Misplaced Pages

#427572

57-490: Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American theorist and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory , a four-quadrant grid which purports to encompass all human knowledge and experience. Wilber was born in 1949 in Oklahoma City. In 1967 he enrolled as a pre-med student at Duke University . He became interested in psychology and Eastern spirituality. He left Duke and enrolled at

114-425: A cognitive and humanistic psychologist, has questioned the results of transpersonal psychotherapy. In 1989, he worked with Raymond Yeager for the release of Why some therapies don't work: The dangers of transpersonal psychology , where the authors compared the results of transpersonal psychology with the effects of rational-emotive therapy and noted the dangers of the transpersonal approach. Ellis has also questioned

171-817: A much wider audience. Cultural figures as varied as Bill Clinton , Al Gore , Deepak Chopra , Richard Rohr , and musician Billy Corgan have mentioned his influence. Paul M. Helfrich credits him with "precocious understanding that transcendental experience is not solely pathological, and properly developed could greatly inform human development". However, Wilber's approach has been criticized as excessively categorizing and objectifying , masculinist , commercializing spirituality, and denigrating of emotion. Critics in multiple fields 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. Frank Visser writes that Wilber's 1977 book The Spectrum of Consciousness

228-434: 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. "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. "States" are states of consciousness; according to Wilber persons may have

285-651: A review of criticisms of the field, Paul F Cunningham writes, "philosophers have criticized transpersonal psychology because its metaphysics is naive and epistemology is undeveloped. Multiplicity of definitions and lack of operationalization of many of its concepts has led to a conceptual confusion about the nature of transpersonal psychology itself... Biologists have criticized transpersonal psychology for its lack of attention to biological foundations of behavior and experience. Physicists have criticized transpersonal psychology for inappropriately accommodating physic concepts as explanations of consciousness." Albert Ellis ,

342-568: A strong institutional presence in California , where the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology , and Journal of Transpersonal Psychology were developed. Early use of the term "transpersonal" can also be credited to Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich , who were dissatisfied with the humanistic psychology movement and included spirituality in their new framework. In 1967 to 1968, Abraham Maslow

399-566: A temporal experience of a higher developmental stage. "Types" is a rest-category, for phenomena which do not fit in the other four concepts. 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

456-481: A year giving lectures and workshops before going back to writing, publishing The Atman Project , in which he put his idea of a spectrum of consciousness in a developmental context. He also helped to launch the journal ReVision in 1978. In 1982, New Science Library published his anthology The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes , a collection of essays and interviews, including one by David Bohm . The essays, including one of his own, looked at how holography and

513-525: Is a difference between transpersonal psychology and a broader category of transpersonal theories, sometimes called transpersonal studies. According to Friedman this category might include several approaches to the transpersonal that lie outside mainstream science. However, according to Ferrer the field of transpersonal psychology is "situated within the wider umbrella of transpersonal studies". Transpersonal psychology has also be associated with New Age beliefs and pop psychology. However, leading authors in

570-529: Is complimentary of some aspects of Wilber's work, but calls Wilber's writing style glib. Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof has praised Wilber's knowledge and work in the highest terms; 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. Grof has described Wilber's writings as having an "often aggressive polemical style that includes strongly worded ad personam attacks and

627-746: Is deeply at odds with the modern evolutionary synthesis . 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. 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

SECTION 10

#1732782763428

684-571: Is more so spiritually focused, as it lacks a hierarchy and seeks an altruistic approach. Although the perspective of transpersonal psychology has spread to a number of interest groups across the US and Europe, its origins were in California, and the field has always been strongly associated with institutions on the west coast of the US. Both the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and

741-457: Is not conducive to personal dialogue." Wilber's response is that the world religious traditions do not attest to the importance that Grof assigns to the perinatal. Wilber's account of his wife Treya's illness and death, Grace and Grit (1991), was released as a feature film starring Mena Suvari and Stuart Townsend in 2021. Transpersonal psychology Evolving from the humanistic psychology movement, transpersonal psychology emerged in

798-468: Is perennial, consistent throughout all times and cultures. This proposition underlies the whole of his conceptual edifice, and is an unquestioned assumption. According to David L. McMahan, the perennial position is "largely dismissed by scholars", but "has lost none of its popularity". Mainstream academia favor a constructivist approach, which is rejected by Wilber as a dangerous relativism. Wilber juxtaposes this generalization to plain materialism, presented as

855-421: 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. AQAL is based on four fundamental concepts and

912-812: The Association for Transpersonal Psychology , stabilizing at approximately 3000 members in the early nineties. In 1996, the British Psychological Society established a Transpersonal Psychology Section. In 2007 the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies were accepted for indexing in PsycINFO , the journal database of the American Psychological Association. That same year, Ruzek, noted that

969-459: The University of Nebraska at Lincoln studying biochemistry, but after a few years dropped out of university and began studying his own curriculum and writing. In 1973 Wilber completed his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness , in which he sought to integrate knowledge from disparate fields. After rejections by more than 20 publishers it was accepted in 1977 by Quest Books , and he spent

1026-710: The advisory board of the International Simultaneous Policy Organization which seeks to end the usual deadlock in tackling global issues through an international simultaneous policy. Wilber stated in 2011 that he has long suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome , possibly caused by RNase enzyme deficiency disease. "I" Interior Individual Intentional e.g. Freud "It" Exterior Individual Behavioral e.g. Skinner "We" Interior Collective Cultural e.g. Gadamer "Its" Exterior Collective Social e.g. Marx All Quadrants All Levels (AQAL, pron. "ah-qwul")

1083-503: The egotism of the baby boom generation . Frank Visser's Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion (2003), a guide to Wilber's thought, was praised by Edward J. Sullivan and Daryl S. Paulson, with the latter calling it "an outstanding synthesis of Wilber's published works through the evolution of his thoughts over time. The book will be of value to any transpersonal humanist or integral philosophy student who does not want to read all of Wilber's works to understand his message." In 2012, Wilber joined

1140-523: 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 supervised

1197-400: The psychology of religion is fading (e.g. The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality), there is still generally considered to be a clear distinction between the two. Much of the focus of psychology of religion is concerned with issues that would not be considered 'transcendent' within transpersonal psychology, so the two disciplines have quite distinct focuses. Transpersonal psychology

SECTION 20

#1732782763428

1254-573: 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". According to Wilber's theory, narrow science trumps narrow religion, but broad science trumps narrow science. That is,

1311-795: The "American Psychological Association (APA) and most academic institutions have not yet recognized transpersonal psychology as an approved area of study; transpersonal psychology is rarely mentioned in mainstream academic journals or textbooks; and relatively few American academicians identify themselves as practitioners of transpersonal psychology. Furthermore, transpersonal psychology is scarcely mentioned, if at all, in history or introductory psychology texts". Although transpersonal psychology has received some support from both psychologists and non-psychologists, it remains highly controversial and has not been widely accepted by mainstream academic psychology. Transpersonal psychology has been criticized for lacking conceptual, evidentiary, and scientific rigor. In

1368-416: 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. Wilber believes that the mystical traditions of the world provide access to, and knowledge of, a transcendental reality which

1425-488: 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 . 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 "...

1482-455: The Kosmos". 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

1539-630: The categories of transcendence and consciousness. Another contentious aspect concerns the topic of psychedelic substances. Commenting upon the controversial status of psychedelic and entheogenic substances in contemporary culture, Elmer, MacDonald & Friedman observe that these drugs have been used for therapeutic effect in the transpersonal movement, but that it is uncommon in contemporary therapy. Bravo and Grob note that "the place of psychedelics in spiritual practice remains controversial". Ruzek, who interviewed founders of transpersonal psychology, as well as historians of American psychology, found that

1596-434: 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. 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

1653-459: The dissolution of the ego. In 1969, Anthony Sutich, along with Maslow and other humanistic psychologists, founded the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology , formally establishing the field. The creation of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology in 1972 further solidified its identity. Transpersonal psychology focuses on exploring spiritual experiences, mystical states, self-transcendence, and

1710-452: The esoteric aspects of Wilber's theory are based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo as well as other theorists including Adi Da . Wilber has been categorized by Wouter J. Hanegraaff as New Age due to his emphasis on a transpersonal view. Publishers Weekly has called him "the Hegel of Eastern spirituality". Wilber is credited with broadening the appeal of a "perennial philosophy" to

1767-463: The field of transpersonal psychology had made little impact on the larger field of psychology in America. Among the factors that contributed to this situation was mainstream psychology's "resistance to spiritual and philosophical ideas", and the tendency of transpersonal psychologists to isolate themselves from the larger field. One of the earliest criticisms of transpersonal psychology was leveled by

Ken Wilber - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-451: The field's interdisciplinary approach, at the same time noting its epistemological and practical challenges. The field's connections to psychedelic substances , religious ideas , and the new age movement have also further fueled controversy. Transpersonal psychology has influenced various related and transpersonal disciplines , including transpersonal anthropology, business studies, near-death studies , and parapsychology . The field has

1881-490: The field, among those Sovatsky, Rowan, and Hartelius have criticized the nature of "New Age"-philosophy and discourse. Rowan even states that "The Transpersonal is not the New Age". Other commentators, such as Wade, note that the field remains part of the New Age, despite the fact that transpersonal psychologists may want no such association. Although some consider that the distinction between transpersonal psychology and

1938-685: The forerunner to Sofia University were founded in the state of California, and a number of the fields leading theorists come from this area of the US. A European counterpart to the American institution, the European Transpersonal Psychology Association (ETPA), was founded much later. Leading publications include the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies . Smaller publications include

1995-718: The highest praise while expressing reservations about Adi Da as a teacher. 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. 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. 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 . Visser also writes that

2052-506: The holistic development of human potential. An interest group was later re-formed as the Transpersonal Psychology Interest Group (TPIG), which continued to promote transpersonal issues in collaboration with Division 32. Ken Wilber and Michael Washburn delivered the main transpersonal models of development of this period, Wilber in 1977 and Washburn in 1988. Ken Wilber has since distanced himself from

2109-620: The humanistic psychologist Rollo May , who "disputed the conceptual foundations of transpersonal psychology". May also criticized the field for neglecting the personal dimension of the psyche by elevating the pursuit of the transcendental, and for neglecting the "dark side of human nature". Other transpersonal disciplines, such as transpersonal anthropology and transpersonal business studies , are known as transpersonal disciplines . Other fields of study that are related to transpersonal psychology, include near-death studies and parapsychology . A few commentators have suggested that there

2166-585: The initiators behind the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology . The Association for Transpersonal Psychology was established in 1972, the International Transpersonal Psychology Association in 1973, and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in 1975 . The institute was founded by Robert Frager and James Fadiman in response to an academic climate that they felt

2223-623: The label "transpersonal", being in favour of the label of "integral" since the mid-1990s. In 1998 he formed the Integral Institute . In 1998, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the holistic studies program at the John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, which included a transpersonal psychology department. The program was considered to be unique at the time, but also controversial. Commentators presented their skepticism towards

2280-481: The late 1960s, integrating spirituality and consciousness studies into psychological theory, as a response to perceived limitations of mainstream psychological approaches. The empirical validity and recognition of transpersonal psychology remains contentious in modern psychology. Early critics such as Ernest Hilgard have viewed it as a fringe movement that attracted extreme followers of humanistic psychology, while scholars such as Eugene Taylor have acknowledged

2337-625: The main paradigm of regular science. 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: 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

Ken Wilber - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-498: 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. Wilber has referred to Stuart Kauffman , Ilya Prigogine , Alfred North Whitehead , and others who also articulate his vitalistic and teleological understanding of reality, which

2451-580: The philosophy of Nagarjuna . Wilber has practiced various forms of Buddhist meditation, studying (however briefly) with a number of teachers, including Dainin Katagiri , Taizan Maezumi , Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche , 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

2508-606: The pre/trans fallacy in his early work. Wilber describes the 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: He has presented these as "three strands of valid knowledge" in Part III of his book The Marriage of Sense and Soul . What Wilber calls "broad science" would include evidence from logic , mathematics, and from

2565-623: The program. Proponents of transpersonal psychology were behind the proposal for a new diagnostic category to be included in the DSM-manual of the American Psychiatric Association called "Psychoreligious or psychospiritual problem", which was approved by the Task Force on DSM-IV in 1993, after changing its name to Religious or spiritual problem . Concurrently, there was an increase in membership for

2622-459: 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. 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

2679-448: The same time noting the field's "integrated approach to understanding the phenomenology of scientific method", "centrality of qualitative research", and its emphasised "importance of interdisciplinary communication". In a later article, Taylor regarded transpersonal psychology as a visionary American folk-psychology with little historical relation to American academic psychology, except through its association with humanistic psychology and

2736-572: The scientific status of transpersonal psychology, and its relationship to religion, mysticism and authoritarian belief systems. Ernest Hilgard , a psychologist at Stanford University , regarded transpersonal psychology as a fringe movement that attracted the more extreme followers of humanistic psychology. Eugene Taylor , a humanistic psychologist affiliated with Harvard University , viewed transpersonal psychology as "philosophically naive, poorly financed, at times almost anti-intellectual, and frequently overrated as far as its influences", while at

2793-521: The trans-rational domain. 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. Wilber characterizes himself as having fallen victim to

2850-457: The work and functioning of the Integral Institute . Wilber wrote Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995), the first volume of his Kosmos Trilogy , presenting his "theory of everything," a four-quadrant grid in which he summarized his reading in psychology and Eastern and Western philosophy up to that time. A Brief History of Everything (1996) was the popularised summary of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality in interview format. The Eye of Spirit (1997)

2907-401: 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. Wilber attracted a lot of controversy from 2011 to the present day by supporting Marc Gafni , who

SECTION 50

#1732782763428

2964-752: 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

3021-442: Was accused of sexually assaulting a minor, on his blog. 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, a Munich -based company specialising in integral impact investing using a model based on Wilber's Integral Theory . Wilber's views have been influenced by Madhyamaka Buddhism , particularly as articulated in

3078-413: Was heavily influenced by Western culture, and had not been regarded as a “ hard science ”. Gradually, during the 1960s, the term "transpersonal" became associated with a distinct school of psychology within the humanistic psychology movement. This branch of psychology was introduced to a time where the majority of schools were teaching Freudian Psychology . In 1969, Maslow, Grof and Sutich were among

3135-761: Was hostile to such ideas. Soon, other institutions began offering curricula in transpersonal psychology including Saybrook Graduate School , the California Institute of Asian Studies (now California Institute of Integral Studies ), JFK University , and Naropa . Other proponents of transpersonal psychology included Ram Dass ; Elmer and Alyce Green who were affiliated with the Menninger Foundation ; and Ken Wilber . Transpersonal psychology has been influenced by various Eastern spiritual traditions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism , which emphasize practices like meditation, mindfulness, and

3192-666: Was in close dialogue with both Grof and Sutich regarding the name and orientation of the new field, later describing transpersonal psychology as a "fourth force" in psychology. According to Powers, the term "transpersonal" starts to show up in academic journals from 1970 onwards. Humanistic and transpersonal psychology are often associated with the Human Potential Movement , a movement in the 1960s that explored various therapies and philosophies at institutions like Esalen in Big Sur , California. Transpersonal psychology

3249-791: Was praised by transpersonal psychologists , but also that support for him "even in transpersonal circles" had waned by the early 1990s. Edward J. Sullivan argued, in his review of Visser's guide Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion , that in the field of composition studies "Wilber's melding of life’s journeys with abstract theorizing could provide an eclectic and challenging model of 'personal-academic' writing", but that "teachers of writing may be critical of his all-too-frequent totalizing assumptions". Sullivan also said that Visser's book overall gave an impression that Wilber "should think more and publish less." Steve McIntosh praises Wilber's work but also argues that Wilber fails to distinguish "philosophy" from his own Vedantic and Buddhist religion. Christopher Bache

#427572