Enactivism, Integral Theory, and 21st Century Spirituality | Integral Life

In his book, Revisioning Transpersonal Theory, Jorge Ferrer draws upon enactive and postmodern theory to articulate a participatory vision of spirituality. In many respects, his proposal is quite similar to Wilber's model, particularly as he has expressed it in his most recent writings. In Ferrer's view, the perennialist worldview is caught in the Myth of the Given, and the contextualist view is caught in the Myth of the Framework. It is appropriate neither to posit a pre-given, underlying spiritual reality waiting simply to be disclosed by independent observers, nor to argue that that spiritual realities are wholly culturally or linguistically determined, without any objective basis.

I find this view to be generally consonant with Integral Post-metaphysics (though the details of his argument vary from it, stopping short of what Wilber believes is essential). But the point in common is this: to an important extent, the spiritual horizons traced by different traditions, the liberative potentials and the spiritual, transrational phenomena, are best understood as creative enactments, not simply as pre-existing spiritual domains or conditions "uncovered" by contemplation or other means.

As we explore the promise of the enactive paradigm for 21st century spirituality, I believe this insight will have lasting value, allowing us to explore spiritual traditions and practices in terms of their enactive potential, rather than in terms of their propositional truth value or the validity of their metaphysical claims. No commitment to otherwordly realities is required; but neither should we cling blindly to, or simply accept as pre-given, our models of this world.