Wilber's Quadrant is part of the Integral Theory, which is the most comprehensive description of human consciousness yet created, and Ken Wilber himself has been called the 'Einstein of consciousness'. Thanks to the Quadrant, we were able to understand why there are so many communities, but they are:
- unstable
- conflicted
- incomplete
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INTERNAL WE means the bond that a group of people establishes. Trust and a sense of security are symptoms of this connection. However, this connection can be extended to include our ancestors and the place where we live.
EXTERNAL WE is the role that communities play (or can play) in the process of creating a social structure. The community does not function in a vacuum. The education system, laws or infrastructure - the community is 'suspended' in all of this. A separate area is its connection with Nature, which historically and today plays a key role in its aspect of WE - OUTSIDE.
INTERNAL ME in the process of creating a community is all my emotions related to seeing another person, my openness to their otherness, my traumas related to my history and my way of healing them in the process of therapy or self-therapy. A very important aspect of this part of the quadrant is my community with a higher power. It is hard to imagine functioning in this world without this aspect.
EXTERNAL ME means learning, knowledge and the subject of the other three quadrants. Research, methodologies, proven practices, traditions of indigenous peoples, contemporary and ancient rituals, scientific evidence and many other, different and practical things - all these aspects function in this quadrant. Their common feature is that they are the same for everyone. That is why Science tries to reduce everything to scientific research being the only truth. It cannot be like that, because it is impossible to deny what is internally important to me (e.g. emotions, feelings) and it is impossible to prove them.
And only the combination of all these aspects gives us the opportunity to see the whole of the issues related to building a community. Omitting one of the 'quadrants' of the quadrant means that we are not taking into account some important part of reality.
So:
- We will not create a community if we do not develop the internal processes of our group (INTERNAL WE)
- But we will not create it either if we ignore the fact that someone from this group may suffer from their own difficult emotions (INTERNAL ME)
- We will not build a community if we do not understand how the process of its creation works and what successes and failures others can achieve (EXTERNAL ME)
- And finally, we will not build a common one if we forget that it functions in the world of law, education systems, communication or simply in Nature (EXTERNAL WE)
In relation to the ‘phenomenon’ called ‘building community’, the application of the quadrant in our activities (Note! It will look different for everyone!) gives us the following perspectives:
Authentic community is not a common phenomenon in today's world. In the old days, when it was the basic unit of society, it was also far from ideal.
For example, there may be a deep bond in a group, but when there is no set goal, it becomes bland, becomes a mutual admiration society. When, on the other hand, the community has a goal and a bond, but is not properly perceived by the outside world, and this causes its alienation. Yet another situation may occur when the bond created can be easily broken by traumas and the lack of 'working through' certain behaviors by some members of the community. This can lead to its disintegration.
The question therefore arises, are there any methods, schemes or principles for creating a community in such a way that it is lasting?
The answer to this question can be found in Ken Wilber's Integral theory.
Wilber discovered that each phenomenon (regardless of whether it is - e.g. my relationship with my daughter, the war in Ukraine or the Tesla electric car) can be perceived only from four perspectives. Below I will briefly explain where these four perspectives come from.
And according to this concept, the 'phenomenon' that we call community also has only four aspects of its functioning and its perception. Ensuring a balance between them is the key to success - achieving community stability, duration and the ability to adapt to internal and external needs.If the common ones are not durable, it is because they focus on one (usually) or two aspects of their functioning.
WHOLENESS OF COMMUNITYmeans taking into account all these four aspects in the process of creating a community
Let us now look at how the creator of this concept - Ken Wilber - understands the quadrant
The four quadrants are the four quarters of a circle. Each of them defines a different aspect of seeing reality. But only together do they create a whole. One of these aspects of seeing the world is dominant for you. This is why it is sometimes difficult to understand why others think and act completely differently from us.
These four perspectives of perceiving any phenomenon were discovered by Ken Wilber. He noticed that:Every thing or phenomenon can appear in two ways - either singular or pluralEvery thing or phenomenon has its interior and its 'exterior'
WILBER'S
QUADRANT
WILBER'S QUADRANT