While you’re at it, check out the research paper:

Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory

Gary W. Evans and Michelle A. Schamberg, Cornell University

ABSTRACT: The income–achievement gap is a formidable societal problem, but little is known about either neurocognitive or biological mechanisms that might account for income-related deficits in academic achievement. We show that childhood poverty is inversely related to working memory in young adults. Furthermore, this prospective relationship is mediated by elevated chronic stress during childhood. Chronic stress is measured by allostatic load, a biological marker of cumulative wear and tear on the body that is caused by the mobilization of multiple physiological systems in response to chronic environmental demands.

Research paper link.

It is quite exciting to hear from people who have read my book and are moved by it in some way. Even more so, to see how antiracism trainers weave my diagrams on internalized oppression into their workshops; to hear how university faculty use the book as required text in their graduate counseling and social work courses; or to work with activists to design retreats and organizing initiatives using the framework to inform their analysis and the process model to shape their vision. I am truly impressed, though frankly not surprised, by how this approach resonates with people in such different fields of endeavor and spheres of action.

Having just held the Consciousness-in-Action/Social Psychosynthesis workshop in Amherst a little over a week ago, I am especially pleased to have begun to make explicit some of the connections between these two approaches. In effect, I believe I was able to demonstrate that consciousness-in-action is consistent with Roberto Assagioli’s vision of Psychosynthesis applied to the social dimension. I expect to continue to develop these applications in the months and years to come.

By the way, those familiar with both Assagioli’s and Ken Wilber’s works will be interested in reading Integral Psychosynthesis, a paper written by Kenneth Sorensen, a psychotherapist in Denmark. English-reading psychosynthesists will also appreciate the repository of Assagioli’s papers in English on Kenneth’s site. Thank you, Kenneth, for your site and for your important contribution to the field. An American friend in Portugal told me your paper is circulating throughout Europe and hopefully it will get some attention in the US as well.

Soon I hope to be sharing news about my upcoming trip to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where I will be participating in the 2nd International Conference “Self and Other: The Sacred Space for Dialogue” sponsored by Harmony Institute of Psychotherapy & Counseling.

Within the conference’s theme of “diversity, difference and otherness,” I will be offering Social Identities, Culture, Self and Other: An Integral Transformative Perspective, a workshop/presentation based on my book. Here we will examine how social group identities—–racial, class, gender, cultural, nationality, etc.—–become internalized as “self,” how social power and cultural dynamics shape our relationships to “others,” and how consciousness-in-action can help transform how we dialogue across differences and effectively address issues of diversity.

The invitation to participate came out of my training and organizing among spiritual psychologists and Psychosynthesis psychotherapists and counselors interested in social transformation. Both the directors and staff of Harmony Institute in Russia and a couple of their private US sponsors have become familiar with my work over the past several years. My Russian friends are very interested in the relevance and potential applications of my integral process model to current realities in their country.

Meanwhile, I am very excited about the opportunity to visit Russia and present my model and the work of ilé to the international audience gathering there. I am also very curious about the issues and dynamics of oppression that are most evident there, including racism and recent racially motivated crime, and classism in a post-Marxist society.

So, stay tuned for this and other exciting developments I hope to be able to share in the coming weeks.

Psychosynthesis founder, Roberto Assagioli, pointed to the need to extend his work beyond the individual to the social dimension of life. In this workshop, I will share insights and applications of Psychosynthesis’ basic concepts and principles to consciousness-in-action, this integral approach to personal change and social transformation. 

Together we will examine: psychosocial aspects of the self; culture, power, and the “inner diversity” of social sub-personalities; and effective uses of consciousness and will toward integral personal well-being and collective development.

This workshop is intended for practitioners and students of Psychosynthesis as well as all other change agents interested in an integrative socio-psycho-spiritual approach to personal liberation, social justice, cultural transformation, and consciousness development.

The workshop will be held at The Synthesis Center in Amherst, MA, at a sliding scale fee of $125-200. To register, please contact The Synthesis Center, 274 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA, (413) 256-0772 or e-mail Pru Smith at prusmith@yahoo.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.