Integral theory is Ken Wilber's attempt to place a wide diversity of theories and thinkers into one single framework.[1] It is portrayed as a 'theory of everything' ('the living Totality of matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit'),[2] trying 'to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.'[1]
Everybody is familiar with major states of consciousness, such as waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Right now, you are in a waking state of consciousness (or, if.
Wilber's integral theory has been applied by some in a limited range of domains. The Integral Institute publishes the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice,[3] and SUNY Press has published nine books in the 'SUNY series in Integral Theory.'[4] Wilber's ideas have mainly attracted attention in specific subcultures, and have been widely ignored in academia.[5][6]
- 1Origins and background
- 1.2Background
- 2Theory
Origins and background[edit]
Origins[edit]
Ken Wilber's 'Integral Theory' started as early as the 1970s, with the publication of The Spectrum of Consciousness,[7] that attempted to synthesize eastern religious traditions with western structural stage theory, models of psychology development that describe human development as following a set course of stages of development.[8][note 1]
Wilber's ideas have grown more and more inclusive over the years, incorporating ontology, epistemology, and methodology.[9] Wilber, drawing on both Aurobindo's and Gebser's theories, as well as on the writings of many other authors, created a theory which he calls AQAL, 'All Quadrants All Levels'.
Background[edit]
Sri Aurobindo[edit]
The adjective integral was first used in a spiritual context by Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) from 1914 onward to describe his own spiritual teachings, which he referred to as Purna (Skt: 'Full') Yoga. It appeared in The Synthesis of Yoga, a book that was first published in serial form in the journal Arya and was revised several times since.[10]
Sri Aurobindo's work has been described as Integral Vedanta [11][12] and Integral psychology (Sri Aurobindo)psychology,[13][14] as well (the term coined by Indra Sen) and the psychotherapy that emerges from it.[15] His writings influenced others who used the term 'integral' in more philosophical or psychological contexts.
In the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, integral yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence.
As described by Sri Aurobindo and his co-worker The Mother (1878–1973), this spiritual teaching involves an integral divine transformation of the entire being, rather than the liberation of only a single faculty such as the intellect or the emotions or the body. According to Sri Aurobindo,
(T)he Divine is in his essence infinite and his manifestation too is multitudinously infinite. If that is so, it is not likely that our true integral perfection in being and in nature can come by one kind of realisation alone; it must combine many different strands of divine experience. It cannot be reached by the exclusive pursuit of a single line of identity till that is raised to its absolute; it must harmonise many aspects of the Infinite. An integral consciousness with a multiform dynamic experience is essential for the complete transformation of our nature. — Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 114
Aurobindo's ideas were further explored by Indra Sen (1903–1994) in the 1940s and 1950s, a psychologist, and devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. He was the first to coin the term 'Integral psychology' to describe the psychological observations he found in Sri Aurobindo's writings (which he contrasted with those of Western Psychology), and developed themes of 'Integral Culture' and 'Integral Man'.[16]
These ideas were further developed by Haridas Chaudhuri (1913–1975), a Bengali philosopher and academic who founded in 1968 the California Institute of Integral Studies.[17]
Jean Gebser[edit]
The word integral was independently suggested by Jean Gebser (1905–1973), a Swissphenomenologist and interdisciplinary scholar, in 1939 to describe his own intuition regarding the next stage of human consciousness. Gebser was the author of The Ever-Present Origin, which describes human history as a series of mutations in consciousness. He only afterwards discovered the similarity between his own ideas and those of Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin.[18] In his book The Ever-Present Origin, Gebser distinguished between five structures of consciousness: archaic, magic, mythical, mental, and integral. Gebser wrote that he was unaware of Sri Aurobindo's prior usage of the term 'integral', which coincides to some extent with his own.[citation needed]
Georg Feuerstein[edit]
The German indologist Georg Feuerstein first wrote about Integralism in 'Wholeness or Transcendence? Ancient Lessons for the Emerging Global Civilization' (1992). Feuerstein used this term to refer to a particular outlook on spirituality which he saw present in the Indian tantric traditions. Feuerstein outlined three major approaches to life in Indian spirituality: nivritti-marga (path of cessation), pravritti-marga (path of activity) and purna-marga (path of wholeness).[19] The path of cessation is the traditional path of renunciation and asceticism practiced by sanyasins with the goal of liberation from this world, while the path of activity is the pursuit of worldly goods and happiness. Feuerstein ties this integral approach to nondual Indian philosophy and the tantric tradition. According to Feuerstein the integral or wholeness approach: 'implies a total cognitive shift by which the phenomenal world is rendered transparent through superior wisdom. No longer are things seen as being strictly separated from one another, as if they were insular realities in themselves, but everything is seen together, understood together, and lived together. Whatever distinctions there may be, these are variations or manifestations of and within the selfsame Being.'[20] An integral worldview also leads to body and sex positivism and anti-asceticism. Even negative experiences such as pain and disgust are seen as integral to our life and world and thus are not rejected by the integral approach, but used skillfully.
Collaboration with Don Beck[edit]
After completing SES, Ken Wilber started to collaborate with Don Beck, whose 'Spiral Dynamics' shows strong correlates with Wilber's model.[21]
In Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck and Chris Cowan use the term integral for a developmental stage which sequentially follows the pluralistic stage. The essential characteristic of this stage is that it continues the inclusive nature of the pluralistic mentality, yet extends this inclusiveness to those outside of the pluralistic mentality. In doing so, it accepts the ideas of development and hierarchy, which the pluralistic mentality finds difficult. Other ideas of Beck and Cowan include the 'first tier' and 'second tier', which refer to major periods of human development.[citation needed]
Theory[edit]
All Quadrants All Levels[edit]
Upper-Left (UL) 'I' Interior Individual Intentional e.g. Freud | Upper-Right (UR) 'It' Exterior Individual Behavioral e.g. Skinner |
Lower-Left (LL) 'We' Interior Collective Cultural e.g. Gadamer | Lower-Right (LR) 'Its' Exterior Collective Social e.g. Marx |
Ken Wilber's AQAL, pronounced 'ah-qwul', is the basic framework of Integral Theory. It suggests that all human knowledge and experience can be placed in a four-quadrant grid, along the axes of 'interior-exterior' and 'individual-collective'. According to Wilber, it is one of the most comprehensive approaches to reality, a metatheory that attempts to explain how academic disciplines and every form of knowledge and experience fit together coherently.[22]
AQAL is based on four fundamental concepts and a rest-category: four quadrants, several levels and lines of development, several states of consciousness, and 'types', topics which don't fit into these four concepts.[23] 'Levels' are the stages of development, from pre-personal through personal to transpersonal. 'Lines' are lines of development, the several domains of development, which may process uneven, with several stages of development in place at the various domains.[note 2] 'States' are states of consciousness; according to Wilber persons may have a terminal experience of a higher developmental stage.[note 3] 'Types' is a rest-category, for phenomena which don't fit in the other four concepts.[24] In order for an account of the Kosmos to be complete, Wilber believes that it must include each of these five categories. For Wilber, only such an account can be accurately called 'integral'. In the essay, 'Excerpt C: The Ways We Are in This Together', Wilber describes AQAL as 'one suggested architecture of the Kosmos'.[25]
The model is topped with formless awareness, 'the simple feeling of being,' which is equated with a range of 'ultimates' from a variety of eastern traditions. This formless awareness transcends the phenomenal world, which is ultimately only an appearance of some transcendental reality. According to Wilber, the AQAL categories—quadrants, lines, levels, states, and types—describe the relative truth of the two truths doctrine of Buddhism.[note 4]
Holons[edit]
Holons are the individual building blocks of Wilber's model. Wilber borrowed the concept of holons from Arthur Koestler's description of the great chain of being, a mediaeval description of levels of being. 'Holon' means that every entity and concept is both an entity on its own, and a hierarchical part of a larger whole. For example, a cell in an organism is both a whole as a cell, and at the same time a part of another whole, the organism. Likewise a letter is a self-existing entity and simultaneously an integral part of a word, which then is part of a sentence, which is part of a paragraph, which is part of a page; and so on. Everything from quarks to matter to energy to ideas can be looked at in this way. The relation between individuals and society is not the same as between cells and organisms though, because individual holons can be members but not parts of social holons.[26]
In his book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution, Wilber outlines twenty fundamental properties, called 'tenets', that characterize all holons.[27] For example, they must be able to maintain their 'wholeness' and also their 'part-ness;' a holon that cannot maintain its wholeness will cease to exist and will break up into its constituent parts.
Holons form natural 'holarchies', like Russian dolls, where a whole is a part of another whole, in turn part of another whole, and so on.
Quadrants[edit]
Each holon can be seen from within (subjective, interior perspective) and from the outside (objective, exterior perspective), and from an individual or a collective perspective.[28]
Each of the four approaches has a valid perspective to offer. The subjective emotional pain of a person who suffers a tragedy is one perspective; the social statistics about such tragedies are different perspectives on the same matter. According to Wilber all are needed for real appreciation of a matter.
No Boundary Ken Wilber Pdf
Wilber uses this grid to categorize the perspectives of various theories and scholars, for example:
- Interior individual perspective (upper-left quadrant) include Freudianpsychoanalysis, which interprets people's interior experiences and focuses on 'I'
- Interior plural perspective (lower-left) include Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics which seeks to interpret the collective consciousness of a society, or plurality of people and focuses on 'We'
- Exterior individual perspective (upper-right) include B. F. Skinner's behaviorism, which limits itself to the observation of the behavior of organisms and treats the internal experience, decision making or volition of the subject as a black box, and which with the fourth perspective emphasizes the subject as a specimen to examine, or 'It'.
- Exterior plural perspective (lower-right) include Marxist economic theory which focuses upon the behavior of a society (i.e. a plurality of people) as functional entities seen from outside, e.g. 'They'.
According to Wilber, all four perspectives offer complementary, rather than contradictory, perspectives. It is possible for all to be correct, and all are necessary for a complete account of human existence. According to Wilber, each by itself offers only a partial view of reality.
According to Wilber modern western society has a pathological focus on the exterior or objective perspective. Such perspectives value that which can be externally measured and tested in a laboratory, but tend to deny or marginalize the left sides (subjectivity, individual experience, feelings, values) as unproven or having no meaning. Wilber identifies this as a fundamental cause of society's malaise, and names the situation resulting from such perspectives, 'flatland'.
Levels or stages[edit]
Wilber discerns various structural stages of development, following several structural stage theories of developmental psychology.[note 1] According to Wilber, these stages can be grouped in pre-personal (subconscious motivations), personal (conscious mental processes), and transpersonal (integrative and mystical structures) stages.[note 5]
All of these mental structures are considered to be complementary and legitimate, rather than mutual exclusive. Wilber's equates the levels in psychological and cultural development, with the hierarchical nature of matter itself.
Wilber | Wilber[30] | Aurobindo[31][32][note 6] | Gebser | Piaget | Fowler | Age | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Levels of Being | Development | ||||||||||
Overall | Outer Being | Inner Being | Psychic Being | ||||||||
- | - | Supermind | Supermind | Gnostic Man | - | - | 6. Universalizing | 45+ years? | |||
Transpersonal | Nondual | Supra-mentalisation | Integral | Formal-operational | 5. Conjunctive | 35+? | |||||
Causal | Mind | Overmind | Psychisation and Spiritualisation | ||||||||
Subtle | Intuition | ||||||||||
Psychic | Illuminated Mind | ||||||||||
Personal | Centaur (Vision-logic) | Higher Mind | |||||||||
Formal-reflexive | Subconscient mind | Mind proper | Subliminal (inner) mind | Evolution | Rational | 4. Individual-reflexive | 21+ years? | ||||
3. Synthetic- Conventional | 12+ years | ||||||||||
Rule/role mind | Mythic-rational | Concrete operational | 2. Mythic- literal | 7–12 years | |||||||
Pre-personal | Rep-mind | Mythic | Pre-operational | 1. Intuitive- projective | 2–7 years | ||||||
Phantasmic-emotional | Vital | Subconsc. Vital | Vital | Subl. (inner) Vital | Magical | Sensoric-motorical | 0. Undifferentiated Faith | 0–2 years | |||
Sensori-physical | Physical | Subconsc. Physical | Physical | Subl. (inner) Physical | Archaic | ||||||
undifferentiated or primary matrix | Inconscient | Inconscient |
Lines, streams, or intelligences[edit]
According to Wilber, various domains or lines of development, or intelligences can be discerned.[33] They include cognitive, ethical, aesthetic, spiritual, kinesthetic, affective, musical, spatial, logical-mathematical, karmic, etc. For example, one can be highly developed cognitively (cerebrally smart) without being highly developed morally (as in the case of Nazi doctors).
States[edit]
States are temporary states of consciousness, such as waking, dreaming and sleeping, bodily sensations, and drug-induced and meditation-induced states. Some states are interpreted as temporary intimations of higher stages of development.[34][35] Wilber's formulation is: 'States are free but structures are earned.' A person has to build or earn structure; it cannot be peak-experienced for free. What can be peak-experienced, however, are higher states of freedom from the stage a person is habituated to, so these deeper or higher states can be experienced at any level.[note 7]
Types[edit]
These are models and theories that don't fit into Wilber’s other categorizations. Masculine/feminine, the nine Enneagram categories, and Jung's archetypes and typologies, among innumerable others, are all valid types in Wilber's schema. Wilber makes types part of his model in order to point out that these distinctions are different from the already mentioned distinctions: quadrants, lines, levels and states.[37]
Other approaches[edit]
Bonnitta Roy has introduced a 'Process Model' of integral theory, combining Western process philosophy, Dzogchen ideas, and Wilberian theory. She distinguishes between Wilber's concept of perspective and the Dzogchen concept of view, arguing that Wilber's view is situated within a framework or structural enfoldment which constrains it, in contrast to the Dzogchen intention of being mindful of view.[38]
Wendelin Küpers, a German scholar specializing in phenomenological research, has proposed that an 'integral pheno-practice' based on aspects of the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty can provide the basis of an 'adequate phenomenology' useful in integral research. His proposed approach claims to offer a more inclusive and coherent approach than classical phenomenology, including procedures and techniques called epoché, bracketing, reduction, and free variation.[39]
Sean Esbjörn-Hargens has proposed a new approach to climate change called Integral Pluralism, which builds on Wilber's recent work but emphasizes elements such as Ontological Pluralism that are understated or absent in Wilber's own writings.[40]
Contemporary figures[edit]
Some individuals affiliated with Ken Wilber have claimed that there exists a loosely defined 'Integral movement'.[41] Others, however, have disagreed.[42] Whatever its status as a 'movement', there are a variety of religious organizations, think tanks, conferences, workshops, and publications in the US and internationally that use the term integral.
According to John Bothwell and David Geier, among the top thinkers in the integral movement are Stanislav Grof, Fred Kofman, George Leonard, Michael Murphy, Jenny Wade, Roger Walsh, Ken Wilber, and Michael E. Zimmerman.[43] Australian academic Alex Burns mentions among integral theorists Jean Gebser, Clare W. Graves, Jane Loevinger and Ken Wilber.[44] In 2007, Steve McIntosh pointed to Henri Bergson and Teilhard de Chardin as pre-figuring Wilber as integral thinkers.[45] While in the same year, the editors of What Is Enlightenment? listed as contemporary Integralists Don Beck, Allan Combs, Robert Godwin, Sally Goerner, George Leonard, Michael Murphy, William Irwin Thompson, and Wilber.[46]
Gary Hampson suggested that there are six intertwined genealogical branches of Integral, based on those who first used the term: those aligned with Aurobindo, Gebser, Wilber, Gangadean, László and Steiner (noting that the Steiner branch is via the conduit of Gidley).[47]
Applications[edit]
Michael E. Zimmerman and Sean Esbjörn-Hargens have applied Wilber's integral theory in their environmental studies and ecological research, calling it 'integral ecology'.[48][49][50][51]
'Integral leadership' is presented as a style of leadership that attempts to integrate major styles of leadership.[52]Don Beck, Lawrence Chickering, Jack Crittenden, David Sprecher, and Ken Wilber have applied the AQAL-model to issues in political philosophy and applications in government, calling it 'integral politics'.[53] Sen has called the Yoga psychology of Sri Aurobindo 'Integral psychology.'[54] For Wilber, 'integral psychology' is psychology that is inclusive or holistic rather than exclusivist or reductive, and values and integrates multiple explanations and methodologies.[55][56] Marilyn Hamilton used the term 'integral city', describing the city as a living human system, using an integral lens.[57] Integral Life Practice (ILP) applies Ken Wilber's Integral model through nine modules of personal practice. Examples of 'integral practice' not associated with Ken Wilber, and derived from alternate approaches, are Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), Holistic Integration, and Integral Lifework.
Reception in mainstream academia[edit]
Integral Theory is widely ignored, at mainstream academic institutions, and has been sharply contested by critics.[58] The independent scholar Frank Visser says that there is a problematic relation between Wilber and academia for several reasons, including a 'self-referential discourse' wherein Wilber tends to describe his work as being at the forefront of science.[59] Visser has compiled a bibliography of online criticism of Wilber's Integral Theory[60] and produced an overview of their objections.[61] Another Wilber critic, the independent scholar Andrew P. Smith, observes that most of Wilber's work has not been published by university presses, a fact that discourages some academics from taking his ideas seriously. Wilber's failure to respond to critics of Integral Theory is also said to contribute to the field's chilly reception in some quarters.[62]
Forman and Esbjörn-Hargens have countered criticisms regarding the academic standing of integral studies in part by claiming that the divide between Integral Theory and academia is exaggerated by critics who themselves lack academic credentials or standing. They also said that participants at the first Integral Theory Conference in 2008 had largely mainstream academic credentials and pointed to existing programs in alternative universities like John F. Kennedy University or Fielding Graduate University as an indication of the field's emergence.[5]
Criticism[edit]
The AQAL system has been critiqued for not taking into account the lack of change in the biological structure of the brain at the human level (complex neocortex), this role being taken instead by human-made artifacts.[63]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ abPiaget's theory of cognitive development,[29]Kohlberg's stages of moral development, Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, and Jane Loevinger's stages of ego development.
- ^This interpretation is at odds with structural stage theory, which posits an overall follow-up of stages, instead of variations over several domains.
- ^This too is wildly at odds with structural stage theory, but in line with Wilber's philosophical idealism, which sees the phenomenal world as a concretisation, or immanation, of a 'higher,' transcendental reality, which can be 'realized' in 'religious experience.'
- ^The Madhyamaka Two Truths Doctrine discerns two epistemological truths, namely conventional and ultimate. Conventional truth is the truth of phenomenal appearances and causal relations, our daily common-sense world. Ultimate truth is the recognition that no-'thing' exists inherently; every'thing' is empty, sunyata of an unchanging 'essence.' It also means that there is no unchanging transcendental reality underlying phenomenal existence. 'Formless awareness' belongs to another strand of Indian thinking, namely Advaita and Buddha-nature, which are ontological approaches, and do posit such a transcendental, unchanging reality, namely 'awareness' or 'consciousness.' Wilber seems to be mixing, or confusing, these two different approaches freely, in his attempt to integrate 'everything' into one conceptual scheme.
- ^For example:
- Freudian drives, Jungianarchetypes, and myth are pre-personal structures.
- Empirical and rational processes are at the personal level.
- Transpersonal entities include, for example, Aurobindo's Overmind, Emerson's Oversoul, Plato's Forms, Plotinus' nous, and the HinduAtman, or world-soul.
- ^Note that Wilber presents Aurobindo's level of Being as developmental stages, whereas Aurobindo describes higher development as a Triple Transformation, which includes 'psychicisation' (Wilber's psychic stage), the turn inward and the discovery of the psychic being; spiritualisation, the transformation of the lower being through the realisation of the psychic being, and involves the Higher Mind; and 'supramentalisation,' the realisation of Supermind, itself the intermediary between Spirit or Satcitananda and creation. A correct table would include Aurobindo's Triple Transformation and the Three Beings:Comparison of the models of Wilber and Aurobindo; differentiating between Aurobindo's levels of being and Aurobindo's developmental stages.
- ^In his book Integral Spirituality, Wilber identifies a few varieties of states:
- The three daily cycling natural states: waking, dreaming, and sleeping.
- Penomenal states such as bodily sensations, emotions, mental ideas, memories, or inspirations, or from exterior sources such as our sensorimotor inputs, seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting.
- Altered states, is divided into two groups:
- Exogenous or induced states: psychedelic and other drug-induced states; hypnosis and hypnotherapy; psycho-therapeutic techniques; gestalt therapy; psychodrama; voice dialogue techniques; biofeedback states; forms of guided imagery;
- Endogenous or trained states: performance enhancement techniques in sports therapy; meditative training which work on calming, relaxation, equanimity states; and mental imaging and visualization such as tonglen meditation.
- Some techniques, such as Neuro-linguistic Programming, work with both endogenous and exogenous types.
- Spontaneous or peak states: unintentional or unexpected shifts of awareness from gross to subtle or causal states of consciousness.[36]
References[edit]
- ^ abEsbjörn-Hargens, S. (2010). Introduction. In Esbjörn-Hargens (ed.) Integral Theory in Action: Applied, Theoretical, and Constructive Perspectives on the AQAL Model. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press
- ^Macdonald, Copthorne. '(Review of) A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality by Ken Wilber,' Integralis: Journal of Integral Consciousness, Culture, and Science, Vol. 1. Retrieved via WisdomPage.com on Jan. 7, 2010.
- ^'JITP'. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
- ^'SUNY Press'.
- ^ abForman, Mark D. and Esbjörn-Hargens, Sean. 'The Academic Emergence of Integral Theory,' Integral World. Retrieved via IntegralWorld.net on Jan. 7, 2010.
- ^Visser, Frank. 'Assessing Integral Theory: Opportunities and Impediments,' Integral World. Retrieved via IntegralWorld.net on Jan. 7, 2010
- ^Grof, Stanislav. 'A Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology'Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, StanislavGrof.com, p. 11. Retrieved via StanislavGrof.com on Jan. 13, 2010.
- ^Zimmerman, Michael E. (2005). 'Ken Wilber (1949 -)', The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, p. 1743. London: Continuum
- ^Esbjörn-Hargens, Sean (2006). 'Editor’s Inaugural Welcome,' AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, p. v. Retrieved Jan. 7, 2010.
- ^The Synthesis of Yoga, see Biographical Notes to the 3rd Pondicherry edition
- ^https://americanvedantist.org/2012/articles/ramakrishnas-realization-and-integral-vedanta/
- ^http://sacar.in/Auro_Vidya_Retreat_Programme.pdf
- ^Ram Shankar Misra, The integral Advaitism of Sri Aurobindo, Banaras: Banaras Hindu University, 1957
- ^Haridas Chaudhuri, Frederic Spiegelberg, The integral philosophy of Sri Aurobindo: a commemorative symposium, Allen & Unwin, 1960
- ^Brant Cortright, Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth, and Opening the Heart, SUNY, 2007 ISBN0-7914-7071-7, pp.5-6
- ^Aster Patel, 'The Presence of Dr Indra Senji', SABDA - Recent Publications, November 2003
- ^Haridas Chaudhuri, 'Psychology: Humanistic and Transpersonal'. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, and The Evolution of Integral Consciousness; Bahman Shirazi 'Integral psychology, metaphors and processes of personal integration' in Cornelissen (ed.) Consciousness and Its Transformationonline version
- ^Ever-Present Origin p.102 note 4
- ^Feuerstein, G. Tantra, path of ecstasy, pages 46-47
- ^Feuerstein, G. Tantra, path of ecstasy, pages 44
- ^Christopher Cooke and Ben Levi Spiral Dynamics Integral
- ^Wilber, Ken. 'AQAL Glossary,' 'Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice: IOS Basic and the AQAL Map,' Vol. 1, No. 3. Retrieved on Jan. 7, 2010.
- ^Fiandt, K.; Forman, J.; Erickson Megel, M.; et al. (2003). 'Integral nursing: an emerging framework for engaging the evolution of the profession'. Nursing Outlook. 51 (3): 130–137. doi:10.1016/s0029-6554(03)00080-0.
- ^'Integral Psychology.' In: Weiner, Irving B. & Craighead, W. Edward (ed.), The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, Vol. 2, 4. ed., Wiley 2010, pp. 830 ff. ISBN978-0-470-17026-7
- ^'Excerpt C: The Ways We Are In This Together'. Ken Wilber Online. Archived from the original on December 23, 2005. Retrieved December 26, 2005.
- ^See A Miracle Called 'We' in Integral Spirituality and http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/kosmos/excerptA/notes-1.cfm.
- ^Wilber, Ken; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, 1995, p. 35–78
- ^'Wilber's Integral Philosophy: A Summary and Critique'. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 48 (3): 364–388. 2008. doi:10.1177/0022167807309748.
- ^Marian de Souza (ed.), International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing, Springer 2009, p. 427. ISBN978-1-4020-9017-2
- ^Integral world, Wilber's levels
- ^Wilber 1992, p. 263.
- ^Sharma 1992.
- ^Wilber, Ken (2000). integral Psychology. Boston: Shambhala. pp. 197–217. ISBN1-57062-554-9.
- ^Wilber, Ken. (2006). Integral spirituality: A startling new role for religion in the modern and post-modern world. Boston, MA: Shambhala
- ^Edwards, Mark (2008). 'An Alternative View on States: Part One and Two. Retrieved in full 3/08 from http://www.integralworld.net/edwards14.html
- ^Maslow, A. (1970). Religions, values, and peak experiences. New York: Penguin; McFetridge, Grant (2004). Peak states of consciousness: Theory and applications, vol. 1, Break-through techniques for exceptional quality of life. Hornsby Island, BC: Institute for the Study of Peak States Press; Bruce, R. (1999). Astral dynamics: A new approach to out-of-body experiences. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads
- ^Wilber, Ken (1996). A Brief History of Everything. Boston and London: Shambhala. pp. 209–218. ISBN1-57062-187-X.
- ^Roy, Bonnitta (2006). 'A Process Model of Integral Theory,' Integral Review, 3, 2006. Retrieved on Jan. 10, 2010.
- ^Küpers, Wendelin 'The Status and Relevance of Phenomenology for Integral Research: Or Why Phenomenology is More and Different than an 'Upper Left' or 'Zone #1' Affair,' Integral Review, June 2009, Vol. 5, No. 1. Retrieved on Jan. 10, 2010.
- ^Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2010) An Ontology of Climate Change: Integral Pluralism and the Enactment of Multiple Objects. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, V5.1, March 2010, pp.143-74
- ^Patten, Terry. 'Integral Heart Newsletter #1: Exploring Big Questions in the Integral World,' Integral Heart Newsletter. Retrieved via IntegralHeart.com on Jan. 13, 2010.
- ^Kazlev, Alan. 'Redefining Integral,' Integral World. Retrieved via IntegralWorld.net on Jan. 13, 2010.
- ^John Bothwell and David Geier, Score! Power Up Your Game, Business and Life by Harnessing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, p.144
- ^Josh Floyd, Alex Burns, and Jose Ramos, A Challenging Conversation on Integral Futures: Embodied Foresight & Trialogues, Journal of Futures Studies, November 2008, 13(2): 69 - 86; p.71
- ^Steve McIntosh, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution, ch.7
- ^The Real Evolution Debate, What Is Enlightenment?, no.35, January–March 2007, p.100
- ^Gary Hampson, 'Integral Re-views Postmodernism: The Way Out Is Through' Integral Review 4, 2007 pp.13-4, http://www.integral-review.org
- ^Zimmerman, M. (2005). “Integral Ecology: A Perspectival, Developmental, and Coordinating Approach to Environmental Problems.” World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution 61, nos. 1-2: 50-62.
- ^Esbjörn-Hargens, S. (2008). “Integral Ecological Research: Using IMP to Examine Animals and Sustainability” in Journal of Integral Theory and Practice Vol 3, No. 1.
- ^Esbjörn-Hargens, S. & Zimmerman, M. E. (2008). “Integral Ecology” Callicott, J. B. & Frodeman, R. (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy. New York: Macmillan Library Reference.
- ^Sean Esbjörn-Hargens and Michael E. Zimmerman, Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World, Integral Books (2009) ISBN1-59030-466-7
- ^Kupers, W. & Volckmann, R. (2009). 'A Dialogue on Integral Leadership'. Integral Leadership Review, Volume IX, No. 4 - August 2009. Retrieved on October 23, 2010.
- ^Ken Wilber (2000). A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality, p. 153. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN1-57062-855-6
- ^Indra Sen, Integral Psychology: The Psychological System of Sri Aurobindo, Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1986
- ^Wilber, K., 1997, An integral theory of consciousness; Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4 (1), pp.71-92
- ^Esbjörn-Hargens, S., & Wilber, K. (2008). “Integral Psychology” in The Corsini’s Encyclopedia of Psychology. 4th Edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
- ^Hamilton, M. (2008). Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive. Gabriola Island BC: New Society Publishers.
- ^Michael E. Zimmerman. Ken Wilber, The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, London: Continuum. 2005.
- ^Frank Visser. 'Assessing Integral Theory: Opportunities and Impediments,' IntegralWorld.net, accessed 2010-1-7.
- ^Visser, Frank. 'Critics on Ken Wilber,' IntegralWorld.net. Retrieved on Jan. 10, 2010.
- ^Frank Visser 'A Spectrum of Wilber Critics,' IntegralWorld.net, accessed 2010-1-10.
- ^Smith, Andrew P. 'Contextualizing Ken', IntegralWorld.net. Retrieved on Jan. 7, 2010.
- ^Steve McIntosh, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution, Paragon House, St Paul Minnesota, 2007, ISBN978-1-55778-867-2 pp.227f.
Sources[edit]
![Integral life practice ken wilber pdf Integral life practice ken wilber pdf](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125381616/465310697.jpg)
- Sharma, Ram Nath (1991), Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy of Social Development, Atlantic Publishers
- Wilber, Ken (1992), The Atman Project, Servire
External links[edit]
- IntegralLife (former Integral Institute)
- Homepage of Ken Wilber, the founder of the Integral theory
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Integral_theory_(Ken_Wilber)&oldid=917187775'
Wilber with Bernard Glassman (background) | |
Born | January 31, 1949 (age 70) |
---|---|
Alma mater | Duke University (no degree) University of Nebraska at Lincoln (no degree) |
Occupation | Author, integral theorist |
Years active | 1967~1999, 2000~present 2005~present |
Known for | Integral theory |
Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory,[1] a systematic philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.[2]
- 3Other ideas
- 7Bibliography
Biography[edit]
![Ken wilber no boundary pdf Ken wilber no boundary pdf](/uploads/1/2/5/3/125381616/241003811.jpg)
Wilber was born in 1949 in Oklahoma City. In 1967 he enrolled as a pre-med student at Duke University.[3] He became inspired, like many of his generation, by Eastern literature, particularly the Tao Te Ching. He left Duke and enrolled at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, but after a few years dropped out of university to devote all his time to studying his own curriculum and writing books.[4]
Wilber stated in 2011 that he has long suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, possibly caused by RNase enzyme deficiency disease.[5][6]
In 1973 Wilber completed his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness,[7] in which he sought to integrate knowledge from disparate fields. After rejections by more than twenty publishers it was finally accepted in 1977 by Quest Books, and he spent a year giving lectures and workshops before going back to writing. He also helped to launch the journal ReVision in 1978.[8]
In 1982 New Science Library published his anthology The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes,[9] a collection of essays and interviews, including one by David Bohm. The essays, including one of his own, looked at how holography and the holographic paradigm relate to the fields of consciousness, mysticism, and science.
In 1983 Wilber married Terry 'Treya' Killam who was shortly thereafter diagnosed with breast cancer. From 1984 until 1987, Wilber gave up most of his writing to care for her. Killam died in January 1989; their joint experience was recorded in the 1991 book Grace and Grit.
In 1987 Wilber moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he worked on his Kosmos trilogy and oversaw the work of the Integral Institute. Wilber now lives in Denver, Colorado.[citation needed]
Subsequently, Wilber wrote Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995), the first volume of his Kosmos Trilogy. A Brief History of Everything (1996) was the popularised summary of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality in interview format. The Eye of Spirit (1997) was a compilation of articles he had written for the journal ReVision on the relationship between science and religion. Throughout 1997, he had kept journals of his personal experiences, which were published in 1999 as One Taste, a term for unitary consciousness. Over the next two years his publisher, Shambhala Publications, released eight re-edited volumes of his Collected Works. In 1999, he finished Integral Psychology and wrote A Theory of Everything (2000). In A Theory of Everything Wilber attempts to bridge business, politics, science and spirituality and show how they integrate with theories of developmental psychology, such as Spiral Dynamics. His novel, Boomeritis (2002), attempts to expose what he perceives as the egotism of the baby boom generation.
In 2012 Wilber joined the Advisory Board of International Simultaneous Policy Organization which seeks to end the usual deadlock in tackling global issues through an international simultaneous policy.[10][11]
Integral theory[edit]
Upper-Left (UL) 'I' Interior Individual Intentional e.g. Freud | Upper-Right (UR) 'It' Exterior Individual Behavioral e.g. Skinner |
Lower-Left (LL) 'We' Interior Collective Cultural e.g. Gadamer | Lower-Right (LR) 'Its' Exterior Collective Social e.g. Marx |
All Quadrants All Levels (AQAL, pron. 'ah-qwul'), is the basic framework of integral theory. It models human knowledge and experience with a four-quadrant grid, along the axes of 'interior-exterior' and 'individual-collective'. According to Wilber, it is a comprehensive approach to reality, a metatheory that attempts to explain how academic disciplines and every form of knowledge and experience fit together coherently.[2]
AQAL is based on four fundamental concepts and a rest-category: four quadrants, several levels and lines of development, several states of consciousness, and 'types', topics which do not fit into these four concepts.[12] 'Levels' are the stages of development, from pre-personal through personal to transpersonal. 'Lines' of development are various domains which may progress unevenly through different stages .[note 1] 'States' are states of consciousness; according to Wilber persons may have a temporal experience of a higher developmental stage.[note 2] 'Types' is a rest-category, for phenomena which do not fit in the other four concepts.[13] In order for an account of the Kosmos to be complete, Wilber believes that it must include each of these five categories. For Wilber, only such an account can be accurately called 'integral'. In the essay, 'Excerpt C: The Ways We Are in This Together', Wilber describes AQAL as 'one suggested architecture of the Kosmos'.[14]
The model's apex is formless awareness, 'the simple feeling of being', which is equated with a range of 'ultimates' from a variety of eastern traditions. This formless awareness transcends the phenomenal world, which is ultimately only an appearance of some transcendental reality. According to Wilber, the AQAL categories — quadrants, lines, levels, states, and types – describe the relative truth of the two truths doctrine of Buddhism. According to Wilber, none of them are true in an absolute sense. Only formless awareness, 'the simple feeling of being', exists absolutely.[citation needed][note 3]
Other ideas[edit]
Mysticism and the great chain of being[edit]
One of Wilber's main interests is in mapping what he calls the 'neo-perennial philosophy', an integration of some of the views of mysticism typified by Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy with an account of cosmic evolution akin to that of the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. He rejects most of the tenets of Perennialism and the associated anti-evolutionary view of history as a regression from past ages or yugas.[15] Instead, he embraces a more traditionally Western notion of the great chain of being. As in the work of Jean Gebser, this great chain (or 'nest') is ever-present while relatively unfolding throughout this material manifestation, although to Wilber '... the 'Great Nest' is actually just a vast morphogenetic field of potentials ...' In agreement with Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta, he believes that reality is ultimately a nondual union of emptiness and form, with form being innately subject to development over time.
Theory of truth[edit]
Wilber believes that the mystical traditions of the world provide access to, and knowledge of, a transcendental reality which is perennial, being the same throughout all times and cultures. This proposition underlies the whole of his conceptual edifice, and is an unquestioned assumption.[note 4] Wilber juxtaposites this generalisation to plain materialism, presenting this as the main paradigma of regular science.[18][quote 1]
Interior | Exterior | |
Individual | Standard: Truthfulness (1st person) (sincerity, integrity, trustworthiness) | Standard: Truth (3rd person) (correspondence, representation, propositional) |
Collective | Standard: Justness (2nd person) (cultural fit, rightness, mutual understanding) | Standard: Functional fit (3rd person) (systems theory web, Structural functionalism, social systems mesh) |
In his later works, Wilber argues that manifest reality is composed of four domains, and that each domain, or 'quadrant', has its own truth-standard, or test for validity:[19]
- 'Interior individual/1st person': the subjective world, the individual subjective sphere;[20]
- 'Interior collective/2nd person': the intersubjective space, the cultural background;[20]
- 'Exterior individual/3rd person': the objective state of affairs;[20]
- 'Exterior collective/3rd person': the functional fit, 'how entities fit together in a system'.[20]
Pre/trans fallacy[edit]
Wilber believes that many claims about non-rational states make a mistake he calls the pre/trans fallacy. According to Wilber, the non-rational stages of consciousness (what Wilber calls 'pre-rational' and 'trans-rational' stages) can be easily confused with one another. In Wilber's view, one can reduce trans-rational spiritual realization to pre-rational regression, or one can elevate pre-rational states to the trans-rational domain.[21] For example, Wilber claims that Freud and Jung commit this fallacy. Freud considered mystical realization to be a regression to infantile oceanic states. Wilber alleges that Freud thus commits a fallacy of reduction. Wilber thinks that Jung commits the converse form of the same mistake by considering pre-rational myths to reflect divine realizations. Likewise, pre-rational states may be misidentified as post-rational states.[22] Wilber characterizes himself as having fallen victim to the pre/trans fallacy in his early work.[23]
Wilber on science[edit]
Wilber describes the current state of the 'hard' sciences as limited to 'narrow science', which only allows evidence from the lowest realm of consciousness, the sensorimotor (the five senses and their extensions). Wilber sees science in the broad sense as characterized by involving three steps:[24][25]
- specifying an experiment,
- performing the experiment and observing the results, and
- checking the results with others who have competently performed the same experiment.
He has presented these as 'three strands of valid knowledge' in Part III of his book The Marriage of Sense and Soul.[26]
What Wilber calls 'broad science' would include evidence from logic, mathematics, and from the symbolic, hermeneutical, and other realms of consciousness. Ultimately and ideally, broad science would include the testimony of meditators and spiritual practitioners. Wilber's own conception of science includes both narrow science and broad science, e.g., using electroencephalogram machines and other technologies to test the experiences of meditators and other spiritual practitioners, creating what Wilber calls 'integral science'.[citation needed]
According to Wilber's theory, narrow science trumps narrow religion, but broad science trumps narrow science. That is, the natural sciences provide a more inclusive, accurate account of reality than any of the particular exoteric religious traditions. But an integral approach that uses intersubjectivity to evaluate both religious claims and scientific claims will give a more complete account of reality than narrow science.[citation needed]
Wilber has referred to Stuart Kauffman, Ilya Prigogine, Alfred North Whitehead, and others in order to articulate his vitalistic and teleological understanding of reality, which is deeply at odds with the modern evolutionary synthesis.[27][quote 2]
Current work[edit]
In 2005, at the launch of the Integral Spiritual Center, a branch of the Integral Institute, Wilber presented a 118-page rough draft summary of his two forthcoming books.[28] The essay is entitled 'What is Integral Spirituality?', and contains several new ideas, including Integral post-metaphysics and the Wilber-Combs lattice. In 2006, he published 'Integral Spirituality', in which he elaborated on these ideas, as well as others such as Integral Methodological Pluralism and the developmental conveyor belt of religion.
'Integral post-metaphysics' is the term Wilber has given to his attempts to reconstruct the world's spiritual-religious traditions in a way that accounts for the modern and post-modern criticisms of those traditions.[citation needed]
The Wilber-Combs Lattice is a conceptual model of consciousness developed by Wilber and Allan Combs. It is a grid with sequential states of consciousness on the x axis (from left to right) and with developmental structures, or levels, of consciousness on the y axis (from bottom to top). This lattice illustrates how each structure of consciousness interprets experiences of different states of consciousness, including mystical states, in different ways.[citation needed]
Wilber attracted a lot of controversy from 2011 to the present day by supporting Marc Gafni. Gafni was accused in the media of sexually assaulting a minor.[29] Wilber has in fact publicly supported Gafni on his blog.[30][31] A petition begun by a group of Rabbis has called for Wilber to publicly dissociate from Gafni.
Wilber is on the advisory board of Mariana Bozesan's AQAL Capital GmbH,[32]Munich-based company specialising in integral impact investing using a model based on Wilber's Integral Theory.
Influences on Wilber[edit]
Wilber's philosophy has been influenced by MadhyamakaBuddhism, particularly as articulated in the philosophy of Nagarjuna.[33] Wilber has practiced various forms of Buddhist meditation, studying (however briefly) with a number of teachers, including Dainin Katagiri, Taizan Maezumi, Chogyam TrungpaRinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Alan Watts, Penor Rinpoche and Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Advaita Vedanta, Trika (Kashmir) Shaivism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Ramana Maharshi, and Andrew Cohen can be mentioned as further influences. Wilber has on several occasions singled out Adi Da's work for the highest praise while expressing reservations about Adi Da as a teacher.[34][35] In Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Wilber refers extensively to Plotinus' philosophy, which he sees as nondual. While Wilber has practised Buddhist meditation methods, he does not identify himself as a Buddhist.[36]
According to Frank Visser, Wilber's conception of four quadrants, or dimensions of existence is very similar to E. F. Schumacher's conception of four fields of knowledge.[37] Visser finds Wilber's conception of levels, as well as Wilber's critique of science as one-dimensional, to be very similar to that in Huston Smith's Forgotten Truth.[38] Visser also writes that the esoteric aspects of Wilber's theory are based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo as well as other theorists including Adi Da.[39]
Reception[edit]
Wilber has been categorized as New Age due to his emphasis on a transpersonal view[40] and, more recently, as a philosopher.[41]Publishers Weekly has called him 'the Hegel of Eastern spirituality'.[42]
Wilber is credited with broadening the appeal of a 'perennial philosophy' to a much wider audience. Cultural figures as varied as Bill Clinton,[43]Al Gore, Deepak Chopra, Richard Rohr,[44] and musician Billy Corgan have mentioned his influence.[45] However, Wilber's approach has been criticized as excessively categorizing and objectifying, masculinist,[46][47] commercializing spirituality,[48] and denigrating of emotion.[49] Numerous critics cite problems with Wilber's interpretations and inaccurate citations of his wide ranging sources, as well as stylistic issues with gratuitous repetition, excessive book length, and hyperbole.[50]
Steve McIntosh praises Wilber's work but also argues that Wilber fails to distinguish 'philosophy' from his own Vedantic and Buddhist religion.[51] Christopher Bache is complimentary of some aspects of Wilber's work, but calls Wilber's writing style glib.[52]
Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof has praised Wilber's knowledge and work in the highest terms;[53] however, Grof has criticized the omission of the pre- and peri-natal domains from Wilber's spectrum of consciousness, and Wilber's neglect of the psychological importance of biological birth and death.[54] Grof has described Wilber's writings as having an 'often aggressive polemical style that includes strongly worded ad personam attacks and is not conducive to personal dialogue.'[55] Wilber's response is that the world religious traditions do not attest to the importance that Grof assigns to the perinatal.[56]
Quotes[edit]
- ^Wilber: 'Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don't they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion. Yes, maybe they are crazy, these divine fools. Maybe they are mumbling idiots in the face of the Abyss. Maybe they need a nice, understanding therapist. Yes, I'm sure that would help. But then, I wonder. Maybe the evolutionary sequence really is from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, each transcending and including, each with a greater depth and greater consciousness and wider embrace. And in the highest reaches of evolution, maybe, just maybe, an individual's consciousness does indeed touch infinity—a total embrace of the entire Kosmos—a Kosmic consciousness that is Spirit awakened to its own true nature. It's at least plausible. And tell me: is that story, sung by mystics and sages the world over, any crazier than the scientific materialism story, which is that the entire sequence is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing? Listen very carefully: just which of those two stories actually sounds totally insane?'[18]
- ^Wilber: 'I am not alone in seeing that chance and natural selection by themselves are not enough to account for the emergence that we see in evolution. Stuart Kaufman [sic] and many others have criticized mere change and natural selection as not adequate to account for this emergence (he sees the necessity of adding self-organization). Of course I understand that natural selection is not acting on mere randomness or chance—because natural selection saves previous selections, and this reduces dramatically the probability that higher, adequate forms will emerge. But even that is not enough, in my opinion, to account for the remarkable emergence of some of the extraordinarily complex forms that nature has produced. After all, from the big bang and dirt to the poems of William Shakespeare is quite a distance, and many philosophers of science agree that mere chance and selection are just not adequate to account for these remarkable emergences. The universe is slightly tilted toward self-organizing processes, and these processes—as Prigogine was the first to elaborate—escape present-level turmoil by jumping to higher levels of self-organization, and I see that 'pressure' as operating throughout the physiosphere, the biosphere, and the noosphere. And that is what I metaphorically mean when I use the example of a wing (or elsewhere, the example of an eyeball) to indicate the remarkableness of increasing emergence. But I don't mean that as a specific model or actual example of how biological emergence works! Natural selection carries forth previous individual mutations—but again that just isn't enough to account for creative emergence (or what Whitehead called 'the creative advance into novelty,' which, according to Whitehead, is the fundamental nature of this manifest universe).'[27]
Bibliography[edit]
Books by Wilber[edit]
- The Spectrum of Consciousness, 1977, anniv. ed. 1993: ISBN0-8356-0695-3
- No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, 1979, reprint ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-743-6
- The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development, 1980, 2nd ed. ISBN0-8356-0730-5
- Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution, 1981, new ed. 1996: ISBN0-8356-0731-3
- The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes: Exploring the Leading Edge of Science (editor), 1982, ISBN0-394-71237-4
- A Sociable God: A Brief Introduction to a Transcendental Sociology, 1983, new ed. 2005 subtitled Toward a New Understanding of Religion, ISBN1-59030-224-9
- Eye to Eye: The Quest for the New Paradigm, 1984, 3rd rev. ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-741-X
- Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (editor), 1984, rev. ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-768-1
- Transformations of Consciousness: Conventional and Contemplative Perspectives on Development (co-authors: Jack Engler, Daniel Brown), 1986, ISBN0-394-74202-8
- Spiritual Choices: The Problem of Recognizing Authentic Paths to Inner Transformation (co-authors: Dick Anthony, Bruce Ecker), 1987, ISBN0-913729-19-1
- Grace and Grit: Spirituality and Healing in the Life of Treya Killam Wilber, 1991, 2nd ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-742-8
- Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution, 1st ed. 1995, 2nd rev. ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-744-4
- A Brief History of Everything, 1st ed. 1996, 2nd ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-740-1
- The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad, 1997, 3rd ed. 2001: ISBN1-57062-871-8
- The Essential Ken Wilber: An Introductory Reader, 1998, ISBN1-57062-379-1
- The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion, 1998, reprint ed. 1999: ISBN0-7679-0343-9
- One Taste: The Journals of Ken Wilber, 1999, rev. ed. 2000: ISBN1-57062-547-6
- Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy, 2000, ISBN1-57062-554-9
- A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality, 2000, paperback ed.: ISBN1-57062-855-6
- Speaking of Everything (2 hour audio interview on CD), 2001
- Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free, 2002, paperback ed. 2003: ISBN1-59030-008-4
- Kosmic Consciousness (12½ hour audio interview on ten CDs), 2003, ISBN1-59179-124-3
- With Cornel West, commentary on The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and appearance in Return To Source: Philosophy & The Matrix on The Roots Of The Matrix, both in The Ultimate Matrix Collection, 2004
- The Simple Feeling of Being: Visionary, Spiritual, and Poetic Writings, 2004, ISBN1-59030-151-X (selected from earlier works)
- The Integral Operating System (a 69 page primer on AQAL with DVD and 2 audio CDs), 2005, ISBN1-59179-347-5
- Executive producer of the Stuart Davis DVDs Between the Music: Volume 1 and Volume 2.
- Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World, 2006, ISBN1-59030-346-6
- The One Two Three of God (3 CDs – interview, 4th CD – guided meditation; companion to Integral Spirituality), 2006, ISBN1-59179-531-1
- Integral Life Practice Starter Kit (5 DVDs, 2 CDs, 3 booklets), 2006, ISBN0-9772275-0-2
- The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything, 2007, ISBN1-59030-475-6
- Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint for Physical Health, Emotional Balance, Mental Clarity, and Spiritual Awakening, 2008, ISBN1-59030-467-5
- The Pocket Ken Wilber, 2008, ISBN1-59030-637-6
- The Integral Approach: A Short Introduction by Ken Wilber, eBook, 2013, ISBN9780834829060
- The Fourth Turning: Imagining the Evolution of an Integral Buddhism, eBook, 2014, ISBN9780834829572
- Integral Meditation: Mindfulness as a Way to Grow Up, Wake Up, and Show Up in Your Life, 2016, ISBN9781611802986
- The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision For The Future of the Great Traditions, 2017, ISBN978-1-61180-300-6
- Trump and a Post-Truth World, 2017, ISBN9781611805611
- Integral Buddhism: And the Future of Spirituality, 2018, ISBN1611805600
- Integral Politics: Its Essential Ingredients , eBook, 2018
Audiobooks by Wilber[edit]
- A Brief History of Everything. Shambhala Audio, 2008. ISBN978-1-59030-550-8
- Kosmic Consciousness. Sounds True Incorporated, 2003. ISBN9781591791249
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^This interpretation is at odds with structural stage theory, which posits an overall follow-up of stages, instead of variations over several domains.
- ^This too is at odds with structural stage theory, but in line with Wilber's philosophical idealism, which sees the phenomenal world as a concretisation, or immanation, of a 'higher,' transcendental reality, which can be 'realized' in 'religious experience.'
- ^The Madhyamaka two truths doctrine discerns two epistemological truths, namely conventional and ultimate. Conventional truth is the truth of phenomenal appearances and causal relations, our daily common-sense world. Ultimate truth is the recognition that no-'thing' exists inherently; every-'thing' is empty, sunyata of an unchanging 'essence'. It also means that there is no unchanging transcendental reality underlying phenomenal existence. 'Formless awareness' belongs to another strand of Indian thinking, namely Advaita and Buddha-nature, which are ontological approaches, and do posit such a transcendental, unchanging reality, namely 'awareness' or 'consciousness.' Wilber seems to be mixing, or confusing, these two different approaches freely, in his attempt to integrate 'everything' into one conceptual scheme.
- ^The perennial position is 'largely dismissed by scholars',[16] but 'has lost none of its popularity'.[17] Mainstream academia favor a constructivist approach, which is rejected by Wilber as a dangerous relativism. See also Perennialism versus constructionism.
References[edit]
- ^Mark Der Forman, A guide to integral psychotherapy: complexity, integration, and spirituality in practice,SUNY Press 2010, p. 9. ISBN978-1-4384-3023-2
- ^ abRentschler, Matt. 'AQAL Glossary,'Archived 2017-12-28 at the Wayback Machine 'AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice,' Fall 2006, Vol. 1, No. 3. Retrieved on Dec. 28, 2017.
- ^Tony Schwartz, What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America, Bantam, 1996, ISBN0-553-37492-3, p. 348.
- ^'Ken Wilber – Teachers – Spirituality & Practice'. spiritualityandpractice.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
- ^Wilber, Ken (December 26, 2006). 'Ken Wilber Writes About His Horrific, Near-Fatal Illness'. New Heaven New Earth. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^Wilber, Ken. 'RNase Enzyme Deficiency Disease: Wilber's statement about his health'. IntegralWorld.net. October 22, 2002. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^Wilber, Ken (1993). 'The Spectrum of Consciousness'. ISBN9780835606950.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^Frank Visser, Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion, 27
- ^The Holographic Paradigm and other paradoxes, 1982, ISBN0-87773-238-8
- ^About Simpol-UK: uk.simpol.org – About Simpol-UKArchived 2013-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Endorsements: Simpol.org – EndorsementsArchived 2013-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Fiandt, K.; Forman, J.; Erickson Megel, M.; et al. (2003). 'Integral nursing: an emerging framework for engaging the evolution of the profession'. Nursing Outlook. 51 (3): 130–137. doi:10.1016/s0029-6554(03)00080-0.
- ^'Integral Psychology' In: Weiner, Irving B. & Craighead, W. Edward (ed.), The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, Vol. 2, 4. ed., Wiley 2010, pp. 830 ff. ISBN978-0-470-17026-7
- ^'Excerpt C: The Ways We Are In This Together'. Ken Wilber Online. Archived from the original on December 23, 2005. Retrieved December 26, 2005.
- ^'I have not identified myself with the perennial philosophy in over fifteen years ... Many of the enduring perennial philosophers—such as Nagarjuna—were already using postmetaphysical methods, which is why their insights are still quite valid. But the vast majority of perennial philosophers were caught in metaphysical, not critical, thought, which is why I reject their methods almost entirely, and accept their conclusions only to the extent they can be reconstructed''Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2006-03-22. Retrieved 2006-03-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^McMahan 2008, p. 269, note 9.
- ^McMahan 2010, p. 269, note 9.
- ^ abKen Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, p.42–3
- ^Wilber, Ken (1998). The Eye of Spirit. Boston: Shambhala. pp. 12–18. ISBN1-57062-345-7.
- ^ abcdTable and quotations from: Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, 2nd edition, ISBN1-57062-740-1 p. 96–109
- ^Introduction to the third volume of The Collected Works of Ken WilberArchived 2009-06-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Wilber, Ken. Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Shambhala Publications, 2000, pp 211 f. ISBN978-1-57062-744-6
- ^'The introduction to Volume 1 of The Collected Works of Ken Wilber'. Ken Wilber Online. Archived from the original on 2009-03-19.
- ^Donald Jay Rothberg; Sean M. Kelly; Sean Kelly (1 February 1998). Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers. Quest Books. p. 12. ISBN978-0-8356-0766-7.
- ^Lew Howard (17 May 2005). Introducing Ken Wilber. AuthorHouse. pp. 2–3. ISBN978-1-4634-8193-3.
- ^Ken Wilber (3 August 2011). The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion. Random House Publishing Group. p. 187. ISBN978-0-307-79956-2.
- ^ abKen Wilber, Re: Some Criticisms of My Understanding of EvolutionArchived 2011-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^'What is Integral Spirituality?'(PDF). Integral Spiritual Center. Archived from the original(PDF) on November 25, 2005. Retrieved December 26, 2005. (1.3 MB PDF file)
- ^''I Was 13 When Marc Gafni's Abuse Began''. forward.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2016-02-06. Retrieved 2016-02-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)?
- ^'+kenwilber.com - blog'. www.kenwilber.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^'Ken Wilber – AQAL Capital'. aqalcapital.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
- ^'The Kosmos According to Ken Wilber: A Dialogue with Robin Kornman'. Shambhala Sun. September 1996. Archived from the original on 2006-08-13. Retrieved 2006-06-14.
- ^'The Case of Adi Da'. Ken Wilber Online. Archived from the original on 2008-02-13.
- ^'Adi Da and The Case of Ken Wilber'. Archived from the original on 2011-03-03.
I mention Master Da (along with Christ, Krishna) as being the Divine Person as World Event. - Ken Wilber, Up From Eden, 1981
- ^# Kosmic Consciousness (12 hour audio interview on ten CDs), 2003, ISBN1-59179-124-3
- ^Frank Visser, Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion, 194
- ^Frank Visser, Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion, 78
- ^Visser, 276
- ^Wouter J. Hanegraaff, New Age Religion and Western Culture, SUNY, 1998, pp.70 ('Ken Wilber ... defends a transpersonal worldview which qualifies as 'New Age').
- ^Marian de Souza (ed.), International handbook of the religious, moral and spiritual dimensions in education, Dordrecht: Springer 2006, p.93. ISBN978-1-4020-4803-6.
- ^[Archived 2014-04-30 at the Wayback Machine 'The Simple Feeling of Being: Visionary, Spiritual and Poetic Writings'], publishersweekly.com, June 4, 2014.]
- ^Planetary Problem SolverArchived 2010-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, Newsweek, January 4, 2010
- ^'The Perennial Tradition - Center for Action and Contemplation'. Center for Action and Contemplation. 2015-12-20. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
- ^Steve Paulson. 'You are the river: An interview with Ken Wilber'. salon.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-03.
- ^Thompson, Coming into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness pp. 12–13
- ^Gelfer, J. Chapter 5 (Integral or muscular spirituality?) in Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy, 2009: ISBN978-1-84553-419-6
- ^Gelfer, J. LOHAS and the Indigo Dollar: Growing the Spiritual EconomyArchived 2011-01-04 at the Wayback Machine, New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry (4.1, 2010: 46–60)
- ^de Quincey, Christian (Winter 2000). 'The Promise of Integralism: A Critical Appreciation of Ken Wilber's Integral Psychology'. Journal of Consciousness Studies. Vol. 7(11/12). Archived from the original on 2006-05-07. Retrieved 2006-06-15.
- ^Frank Visser, 'A Spectrum of Wilber Critics', 'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2006-05-26. Retrieved 2006-04-28.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^Steve McIntosh, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution, Paragon House, St Paul Minnesota, 2007, ISBN978-1-55778-867-2 pp.227f.
- ^Notes to Chapter 6 of Dark Night Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind SUNY Press, 2000
- ^... Ken has produced an extraordinary work of highly creative synthesis of data drawn from a vast variety of areas and disciplines ... His knowledge of the literature is truly encyclopedic, his analytical mind systematic and incisive, and the clarity of his logic remarkable. The impressive scope, comprehensive nature, and intellectual rigor of Ken's work have helped to make it a widely acclaimed and highly influential theory of transpersonal psychology.Stanislav Grof, 'Ken Wilber's Spectrum Psychology'Archived 2009-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Grof, Beyond the Brain, 131–137
- ^Grof, 'A Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology'Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^Visser, 269
Sources[edit]
- McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN9780195183276
Further reading[edit]
- Allan Combs, The Radiance of Being: Understanding the grand integral vision: living the integral life, Paragon House, 2002
- Geoffrey D Falk, Norman Einstein: the dis-integration of Ken Wilber, Million Monkeys Press, 2009
- Lew Howard, Introducing Ken Wilber: concepts for an evolving world, Authorhouse, 2005, ISBN1-4208-2986-6
- Peter McNab, Towards an Integral Vision: using NLP and Ken Wilber's AQAL model to enhance communication, Trafford, 2005
- Jeff Meyerhoff, Bald Ambition: a critique of Ken Wilber's theory of everything, Inside the Curtain Press, 2010
- Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, Jonathan Reams, Olen Gunnlaugson (ed.), Integral education: new directions for higher learning.SUNY Press, 2010. ISBN978-1-4384-3348-6
- Raphael Meriden, Entfaltung des Bewusstseins: Ken Wilbers Vision der Evolution, 2002, ISBN88-87198-05-5
- Brad Reynolds, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber: A Historical Survey and Chapter-By-Chapter Review of Wilber's Major Works, J.P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2004, ISBN1-58542-317-3
- ----- Where's Wilber At?: Ken Wilber's Integral Vision in the New Millennium, Paragone House, 2006, ISBN1-55778-846-4
- Donald Jay Rothberg, Sean M Kelly, Ken Wilber and the future of transpersonal inquiry: a spectrum of views 1996
- ----- Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations With Leading Transpersonal Thinkers, 1998, ISBN0-8356-0766-6
- Frank Visser, Ken Wilber: Thought As Passion, SUNY Press, 2003, ISBN0-7914-5816-4, (first published in Dutch as Ken Wilber: Denken als passie, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2001)
- Joseph Vrinte, Perennial Quest for a Psychology with a Soul: An inquiry into the relevance of Sri Aurobindo's metaphysical yoga psychology in the context of Ken Wilber's integral psychology, Motilal Banarsidass, 2002, ISBN81-208-1932-2
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Ken Wilber |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ken Wilber. |
- Ken Wilber
- Interview with Ken Wilber, Salon.com
- Criticism
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