We are in the midst of a global evolution into a new sense of identity and of belonging on this planet. Through wars and conquests over centuries, borders of nations have shifted and changed. Today massive migrations of refugees and asylum seekers are changing the demographics of many nations that formerly were defined by primarily one major culture. At the same time, there is a rising interest and curiosity, especially among young people, about life beyond the borders of the nation of birth. Since WWII international tourism and intercultural exchange has become a mass phenomenon, expressing itself not only in both physical and virtual travel to other cultures and world regions, but also through the widespread exchange of movies, fashions and cuisines that expand identity and options beyond national borders.

However, these shifts and changes are not welcome changes for everyone. Many do not share an interest and curiosity about other cultures. And many millions are forced by circumstances to leave the native culture and country they call home when ongoing civil wars, violent political oppression, or economic poverty leave them no other choice. Many of these forced emigrants feel stranded in cultures that are alien to them. While they may be granted basic human rights by their new country, at the same time they face major cultural gaps in terms of world-view and basic customs. In too many cases, they experience hostility from citizens of the host countries who would prefer to have kept things as they were before the arrival of “foreigners.”

But is there really a way back from this new world order? Or are we at the edge of outgrowing nations and cultures that have been shaped for centuries by history and local geography? If so, how can we prepare ourselves to make this major transition an enriching and fulfilling experience on both an individual and communal level? How can we live in an interconnected future as a more or less united humanity on this planet?

Modern visionaries, such as the late Indian philosopher and yogi Sri Aurobindo Ghose and the contemporary US-American consciousness researcher Ken Wilber, envision this emergence of a transnational identity as part of the new step in human consciousness that is presently unfolding. For the first time in human history, a large number of people feel their growing individual awareness is enabling them the freedom to leave their inherited religions, traditions, customs, as well as their own native lands. This new level of independent thinking and acting is also happening even in parts of the world where the vast majority of people continue to faithfully follow traditional rules and modes of government.

Wilber, Sri Aurobindo, and a growing number of innovative thinkers around the world, hold that this trend towards a new individual freedom is inevitable. Their basic sense is that this impulse is evidence of the latest evolutionary step in human consciousness, surpassing the former primacy of biological evolution. In fact, geologists have termed the current planetary epoch the “Anthropocene,” the era in which human decisions are the primary force in shaping the planet. For better or for worse, it is obvious that current changes on Earth are mostly human-caused.

This view, that the evolution of human consciousness is the main determinant in the overall process of planetary evolution, has come to be known as “Integral philosophy.” As I discuss in my book, this perspective also opens up new insights regarding the evolution of nations. The best current model for the application of this philosophy, in terms of evolving collective views, is Spiral Dynamics, an Integral concept originally developed by US- psychologist Clare Graves to describe both personal and collective development. On the collective level, this theory presents a model of how worldviews (memes) within a culture develop in a predictable sequence. Spiral Dynamics describes several levels of awareness progressing from the basic level of survival up to a holistic view that sees the world as an interactive, interconnected system. Graves observed that these stages of development are basically evident in every society, in various degrees, and in any given moment overlapping each other within individual societies and worldwide.

For example, an early worldview would be the magic-shamanistic meme, in which an animistic and animated world can be influenced by rituals and sacrifices. This worldview is succeeded by the religious or mythical meme in which eternal truths are revealed by a founder and maintained through authority based on succession. In the order of Spiral Dynamics, the modern rational-scientific enlightenment, and its variation the post-modern view, follows, proclaiming a relativistic view in which there are no absolute standards. These latter worldviews are mainly spread in Europe and the USA today.

But according to Integral thinkers who apply this system to the evolution of consciousness, the process does not stop here of course. According to this view we are presently experiencing the emergence of the new holistic or Integral meme, one which will embrace all previous worldviews. Each of the previous memes, be they shamanism, religion or scientific rationalism, has a true but partial view of the whole of reality, yet each has typically excluded the other views, claiming to have the whole and final truth. In contrast, the Integral meme recognizes the core of truth in each previous worldview. It holds that, for example, both religion and science see only partial and different aspects of the complex totality of the world. The emerging meme integrating these partial truths into an overall picture then is called Integral and holistic.