two “revolution” candidates, Trump and Sanders, the ones that want to blow up the system, are surging in the polls?

Polarization is a tremendous opportunity for an Integral perspective because polarization is really a problem that can’t be solved at the same level that created it. It takes integral thinking. ~Steve McIntosh

Steve and Jeff talk about progressive and conservative as indestructible polarities that need each other to grow and become better – like the poles of masculine and feminine—they’ll never merge, but they do change over time, taking on the best aspects of each other. So how do we help the left and the right evolve on their own terms? Listen to the podcast, and for those that want a deeper dive, you can find Steve’s new paper here.

Why America loves its guns

Lastly, Jeff takes a question from a listener, Marilyn, who lives in Canada and works in Oklahoma, and is wondering if she’s taking her life in her hands every time she has a layover in Dallas.

…I find the apparent strengthening of the gun lobby, very, very troubling. I am looking for an integrally informed point of view…and some hope. Thanks for any insights you can offer on this particularly American dilemma of the Second Amendment.

Why are we so different in this regard to every other advanced Western nation, including our gentle neighbors to the north? Jeff explains the American psychograph to Marilyn, and why guns are still such an important part of our identity.

Send your questions and comments for the show to jeff@dailyevolver.com. Record a voice memo on your smartphone or use the Speakpipe button to the right.

Transcript