Closer to Coherence

I’m pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the Integral Conference of North America (ICON 2026) which is taking place in Denver, CO from May 28 to May 31 this year. I will be joining some of the most prominent thought leaders in the integral community like Ken Wilber, Terri O’Fallon, Bence Ganti, Steve McIntosh, John Kesler and many more. The theme of the conference this year is about the critical role the integral community can play in building a post-tragic future. The diversity of subjects being covered spans the full spectrum of the model, the stages and the quadrants, the subjective, the intersubjective, the spiritual and the psychological, the institutional and the societal, all woven into one powerful 4-day event.

I will be participating in two of these events. The first is a workshop I’m co-facilitating with Christine Baser Habib titled “The Architecture of Change: Building a Path from Crisis.”

Here’s a brief description:

This workshop explores cyclical change throughout recent history from two complementary perspectives: Neil Howe’s “Fourth Turning” and Graves/Spiral Dynamics model. We will outline the core concepts of the Fourth Turning, noting cycles of crisis and renewal in U.S. history, and will address the crisis phase we are now facing. We will also introduce Clare Grave’s stage-based life cycle model, highlighting current geopolitical and economic dynamics applied to developmental stages. These two perspectives provide an opportunity to envision as a path forward for positive change. The workshop will provide some analysis of the Fourth Turning and Grave’s model, but will open to group discussion of how the Integral community can best contribute to social change. This workshop is suitable for those interested in historical patterns, Spiral Dynamics, developmental models, and collective influence to manage crisis and change.

My keynote speech will be about the shift towards a better understanding of Mother Nature’s intelligence as key to bringing harmony to a future full chaos and uncertainty. It’s titled “Gaia Awakes.”

Here’s a brief description:

What if Second Tier intelligence is not what we thought it was? Is there a form of consciousness that transcends human exceptionalism, integrating us into a greater, more complex reality? Does our post-tragic worldview possess the inherent intelligence of natural systems that will enable us to emerge truly wiser? These profound questions lie at the heart of Dawlabani’s keynote speech, inspired by his groundbreaking new book, Second Sapiens: The Rise of the Planetary Mind and the Future of Humanity.

While adherents of Spiral Dynamics and the Integral model focus on human-built systems, they often overlook the critical context of Planet Earth’s ecological collapse. To effectively confront these existential challenges and evolve into a new second-tier field of collective intelligence and shared awareness, we must transcend our current frameworks and integrate into “Gaian intelligence”-the very intelligence that has sustained life on Earth for over three billion years.

Please join us in person if you can. There’s no digital substitute for human connection and face-to-face interaction with others. This is how a wise and collaborative humanity is built. For more information about the conference please go to this link. Hope to see you there.

Originally published at https://saiddawlabani.substack.com.