A new philosophy of leadership and practice of social change is emerging, one that grows out of an ethic of liberation, interdependence of all life, and the fullness of who we are. It values strategies and actions that embody courage, compassion and wisdom-directed social action for transformative change. This new leadership archetype is committed to service, personal transformation and spiritual growth; it takes on difficult issues and acts from inner sources of empathy, solidarity and love. This new leadership paradigm argues that personal transformation and the evolution of human consciousness manifests in social and planetary transformation.

Transformative practice holds personal and collective liberation at the center and develops balanced, harmonious and soul-filled leadership. In concert with skillful group process, reflective practice builds a reservoir of energy, a deep center of resilience, passion, hope and commitment that is always available to individuals in the midst of chaos and crises, great turmoil and difficulty, tension and conflict. These practices help us perceive incongruities in our own beliefs, values, feeling and behaviors, and seek to address these. At the same time, these practices enable us to bear witness to seemingly contradictory, irreconcilable and opposing views and perspectives—in ourselves and in others—without needing to resolve them. These practices help us learn to be comfortable with not knowing, with ambiguity and uncertainty. Through these practices we relearn how to see and be in the world.

While transformative practices are a critical ingredient that can help shape the direction of social action, these practices become more potent when skillfully applied to social injustice in its many forms. To this end, they are most useful when combined with critical awareness and understanding that oppression —cultural, institutional, interpersonal and psychological manifestations of separateness, ranking and imposition— is the historical root cause of social and environmental injustice and continues to stand as a major obstacle to solving the most pressing issues of humanity and our planet today.

c-Integral’s approach to this work arises from experiencing that transformative practices—embodied in a pedagogy, psychology, ethic and spirituality of liberation in the context of anti-oppression organizing—are effective and much needed methodologies for personal-collective, or integral, change.