Joe Perez is a writer striving to take Integral approaches to issues in ordinary life, culture, politics, sexuality, and spirituality. A graduate of Harvard University and The Divinity School at the University of Chicago, his books are 
(Integral Books, 2007) and 
(Lulu, 2006). 
Ross Douthat: Obama’s “deep structures” of thought are “mysterious”
July 4th, 2008 by Joe PerezIs Barack Obama’s thought process an enigma, at least to some conservatives? It seems so, if Ross Douthat, has it right:
It’s true that Obama’s policy positions have been no more fungible than McCain’s (though no less fungible as well, as evidenced by his recent maneuverings), and in many respects they’ve been considerably more detailed. But there remains, I think, a striking opacity to Obama - the deep structures that inform his thinking aren’t out in the open for anyone to see, the way they are with McCain, and in certain ways I feel like I know less about Obama the man than I did when he had just started running for President. This has been reflected across his life and political career: I don’t agree with the entire Steve Sailer take on Obama, but Sailer is on to something when he writes that the Democratic nominee seems to have “spent his life trying on different personalities,” while his core has remained something of a mystery - perhaps even to himself.
Which somehow reminds me of Perez’s Law #13: The integrated mind is always misunderstood by persons whose psychic structures are less integrated. The less integrated, the more mysterious its inner workings will inevitably seem.
Feel free to discuss.
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Tags: consciousness, integral, Obama, Perez's law
July 4th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
joe, i don’t know anything about sailer beyond what you’ve cited, but i think you’ve got him right to that extent at least. i also evidently didn’t see your previous 12 laws–either that or i’ve forgotten seeing them, perhaps too much for me to take in.
lately they’ve begun talking about obama moving quickly to the center, now that his historic battle for the nomination has ended. isn’t this another example of their failure to understand what he is doing? i’d like to think, at least, that he is not abandoning the more liberal positions he took during the primaries so much as he is broadening his reach in an integrative fashion to include more conservative values–not all of them of course–as well.
July 5th, 2008 at 12:18 am
oh ralph,
my reference to 12+ eponymous laws was intended only as humor. but who knows, maybe i’ll keep going with the joke?
on obama, obviously his “move to the center” is causing quite a stir, and speculation. i for one enjoy witnessing a politician of his stature who seems genuinely to be thinking for himself, evidencing a sharp intellect and sincere openness to changing circumstances. no mere poll-driven triangulator or ideologue is he.
i enjoy watching obama think and move, even when i disagree with his conclusions (as i do on FISA and the Supreme Court’s decision on capital punishment).
and yes, i agree with you. i think he is taking out an integral — or at least the so-called Third Way — approach, including conservative values but not compromising on his essential beliefs. wearing the flag pin and talking up his patriotism is a great example of incorporating amber values but w/o a narrow amber interpretation
July 6th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
oh! that’s actually good to know. as wilber was recently suggesting, while some changes may have to be made to accommodate the purality of political views that have emerged in our country, we want to be very careful about tampering with a constitution that has served us so well up until recently.