Integrated Emergence - Imagination, Education & Remembering Wholeness: With Brad Kernsher
In this episode of Roots of Enlivement at Parallax, I am in conversation with Dr. Brad Kershner. This dialogue was originally hosted by Brad for The World of Kimberton Waldorf School podcast. Brad is the Head of School at Kimberton Waldorf School, an independent scholar, and the co-founder of the meta-political think tank The Reconstitution Project. He is also the author of Understanding Educational Complexity: Integrating Practices and Perspectives for 21st Century Leadership. Beyond his work in education, Brad collaborates with thought leaders and spiritual teachers around the world who are developing wisdom-based responses to planetary challenges. You can follow his ongoing reflections on his Substack, Integrated Emergence, at integratedemergence.substack.com, and learn more about his school at kimberton.org. In our conversation, Brad and I explore our shared interest in the overlapping insights of Rudolf Steiner and Jean Gebser, as well as thinkers they have inspired, such as Ken Wilber and Andrew Cohen. We reflect on fantasy and imagination as living human capacities, and on the deeper meaning of Waldorf education and community as spaces that support holistic, integrated human development. We discuss my new book Wild & Wunderbar, alongside insights from neuroscience that point toward embodied, non-frontal ways of knowing and remembering. These themes open into Jean Gebser’s understanding of consciousness mutation, in which the mental-rational structure must loosen and transform in order to integrate archaic, mythic, and mystical dimensions of awareness. Rather than leaving these layers behind, we explore how remembering and reintegrating them allows for a more whole and vital human presence. Through reflections on nature, education, ritual, and relational attunement, this episode offers examples of how individuals and communities can move through and beyond the mental-rational mode toward emergent forms of consciousness. It is an invitation to reaccess imaginal capacity, to rethink education as a path of awakening, and to sense into the transformations of consciousness that are already underway.
Brad Kershner, Ph.D. is a school leader and independent scholar. His research, teaching, and writing cover a wide range of interdependent topics, including education, leadership, parenting, race, technology, metamodernism, integral theory, meditation, developmental psychology, complexity, and sociocultural emergence.
Cordula Frei is an international author, ecopsychologist, and nature enthusiast dedicated to exploring the profound connections between humans and the natural world. Having spent years living in the wild, she brings a deeply intuitive understanding of ecological and psychological harmony to her work. Cordula collaborates with horses and dogs in her healing practices, fostering meaningful interspecies relationships as part of her ecopsychological approach.
As an editor, writer, and spaceholder, Cordula has contributed to various magazines and institutions within the integral and anthroposophic communities. Most recently, she played a pivotal role in launching Hofgut LEO, Germany’s first regenerative cooperative, nestled in the picturesque Southern Black Forest. Cordula’s passion lies in inspiring others to reconnect with the land, embrace sustainable living, and foster inner growth through the wisdom of nature.
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