Honoring the Forerunners

These are the Integral Pioneers -- those spiritual practitioners and thinkers, and those political and cultural leaders who, throughout world history and in all cultures of the planet, are the forerunners of the integral worldview that is only now emerging as a cultural movement. We designate them as "integral" because they were exemplary in their ability to live from, or to articulate, the entire spectrum of consciousness -- that is, the levels of matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit. Equally important is that these pioneers of the spirit are those who were in some way deeply concerned or connected with the four "quadrants" of the kosmos (i.e., the interior and exterior of the individual and collective), or, what is simply known as the "Big Three": the self ("I"), culture ("we"), and nature ("it") -- also designated as Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

This present list of integral pioneers would then, by strict definition, exclude those who are known primarily or only for spiritual or transpersonal achievements (thus honorably eliminating some of the founders of world religions). Finally, this list of integral men and women includes those who demonstrate a strong tendency to be global or world-centric in their point of view -- even in the earlier epochs of the history of humankind.

Premodern
Integral Pioneers

These are forerunners of integralism who lived prior to the rise of science and the European Enlightenment, but who achieved or practiced a vision of global tolerance, universal harmony across religions and cultures, and actual integral living.

Imhotep
Egyptian Priest & Pyramid Architect, c. 2635-2595 BCE

Solomon
Hebrew King, c. 972-932 BCE

PreSocratics
Greek philosophers, c. 600-400 BCE

Confucius
Chinese social philosopher, 551-479 BCE

Socrates-Plato-Aristotle
Greek philosophers, 470-322 BCE

Alexander the Great
Greek King & World Emperor, 356-323 BCE

Asoka
Indian Emperor, 274-232 BCE

Nagarjuna
Buddhist nondual philosopher, c.150-250 CE

Plotinus
Alexandrian Greco-Roman philosopher, 205-270 CE

Neo-Platonists
1st & 2nd CE Greek, Jewish, Persian philosophers

Hypatia
Egyptian priestess & scientist, 370-415 CE

Ibn Al-Arabi
Sufi mystics & philosopher, 560-638 CE

St. Maximus
Greek/Christian theologian, 580-662 CE

Al-Farabi
Turkish-Persian philosopher, 870-950 CE

Al-Ghazzali
Islamic philosopher, 1059-1111 CE

Chu Hsi
Chinese Neo-Confucianist, 1130-1200 CE

Marsilio Ficino & Giovanni Pico
Italian Renaissance scholar-philosophers, fl. 1490 CE

St. Theresa of Avila
Spanish nun & mystic, 1515-1582 CE

Akbar
Indian Emperor, 1542-1605 CE

Native American Chiefs & Shamans
e.g., Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph, Chief Seattle, et al. Native American leaders, fl. 1870 CE

Modern
Integral Pioneers

The general task for these integral pioneers operating after the rise of the European Enlightenment, but prior to the rise of postmodernity in the 20th century, was the differentiation of the Big Three, and their attempted integration in a new synthesis.

Leonardo Da Vinci
Italian artist, scientist, engineer, musician, 1452-1519

Wang Yang-Ming
Chinese Neo-Confucianist, 1472-1529

Giordano Bruno
Italian philosopher, 1548-1600

Blaise Pascal
French scientist & religious philosopher, 1623-1662

Montesquieu
French philosopher, 1689-1755

Voltaire
French philosopher, 1694-1778

Benjamin Franklin
American statesman, scientist, writer, 1706-1790

Immanuel Kant
German philosopher, 1724-1804

Thomas Jefferson
American statesman & political philosopher, 1743-1826

Goethe
German poet-philosopher, 1749-1832

William Blake
English poet, artist, philosopher, 1757-1827

Friedrich Schiller
German poet-philosopher, 1759-1805

Georg Hegel
German philosopher-evolutionist, 1770-1831

Friedrich Schelling
German philosopher-evolutionist, 1775-1854

Ralph Waldo Emerson
American transcendentalist philosopher, 1803-1882

John Stuart Mill
British philosopher & economist, 1806-1873

Frederick Douglass
American abolitionist, 1817-1895

Ramakrishna
Hindu mystic & world religionist, 1836-1886

Vivekananda
Hindu swami & world religionist, 1863-1902

Postmodern
Integral Pioneers