The Eight Spheres of Being in Fifteen Aspects

The eight spheres of being in fifteen aspects provides the real structure of the book, examining the world from different levels of depth and meaning, first focusing on worldviews and how they inform the world we create, then focusing on how ethics informs the creation of our world, next examining a vision of how to transform the world, then finally dual visions of how to transform ourselves personally and spiritually. Understanding this structure and how it reoccurs throughout the book will help in understanding the analysis the book provides.

As holons at different levels of being interact they create changes in the very levels of being themselves. Bacteria break down rocks, creating soil, allowing plants to flourish, changing both the physiosphere and the biosphere. Humans, whose minds are the source of the noosphere, build cities and destroy habitats, again changing the physiosphere and the biosphere. These changes create layers next to layers, spheres, adjacent to spheres. For instance genetic engineering of crops is rapidly changing the biosphere creating two layers, one that has evolved over billions of years, and another manufactured for profit. Given this interaction between the noosphere and the other spheres, I suggest that there are eight spheres that we need to pay attention to in an Integral analysis of the world. The first four are the physiosphere, biosphere, noosphere and theosphere. I also add the biosphere II, the noosphere II, the sociosphere (physiosphere IIa), and the technosphere (physiosphere IIb) to my examination of the integral nature of the world we live in.

The biosphere II is the world of nature as we are redesigning it with genetic engineering and soon nanotechnology. The noosphere II is the world as experienced by the interconnectedness of mass communications technology spreading throughout the world. It is the cybernetic equivalent of the Gaia theory. The Gaia theory suggests that vast geological, biological and ecological processes of the Earth behave together as a complex system. It suggests that this system operates on a level of complexity equivalent with a living organism. French scientist Joel de Rosney, among others, suggests that the level of connectedness in our global communications system is headed for a similar leap in complexity resulting in what he terms a "Cybiont," or a cybersphere of life/consciousness. He describes the Cybiont "as a single planetary organism and, more specifically, as the most advanced form of a 'planetary brain' now coming into being."(i) I won't necessarily keep my analysis at this level of supposition, but I will use this framework to investigate the ways computers and communications technology are changing the world.

Next I explore the two sides of the physiosphere II: the sociosphere and the technosphere. The first deals with the structures of human society that exist in the world such as cities, corporations, government, and the global economy. The technosphere, as its name suggests, deals with the idea of progress and how various technologies are changing the world. In total, these eight spheres of being, and the subsections I have created for them, give us fifteen different views of the world. The chart below makes the relationship between the eight spheres of being and fifteen aspects of the world clear.

Chart of the Eight Spheres of Being and Fifteen Aspects of the World

In addition to looking at the world through the eight spheres of being in fifteen aspects, I believe we also need to investigate each sphere, or subsection of it, through four degrees similar to Wilber's four quadrants. These are the physical/objective, personal/subjective, cultural, and social. The physical/objective deals with aspects of the environment, ecosystems, agriculture, and issues of urban vs. rural life. The personal/subjective is concerned with the emotional, psychological, mental, physical, and spiritual levels of individuals. The cultural aspect examines relations between men and women, racial and ethic issues, history, culture, art, and the dichotomy between religion and spirituality. Lastly, the social aspect focuses on government, the global economy, resource use, wealth distribution, civil organizations, and corporations. When possible, I will also apply four broad levels of complexity to the analysis. These are the levels of family, community/region, nation and world.

To thoroughly apply these four quadrants and four levels of depth to the fifteen aspects of the world would require not just one book, but more like fifteen. However, this is exactly what I think needs to be done with any larger investigation into an individual subject. In researching this book I was stunned to find how rarely writers felt the need to address more than two or three aspects of the world and how infrequently they drew connections between them. An integral study of the world requires an integral framework for its investigation. It must deal with the spheres of being in all their aspects, the four quadrants of being and at least four levels of depth. Moreover, it needs to show how these things are interconnected and interdependent. That is one of the central goals of this the pages that follow, and while it is impossible to explore all the conceivable connections in such a short space, hopefully the attempt will provoke others toward similar integral explorations.

The fifteen short chapters of this First Turn are devoted to exploring the fifteen aspects of the world described above from the perspective of worldviewss. Naturally, the second turn will explore them from the viewpoint of ethics. Each chapter not only gives a short background on its subject, but explains why we need a more encompassing and embracing worldview to deal with the problems we are creating. In between these chapters the material necessary to more fully understand worldviews and their importance is presented in short sections relevant to the aspect they precede.

Footnotes

i) Joel De Roseny, The Symbiotic Man, p. 114.

Next Excerpt

Back to Excerpts Main Page

Top of Page

Back to Home Page