Integral Edge
Emerging perspectives on politics, science, and culture.
Upcoming Talks & Interviews
Live talks are (usually) every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month.
10 am PT, 1 pm ET.
Live episodes hosted on Integral Life.
Past episodes viewable on YouTube and Spotify
5/6: Dr. Daniel Ellenberg
There is no shortage of commentary these days about men, but almost none of it is developmentally adequate.
On the left, any serious attempt to name male suffering, confusion, loneliness, or developmental failure usually has to pass through a ritual disclaimer: this isn’t to take away from women and girls. Fair enough. But the reflex itself gives the game away. It reveals how hard it has become, in many mainstream and progressive spaces, to speak about men cleanly, without apology, suspicion, or immediate moral qualification.
On the right, the distortion runs the other way. There, the conversation often hardens into grievance, blame, and a smug, wounded rage aimed at women, feminism, or liberal culture: see what you’ve done? One side flinches from the subject. The other weaponizes it. Neither is capable of a serious developmental conversation.
And that is the real problem.
We keep trying to talk about men morally, politically, or ideologically, while skipping the harder and more useful question: what kind of development does mature masculinity actually require?
What capacities have earlier forms of masculinity built well: strength, structure, duty, endurance, agency, protection? Which ones have they underbuilt or exiled: emotional fluency, relational depth, self-awareness, tenderness, repair, embodied care? What happens when men are shamed for their older forms without being initiated into larger ones?
You get exactly what we have now: brittle traditionalism, performative modern success, emotionally literate but underpowered softness, and a whole lot of lonely, decent men caught in between scripts.
A developmental frame lets us say something stronger and truer: men do not need either nostalgia or apology. They need a path. They need practices. They need a way to grow into greater complexity without losing their spine.
That is the territory Dr. Daniel Ellenberg has been working in for more than four decades. Ellenberg is a licensed therapist, leadership coach, organizational consultant, founder of the Men and Boys Compassion Coalition, past president of the American Psychological Association’s Division on Men and Masculinities, and a man as outspoken as he is deeply informed by decades of clinical practice, teaching, and real-world work with men in the boardroom, the bedroom, and the group room.
Join us!
Link coming!
Most Recent
My latest talks can be seen on the Integral Life page:
All talks are available at no cost in their entirety.
Recent Favorites
STAGES: Cracking the Code of Human Development,
Part 1
Watch or Listen on Integral Life
Spotify
In this conversation, Keith Martin-Smith and Alexander Love dive deep into Terry O’Fallon’s revolutionary Stages model, a developmental framework that cuts through the noise of content to reveal the underlying structure of how consciousness evolves. Unlike the rigid hierarchies that plague most developmental theories, this approach treats growth as an unbroken fabric of becoming—twelve developmental waves flowing across three distinct tiers of reality perception.
Redefining the Masculine (Without Losing the Man)
Watch or Listen on Integral Life
Here we explore the modern crisis of masculinity and offers a powerful framework for reclaiming the healthy strengths of traditional, modern, and postmodern masculine expressions. Rather than choosing between power and empathy, discipline and vulnerability, Keith shows how wholeness means learning to embody all of them—at the right time, in the right way.
The End of America?
How the Founders' Genius Is Breaking Down (And What We Can Do About It)
Watch or Listen on Integral Life
Can America still save itself — or is collapse inevitable? Drawing lessons from history, developmental psychology, and the meta-crisis, Keith explores why systems built on “enlightened self-interest” are faltering… and what kind of leadership could restore the balance.
STAGES: Cracking the Code of Human Development,
Part 2
Watch or Listen on Integral Life
Keith Martin-Smith and Alexander Love explore Terry O'Fallon's STAGES model of human development, focusing on the rarely-discussed MetAware tier where transpersonal awareness becomes a structural feature of consciousness, leading to the dissolution of boundaries and recognition that all meaning is
Past Episodes
How Can DEI Survive (and should it)?
The Shadow of Trump
Watch or listen on Integral Life.
In this powerful and often provocative dialogue, psychotherapist and developmental theorist Kim Barta joins Keith Martin-Smith for a deep dive into the psychological and developmental dynamics surrounding one of the most polarizing figures of our time: Donald Trump.
Watch or listen on Integral Life.
In this wide-ranging, courageous, and deeply developmental exploration, Keith Martin-Smith tackles one of the most polarizing topics in contemporary culture: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Tracing the historical evolution of DEI from its civil rights roots to its present-day institutional complexity, Keith examines how good intentions have often been overtaken by ideological rigidity, performative rituals, and empirical blind spots.
Becoming Whole in a Divided World
Watch or Listen on Integral Life
Join Keith and David Arrell in this timely and deeply reflective conversation as they offer practical wisdom, inspiring perspectives, and genuine hope for navigating — and ultimately transcending — the divisions that mark our contemporary moment.
How We Lost the Art of Connection
Watch or Listen on Integral Life
In this insightful episode of Integral Edge, Keith Martin-Smith sits down with Michael Porcelli, founder of MetaRelating, to explore the nuanced dynamics of human communication in relationships, organizations, and across cultures. They delve into why conversations so often go off the rails, the hidden cultural dimensions that shape our communication styles, and how to cultivate shared reality even amid intense conflict.
About Integral Edge
Welcome to a world on the edge.
AI is rewriting the rules. Politics are more polarized than ever, with the far right and left in an endless clash. The metacrisis looms, late-stage capitalism is unraveling, DEI is evolving, and strongmen are rising once more.
But that’s just the beginning.
This podcast takes an integral look at the forces shaping our reality—from cutting-edge neuroscience and biohacking to cryptocurrency, global economics, and the ancient wisdom of awakening, mindfulness, and embodiment.
Keith Martin-Smith brings a deep, multi-perspective lens to the chaos, cutting through the noise to find what actually matters.
This isn’t just another commentary on the world. It’s a guide to seeing—and living—beyond the divide.
Keith Martin-Smith is an author, executive coach, and lifelong explorer of human potential.