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The Spectrum of Consciousness : Wilber, Ken: Amazon.com.au: Books

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The Spectrum of Consciousness Paperback – 9 December 1993
by Ken Wilber (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (180)
Book 2 of 6: Quest Books


Wilber's groundbreaking synthesis of religion, philosophy, physics, and psychology started a revolution in transpersonal psychology. He was the first to suggest in a systematic way that the great psychological systems of the West could be integrated with the noble contemplative traditions of the East. Spectrum of Consciousness, first released by Quest in 1977, has been the prominent reference point for all subsequent attempts at integrating psychology and spirituality.


385 pages


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From the Back Cover
Like radiation and light, consciousness, suggests Wilber, establishes a multiplicity of aspects as it 'steps down' into time and space. Thus, as a spectrum, it can be studied legitimately on one or more of its 'wavelengths.' Viewing consciousness in this way, we can see that seemingly disparate disciplines each speak to a different wavelength of awareness.

Product details
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quest Books
Publication date ‏ : ‎ 9 December 1993
Edition ‏ : ‎ 2nd ed.
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 385 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0835606953
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0835606950
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 522 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.03 x 22.61 cm
Book 2 of 6 ‏ : ‎ Quest Books
Best Sellers Rank: 75,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)12 in Spiritually Integrated Therapy
268 in Chakras
283 in Psychology Movements
Customer Reviews:
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (180)




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Customer reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
180 global ratings
5 star


Alistair Douglas

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing major, just interesting.Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2025
Verified Purchase

Absolutely love the book. Valuable information throughout.

Noticed something peculiar about the book I received. The spine is a misprint.

I reckon it gives it character. Wondering if anyone else’s came this way?

It doesn’t seem to have any other issues or flaws as I said the book is amazing through and through. It’s only today I noticed while looking at the book that “Spectrum” is misspelled. Gave me a chuckle.


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Kindle Customer: Padmanaban

5.0 out of 5 stars Structure of consciousness- a clear viewReviewed in India on 10 August 2020
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I have read all his books. This is the last of my choice chronologically though the first for the author. In his foreword he had warned in advance how he interchanged the meaning for terms involution and evolution. So I could avoid confusion. The general scheme of his ideas is still valid though now greatly refined. I would choose the same rating to all his writing. His writing never leaves anything for guessing.

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Jonathan Appleby

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth, in a step by step logical processReviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2017
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This book was probably the hardest but most rewarding book I've ever read. As someone who brought up on science and not religion, this book helped to merge the two

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Stephanie E Witechowsky

5.0 out of 5 stars Delivered on time; good foundational readingReviewed in the United States on 12 June 2024
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This book was delivered well and on time. Wilber has a good all around basis for reviewing the subject of consciousness and touches upon the other authors in the field as well. A good starting book for curious readers.

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Autumn Fall

5.0 out of 5 stars Wilber's books are highly recommended readingReviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2016
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Ken Wilber's extensive understanding and his ability to communicate this is remarkable.

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Introducing Ken Wilber by Lew Howard 2005

Introducing Ken Wilber by Lew Howard (Ebook) - Read free for 30 days

Introducing Ken Wilber: Concepts for an Evolving World
By Lew Howard

Kindle  $15.39
Paperback  $40.64





Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5/5

(2 ratings)
==
Contents

Chapter 1 THE BIG PICTURE
Chapter 2 THE FOUR QUADRANTS
Chapter 3 HOLONS EVERYWHERE
Chapter 4 THE QUADRANTS REVISITED
Chapter 5 POST-METAPHYSICAL SPIRITUALITY
Chapter 6 THE KOSMOS

INTRODUCTION TO PART II
Chapter 7 PEOPLE DEVELOP
Chapter 8 GRAND TOUR OF THE MEMES
Chapter 9 SOCIETIES DEVELOP
Chapter 10 WORLDVIEWS DEVELOP
Chapter 11 STATES AND STAGES
Chapter 12 INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO PART III
Chapter 13 SPIRITUAL EXPLORATION
Chapter 14 ARE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES REAL?
Chapter 15 THE SUBTLE
Chapter 16 CAUSAL EMPTINESS
Chapter 17 THE NONDUAL
Chapter 18 SPIRITUAL TRUTH, OR JUST WORDS
Chapter 19 MEDITATION
Chapter 20 FLATLAND
Chapter 21 BOOMERITIS
Chapter 22 THE GROWING EDGE
Chapter 23 INTEGRAL INSTITUTE
====

About this ebook


Ken Wilbers revolutionary thinking is beginning to shift the orientation of Western culture. Wilber combines his knowledge as mystic, scientist, psychologist and philosopher to create comprehensive concepts for understanding our world and our place in it. This integral approach is much needed in a world torn by conflicts of religion, culture, and ideology.


Lew Howard says, I wrote this book to make the work of Ken Wilber accessible to the average person. Wilbers integral understanding (which is an interlocking whole) is broken down into concepts that can be individually understood. These understandings result in an integral conception of the Kosmos. Wilbers insights revolutionized my spiritual practiceand can do the same for you.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherAuthorHouse
Release dateMay 17, 2005
ISBN9781463481933


Author
Lew Howard


Lew Howard is a retired nuclear reactor engineer. His engineering career included reactor operations, research and development, nuclear fuel contract management, and consulting regarding uncertainties in cost and schedule for construction of nuclear power plants. His expertise includes mathematical modeling of complex operations using probabilistic analysis. This career was Lew’s vehicle for developing advanced logical skills and the ability to teach complex concepts to the average person. 

Lew’s lifelong study of spirituality and psychology led him eventually to a seven-year study of the work of Ken Wilber. He desires to make Wilber’s academic work understandable to the general public. Lew lives in Albuquerque, NM, with his wife, Ti Howard, and their seven-year-old grandson.
==
Roy Gibbon - Author of An Offering of Light
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to Ken Wilber
Reviewed in the United States on 23 February 2024
Verified Purchase

This book summarizes Ken Wilber's Integral Philosophy for the spiritual seeker. Not only does the author manage to explain Ken Wilber's complex ideas simply and clearly, but he also makes them relevant to those interested in self-improvement and spiritual growth. That's quite a feat!
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Paul R. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Best way to understand Wilber
Reviewed in the United States on 23 February 2011
Verified Purchase

As a pastor, teacher, and author who is passionate about integral philosophy I have longed for an easy to read introduction to Wilber's exciting but dense works. 

This is it! This is the book I recommend to my friends and others that captures the essence of integral theory and practice. Howard covers the whole territory in one book for those who want to understand a more transcendent way to view the world and a practice to enter that transforming path.
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Mark Howard
5.0 out of 5 stars An on-ramp to Wilber's works
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2015
Verified Purchase
It is very difficult to read Ken Wilber directly. This introductory text was very helpful to me and served as an on-ramp to Wilber's voluminous work. Clear wording, clear explanations. Much appreciated.
Report

===
PREFACE I wrote this book to make Ken Wilber’s work accessible to the average person. Wilber’s basic ideas are not hard to understand, but they are new to most of us. We need to have new ideas presented in small bites—lest we choke on a bite that is too large. I have created—step by step—a bridge from where we are to the contents of Wilber’s books. It is a bridge of simpler language. My desire to write this book has developed over a period of years. When I was introduced to the works of Ken Wilber about seven years ago, I found his ideas to be interesting and inspiring. I read more of his books, and when his Collected Works were published, I bought and read them all—which took me a couple years. This evolved into a serious study of all of Wilber’s works. Ken Wilber opened an integral worldview that was new to me. I changed my approach to spiritual practice. I began to see relationships and principles behind what I read in the newspaper or saw on TV. I began to see the deeper basis of disagreements between individual people—and between collective groups. I was, and am, deeply moved by the glimpses of Wilber’s personal life as revealed in his books, Grace and Grit and One Taste. Wilber’s intimate sharing of details of his loves and losses, his growth and pains, joys and struggles, and his passion for spiritual realization, give me a sense of personal relationship to him. Wilber expresses his rich feelings and he is an authentic person, who shares his real-life experiences. He tells of his being overwhelmed by the task of care giving while his wife struggled with cancer, and his great sorrow at her death. Appendix A is a heart-felt, brief biography. In my enthusiasm for Wilber’s ideas, I talked to my friends. I led a 10-week discussion group on his book, A Brief History of Everything. I found many people just did not understand it, or see how it applied to them. Others could not see how to fit Wilber’s ideas into their current belief system. At that time, I could not explain Wilber’s concepts in a meaningful and convincing way. The discussion group attendance dwindled significantly and I felt frustration in being unable to interest many people in exploring ideas that seemed, to me, to be extremely relevant and life changing. I observed that Wilber’s writing is often at an academic level and he expresses himself with big words from the academic discipline of philosophy. His sentences are long. He has the philosopher’s desire to make his argument airtight and he covers all the subtle nuances of his subject. This makes his work inaccessible to the average person. Wilber’s editor at Shambhala, Kendra Crossen Burroughs, put it this way: “But despite Wilber’s skill in explaining complex philosophical ideas, much of his work is written for a professional or academic audience and remains beyond the reach of more casual readers.”¹ Another complication for a newcomer is that Wilber’s ideas have evolved. He refers to his various stages of understanding as Wilber-1, Wilber-2, Wilber-3 and Wilber-4. Wilber-2 expresses a developmental view that is a significant change from the “Romantic” view of Wilber-1. Wilber describes his evolution of understanding in the Introduction to his Collected Works.² For the sake of brevity and clarity, I do not describe Wilber’s phases 1 through 3, but go directly to Wilber-4, which is the culmination of his work published to date. I condense the Wilber-4 concepts—published in 1995 and after—into a single, simpler book. This book avoids excessive technical terminology, yet is intended as an accurate introduction to the Wilber-4 work. A key element of the book design is that Wilber’s integral understanding (which is by definition an interlocking whole) is broken down into smaller concepts that can be individually understood. These concepts are presented in a sequence that enhances the reader’s understanding—step by step—and leads the reader to an integral conception of the Kosmos. This is a teaching process. When
technical vocabulary is required, it is introduced gradually, at a rate a more casual reader can absorb. Wilber’s ideas have great relevance to many of the big and very complex problems we encounter every day. Wilber has much to offer for the resolution of a great number of these problems—gender issues, ecology, science versus religion, religion versus spirituality, the very difficult problems between contending ethnic groups, and the urgent need for resolution between conflicting ideologies. These conflicts threaten to engulf and destroy us all. Wilber exhibits a remarkable ability to point out ways to resolve conflicting points of view—while honoring all the parties. Recently, some close friends and I had a discussion group based on the draft of this book. The group made very valuable suggestions regarding clarity, and finding my typos. It was a gratifying experience to confirm that this book made Wilber’s work much more accessible to them. More than that, the group was inspired to meditate, to study, and to leave behind old self-concepts now seen as inadequate. All the group members are using Wilber’s ideas to deepen their spiritual lives. Writing this book has been a spiritual experience for me. Every time I read or re-read Wilber’s descriptions of the higher states of consciousness, I feel deeply moved and inspired. I have to stop, wipe my eyes, meditate and internalize what I have just read. This is a great adventure. Please join me in exploration of fascinating new territories. The experience will reward you for your efforts to understand. This is an introduction to the work of Ken Wilber and I hope it will be your entrance into Wilber’s more complete presentation. The footnotes will guide you to the sources of greatest interest to you. Lew Howard Albuquerque, New Mexico September 2004
--


--PREFACE
I wrote this book to make Ken Wilber’s work accessible to the average person. Wilber’s basic ideas are not hard to understand, but they are new to most of us. We need to have new ideas presented in small bites—lest we choke on a bite that is too large. I have created—step by step—a bridge from where we are to the contents of Wilber’s books. It is a bridge of simpler language. My desire to write this book has developed over a period of years. When I was introduced to the works of Ken Wilber about seven years ago, I found his ideas to be interesting and inspiring. I read more of his books, and when his Collected Works were published, I bought and read them all—which took me a couple years. This evolved into a serious study of all of Wilber’s works. Ken Wilber opened an integral worldview that was new to me. I changed my approach to spiritual practice. I began to see relationships and principles behind what I read in the newspaper or saw on TV. I began to see the deeper basis of disagreements between individual people—and between collective groups. I was, and am, deeply moved by the glimpses of Wilber’s personal life as revealed in his books, Grace and Grit and One Taste. Wilber’s intimate sharing of details of his loves and losses, his growth and pains, joys and struggles, and his passion for spiritual realization, give me a sense of personal relationship to him. Wilber expresses his rich feelings and he is an authentic person, who shares his real-life experiences. He tells of his being overwhelmed by the task of care giving while his wife struggled with cancer, and his great sorrow at her death. Appendix A is a heart-felt, brief biography. In my enthusiasm for Wilber’s ideas, I talked to my friends. I led a 10-week discussion group on his book, A Brief History of Everything. I found many people just did not understand it, or see how it applied to them. Others could not see how to fit Wilber’s ideas into their current belief system. At that time, I could not explain Wilber’s concepts in a meaningful and convincing way. The discussion group attendance dwindled significantly and I felt frustration in being unable to interest many people in exploring ideas that seemed, to me, to be extremely relevant and life changing. I observed that Wilber’s writing is often at an academic level and he expresses himself with big words from the academic discipline of philosophy. His sentences are long. He has the philosopher’s desire to make his argument airtight and he covers all the subtle nuances of his subject. This makes his work inaccessible to the average person. Wilber’s editor at Shambhala, Kendra Crossen Burroughs, put it this way: “But despite Wilber’s skill in explaining complex philosophical ideas, much of his work is written for a professional or academic audience and remains beyond the reach of more casual readers.”¹ Another complication for a newcomer is that Wilber’s ideas have evolved. He refers to his various stages of understanding as Wilber-1, Wilber-2, Wilber-3 and Wilber-4. Wilber-2 expresses a developmental view that is a significant change from the “Romantic” view of Wilber-1. Wilber describes his evolution of understanding in the Introduction to his Collected Works.² For the sake of brevity and clarity, I do not describe Wilber’s phases 1 through 3, but go directly to Wilber-4, which is the culmination of his work published to date. I condense the Wilber-4 concepts—published in 1995 and after—into a single, simpler book. This book avoids excessive technical terminology, yet is intended as an accurate introduction to the Wilber-4 work. A key element of the book design is that Wilber’s integral understanding (which is by definition an interlocking whole) is broken down into smaller concepts that can be individually understood. These concepts are presented in a sequence that enhances the reader’s understanding—step by step—and leads the reader to an integral conception of the Kosmos. This is a teaching process. When
technical vocabulary is required, it is introduced gradually, at a rate a more casual reader can absorb. Wilber’s ideas have great relevance to many of the big and very complex problems we encounter every day. Wilber has much to offer for the resolution of a great number of these problems—gender issues, ecology, science versus religion, religion versus spirituality, the very difficult problems between contending ethnic groups, and the urgent need for resolution between conflicting ideologies. These conflicts threaten to engulf and destroy us all. Wilber exhibits a remarkable ability to point out ways to resolve conflicting points of view—while honoring all the parties. Recently, some close friends and I had a discussion group based on the draft of this book. The group made very valuable suggestions regarding clarity, and finding my typos. It was a gratifying experience to confirm that this book made Wilber’s work much more accessible to them. More than that, the group was inspired to meditate, to study, and to leave behind old self-concepts now seen as inadequate. All the group members are using Wilber’s ideas to deepen their spiritual lives. Writing this book has been a spiritual experience for me. Every time I read or re-read Wilber’s descriptions of the higher states of consciousness, I feel deeply moved and inspired. I have to stop, wipe my eyes, meditate and internalize what I have just read. This is a great adventure. Please join me in exploration of fascinating new territories. The experience will reward you for your efforts to understand. This is an introduction to the work of Ken Wilber and I hope it will be your entrance into Wilber’s more complete presentation. The footnotes will guide you to the sources of greatest interest to you. Lew Howard Albuquerque, New Mexico September 2004


--
PREFACE I wrote this book to make Ken Wilber’s work accessible to the average person. Wilber’s basic ideas are not hard to understand, but they are new to most of us. We need to have new ideas presented in small bites—lest we choke on a bite that is too large. I have created—step by step—a bridge from where we are to the contents of Wilber’s books. It is a bridge of simpler language. My desire to write this book has developed over a period of years. When I was introduced to the works of Ken Wilber about seven years ago, I found his ideas to be interesting and inspiring. I read more of his books, and when his Collected Works were published, I bought and read them all—which took me a couple years. This evolved into a serious study of all of Wilber’s works. Ken Wilber opened an integral worldview that was new to me. I changed my approach to spiritual practice. I began to see relationships and principles behind what I read in the newspaper or saw on TV. I began to see the deeper basis of disagreements between individual people—and between collective groups. I was, and am, deeply moved by the glimpses of Wilber’s personal life as revealed in his books, Grace and Grit and One Taste. Wilber’s intimate sharing of details of his loves and losses, his growth and pains, joys and struggles, and his passion for spiritual realization, give me a sense of personal relationship to him. Wilber expresses his rich feelings and he is an authentic person, who shares his real-life experiences. He tells of his being overwhelmed by the task of care giving while his wife struggled with cancer, and his great sorrow at her death. Appendix A is a heart-felt, brief biography. In my enthusiasm for Wilber’s ideas, I talked to my friends. I led a 10-week discussion group on his book, A Brief History of Everything. I found many people just did not understand it, or see how it applied to them. Others could not see how to fit Wilber’s ideas into their current belief system. At that time, I could not explain Wilber’s concepts in a meaningful and convincing way. The discussion group attendance dwindled significantly and I felt frustration in being unable to interest many people in exploring ideas that seemed, to me, to be extremely relevant and life changing. I observed that Wilber’s writing is often at an academic level and he expresses himself with big words from the academic discipline of philosophy. His sentences are long. He has the philosopher’s desire to make his argument airtight and he covers all the subtle nuances of his subject. This makes his work inaccessible to the average person. Wilber’s editor at Shambhala, Kendra Crossen Burroughs, put it this way: “But despite Wilber’s skill in explaining complex philosophical ideas, much of his work is written for a professional or academic audience and remains beyond the reach of more casual readers.”¹ Another complication for a newcomer is that Wilber’s ideas have evolved. He refers to his various stages of understanding as Wilber-1, Wilber-2, Wilber-3 and Wilber-4. Wilber-2 expresses a developmental view that is a significant change from the “Romantic” view of Wilber-1. Wilber describes his evolution of understanding in the Introduction to his Collected Works.² For the sake of brevity and clarity, I do not describe Wilber’s phases 1 through 3, but go directly to Wilber-4, which is the culmination of his work published to date. I condense the Wilber-4 concepts—published in 1995 and after—into a single, simpler book. This book avoids excessive technical terminology, yet is intended as an accurate introduction to the Wilber-4 work. A key element of the book design is that Wilber’s integral understanding (which is by definition an interlocking whole) is broken down into smaller concepts that can be individually understood. These concepts are presented in a sequence that enhances the reader’s understanding—step by step—and leads the reader to an integral conception of the Kosmos. This is a teaching process. When
technical vocabulary is required, it is introduced gradually, at a rate a more casual reader can absorb. Wilber’s ideas have great relevance to many of the big and very complex problems we encounter every day. Wilber has much to offer for the resolution of a great number of these problems—gender issues, ecology, science versus religion, religion versus spirituality, the very difficult problems between contending ethnic groups, and the urgent need for resolution between conflicting ideologies. These conflicts threaten to engulf and destroy us all. Wilber exhibits a remarkable ability to point out ways to resolve conflicting points of view—while honoring all the parties. Recently, some close friends and I had a discussion group based on the draft of this book. The group made very valuable suggestions regarding clarity, and finding my typos. It was a gratifying experience to confirm that this book made Wilber’s work much more accessible to them. More than that, the group was inspired to meditate, to study, and to leave behind old self-concepts now seen as inadequate. All the group members are using Wilber’s ideas to deepen their spiritual lives. Writing this book has been a spiritual experience for me. Every time I read or re-read Wilber’s descriptions of the higher states of consciousness, I feel deeply moved and inspired. I have to stop, wipe my eyes, meditate and internalize what I have just read. This is a great adventure. Please join me in exploration of fascinating new territories. The experience will reward you for your efforts to understand. This is an introduction to the work of Ken Wilber and I hope it will be your entrance into Wilber’s more complete presentation. The footnotes will guide you to the sources of greatest interest to you. Lew Howard Albuquerque, New Mexico September 2004
--

INTRODUCTION Ken Wilber is a revolutionary thinker. His work is beginning to shift the thinking of Western culture. This book is your ticket for a journey of exploration into a new concept of the universe and your place in it. Wilber’s uniqueness as a person and as an intellectual innovator stems from his combining the experiences of a mystic, and the rigorous mind of a scientist, psychologist, and philosopher—together with his creative genius. Ken Wilber, the Mystic Wilber began with a study of the great world religions—especially their esoteric, hidden or secret aspects. He has studied and meditated with spiritual masters from many of these religious traditions. He has practiced meditation for over thirty years. Although he is primarily Buddhist, he has included many other approaches—Christian mysticism, Vedanta, Zen, Transcendental Meditation, Kashmir Shaivism, Kabbalah, Daism, Sufism and more. Wilber’s writing began as his attempt to piece together for himself a common map of the highest levels of mystical experience. Wilber’s perspective is supported by his own direct experience of the highest levels of spiritual consciousness, but he also draws upon a thorough understanding of traditional sources. He has access to the state of nondual consciousness, where spiritual realities are integrated with the ordinary world. He remains conscious as the “Witness” during waking, dreaming and deep sleep. While he is meditating, his brain waves show the characteristics of waking, dreaming and deep sleep simultaneously—which is highly unusual. He meditates daily for one or two hours, as he wakes up from sleep. From his own experimental results, his own direct experience, he perceives that the entire universe is Spirit. There is only Spirit—and that Spirit manifests as matter, body, mind, soul and spirit. That is the experience of the Nondual level—which is the highest level of spiritual realization. Wilber often emphasizes that this level of experience is available to any person who conducts the experiment of the practice of meditation for a sustained period of time—many years. Just as it takes many years to master a musical instrument, or become fluent in a foreign language, or earn a Ph.D. in physics, it takes many years of sustained practice to master meditation. Ken Wilber, the Scientist Wilber is a scientist and approaches everything with a rigorous scientific mind. Some thirty years ago, as he was nearing completion of a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry, he decided to switch to a subject he considered more interesting—the spectrum of human consciousness. Wilber has always read voraciously. When he is doing research for one of his books, he reads many hundreds of books, as many as four a day. He incorporates ideas from these many sources. He seeks to include and honor all branches of knowledge. Wilber has been a prolific author for over 30 years, producing eighteen books, numerous essays, interviews, forewords to a number of books, and many articles and interviews posted on his website. Wilber integrates various worldviews. He does not just give us yet another worldview; he shows how all the worldviews fit together in a unified system. He shows us a deeply spiritual perspective compatible with a rigorous scientific approach. And he honors both spirit and science by showing how they fit together. He titled one of his books The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion. Wilber also gives much attention to the philosophical question of how we know that “what we know” is really true. “The evidence … is grounded at every point in direct experience that can be confirmed or rejected by any who adequately follow the interior experiments in consciousness. These experiments, generally known as meditation or contemplation, cannot be dismissed on the ground that they are ‘merely subjective’ or ‘interior’ apprehensions—after all, mathematics is ‘merely subjective’ and ‘interior,’ but we don’t dismiss it as unreal or illusory or meaningless. Just so, the contemplative sciences have amassed an extraordinary amount of phenomenological data—direct experiences—relating to the … soul and spirit levels.”³ Wilber bases his argument on the steps followed by the scientific method, which he also calls the “three strands of all valid knowing.”⁴ • Specify the experiment to be performed. “If you want to know this, do this.” • Perform the experiment (meditation or contemplation in this case), and observe the results—the data. • Check the results with others who have competently done the same experiment. Then you can join in the communal confirmation (or rejection) of the results. Wilber applies this approach to the higher levels of mysticism and meditation as well as the realms of science, psychology, and philosophy. “And if you want to know if this data is real, all you have to do is follow the experiment—contemplation—and see for yourself. Of those who adequately do so, the majority report a simple conclusion: you are directly introduced to your True Self, your Real Condition, … and it is none other than Spirit itself.”⁵ Ken Wilber, The Psychologist Wilber has developed a new and comprehensive view of psychology. His view does not eliminate any previous valid psychological knowledge, but it places psychology in a much broader context. Wilber sees a broad sweep of human development from infancy to adulthood to the spectrum of spiritual stages. He also examines the possible pathologies at each stage and the appropriate therapies to correct these problems. Wilber’s psychological work is introduced and summarized in Parts II and III. Ken Wilber, the Philosopher Wilber’s “Integral Vision” is a project of phenomenal scope, complexity and importance: building a “world philosophy.” This is A Theory of Everything, as he titled a recent book. He also calls this an integral point of view. He is not so much building a new philosophy as he is creating an over-arching system of understanding that can contain and organize the many diverse fields of human thought. His system includes places for the physicist, linguist, psychologist, political scientist, sociologist, historian, medical researcher, systems theorist, anthropologist, and the great mystics of the world’s religions, as well as others. Wilber’s still-evolving “Theory of Everything” is built on several basic concepts that he calls holons, quadrants, levels, lines, states, types and the self-system. These concepts come together as an “All Quadrants, All Levels” (AQAL) conceptual structure that forms a basic framework for his views—which will be explained as this book unfolds. The goal of this book is to develop a description of this map, or Theory of Everything, its components, vocabulary, and ways of applying it to real-world situations. The Glossary at the end of the book explains Wilber’s specialized vocabulary. Revolutionary Comprehensiveness The comprehensive nature of Wilber’s work is one of its greatest virtues. Jack Crittenden’s Foreword to Wilber’s The Eye of Spirit, is titled What Is The Meaning of “Integral?” Crittenden says, “But it is exactly the comprehensive and integral nature of Wilber’s vision that is the key to the sometimes extreme reactions that his work elicits.”⁶ I want to focus on what is actually involved in the debate. Because, make no
mistake, if Wilber’s approach is more or less accurate, it does nothing less than offer a coherent integration of virtually every field of human knowledge.⁷ Michael Murphy, Dr. Larry Dossey, Roger Walsh and many others with a broad perspective have given Wilber’s work very high praise. In 1997, Wilber invited 400 academic scholars and writers to join him in formation of the Integral Institute that is dedicated to the application of Wilber’s integral vision to the world at large (Chapter 23). These experts are organized into a dozen core teams. The teams function as crucibles in which the concepts are hashed out and fused into integral applications. The critics have also been numerous and very vocal. Crittenden continues, “Most critics have taken umbrage at Wilber’s attacks on their own particular field, while they condone or concede the brilliance of his attacks on other fields. Nobody, however, has yet presented a coherent critique of Wilber’s overall approach. The collective outrage, as it were, is astonishing, but the criticism has been little but nitpicking.”⁸ Is it any wonder, then, that those who focus narrowly on one particular field might take offense when that field is not presented as the linchpin of the Kosmos? … I suggest that the critics who have focused on their pet points in Wilber’s method are attacking a particular tree in the forest of his presentation. But if we look instead at the forest, and if his approach is generally valid, it honors and incorporates more truth than any other system in history.⁹ Wilber insists, “You can’t honor various methods and fields, without showing how they fit together. That is how to make a genuine world philosophy.”¹⁰ Physical Sciences and Interior Sciences One criticism of Wilber’s work comes from the worldview that “the physical world is all that is real.” According to this viewpoint, the inner worlds of ideas, psychology, emotions, meaning, culture, and spiritual awareness are all “just neurons firing” in a physical brain. This is a major viewpoint in our era. This perspective denies the validity of our interior experiences as conscious beings. This subject is explored in Chapter 20, “Flatland.” Wilber’s concepts make room for both physical and interior truth. There is a place for truths obtained by observing the physical behavior of people (and their DNA, neurons and biochemistry). There is also a place for truths obtained by dialoguing with people about their interior experiences. Thus, the interior world is granted validity within its domain equal to the validity of the exterior world within its domain. Wilber’s integral viewpoint offers us a global map that organizes the different kinds of truth that come from diverse fields of study. Wilber’s All Quadrants, All Levels (AQAL) map orients us to different kinds of knowledge and gives a viewpoint from which to see interrelationships between the interior and exterior realities. Orienting Generalizations Wilber has accomplished his task by assembling very basic conclusions, which he calls orienting generalizations, from thousands of books representing various disciplines, including philosophy, religion, science, ecoscience, systems theory, medicine, neurophysiology, art, poetry, aesthetics, psychology, psychotherapy, meditative traditions, and mystical experiences. He includes writers both ancient and modern, from East and West, North and South. The orienting generalizations are the basic and broad conclusions from each of these many fields of study. These conclusions are truths generally accepted by scholars in these many fields—but may be relatively unknown outside that field. Though experts in the specific fields may disagree about details, they basically agree about these generalizations. These conclusions orient us to the general terrain of human knowledge. Wilber’s orienting generalizations provide a way to integrate the different fields. These generalizations provide a context for understanding everything. Wilber has emphasized the importance of context in determining meaning. When information is viewed in a larger context than previously used, the meaning is changed—enhanced.¹¹ What’s In This Book? The volume and complexity of Wilber’s writing constitute an obstacle to a newcomer. I developed a sequence of presentation intended to introduce, step by step, the basics of Wilber’s concepts. I suggest reading the material in the order presented. This book has four parts: • Part I summarizes “Wilber’s Integral Vision.” Wilber has a very comprehensive vision of how the various aspects of the universe fit together in a three-dimensional grid which he calls “All Quadrants, All Levels” or AQAL. His concepts culminate in a new understanding of the ultimate nature of the Kosmos (Chapter 6). • Part II describes “Integral Psychology,” in which Wilber provides a fresh look at psychological development. Wilber has strongly argued that psychology alone is just part of the story of our development—the story is completed by adding the spiritual levels. • Part III explores “The Spectrum of Spiritual Experience,” in which Wilber provides spiritual perspective based on his study of the world’s greatest mystics and his own extensive spiritual practice. Wilber has also emphatically argued that the spiritual levels taken alone are just part of the story—the spiritual story is completed by adding the psychological levels. He seeks “the integration of Freud [Western psychology] and Buddha [Eastern spirituality]”—the marriage of “depth psychology” with “height psychology.”¹² • Part IV presents “Obstacles and Opportunities.” “Flatland” and “Boomeritis” constitute the primary obstacles to the further evolution of our consciousness both individually and collectively. “The Growing Edge” chapter includes examples of applications of integral concepts to current world situations. Wilber’s Integral Institute is developing integral solutions for problems in areas such as politics, medicine, law, business, education, psychology, and spirituality. Summary of Wilber’s Integrative Concepts Ken Wilber’s integrative concepts are summarized here, and are developed and explained through the rest of the book. • Wilber has examined hundreds of different worldviews—how the world looks from different perspectives. He argues that these different worldviews all have something to teach us. He has worked to tease apart these conflicting points of view in order to incorporate the parts that are “on target” and discard parts that are off the mark. Wilber says, “Everybody is right”—but only partly right. When we were in school, we knew a person had to be quite smart to score 100 percent on a true-false test. Wilber points out a person would also have to be quite smart to score zero on a true-false test. Wilber says, “Nobody is smart enough to be 100 percent wrong.” So, Wilber builds his world philosophy from the “accurate parts” of many diverse worldviews. Chapter 22 includes discussion of this concept in terms of developmental levels. • Wilber has surveyed the history of human development from two interacting points of view: First, he considers the psychological and spiritual development of each individual person in the course of their lifetime. Second, he considers the

INTRODUCTION

Ken Wilber is a revolutionary thinker. His work is beginning to shift the thinking of Western culture. This book is your ticket for a journey of exploration into a new concept of the universe and your place in it. Wilber’s uniqueness as a person and as an intellectual innovator stems from his combining the experiences of a mystic, and the rigorous mind of a scientist, psychologist, and philosopher—together with his creative genius.
Ken Wilber, the Mystic

Wilber began with a study of the great world religions—especially their esoteric, hidden or secret aspects. He has studied and meditated with spiritual masters from many of these religious traditions. He has practiced meditation for over thirty years. Although he is primarily Buddhist, he has included many other approaches—Christian mysticism, Vedanta, Zen, Transcendental Meditation, Kashmir Shaivism, Kabbalah, Daism, Sufism and more. Wilber’s writing began as his attempt to piece together for himself a common map of the highest levels of mystical experience.

Wilber’s perspective is supported by his own direct experience of the highest levels of spiritual consciousness, but he also draws upon a thorough understanding of traditional sources. He has access to the state of nondual consciousness, where spiritual realities are integrated with the ordinary world. He remains conscious as the Witness during waking, dreaming and deep sleep. While he is meditating, his brain waves show the characteristics of waking, dreaming and deep sleep simultaneously—which is highly unusual. He meditates daily for one or two hours, as he wakes up from sleep.

From his own experimental results, his own direct experience, he perceives that the entire universe is Spirit. There is only Spirit—and that Spirit manifests as matter, body, mind, soul and spirit. That is the experience of the Nondual level—which is the highest level of spiritual realization.

Wilber often emphasizes that this level of experience is available to any person who conducts the experiment of the practice of meditation for a sustained period of time—many years. Just as it takes many years to master a musical instrument, or become fluent in a foreign language, or earn a Ph.D. in physics, it takes many years of sustained practice to master meditation.
Ken Wilber, the Scientist

Wilber is a scientist and approaches everything with a rigorous scientific mind. Some thirty years ago, as he was nearing completion of a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry, he decided to switch to a subject he considered more interesting—the spectrum of human consciousness.

Wilber has always read voraciously. When he is doing research for one of his books, he reads many hundreds of books, as many as four a day. He incorporates ideas from these many sources. He seeks to include and honor all branches of knowledge. Wilber has been a prolific author for over 30 years, producing eighteen books, numerous essays, interviews, forewords to a number of books, and many articles and interviews posted on his website.

Wilber integrates various worldviews. He does not just give us yet another worldview; he shows how all the worldviews fit together in a unified system. He shows us a deeply spiritual perspective compatible with a rigorous scientific approach. And he honors both spirit and science by showing how they fit together. He titled one of his books The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion.

Wilber also gives much attention to the philosophical question of how we know that what we know is really true. The evidence … is grounded at every point in direct experience that can be confirmed or rejected by any who adequately follow the interior experiments in consciousness. These experiments, generally known as meditation or contemplation, cannot be dismissed on the ground that they are ‘merely subjective’ or ‘interior’ apprehensions—after all, mathematics is ‘merely subjective’ and ‘interior,’ but we don’t dismiss it as unreal or illusory or meaningless. Just so, the contemplative sciences have amassed an extraordinary amount of phenomenological data—direct experiences—relating to the … soul and spirit levels.³

Wilber bases his argument on the steps followed by the scientific method, which he also calls the three strands of all valid knowing.⁴

• Specify the experiment to be performed. If you want to know this, do this.

• Perform the experiment (meditation or contemplation in this case), and observe the results—the data.

• Check the results with others who have competently done the same experiment. Then you can join in the communal confirmation (or rejection) of the results.

Wilber applies this approach to the higher levels of mysticism and meditation as well as the realms of science, psychology, and philosophy. And if you want to know if this data is real, all you have to do is follow the experiment—contemplation—and see for yourself. Of those who adequately do so, the majority report a simple conclusion: you are directly introduced to your True Self, your Real Condition, … and it is none other than Spirit itself.⁵
Ken Wilber, The Psychologist

Wilber has developed a new and comprehensive view of psychology. His view does not eliminate any previous valid psychological knowledge, but it places psychology in a much broader context. Wilber sees a broad sweep of human development from infancy to adulthood to the spectrum of spiritual stages. He also examines the possible pathologies at each stage and the appropriate therapies to correct these problems. Wilber’s psychological work is introduced and summarized in Parts II and III.
Ken Wilber, the Philosopher

Wilber’s Integral Vision is a project of phenomenal scope, complexity and importance: building a world philosophy. This is A Theory of Everything, as he titled a recent book. He also calls this an integral point of view. He is not so much building a new philosophy as he is creating an over-arching system of understanding that can contain and organize the many diverse fields of human thought. His system includes places for the physicist, linguist, psychologist, political scientist, sociologist, historian, medical researcher, systems theorist, anthropologist, and the great mystics of the world’s religions, as well as others.

Wilber’s still-evolving Theory of Everything is built on several basic concepts that he calls holons, quadrants, levels, lines, states, types and the self-system. These concepts come together as an All Quadrants, All Levels (AQAL) conceptual structure that forms a basic framework for his views—which will be explained as this book unfolds.

The goal of this book is to develop a description of this map, or Theory of Everything, its components, vocabulary, and ways of applying it to real-world situations. The Glossary at the end of the book explains Wilber’s specialized vocabulary.
Revolutionary Comprehensiveness

The comprehensive nature of Wilber’s work is one of its greatest virtues. Jack Crittenden’s Foreword to Wilber’s The Eye of Spirit, is titled What Is The Meaning of Integral? Crittenden says, But it is exactly the comprehensive and integral nature of Wilber’s vision that is the key to the sometimes extreme reactions that his work elicits.⁶

I want to focus on what is actually involved in the debate. Because, make no

mistake, if Wilber’s approach is more or less accurate, it does nothing less than offer a coherent integration of virtually every field of human knowledge.⁷

Michael Murphy, Dr. Larry Dossey, Roger Walsh and many others with a broad perspective have given Wilber’s work very high praise. In 1997, Wilber invited 400 academic scholars and writers to join him in formation of the Integral Institute that is dedicated to the application of Wilber’s integral vision to the world at large (Chapter 23). These experts are organized into a dozen core teams. The teams function as crucibles in which the concepts are hashed out and fused into integral applications.

The critics have also been numerous and very vocal. Crittenden continues, "Most critics have taken umbrage at Wilber’s attacks on their own particular field, while they condone or concede the brilliance of his attacks on other fields. Nobody, however, has yet presented a coherent critique of Wilber’s overall approach. The collective outrage, as it were, is astonishing, but the criticism has been little but nitpicking."⁸

Is it any wonder, then, that those who focus narrowly on one particular field might take offense when that field is not presented as the linchpin of the Kosmos? …

I suggest that the critics who have focused on their pet points in Wilber’s method are attacking a particular tree in the forest of his presentation. But if we look instead at the forest, and if his approach is generally valid, it honors and incorporates more truth than any other system in history.⁹

Wilber insists, You can’t honor various methods and fields, without showing how they fit together. That is how to make a genuine world philosophy.¹⁰
Physical Sciences and Interior Sciences

One criticism of Wilber’s work comes from the worldview that the physical world is all that is real. According to this viewpoint, the inner worlds of ideas, psychology, emotions, meaning, culture, and spiritual awareness are all just neurons firing in a physical brain. This is a major viewpoint in our era. This perspective denies the validity of our interior experiences as conscious beings. This subject is explored in Chapter 20, Flatland.

Wilber’s concepts make room for both physical and interior truth. There is a place for truths obtained by observing the physical behavior of people (and their DNA, neurons and biochemistry). There is also a place for truths obtained by dialoguing with people about their interior experiences. Thus, the interior world is granted validity within its domain equal to the validity of the exterior world within its domain. Wilber’s integral viewpoint offers us a global map that organizes the different kinds of truth that come from diverse fields of study. Wilber’s All Quadrants, All Levels (AQAL) map orients us to different kinds of knowledge and gives a viewpoint from which to see interrelationships between the interior and exterior realities.
Orienting Generalizations

Wilber has accomplished his task by assembling very basic conclusions, which he calls orienting generalizations, from thousands of books representing various disciplines, including philosophy, religion, science, ecoscience, systems theory, medicine, neurophysiology, art, poetry, aesthetics, psychology, psychotherapy, meditative traditions, and mystical experiences. He includes writers both ancient and modern, from East and West, North and South.

The orienting generalizations are the basic and broad conclusions from each of these many fields of study. These conclusions are truths generally accepted by scholars in these many fields—but may be relatively unknown outside that field. Though experts in the specific fields may disagree about details, they basically agree about these generalizations. These conclusions orient us to the general terrain of human knowledge.

Wilber’s orienting generalizations provide a way to integrate the different fields. These generalizations provide a context for understanding everything. Wilber has emphasized the importance of context in determining meaning. When information is viewed in a larger context than previously used, the meaning is changed—enhanced.¹¹
What’s In This Book?

The volume and complexity of Wilber’s writing constitute an obstacle to a newcomer. I developed a sequence of presentation intended to introduce, step by step, the basics of Wilber’s concepts. I suggest reading the material in the order presented.

This book has four parts:

• Part I summarizes Wilber’s Integral Vision. Wilber has a very comprehensive vision of how the various aspects of the universe fit together in a three-dimensional grid which he calls All Quadrants, All Levels or AQAL. His concepts culminate in a new understanding of the ultimate nature of the Kosmos (Chapter 6).

• Part II describes Integral Psychology, in which Wilber provides a fresh look at psychological development. Wilber has strongly argued that psychology alone is just part of the story of our development—the story is completed by adding the spiritual levels.

• Part III explores The Spectrum of Spiritual Experience, in which Wilber provides spiritual perspective based on his study of the world’s greatest mystics and his own extensive spiritual practice. Wilber has also emphatically argued that the spiritual levels taken alone are just part of the story—the spiritual story is completed by adding the psychological levels. He seeks the integration of Freud [Western psychology] and Buddha [Eastern spirituality]—the marriage of depth psychology with height psychology.¹²

• Part IV presents Obstacles and Opportunities. Flatland and Boomeritis constitute the primary obstacles to the further evolution of our consciousness both individually and collectively. The Growing Edge chapter includes examples of applications of integral concepts to current world situations. Wilber’s Integral Institute is developing integral solutions for problems in areas such as politics, medicine, law, business, education, psychology, and spirituality.
Summary of Wilber’s Integrative Concepts

Ken Wilber’s integrative concepts are summarized here, and are developed and explained through the rest of the book.

• Wilber has examined hundreds of different worldviews—how the world looks from different perspectives. He argues that these different worldviews all have something to teach us. He has worked to tease apart these conflicting points of view in order to incorporate the parts that are on target and discard parts that are off the mark.

Wilber says, Everybody is right—but only partly right. When we were in school, we knew a person had to be quite smart to score 100 percent on a true-false test. Wilber points out a person would also have to be quite smart to score zero on a true-false test. Wilber says, Nobody is smart enough to be 100 percent wrong. So, Wilber builds his world philosophy from the accurate parts of many diverse worldviews. Chapter 22 includes discussion of this concept in terms of developmental levels.

• Wilber has surveyed the history of human development from two interacting points of view: First, he considers the psychological and spiritual development of each individual person in the course of their lifetime. Second, he considers the







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PART I WILBER’S INTEGRAL VISION--


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Chapter 1 THE BIG PICTURE 

We look first at the cosmos—the universe. Wilber points out that these words are now commonly used to mean the physical universe. He sees such usage as being very narrow. There is more to the cosmos than the physical cosmos! Kosmos Wilber re-introduces the original Greek word Kosmos to convey the inclusion of everything that exists—matter, body, mind, soul and spirit.¹³ The Kosmos includes the physical cosmos, and the study of the Kosmos is called Kosmology, and that is what we are now exploring.
Wilber calls the All, the Kosmos.
Natural Hierarchies Wherever we look in the Kosmos, we find hierarchies. A hierarchy is defined as “a body of entities arranged in a graded series,” and hierarchy is a natural characteristic of the Kosmos. Wilber distinguishes natural hierarchies from dominator hierarchies. Dominator hierarchies occur when one of the entities in the hierarchy assumes an unjustified importance or control. This is a pathological condition that we will discuss later. Natural hierarchy can be illustrated by some examples: • In the physical realm, we are familiar with the sequence in which atoms combine to form molecules, molecules combine to form cells, cells combine to form organs and tissues, which are constituents of organisms—such as people. Each stage physically incorporates the prior stage. It is a natural progression. • Wilber uses as an example this hierarchy: letters are combined to make words, words are combined to make sentences, sentences are combined to make paragraphs, and paragraphs are combined to make books. We notice that the entities are arranged as a hierarchy that is natural and inescapable. You cannot use paragraphs to make words. You cannot use letters to make paragraphs without also making words and sentences. Sentences are not “dominating” words or letters. Each has its natural place. • In subsequent chapters we will investigate the stages of development of consciousness in a person, the stages of development of societies, and the stages of development of worldviews. We will find in each of these cases that the stages constitute natural hierarchies. Hierarchies are inescapable, because all developmental patterns evolve by a process of increasing wholeness and inclusion (See Chapter 3.). This creates a natural ranking by holistic capacity. The higher stages incorporate more of the Kosmos. The higher stages provide a “glue” or pattern that unites and links the lower stages into a coherent whole.¹⁴ Dominator Hierarchies Dominator hierarchies disturb people, and well they should be disturbed. When any part in a natural hierarchy “attempts to dominate the whole, then you get a pathological or dominator hierarchy—a cancerous cell dominates the body, a fascist dictator dominates the social system, a repressive ego dominates the organism, and so on.” The cure for these pathological hierarchies is not to get rid of hierarchy as such. The cure is to arrest the arrogant element and integrate it back into its rightful place. Some people hesitate to do this, because they are reluctant to make the value judgments involved, and are reluctant to disturb the “peace” by arresting the offending element. However, if the pathological condition is not corrected, the pathology can destroy the entire entity. Some people claim that in getting rid of hierarchies they are being holistic. But actually, the only way to reach holism is to recognize the hierarchic nature of the situation. Without hierarchy, you simply have heaps, not wholes. If there is a dominator hierarchy, then treat the offending element as pathology—and fix it.¹⁵ Each element in a hierarchy is a “whole” at one level, and then is a “part” at the next higher level. The trouble comes when the element that is supposed to be a part at a particular level gets “puffed up” and acts as though it is the whole—the boss. If an employee gets puffed up and attempts to give orders to the boss, he is being pathological—and is in danger of being fired. This attempt to dominate the hierarchy is inappropriate and is pathological, an illness, a disease. This applies to all kinds of hierarchies—physical, social, cultural and spiritual.¹⁶
The Kosmos exhibits intrinsic processes of development that proceed in stages that constitute hierarchies. Natural hierarchies are unavoidable stages of development. Dominator hierarchies are a pathological form in which one element appropriates unjustified importance or control. Such pathologies must be corrected.
The Four Spheres The physical world emerged first. Wilber calls it the physiosphere. This is simply the physical realm of galaxies, stars, planets, continents, mountains, rocks, oceans and atmosphere. Then, after a rather long time, there emerged the biological world—plants and animals. Wilber refers to this as the biosphere. Next, after another long time, there emerged the sphere of mind—the noosphere. The word is based on the Greek nous or mind. The noosphere is a development of human minds. Then, the mind of mankind (noosphere) became aware of the sphere of Spirit or God, which Wilber refers to as the theosphere that is the Ground of all the other spheres. Theosphere means God-sphere. Of course, God or Spirit was present before the physiosphere—because Spirit is the ground, or basis, of all creation. (See Part III) Why is this hierarchy important? It is important because it is necessary to keep in mind the hierarchic arrangement of these four spheres. Otherwise, some rather strange (and false) conclusions can be drawn.¹⁷ One of Wilber’s basic concepts is that, at each stage of evolution, the higher stage transcends and includes the lower stage. The higher stage goes beyond the lower stage (transcends it) and also includes the lower stage as one of its components. As an example, remember the sequence of atoms, molecules and living cells. We can apply the “transcend and include” concept to the sequence of the spheres: • The physiosphere, the physical universe, comes first. This level provides the foundation for emergence of plants and animals. • The biosphere, plants and animals, including mankind as an animal, comes next. The biosphere transcends and includes the physiosphere. Thus, the physiosphere is the lower part of the biosphere. Plants and animals physically include parts of the physiosphere—atoms and molecules. And the biosphere is also very dependent on various parts of the physiosphere—the sun for heat, and water, air and minerals for plant growth. There are complex cycles of interaction between the physical and biological realms for such things as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and




water. • The noosphere, the realm of human mind, transcends and includes the biosphere. The biosphere is the lower part of the noosphere. The biosphere is in the noosphere, not the other way around. The biological realm includes the reproduction of bodies through sexuality and the social organization of family and small groups—as seen in animals. The noosphere moves social organization up to human villages, cities and states and this transcendence of the biosphere creates culture and society. “The noosphere is not in the biosphere.”¹⁸ Culture, with its symbols and toys and tools, rests on the biological base, but cannot be reduced to, explained by, or contained in that base. • The theosphere, the realm of God or Spirit, is the Ground or basis of all of the levels of the Kosmos. The theosphere includes the noosphere, biosphere and physiosphere. (See Part III) Wilber uses a mind experiment to test the order of a hierarchy. If we imagine that one level of a hierarchy is destroyed, then all higher levels of the hierarchy are also destroyed. This demonstrates which levels are higher than others. For example, if the physical earth were destroyed, the biosphere and noosphere would also be destroyed—showing that the biosphere and noosphere are higher than the physical earth. If the biosphere were destroyed, all human minds would be destroyed, along with human bodies and all plants and animals. The physiosphere would continue to exist quite well—the mountains and oceans would remain—thus showing the biosphere is higher than the physiosphere. If all human minds were destroyed, the biosphere would get along just fine. The elephants, jungles, cockroaches and ecosystems would not miss us—showing that human mind (noosphere) is higher than the biosphere. In contrast, ecological philosophers tend to use a hierarchy as follows: Even the eco-philosophers, who abhor hierarchies that place humans on the top of the evolutionary scale, have their own very strong hierarchy: … subatomic elements are parts of atoms, which are parts of molecules, which are parts of cells, which are parts of organisms, which are parts of ecosystems, which are parts of the biosphere. They thus value the biosphere above particular organisms, such as man, and they deplore man’s using the biosphere for his own selfish and ruinous purposes. All of that comes from their particular value hierarchy.¹⁹ The fallacy in the logic of the eco-philosophers mentioned above is explored in Chapter 3 under the heading of social holons. [The] startling fact is that ecological wisdom does not consist in how to live in accord with nature; it consists in how to get subjects [people] to agree on how to live in accord with nature. This wisdom is an intersubjective accord [accord between people] in the noosphere, not an immersion in the biosphere.²⁰ Wilber is, of course, interested in preserving the environment and ecosystems of the earth. But he wants to see it done for what he considers the right reason. The level of mind, human mind, has the biosphere as one of its components—thus, for humans to destroy the biosphere is simply suicide.
The four Spheres form a hierarchy: * The physiosphere came first. * The biosphere transcends and includes the physiosphere. * The noosphere transcends and includes the biosphere. The biosphere is in the noosphere. * The theosphere includes the physiosphere,biosphere and noosphere.
The Great Nest of Being Wilber has sought to identify the common basis of all the major world religions. He begins with an ancient concept called the Great Chain of Being—matter, body, mind, soul and spirit. This is a hierarchy of being and knowing. Wilber traces this “perennial philosophy” back to Plotinus and Plato and beyond as summarized by Wilber in The Marriage of Sense and Soul. The core of the premodern religious worldview is the Great Chain of Being. Huston Smith’s Forgotten Truth points out that this is the view of virtually all the premodern religions. In this view, Reality consists of interwoven levels reaching from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit. Each level transcends and includes its junior levels. And all are enveloped by Spirit, by God, by Goddess, by Tao, by Brahman, by the Absolute. This stunning unanimity of deep religious belief led Alan Watts to state flatly that “We are hardly aware of the extreme peculiarity of our own position, and find it difficult to realize the plain fact that there has otherwise been a single philosophical consensus of universal extent. It has been held by [men and women] who report the same insights and teach the same essential doctrine whether living today or six thousand years ago, whether from New Mexico in the Far West or from Japan in the Far East.”²¹ Wilber points out that the term Great Chain of Being is a misnomer, because the actual view is of a Great Nest of Being with each senior dimension enveloping its junior dimension. “This is why the Great Nest is most accurately portrayed as a series of concentric spheres or circles…”²² This is diagrammed in Figure 1-1. The letters “A” and “A + B” and “A + B + C” emphasize the inclusion of the prior stage as the stages move from matter to life to mind to soul to spirit. (“Spirit is both the highest level (causal) and the nondual Ground of all levels”²³—represented by the paper on which the figure is drawn, as discussed in Chapter 17.) Each stage “transcends and includes” the prior stage. The labels, physics, biology, psychology, theology and mysticism are, of course, the names of the disciplines that study the different levels. An “integral approach” must include all of these levels.²⁴--


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Figure 1-1. The Great Nest of Being—Illustrating Greater Depth ²⁵ Wilber emphasizes that each level includes its junior level and adds new qualities:²⁶ • The body adds sensations, feelings and emotions that are not found in rocks. • The mind includes emotions, and adds higher cognitive abilities—reason and logic. • The soul includes mind, and adds higher cognitions and affects such as archetypal illumination, vision, love and cosmic consciousness. Figure 1-2. The Great Nest of Being—Illustrating Less Span²⁸ Modernizing the Great Nest of Being Wilber starts with the traditional Great Nest of Being—and then “modernizes” it. First, he notes the distinction between depth and span. In the progression from matter to spirit, each level embraces more of the Kosmos—and we call this greater depth. Each level contains fewer individuals—and we call this less span. This is true of all hierarchies—greater depth and less span.²⁷ Some theorists confuse depth and span and the result is confused hierarchies and confused theories. The diagram of the Great Nest can also be drawn to emphasize the “less span” aspect. There are fewer people at the higher stages and we can visualize this as a conical “mountain” that people climb as they grow upward through this hierarchy. Figure 1-2. You may ask, “Now, which way is it? Figure 1-1 or 1-2?” It is both ways! Each diagram illustrates a certain aspect of the situation. Both diagrams are correct in their own way. Figure 1-1 illustrates the truth that the successive stages (matter, life, mind, soul and spirit) include more and more of the Kosmos (increasingly larger circles). Figure 1-2 illustrates the truth that the successive stages (matter, life, mind, soul and spirit) have fewer individuals (less span) at each stage (increasingly smaller circles). Development, or evolution, is a central concept in Wilber’s work. He views the Nest as a developmental sequence (not a pre-given system). This is a sequence for society as a whole as well as for each of us as individuals. The earth has evolved first as matter—the physical earth—the physiosphere. Then came evolution of life or body, starting with primitive organisms and progressing to humans—the biosphere. Then, we began the process of development of mind, the noosphere. And humanity as a whole is still in the process of evolution of the noosphere or mind. (See Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10.) We can anticipate that in the future we will see movement into the soul level—some individuals are already living in the soul level, and we can expect more people to move to this level. The concepts for modernizing the Great Nest of Being (to include modern and postmodern insights) are developed further in Chapter 5, “Post-Metaphysical Spirituality.”²⁹
The Great Nest of Being is a premodern spiritual conception from antiquity: Mater, Life, Mind, Soul and Spirit. Wilber “modernizes” it to see a developmental sequence.
Lines of Development We sometimes speak of the stages of development as though a person moved his whole being from one stage to another. Wilber points out that development occurs in various lines of development and these lines are somewhat independent. You are familiar with the idea that people can have lines of development such as musical skills, mathematical talent, athletic ability or emotional intelligence. Wilber lists twenty-five or so different lines, including “cognition [thinking], morals, self-identity, psychosexuality, idea of the good, role taking, socio-emotional capacity, creativity, altruism, several lines that can be called ‘spiritual’ (care, openness, concern, religious faith, meditative stages), communicative competence, modes of space and time, affect/emotion, death-seizure,


needs, world views, mathematical competence, musical skills, kinesthetics, gender identity, defense mechanisms, interpersonal capacity, and empathy.”³⁰ I have used the terms stages and lines of development. Wilber also uses the terms waves and streams to emphasize the fluid and flowing nature of these terms. Waves are the same as stages, and streams are the same as lines. The streams, or lines, develop in relative independence. Current research is being conducted to establish the relationships between the streams. In some cases, the cognitive line is necessary (but not sufficient) to support some other streams. For example, cognitive [thinking] development is necessary to support moral development.³¹ “A person can be at a relatively high level of development in some streams, medium in others and low in still others. Overall development, in other words, can be quite uneven.” Wilber has emphasized in Integral Psychology that it is important to not confuse stages of development with lines of development. Wilber has described the role of the “self,” or self-system, as being the “juggler” that coordinates and harmonizes these lines and stages as explained in Appendix C. The uneven development is illustrated in Figure 1-3. Wilber calls this diagram an “integral psychograph.” Spiritual development is shown occurring in parallel with psychological development.³² Figure 1-3. Individuals Usually Develop Unevenly.³³ The figure indicates a person who is most developed in the cognitive (thinking) line, less developed in the interpersonal line and the affective (emotional) line, and still less developed in the moral and spiritual lines. If we think about people we know, we recognize that the athlete with superb physical abilities may (or may not) be a brilliant thinker. The successful and brilliant businessman may (or may not) have high moral development. The figure illustrates only five of the streams of development. The waves (stages) of development are a nested hierarchy and the same type of information can be shown as in Figure 1-4. The lines of development are not linear but are a fluid, flowing and spiraling process and could be better represented by spiraling lines.³⁴


LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1-1. The Great Nest of Being—Illustrating Greater Depth ²⁵

Wilber emphasizes that each level includes its junior level and adds new qualities:²⁶

• The body adds sensations, feelings and emotions that are not found in rocks.

• The mind includes emotions, and adds higher cognitive abilities—reason and logic.

• The soul includes mind, and adds higher cognitions and affects such as archetypal illumination, vision, love and cosmic consciousness.

Figure 1-2. The Great Nest of Being—Illustrating Less Span²⁸
Modernizing the Great Nest of Being

Wilber starts with the traditional Great Nest of Being—and then modernizes it. First, he notes the distinction between depth and span. In the progression from matter to spirit, each level embraces more of the Kosmos—and we call this greater depth. Each level contains fewer individuals—and we call this less span. This is true of all hierarchies—greater depth and less span.²⁷ Some theorists confuse depth and span and the result is confused hierarchies and confused theories.

The diagram of the Great Nest can also be drawn to emphasize the less span aspect. There are fewer people at the higher stages and we can visualize this as a conical mountain that people climb as they grow upward through this hierarchy. Figure 1-2.

You may ask, Now, which way is it? Figure 1-1 or 1-2? It is both ways! Each diagram illustrates a certain aspect of the situation. Both diagrams are correct in their own way. Figure 1-1 illustrates the truth that the successive stages (matter, life, mind, soul and spirit) include more and more of the Kosmos (increasingly larger circles). Figure 1-2 illustrates the truth that the successive stages (matter, life, mind, soul and spirit) have fewer individuals (less span) at each stage (increasingly smaller circles).

Development, or evolution, is a central concept in Wilber’s work. He views the Nest as a developmental sequence (not a pre-given system). This is a sequence for society as a whole as well as for each of us as individuals. The earth has evolved first as matter—the physical earth—the physiosphere. Then came evolution of life or body, starting with primitive organisms and progressing to humans—the biosphere. Then, we began the process of development of mind, the noosphere. And humanity as a whole is still in the process of evolution of the noosphere or mind. (See Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10.) We can anticipate that in the future we will see movement into the soul level—some individuals are already living in the soul level, and we can expect more people to move to this level.

The concepts for modernizing the Great Nest of Being (to include modern and postmodern insights) are developed further in Chapter 5, Post-Metaphysical Spirituality.²⁹
Lines of Development

We sometimes speak of the stages of development as though a person moved his whole being from one stage to another. Wilber points out that development occurs in various lines of development and these lines are somewhat independent. You are familiar with the idea that people can have lines of development such as musical skills, mathematical talent, athletic ability or emotional intelligence. Wilber lists twenty-five or so different lines, including "cognition [thinking], morals, self-identity, psychosexuality, idea of the good, role taking, socio-emotional capacity, creativity, altruism, several lines that can be called ‘spiritual’ (care, openness, concern, religious faith, meditative stages), communicative competence, modes of space and time, affect/emotion, death-seizure,

needs, world views, mathematical competence, musical skills, kinesthetics, gender identity, defense mechanisms, interpersonal capacity, and empathy."³⁰

I have used the terms stages and lines of development. Wilber also uses the terms waves and streams to emphasize the fluid and flowing nature of these terms. Waves are the same as stages, and streams are the same as lines.

The streams, or lines, develop in relative independence. Current research is being conducted to establish the relationships between the streams. In some cases, the cognitive line is necessary (but not sufficient) to support some other streams. For example, cognitive [thinking] development is necessary to support moral development.³¹ A person can be at a relatively high level of development in some streams, medium in others and low in still others. Overall development, in other words, can be quite uneven. Wilber has emphasized in Integral Psychology that it is important to not confuse stages of development with lines of development.

Wilber has described the role of the self, or self-system, as being the juggler that coordinates and harmonizes these lines and stages as explained in Appendix C.

The uneven development is illustrated in Figure 1-3. Wilber calls this diagram an integral psychograph. Spiritual development is shown occurring in parallel with psychological development.³²

Figure 1-3. Individuals Usually Develop Unevenly.³³

The figure indicates a person who is most developed in the cognitive (thinking) line, less developed in the interpersonal line and the affective (emotional) line, and still less developed in the moral and spiritual lines. If we think about people we know, we recognize that the athlete with superb physical abilities may (or may not) be a brilliant thinker. The successful and brilliant businessman may (or may not) have high moral development.

The figure illustrates only five of the streams of development. The waves (stages) of development are a nested hierarchy and the same type of information can be shown as in Figure 1-4. The lines of development are not linear but are a fluid, flowing and spiraling process and could be better represented by spiraling lines.³⁴







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--Figure 1-4. Uneven Development Displayed on the Great Nest of Being.³⁵
Wilber points out: This model sheds considerable light on the fact that … some individuals—including spiritual teachers—may be highly evolved in certain capacities (such as meditative awareness or cognitive brilliance), and yet demonstrate poor (or even pathological) development in other streams, such as the psychosexual or interpersonal. This also allows us to spot the ways in which the spiritual traditions themselves—from shamanism to Buddhism to Christianity to indigenous religions—might excel in training certain lines or capacities, but fall short in many others, or even be pathological in many others. A more integral transformative practice might therefore seek a more balanced … approach to transformation… ³⁶
Development proceeds along various Lines that are partly correlated but are partly independent. The concept of Lines allows us to spot uneven development of both spiritual teachers and the traditions themselves.
What Difference Does It Make? Understanding the distinction between natural hierarchies and dominator hierarchies enables identification of pathological or dominator hierarchies—which require our corrective action. The pathological hierarchies must be healed before they destroy the greater whole. This correction opens the way for further evolution and healthy development. Understanding the four spheres enables us to sort out our relationship to each of the spheres. The biosphere is part of the level of mind (noosphere). The level of mind (noosphere) is part of the God-sphere (theosphere). It is a process of “transcend and include.” Wilber modernizes the concept of the Great Nest of Being to meet the requirements of the modern and postmodern mind in Chapter 5, “Post-Metaphysical Spirituality.” The Great Nest is seen as a developmental sequence of stages of awareness and consciousness. The concept of Lines of development is one of the foundations for an “integral transformative practice” to promote more even development of the lines. Chapter 19. Summary  Wilber calls the All, the Kosmos.  The Kosmos exhibits intrinsic processes of development that proceed in stages that constitute hierarchies.  Natural hierarchies are unavoidable stages of development.  Dominator hierarchies are a pathological form in which one element appropriates unjustified importance or control. Such pathologies must be corrected.  The four spheres form a hierarchy: * The physiosphere came first. * The biosphere transcends and includes the physiosphere. * The noosphere transcends and includes the biosphere. The biosphere is in the noosphere. * The theosphere includes the physiosphere, biosphere and noosphere.  The Great Nest of Being is a premodern spiritual conception from antiquity: Mater, Life, Mind, Soul and Spirit. Wilber “modernizes” it to see a developmental sequence.  Development proceeds along various Lines that are partly correlated but are partly independent. The concept of Lines allows us to spot uneven development of both spiritual teachers and the traditions themselves.





Figure 1-4. Uneven Development Displayed on the Great Nest of Being.³⁵

Wilber points out:

This model sheds considerable light on the fact that … some individuals—including spiritual teachers—may be highly evolved in certain capacities (such as meditative awareness or cognitive brilliance), and yet demonstrate poor (or even pathological) development in other streams, such as the psychosexual or interpersonal.

This also allows us to spot the ways in which the spiritual traditions themselves—from shamanism to Buddhism to Christianity to indigenous religions—might excel in training certain lines or capacities, but fall short in many others, or even be pathological in many others. A more integral transformative practice might therefore seek a more balanced … approach to transformation… ³⁶
What Difference Does It Make?

Understanding the distinction between natural hierarchies and dominator hierarchies enables identification of pathological or dominator hierarchies—which require our corrective action. The pathological hierarchies must be healed before they destroy the greater whole. This correction opens the way for further evolution and healthy development.

Understanding the four spheres enables us to sort out our relationship to each of the spheres. The biosphere is part of the level of mind (noosphere). The level of mind (noosphere) is part of the God-sphere (theosphere). It is a process of transcend and include.

Wilber modernizes the concept of the Great Nest of Being to meet the requirements of the modern and postmodern mind in Chapter 5, Post-Metaphysical Spirituality. The Great Nest is seen as a developmental sequence of stages of awareness and consciousness.

The concept of Lines of development is one of the foundations for an integral transformative practice to promote more even development of the lines. Chapter 19.
Summary

 Wilber calls the All, the Kosmos.

 The Kosmos exhibits intrinsic processes of development that proceed in stages that constitute hierarchies.

 Natural hierarchies are unavoidable stages of development.

 Dominator hierarchies are a pathological form in which one element appropriates unjustified importance or control. Such pathologies must be corrected.

 The four spheres form a hierarchy:

* The physiosphere came first.

* The biosphere transcends and includes the physiosphere.

* The noosphere transcends and includes the biosphere. The biosphere is in the noosphere.

* The theosphere includes the physiosphere, biosphere and noosphere.

 The Great Nest of Being is a premodern spiritual conception from antiquity: Mater, Life, Mind, Soul and Spirit. Wilber modernizes it to see a developmental sequence.

 Development proceeds along various Lines that are partly correlated but are partly independent. The concept of Lines allows us to spot uneven development of both spiritual teachers and the traditions themselves.







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Chapter 2 THE FOUR QUADRANTS Throughout this book we will be discussing hierarchies of development. The dictionary definition of hierarchy is “a body of entities arranged in a graded series.” These hierarchies of development must somehow fit together. But how? Origin of the Concept of Quadrants This is a dilemma Ken Wilber faced in 1991. Wilber wanted to write a book outlining an integral philosophy. He sought a way to “believably weave together the many pluralistic contexts of science, morals, aesthetics, Eastern as well as Western philosophy, and the world’s great wisdom traditions. Not on the level of details—that is finitely impossible; but on the level of orienting generalizations: a way to suggest that the world really is one, undivided, whole, and related to itself in every way: a holistic philosophy….”³⁷ Here is Wilber’s account of the dilemma and his eventual solution of the dilemma. His experience was in some ways like a three-year Tibetan meditation retreat. Three years later, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality was the result. During that period I lived the hermit life; I saw exactly four people in three years (Roger Walsh, who is an M.D., stopped by once a year to make sure I was alive); it was very much a typical three-year silent retreat (this period is described in One Taste, June 12 entry). I was locked into this thing, and it would not let go. The hard part had to do with hierarchies. … Everybody seemed to have some hierarchy, even those who claimed they didn’t. The problem is, none of them matched with the others. None of the hierarchies seemed to agree with each other. And that was the basic problem that kept me locked in my room for three years. At one point, I had over two hundred hierarchies written out on legal pads lying all over the floor, trying to figure out how to fit them together. There were the “natural science” hierarchies, which were the easy ones, since everybody agreed with them; atoms to molecules to cells to organisms, for example. They were easy to understand because they were so graphic: organisms actually contain cells, which actually contain molecules, which actually contain atoms. You can even see this directly with a microscope. That hierarchy is one of actual embrace: cells literally embrace or enfold molecules. The other fairly easy series of hierarchies were those discovered by the developmental psychologists. ... The names varied, and the schemes were slightly different, but the hierarchical story was the same—each succeeding stage incorporated its predecessors and then added some new capacity. This seemed very similar to the natural science hierarchies, except they still did not match up in any obvious way. Moreover, you can actually see organisms and cells in the empirical world, but you can’t see interior states of consciousness in the same way. It is not at all obvious how these hierarchies would—or even could—be related. And those were the easy ones. There were linguistic hierarchies, contextual hierarchies, spiritual hierarchies. There were stages of development in phonetics, stellar systems, cultural worldviews, autopoietic systems [systems that can reproduce], technological modes, economic structures, phylogenetic unfoldings [evolutionary development of plants, animals or societies], superconscious realizations. ... And they simply refused to agree with each other. G. Spencer Brown, in his remarkable book, Laws of Form, said that new knowledge comes when you simply bear in mind what you need to know. Keep holding the problem in mind, and it will yield. … I believe that any competent person is capable of bearing problems in mind until they yield their secrets; what not everybody possesses is the requisite will, passion, or insane obsession that will let them hold the problem long enough or fiercely enough. I, at any rate, was insane enough for this particular problem, and toward the end of that three-year period, the whole thing started to become clear to me. It soon became obvious that the various hierarchies fall into four major classes (what I would call the four quadrants [see below]); that some of the hierarchies are referring to individuals, some to collectives; some are about exterior realities, some are about interior ones, but they all fit together seamlessly.³⁸ Wilber did not just sit and think. He read over 800 books as the basis for Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. He expanded upon his previous theories—Wilber-1, Wilber-2 and Wilber-3. Figure 2-1 shows the realization born of Wilber’s three-year gestation. The hierarchies all fall into one of the four categories.
Figure 2-1. Wilber’s Four Quadrants Organize the Spheres of Knowledge.³⁹ Description of the Quadrants What is a quadrant? If you cut an apple in half, and then cut each piece in half, and you pick up one of the pieces—that is a quadrant of an apple. It is just one fourth of the apple. However, Wilber’s quadrants are much more complex than the quadrants of an apple, because the quadrants are the inside and outside, singular and plural. After Wilber points it out to us, the four-quadrant idea is simple. The left side is interior. The right side is exterior. The upper parts are individual. The lower parts are communal or collective. Perhaps you are asking yourself, “These are interior, exterior, individual and collective quadrants of WHAT?” Please stay with me; your question will be answered in a few pages. These four quadrants (Figure 2-1) are marked, UL for Upper Left, UR for Upper Right, LL for Lower Left, and LR for Lower Right. Wilber uses these initials to designate the quadrants in later discussion. These are all recognizable realities, expressed universally in human language as I, WE and IT. The Upper Left is marked “intentional”; this means whatever an individual experiences inside himself or herself—including perceptions, thoughts, feelings, intentions, and ideas about the self. When we talk about this quadrant we use the word “I.” I think this, or I feel that. This is the interior of the self. The Upper Right is marked “behavioral,” which means whatever can be observed from outside the individual—what he or she does, the appearance of his body, her muscles, bones, blood, brain, enzymes and neurotransmitters. We talk about this quadrant as an outside observer, the detached scientist, and we use the word “It.” It is a body (a machine) that has a deficiency of a certain enzyme. This is the exterior of the self. The Lower Right is marked “social (system).” This is the realm of systems of social organization—the primary economic activity, and types of government organization. We speak of “Its” (plural of it). Its social systems are very sophisticated. This is the exterior of the collective. The Lower Left is marked “cultural (worldspace).” This is the realm of relationships between people, and of our worldviews (how we view our relationship to people). We speak in terms of “We.” We have a respectful relationship. This is the interior of the collective. Wilber often speaks of the “Left Hand” (LH) by which he means the Upper Left and Lower Left quadrants that are both the interior areas. And he speaks of the “Right Hand” (RH) by which he means the Upper Right and Lower Right that are both exterior areas. Now that we know about the quadrants, Wilber fills them in as in Figure 2-2. A more complex version of this diagram is presented and discussed in several of Wilber’s books.⁴⁰