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The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions--More Inclusive, More Comprehensive, More Complete Paperback – 30 April 2018
by Ken Wilber (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (184)
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A provocative examination of how the great religious traditions can remain relevant in modern times by incorporating scientific truths learned about human nature over the last century--using Buddhism as an example.
A provocative examination of how the great religious traditions can remain relevant in modern times by incorporating scientific truths learned about human nature over the last century
A single purpose lies at the heart of all the great religious traditions- awakening to the astonishing reality of the true nature of ourselves and the universe. At the same time, through centuries of cultural accretion and focus on myth and ritual as ends in themselves, this core insight has become obscured.
Here, Ken Wilber provides a path for re-envisioning a religion of the future that acknowledges the evolution of humanity in every realm while remaining faithful to that original spiritual vision. For the traditions to attract modern men and women, Wilber asserts, they must incorporate the extraordinary number of scientific truths learned about human nature in just the past hundred years-for example, about the mind and brain, emotions, and the growth of consciousness-that the ancients were simply unaware of and thus were unable to include in their meditative systems.
Taking Buddhism as an example, Wilber demonstrates how his comprehensive Integral Approach-which is already being applied to several world religions by some of their adherents-can avert a "cultural disaster of unparalleled proportions"- the utter neglect of the glorious upper reaches of human potential by the materialistic postmodern worldview. Moreover, he shows how we can apply this approach to our own spiritual practice. This, his most sweeping work since Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, is a thrilling call for wholeness, inclusiveness, and unity in the religions of tomorrow.
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"Ken Wilber is a national treasure. No one is working at the integration of Eastern and Western wisdom literature with such depth or breadth of mind and heart as he." --Robert Kegan, Professor of Education, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and author of In Over Our Heads
"When Ken Wilber's thought walks through your mind, the door to the next higher level becomes visible. Anyone seeking to update the wisdom traditions of their lineage needs his reality and consciousness maps. The kabbalah of the future will lean on Ken's work." --Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
"Ken Wilber is today's greatest philosopher and both critic and friend to authentic religion, a true postmodern Thomas Aquinas." --Father Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation
"The religion of tomorrow, according to Ken Wilber, will not be one religion, but all religions guiding their respective constituents toward oneness with Ultimate Reality. This book is Ken Wilber's comprehensive synthesis of all the elements that make for human development from the Big Bang through the course of material and biological evolution. The recent discoveries of science, especially in the areas of developmental psychology and historical criticism, as well as mystical experience, have enabled him to bring together contemporary science, the wisdom of the world religions, and an integral presentation of the human condition with all its potential. The endless complexities of the evolutionary process gives way to a sublime simplicity, culminating in the spiritual and integral evolution of the human person toward unity with That Which Is."--Thomas Keating, author of Open Mind, Open Heart
Book Description
A provocative examination of how the great religious traditions can remain relevant in modern times by incorporating scientific truths learned about human nature over the last century.
About the Author
KEN WILBER is the founder of Integral Institute and the cofounder of Integral Life. He is an internationally acknowledged leader and the preeminent scholar of the Integral stage of human development. He is the author of more than twenty books, includingA Brief History of Everything,A Theory of Everything,Integral Spirituality,No Boundary,Grace and Grit, andSex, Ecology, Spirituality.
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Tony Esspunkt
5.0 out of 5 stars An update for the old religion
Reviewed in Germany on 4 September 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Ken Wilber is one of those people whose existence, somewhere out there on the world ball, makes me happy to be alive. When I was a child, I became aware of the cultural presence of historical figures such as Kant and Heidegger. What I immediately realized at that time was that these people speak to us at a different stage of development, have provided a cultural achievement that is rare and see wider and wider than the average person does. The feeling I've connected with these people was a deep satisfaction knowing that there are people who are wiser and wiser in all the trash you're facing in the media than I might ever be... It is very similar to Mr Wilber. I strongly identify myself with this Integral Project he initiated and would like to write a similar book, but could probably not hold all the information together in a hundred years and forget half the way...
The overview and integration of the esoteric and exoteric aspects of all world religions into a comprehensive system model is a very courageous, timely and important project. Everyone should read this book and familiarize themselves with Ken Wilber's basic ideas. Although & #34; The Religion of Tomorrow & #34; is perhaps not the easiest start to his Aqal model, I would still recommend it to beginners (that is, if they have the time) because here really every aspect of the theory building is put on the table. A reviewer said that he had the impression that Wilber has exploited the accumulated wealth of experience from over forty years. I agree. I would like to criticize a few
more points about the otherwise sublime content:
The criticism of postmodernism - Wilber shoots here I find past the goal. He does this in order to differentiate himself from an entire social sphere in a dialectical relationship of reactionary, radical and short-sighted elements. He pays tribute to some amounts, such as the insight that part of our knowledge is culturally constructed, but I think that social and emotional oversensitivity is too much criticized. Which leads to the second point of criticism...
The Supermind - the omniscient Absolute: I am convinced that these higher and highest developmental structures are there - a small minority went far beyond the gravitational center of the average man - and they wrote about it - from Plato to Hegel. This experience at a higher existential level in a nondual unity being one with all appearance, all form gives you no knowledge of the surface structures of all forms. For example, the unreducible, unique life experiences of people, or performatively developed skills. Knowing the Absolute is not a substitute for ten years of professional experience, or the mastery of an instrument, or the content of a novel. I believe Ken Wilber knows this, but I see this tendency to absolute religious and spiritual people, to close from spiritual impulses to life-worldly contexts which are not accessible on this path. So even if you're one with everyone, you can't know everything.
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Fábio Dutra Leite
5.0 out of 5 stars Good and lots of information!
Reviewed in Brazil on 15 February 2018
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Great for those who want a lot of information!
It shows the developments of Integral Theory and Practice, including various practices, and the application of Integral Theory to Religions and Spiritual Traditions with its consequences.
The book includes the description of all levels and states (rough/physical, subtle and causal), as well as talking a little about “Spiritual Deviation” (“Spiritual Bypassing”) and working with the Shadow.
I recommend readers that they want advanced material in Integral Theory and Practice. For starters I recommend “The Integral Vision” (Integral Theory) and “The Full-Life Practice” (Integral Practice), both by Ken Wilber.
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NonDualReality
5.0 out of 5 stars Saw the repetitive reviews about the repetitiveness of the writing and don’t know if you should buy?
Reviewed in Canada on 5 November 2020
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Writing is repetitive? Yes.
In a frustrating and boring way? Depends on the state of the reader. Please read to decide for yourselves!
For me it was as wonderful as it can be.
The beautiful part of reading a magnum opus like this book is that it’s like a rare chance to take a long, deep, and free dive into the mind of a globally rare being.
I appreciate how he likes to phrase his thoughts and just the way he expresses his being through the writing of this book.
This book will facilitate your growth by the page.
10/10 would recommend.
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EP
5.0 out of 5 stars great openness of mind
Reviewed in Italy on 16 September 2017
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Ken Wilber with his books, and this is the last one in review, gives me lessons that I need so much, to have a perspective in my vision of Kosmo, a perspective that includes all the points of view, but not flat and whatever but on a scale of increasing meaning as depth and ability to include previous views in their various evolutionary levels.
This perspective is a substantial, concrete and I would say irreplaceable help (together with other teachers of life anyway) to navigate my life with existential, loving, exciting and satisfying interest. It is a great job to adapt to his lay and profound advice for his transformation of consciousness, but it's worth it.
It would be great for me to be able to reread this thoughtful, written to be understood by anyone who wants and therefore simple but not for this easy book, in Italian (if well translated).
Thanks, Ken.
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Cliente Amazon
1.0 out of 5 stars The second CD Was Broken
Reviewed in Spain on 25 October 2022
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The second CD Was Broken
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5.0 out of 5 stars All you need from Ken
Reviewed in Mexico on 5 June 2017
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This book covers every topic that concerns spiritual growth, is all you need to understand what the integral movement is all about
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Mercure
4.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars for the Introduction; 3 Stars for the Rest
Reviewed in France on 16 March 2018
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I am a great fan of Ken Wilber. Very sorry that his books are so little known in the French-speaking world (and glad to be able to read them in English!).
The topic of this book is quite fascinating. I just loved the introduction and the perspectives that Wilber opens for the future of religion.
But...
1) although repetition is useful and even necessary, when teaching, in this case there are way too many repetitions, to the point of pure boredom;
2) Wilber made the (surprising) choice to use Buddhism as a main example to illustrate his theses: although I have read hundreds of books on religion, including on Buddhism, Wilber lost me, there. The examples given are too unfamiliar, too remote from my - and I would say “our” (in the Western World) - spiritual references.
I really regret that, because Wilber's thinking is so relevant, so interesting, that I am sure his book could have touched many more readers, if he had used Christianity as his main reference.
In spite of that, I don't regret having bought the book, just because of the outstanding introduction, even though I ended up reading only 20 or 25% of the book...
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R. Michael Fisher
5.0 out of 5 stars Wilber Targets the Dysfunction(s) of Religiousity
Reviewed in the United States on 3 May 2017
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Indeed, Ken Wilber has always been my fav philosopher (psychological theorist and writer in the technical realm). His newest book (The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions, a welcomed one by me is 800 pp and reminds me of when he let loose his intelligence and skills for synthesis in 1995 when he published his other 800 pp book (Sex, Ecology and Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution).
I want to say only a few introductory remarks of why I care about his work (note: I am also always critical of it too). First, of the 3 endorsements on the jacket cover of The Religion of Tomorrow, one of them is by the very progressive Father Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation, he wrote, "Ken Wilber is today's greatest philosopher and both critic and friend to authentic religion, a true postmodern Thomas Aquinas." Wow. That's quite the statement by Rohr. I'm sure a whole lot of philosophers will really not be at all happy about it.
Anyways, also want to say I have only scanned a few pages, and mostly I studied the Index for about 2 hrs today as the book just arrived in the mail. Because I also create book Indexes for people's work and my own work, I am very sensitive to reading how an Index reflects really important things about where a book and/or an author is coming from. It's a bit like reading tea leaves, you might say. Anyways, my thrill (and surprise) in looking at the Index of The Religion of Tomorrow is that the entry title word that gets by far the most sub-entries is the term dysfunctions. What does Wilber mean by that? I'll get to that shortly, but first, let's get the gist of his reason for writing this book (well, there are many). I am convinced he wrote it because he knows that this world is pretty much f*****, and it won't be long before it is near unlivable, unless "religions" get their act together and up-grade to the knowledge available in the 21st century (including what science has to offer). Simply, he is saying we don't need to toss all religion, it merely needs to grow up. He more or less says, all the great traditions of religions (E and W) are about 1000 years over due for a re-write. And, he is writing it because religions, and the nature of religiousity in human lives is a major influence in everyday existence affecting us all in the end. With so many around the world involved in religion(s) and religiousity (and/or spirituality) they can have an enormous impact on helping people and groupings and their institutions either stay immature or mature-- "Grow Up" as Wilber says it in a very unique and complex way (i.e., developmentally, evolutionarily).
I realized in the book Index, that what most attracts me to Wilber's work, which I have followed since 1982 long before he started to become famous globally, is his diagnosis of pathologies at all levels and all complexities of Reality--of which he does so well as a philosopher and psychology theorist. His work is unsurpassed here, and his simple term (not used by him much before this new book) is dysfunctions. Cool, it is a systems thinker's word. It also has a bit of a clinical touch to it. I like that too. I have specialized for years in pathology recognition, diagnosis and treatment--to use those rather blunt terms. My subject has been “fear” and its role in psychopathology in the largest complex systems way of thinking. It is a controversial thing Wilber takes on as pathology or dysfunction is problematic as to who gets to "define" it and make "meaning" of it. And, how it can so easily, unfortunately, be used to attack people from power-elite positions (e.g., psychiatry at its worst).
Wilber has two major projects in his tome of works. He has his evolutionary Enlightenment project of liberation of consciousness--something, familiar to the religious and spiritual types and discourses throughout human history. He wants people to "Grow Up" (keep learning and maturing) and finally to "Wake Up" (see through all illusions of what is Real). You can read Wilber to better understand the nuance of his version of the Enlightenment project (E. and W.).
Now, as cool and interesting as Wilber's Enlightenment project is, I have not always been so interested in all its anatomy of states of consciousness, and meditation practices in a traditional sense, etc. That's not so much been my path, though I can respect it too. His other project is a brilliant analysis of dysfunctions (pathologies, by any other name). His Integral approach to the pathological is essential to complement the more positive and "fun" stuff of looking at Enlightenment, altered states, and liberation of consciousness. Though, of course they are intertwined. The pathological theorizing of Wilber is more on the "Shadow-side" of existence, and he has developed a very complex lexicon of terms that could be placed under "dysfunctions." Again, no term in the Index in his latest book is near close to the length and detail that is found under this term "dysfunctions." In my own work as an integral fearologist, I have brought it in as a major (not only) contribution to how I approach the pathology of Fear ('fear'; the 'Fear' Project), etc.
So if you are interested in Wilber and religiousity of all types, this is a book you want not to pass by without a good checking into...
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Paul Nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars A mighty contribution
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 July 2017
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A major new book from Ken Wilber is a huge event. I loved getting stuck in to this vast, passionately argued work. Having read some of his earlier books, KW's thought-world was not new to me, yet almost every page seemed to yield startling fresh insights. What I (a retired Anglican priest working as a spiritual counsellor in the UK) found specially helpful were the sections on shadow-material...this is not just a theoretical book, there are exercises and experiential prompts. Wilber's insistence on all four quadrants being brought into play in spiritual life is surely a vital insight (I know he's said this before, but if something is true and helpful, it should be said over and over). I enjoyed, and was startled by, his analysis of shadow states newly emerging at "higher" interstices of people's spiritual endeavours.
There is a huge amount to enjoy in this book...I really agree with Wilber's pleading for grown-up spirituality for the world's sake, whether we're Buddhist like him, or Christian like me, or whatever we call ourselves...we so much need "a new language of God-talk...totally different versions of signs and symbols, representing these wildly new, astonishing, shocking realities." All my adult life, many Christian clergy and people have known this...I recall numerous painful conversations...but with his formidable intellectual passion, KW has the temerity to suggest solid things we (religious bods)might actually DO to open up the infinite horizons of spirit..."if ever there was a time that a real God or Goddess or Spirit was required" he writes, "that time is now." Amen to that. You won't agree with all of this book (like other theoretical templates, Wilber's is not there to be "believed in" but to be placed over our experience to reveal patterns we wouldn't be able to see otherwise).But, my God, it's a mighty contribution, grist to all our mills and more besides.Thank you, Mr Wilber.
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Shashank
5.0 out of 5 stars What this book is...
Reviewed in the United States on 4 May 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I’m writing this early review having only read half of the book so far because it appears people have the same kinds of questions as I did going in.
This is the first substantive work featuring new material from Wilber since Integral Spirituality [2006] in my opinion. Though the size might indicate it’s a sequel to Sex Ecology Spirituality, it is not, that rumored sequel is sited once[so far] as a working unpublished manuscript. If anything this might be a sequel to No Boundary.
He wrote a very theoretical book called Spectrum of Consciousness long time ago. It was as if someone then asked him what of it?!! How and why does this matter to my life or my spiritual practice? No Boundary was a kind of response relating the more abstract ideas to regular practices, therapies and religions. It is still a very popular and worthwhile book.
Since then Wilber’s theory has developmed a lot, according to his own assessment at least 4 to 5 major restructurings of his theory have happened since then. One might still ask so what?! How does this relate to my life and spiritual practice? This book is a response to that and given his theory has become more inclusive and complex, it’s not surprising that to answer the same question as 30+ years ago would require a lot more pages. But like No Boundary this book is pretty straightforward and easy to read in my opinion.
Wilber made the distinction between state and structure development in Integral Spirituality. This book tackles all the issues that such a distinction gives rise to, and there are many. For me this distinction really helped me understand a Lottttttttt of things back then and it also gave me a lot to think about since then. This is Wilber’s grappling with all the ramification of having state development [waking up] and structure development [growing up] be quasi-independent. I say quasi because they clearly interact in interesting ways both in the individual and historically all of which Wilber explores here in great depth. He also explores just what specific kinds of problems each level and kind of development can lead to. A kind of sequel to Transformations of Consciousness if we want to stick with the sequels theme.
Oh yeah, almost forgot: Loving the book, and highly recommend it to people who read
I will add to the review when I have finished the book and had some time to think about it, but I hope this helps people decide if they are interested in the book or not.
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A. Elliott-McGuffie
5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied customer
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2019
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Great service and book as described, thank you.
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bigfive63
1.0 out of 5 stars Book with a few punctured pages
Reviewed in Italy on 15 May 2023
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The book from page 511 to page 516 has holes in the pages
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tomwjohnston
5.0 out of 5 stars Within 2 weeks of purchasing this book I made huge ...
Reviewed in Canada on 17 January 2018
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Within 2 weeks of purchasing this book I made huge strides in un-repressing using Wilber's 3-2-1 technique- thank you evolutionary impulse for giving us Ken Wilber..
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Joao Cardoso
5.0 out of 5 stars .
Reviewed in Germany on 13 January 2021
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An extraordinary work that leads to increased humanity.
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4.0 out of 5 stars What a genius!
Reviewed in the United States on 27 May 2019
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If the author were less repetitive, this book could easily shed between one quarter and one third if its 800 pages. That said, although annoying because you find exactly the same concept discussed in many different parts of the book, his knowledge is so phenomenal and his insights are so profound, that those on a spiritual quest would do well by consulting this book periodically, if anything to check that they don’t fall into traps - many of which are not obvious at all.
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David Furlong author Illuminating the Shadow
3.0 out of 5 stars More Inclusive (?) – yet still has big gaps, so therefore not ‘Integral’
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 January 2020
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I acquired this book on the recommendation of a colleague and having read Wilber’s original thesis on his ‘Integral Theory of Consciousness’, published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies in 1997. The idea of a unified theory to bring together the different schools of consciousness studies is appealing, and Wilber’s original encapsulation in a four-fold quadrant model of inner and outer; individual and collective has much to commend. One might argue about specific aspects, but the overall map makes a great deal of sense. However, what fascinated me in the original paper was that despite the claims of ‘integral’ a significant element of the psyche is omitted. Carl Jung in his fourfold portrayal of the psyche, suggested the four elements of sensation, feeling (emotion), thinking and intuition. In Wilber’s original map, in his left-hand quadrant (personal, inner states), while sensation, feeling and thinking are included, intuition, and with it, our psychic function, is omitted. Was this deliberate or intentional? Whatever the reason the present model is not integral, because it omits an extensive range of human experiences that embraces a paranormal perspective, such as is evidenced in shamanic belief.
In order to address, Chalmers’ ‘hard problem’ of consciousness, which is ‘the problem of explaining the relationship between physical phenomena, such as brain processes, and experience (i.e., phenomenal consciousness, or mental states/events with phenomenal qualities or qualia)’ (Scholarpedia), some philosophers have fallen back on the notion of panpsychism, which posits that consciousness manifests in everything. For Wilber, consciousness is a manifestation of Spirit; indeed, in his world, everything is an expression of Spirit, whether it be soul, mind, body or matter. So far so good! Wilber then draws heavily on Eastern mystical traditions, mainly through meditational perspectives, to suggest a nondual Ultimate expression of Spirit as ‘Emptiness’. This notion of Divine ‘Emptiness’ might sit well with Eastern esoterica but is not so comfortable within a Western mystical tradition, such as is expressed through the writings of Madame Blavatsky in Theosophy or Rudolf Steiner through Anthroposophy, or Alan Kardec’s Spiritism. Far from being ‘Empty’, in these cosmologies, the universe teems with a hierarchy of invisible ‘spirit’ intelligences, under the guidance of an Ultimate Divine Creative Consciousness. So, which of these two distinct visions is more likely?
Within science, the present consensus, if it were to accept a spiritual aspect to consciousness, would likely lean towards Wilber’s vision. However, many near-death experiencers (NDEs), report meeting deceased relatives or ‘Beings of Light’, all seeming to be very conscious and aware, residing in what might be termed the ‘realm of the departed’. If these visions are real, then presumably, this realm must be inhabited by billions of human souls, given the length of time human beings have lived on the Earth. This experience may await us all on our demise, and if so, then why not also for our pet dog or cat, or indeed any sentient life-form? The universe may indeed be full of invisible individuated consciousnesses, as many indigenous belief systems suggest. Wilber does not directly address these issues in his book, which, as I have indicated, therefore belies his claim of an ‘Integral’ approach.
Having raised these critical issues, there is still much to commend within Wilber’s book. I greatly valued his exposition on the ‘shadow’, which is often ignored or bypassed in spiritual traditions. The attempt to categorise experiences into a hierarchical pattern is an interesting idea that could be further explored and developed. The book is long, and in some areas repetitive, but could prove a useful basis for further research.
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Lichtenfels
4.0 out of 5 stars An unedited but still good book.
Reviewed in Germany on 2 October 2019
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I like Ken Wilber, but this book has unfortunately not had a proofreading. The sentences are extremely long, many unnecessary enumerations, redundancies. Actually, untypical for American books. Good style needs work.
From page 82 it becomes better and clear, up to this point you have to bite through.
Until then: On literally every side, long sentence parts are in parentheses. The author loses the overview himself, so the bracket opened on page 51 below is not closed on the following page.
I am now on p. 260
So far it seems to be the old theme of Wilbers, Integral Spirituality. I want to update myself here. Due to the well-known high density of knowledge at Wikber, I still give a good rating. However, I suspect that a good editor would have outlined 150 of 896 pages and made it an even better book.
Wilber declines conventional and spiritual world knowledge by assigning it to defined stages of development on two axes that complement each other. He explains very well why spiritually developed people can be destructive in worldly life simply because the personal (secular) structure lags behind the spiritual structure. The descriptions of the upper two stages of development (transcendent/overmind and nondual/supermind) are magnificent and of lyrical literary quality. From these descriptions it becomes clear that Wilber does not simply “make theory” but assigns experience saturated knowledge to a theoretical description. In these places, the scope of the description is quite justified. If I compare this with the content of “Integrale Psychologie” (German edition 2001), then this short title seems less vivid in comparison. Wilber has, of course, deepened and differentiated his system in the following years.
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Angel7
5.0 out of 5 stars Change is inevitable
Reviewed in Canada on 17 September 2017
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With the evolution in technology; not to mention new understanding in Medicine, psychology and many other human arenas...religion is in dire need of empowering change.
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Gema
2.0 out of 5 stars Desperately in need of an editor
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 February 2021
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A very disappointing book. Wilber is very intelligent, thoughtful and full of insight, and I have gained a lot from some of his previous writings. But over time he has clearly become more and more trapped in his own ways of thinking, perhaps the result of too much adulation. He has become ever more angry with critics, and ever less able to distance himself from his own ideas, or to see their weaknesses. The result is a sprawling book, often confused, that would have been far better at 20% of the length, and with a better digestion of the many ideas. But one suspects that he has become too grand to realise how much he needs an editor. I hope he learns the lesson for his next one.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Very big book, over 800 pages.
Reviewed in Canada on 24 May 2017
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Very big book , over 800 pages.
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Theo T.
4.0 out of 5 stars How religion has a future
Reviewed in Germany on 26 August 2017
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It is a bold undertaking to design a new, universal narrative in the age of deconstructivism and the decline of ecclesial religions and to provide a model of development that goes far beyond biological evolution and, moreover, establishes a new hierarchy of values (& #34; Holarchien & #34;). Ken Wilber
does no more and no less in his new philosophical-theological opus. The work is a counterpart to both denominational narrowness and a culture of absolute arbitrariness and narcissism that has developed worldwide over the last decades. It is an appeal to the great world religions to rediscover their deepest mystical core and free themselves from ethnic and mythological narrowness. But also an appeal to each individual to take care of their own development.
In the wake of Jean Gebser and based on numerous research results, Wilber traces a sequence of stages of development that are undergone by all people, cultures and religions. Each of these stages is described in detail in their healthy and disturbed forms. To name only two of the key findings: Even the highest mystical experience does not solve any personal psychological problems. Mystical experiences are always experienced and interpreted within the worldview, which is peculiar to the individual and the culture in which they live.
It is impossible to meet a book of 800 pages in a few lines.
The book represents something like the sum of Wilberian thought and a treasure trove of further thoughts. The only criticism: the often over-explicit and redundant style, which sometimes makes reading quite laborious.
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Paul R. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Getting a new version of your old religion
Reviewed in the United States on 5 May 2017
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This new book by Wilber is a refined restatement of the world’s greatest living philosopher’s integral framework. In addition, he has communicated in his most readable way yet, adding new insights and going deeper than ever before into brilliant descriptions of higher states of consciousness.
At over 800 pages, 25% which are extensive footnotes, you may want to pick those sections that interest you most to begin with. But do begin.
While Wilber is a brilliant pattern recognizer, big picture analyst, and actual practitioner of the most rarefied stages of Growing Up and states of Waking Up, he is not the world’s most accurate scholar. He sometimes misquotes passages from the Bible and others and sometimes gets his details wrong. His critics and academics can nail him for these details, but he has no peer in presenting the brilliance of the integral framework to the world.
Using Buddhism as his main example but also referring to Christianity, he indeed paints a picture of the world’s great religious traditions evolving by becoming more “inclusive, comprehensive, and complete.” He does not ask our great religions to give up their distinctiveness, but rather to build on their uniqueness while transcending their culture bound elements to embrace an ever-evolving path that can bring all religions into a rich tapestry of deep and profound life-giving spirituality.
As a Christian, a Baptist minister who embraces the integral approach, I have more in common with my integral Buddhist friends than I do with most of my Baptist and other Christian-branded friends. In other words, I don’t need to give up Jesus to evolve as an integralist, I just need a more evolved understanding of Jesus and a larger, deeper experience of a God who is bigger, closer, and more me than I ever dreamed of. For those who can travel with Wilber to plumb the depths of this book, you will find just this kind of spirituality without having to give up your religious tradition.
Paul Smith author of Integral Christianity: The Spirit’s Call to Evolve and Is Your God Big Enough? Close Enough? You Enough? Jesus and the Three Faces of God.
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Aki Karvonen
3.0 out of 5 stars Shortcut interpretations in Buddhism
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Good and smooth reading, but...I think Ken is lost with his turnings in Buddhism. Even though he says that nothing is taken away with these turnings I got an impression that each turning somehow IMPROVES Buddhism. I.e. Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana and his fourth turning are somehow "better" than the previous one. And here he really gets on thin ice. Each schools of Buddhism are mainly cultural adaptations to the original movement. Theravada is very close to the original, but now it seems to be the first and most primitive turning in Ken's logic. If you study Buddhism a bit you will easily note that e.g. Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) is very esoteric, even superstitious. On the other hand, Theravada is very hands-on and practical. In deed, Ken confuses exoteric and esoteric. In original Buddhism (Theravada) there is nothing esoteric whatsoever, e.g. mediation is NOT esoteric! Meditation goes within, but it is not esoteric. There are no hidden agendas or secrets in original Buddhism, this is explicitly mentioned in Pali Canon. Finally, his synthesis of Buddhism and Integral model is again somewhat artificial, but, one has to admit, Ken's writing style is so fluent that the reading experience itself is pretty comfortable. He just makes shortcuts when integrating his model with all those turnings in Buddhism. The main take away from this book is the slogan WAKING UP and GROWING UP.
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Mark
5.0 out of 5 stars Like a google earth for reality itself
Reviewed in the United States on 2 August 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I struggle to find the right analogy. It's also like a key or a code, or a single letter, which, because it is connected to all other letters, implies everything. Given its subject matter, the relation of all to all, it’s a short book at 800+ pages. And yet, it does manage to illuminate everything. This really is vision logic, in which the relations between seemingly separate, yet interpenetrating holons, are clearly seen and disclosed.
I first encountered Wilber’s thought maybe 25 years ago, with “No Boundary.” The shocking freshness and simplicity-in-complexity is still very much present in his writing. At times over these years, pursuing meditation practice, I’ve sometimes felt his exposition too much, resonating with the “ah ya, the old mapmaker…” critique, as if the headiness of having it all spelled out was somehow onerous. But that was really just my small-mindedness. We need different things at different times. Today after finishing listening to the book on Audible (nicely done) I feel only enormous gratitude that Ken Wilber has done this work with his life. What an amazing example for us. What a powerful shout down from the upper reaches of human development and a ladder up for all us climbers hanging, sometimes by a nail.
I think every person who can, should read this book. It is replete with exceedingly rich insights, like a definition of truth that surpasses even the Mahayana Buddhism's union of the ultimate and the relative—quite a feat, that, which made my mind vibrate with joyful recognition—but even more than that, it is psycho-active, in that whatever level of psycho-spiritual growth you have yet achieved, it will enzymatically accelerate that growth by creating necessary connections and opening up unseen frontiers. If you are open to its medicine.
Now, this sounds like an absurd sales pitch, and yet…I believe it. It’s some kind of medicine. So here's my final praise: After listening to the book, I just bought the text so that I can immediately start to (re)read it, take notes, and try to more fully digest and put it into practice. I want these enzymes operating in my system. Thank you Ken Wilber!
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Paul
5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy companion to James Fowler's Stages of Faith
Reviewed in the United States on 14 June 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
One of Wilber's most interesting works to date. Appreciated his efforts to give plenty of practical examples and highlight common forms of pathology and how they arise through attachment or aversion. Also appreciated the shadow work components as well as the discussion of and distinction between views and vantage points and how they are developed as well as some historical understanding of their development and then insights and hypotheses regarding future developments in Consciousness studies, things to update and include in Religious traditions and/or spiritual or Integral Life Practice(s). Overall an enjoyable read but very deep at times too, so slow reading and re-reading to digest ideas is recommended. I hope that people from all walks of life but especially people in social, educational and religious roles in society will read this book and apply its recommendations wholeheartedly to their pastoral work.
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CWard
3.0 out of 5 stars Not about tomorrow, but a rehashing of his previous material with some new
Reviewed in the United States on 6 November 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I wanted to love this book. I knew it was a tome, and wanted to sink my mind into it. I've loved so many other books of Wilber's, including Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality, One Taste, The Simple Feeling of Being, Ken Wilber in Dialogue, No Boundary, A Brief History of Everything, Grace and Grit, The marriage of Sense and Soul, Transformations of Consciousness, and some others. His writing is a transmission, and I've learned so much from him. However, this book had very little of the writing expressing his presence - his inner scintillating, present, and radiant being.
And I really tried to plow through this one, but it rambled. It was as if it wasn't edited, but they wanted another tome from Wilber: the publisher gets more when it's longer, so does he, I guess, and it looks good on your shelf.
Would I recommend it to anyone? Depends. If you don't know Wilber, then definitely, no. Don't start here. If you know Wilber and want the rehashing of topics he's already covered, then, ok. If you want a little more on why transformation is so hard, where you might be stuck, I'd say wait until this is less expensive or get it from a library. There is some information on this, but you have to slog through way more repetitive and redundant re-hashing of old material.
I did read Wilber's rebuttal to a similar review when it was still up. He reasoned that he always writes as if a person has never read his material, and that's why it rehashed all his older material. However, I say, sorry to Ken. That's like writing a math calculus text, and devoting 3/4 of that text to the high school courses that lead to the calculus. Ugh. Not needed. Let them buy SES or a Brief History if they want your previous stuff. This book should have stuck to it's topic, The Religion of Tomorrow, not a rehashing of the levels that got us here.
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Karla L.
5.0 out of 5 stars I’m OBSESSED- If you know about this book, you’re lucky— DIVE IN
Reviewed in the United States on 13 May 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I have a few other Wilbur books but this is my fave.
I first purchased the audible version and it’s TOO good for only audio. You want to be able to underline and come back to parts and possibly take notes. There are some gems here and I feel lucky to even know about this material. DIVE in.
I found out about this book from a teacher a greatly admire, Leo Gura. He’s also a gem and he has a book list with many other must reads. This book is one of them and I’m so grateful to have my hands on it.
There is a part in particular that I resonate with regarding eating disorders and mental illness. The way Wilbur describes some of the chronic issues we face as a culture that need to be healed is mind-blowing.
He makes the extremely out of control understandable and down to Earth. Our solutions lie in evolution, not medicating and over labeling symptoms of the problems. Cannot recommend this book more.
I’ll be reading, going back into it for a lifetime.
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deepgreen
2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality"
Reviewed in the United States on 10 June 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I really liked Wilber's earlier book, "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality" (SES); I was disappointed by his latest book "The Religion of Tomorrow" (RT).
I think you can divide Wilber's books into 3 periods. His early books were quite scientific, if you are willing to grant that subjects like psychology are scientific. His middle period books were what I would call poetic philosophy; SES falls into that category, and was Wilber at his best I think.
But about a decade ago, Wilber seems to have entered a third period, his religious period. His latest book, RT, epitomizes this third and presumably final period in his writing: science, philosophy and religion would seem to cover it all, yes?
In RT Wilber has basically taken his metaphysics, (already well elaborated in earlier works), and explicitly presented it as the religion to rule all religions. And that is a problem.
I really enjoyed reading SES. Yes it’s long but it has a light, breezy feel to it. SES is an easy, exciting and fun read; RT is not. RT is preachy; it is heavy going, and the extreme amount of repetition only makes it worse. Reading RT, I began to feel that Wilber was deliberately pounding away on my poor brain!
Wilber's metaphysics, (God as Eros, involution/evolution, reincarnation, no hard laws in the cosmos but rather just habits, etc.), is very good fun as poetic philosophy. But as a religion, as revealed Truth, it is every bit as silly as the metaphysics you find in the Bible, which Wilber pokes fun at. It is a painfully clear case of someone claiming: "My religion is obviously True but your religion is obviously silly".
In the final paragraph of RT, the climax of the whole book, Wilber says: “It is possible to remake this world because you - the very deepest you - are its one and only Author, its sole Creator”. But that is True according to the metaphysics of Wilber’s religion; according to the metaphysics of the Christian religion, it is False and in fact deeply blasphemous. It is obvious that Wilber is privileging the metaphysics of his religion over the metaphysics of all other religions.
Wilber justifies his attempt at religious hegemony in RT by claiming you only have to do a meditative experiment to verify that the metaphysics of his religion is True. But consider the Christian contemplative Bernadette Roberts. Is she going to agree with Wilber’s religion? I read one of her books and I very much doubt she would agree.
So suppose she doesn’t. How would Wilber react? I think he would say, “Oh, poor dearie, she is trapped in her Christian metaphysics and wasn’t able to do the experiment properly. We will have to dismiss her evidence.” RT makes it very clear that the only meditative evidence Wilber will accept is evidence that agrees with his own religion.
Finally, it's well known that Wilber is a big picture guy, and can't be trusted to get his facts right. For example, in RT Wilber says that Max Planck proposed quantum mechanics in 1905, which is just factually false in at least 3 different ways. But it would have taken Wilber a few minutes to do a fact check on that claim. Also, the claim isn't really essential to the argument he is making, so cut the guy some slack, right?
But returning to the final paragraph of RT, the climax of his whole book, Wilber says there are 9 billion humans on this planet. And it's not just a typo because he also talks about 18 billion human hands in that same paragraph. Well RT was published in 2017 and as of 2017 there are only about 7.5 billion humans on the planet, which implies about 15 billion hands.
It would have taken Wilber only a few seconds to do a fact check on the final paragraph of The Religion of Tomorrow, the climax of his latest book. And he couldn’t be bothered to do that.
So yes, I was disappointed.
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Sunyata
1.0 out of 5 stars Read this review first. This book is unreadable. So poorly written it is disrespectful to readers
Reviewed in the United States on 15 February 2020
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Downgrading from 2 to 1 stars the further I get into the book. This might be the most poorly written book I've ever read. In fact, this book is SO repetitive that it is insulting and outright disrespectful. Further, it actually isn't all that full of content, just spiritual sawdust.
Mr. Wilber should be more considerate not to waste the readers time or insult their basic cognitive skills. This is not just about repetition to drive the point home for those who may forget, which is something that many philosophical authors must do. This is 800 pages of written material that could probably be 100 pages and still be repetitive. This is the exact same point, exact same examples, circling around over and over and over again, in such long-winded sentences using so many flowery but content-less words, that all real point is lost, and it becomes really hard to believe that Mr. Wilber has any genuine attention to actually help the reader understand his own lived world of thoughts, feelings, and day-to-day occurrences.
I swear Mr. Wilber must be going senile, or just thinks the sound of his own voice is so magnificent that he refuses to engage in any sort of reflective thought regarding his writing. Obviously he did not want to bother with an editor. The publisher is local and in cahoots with his center, not terribly reputable.
But back to the repetition: Even after telling you the same thing for LITERALLY the 35th time in a single chapter, he will immediately use parentheses to again remind you of some other sub-point for the 35th time - and a lot of these are pretty basic uncomplicated ideas!! Also, it seems like every time he mentions the "enlightened state", he gives another 15 other names for it. Give the reader an definition or idea of what you mean early on, then just continue calling it that!!!! You are already using up a ton of space to say the same thing, so cool it!!! Yeesh! Okay, example time - keep in mind you could find these on almost any page. This is from Page 90:
"...When we are one with the All, there is no Other (that isn't a texture of our own true and Real Self and Suchness), and thus we are liberated, enlightened, freed from all torment, suffering, agony, and torture and instead Awakened to ultimate Goodness, Truth, Beauty, and Reality: Unborn and Undying, Unbound and Unlimited, fiercely Free and wildly Alive, joyously One and blissfully All, radiantly Infinite and timelessly Eternal, radically Open, Free, and Full, a state known variously as Enlightenment, Awakening, moksha (liberation), metanoia (transformation), wu (transparency)."
Ironically, the above seems to be to be almost at a magical-mythical level. For instance, lots of "special" words infused with vague, hopeful meaning, along with a disrespect for ordinary experience, i.e. a sort of promise of an escape from normal human problems. No clear definitions are given of anything to help connect a person with something familiar in their experience or give them realistic, down-to-earth expectations to quiet their unrealistic spiritual projections. Flowery, escapist new-age optimism everywhere. It's all empty, meaningless drivel. Directly after this, he lists even more words for enlightenment, and even uses parentheses inside parentheses and forgets to close the first one! (Like I said, no proofreading, no editing, just someone sitting at their laptop, never looking back, and then calling it DONE).
Also, the "Editorial Reviews" added to the Amazon page for this book are NOT reviews of the book, but just comments made about Ken Wilber over the years. Sketchy!!!
Anyway, read this Alan Watts quote instead:
"You realize you are THAT, and you can't be anything else, so you are relieved of fundamental terror. That doesn't mean that you're always going to be a great hero; that you wont jump when you hear it bang, that you won't worry occasionally, that you won't lose your temper. It means though, that fundamentally, deep deep down within you, you will be able to be HUMAN - in the pain, difficulties, and struggles that naturally go with human existence."
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Denny
4.0 out of 5 stars Comparison with Integral Spirituality
Reviewed in the United States on 23 January 2018
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
I read Integral Spirituality first which helped me immensely working with a spiritual director for changing my vocation. So this review is about the first part of Men's New book and what has convinced me to keep reading the whole book. For readers of Integral Spirituality, Ken focuses much more on Buddhism in this book but still refers to all the major spiritual traditions when generalizing. Additionally, I noticed a much more important addition on shadowing and was a problem I had during during Christian contemplation without a teacher. This is the main reason I will keep reading since understanding it better needs to be addressed by all the meditation disciplines. It's very positive to see that Ken is addressing a needed corrective and is what I believe makes this book go beyond his book on Integral Spirituality. From my participation in Centering Prayer workshops and now basic Buddhist meditation, this lack of understanding of shadowing or CLEANING UP and it's possibility to deepen depression is very unfortunate and demonstrates the need for more professionalism and education than most teachers have.
Secondly, other reviewers have mentioned Men's writing style before and if this is his first book you have read, it will take some time getting used to. My own assessment is that if we could see Ken's body language while reading, most of the problems would go away. Other than that, more peer/editor/technical writing oversight would drastically improve the readability and therefore enjoyment of reading. Repetition in oral cultures is necessary for remembering but not so much in written works.
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John C. Landon
2.0 out of 5 stars Wilber borders on gibberish here.
Reviewed in the United States on 14 November 2017
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This book raises an important question as to the future of religion, but would seem to have failed to produce a coherent statement on this subject and ends in a species of gibberish that shows Wilber kidnapped by buddhist propaganda.and its subtle anti-modernism and reactionary 'new age' attempts to cast its antiquity into a new future. The history of religion shows an extraordinary flowering of religion in the Axial Age, but it also shows the birth or proto-secularism in the realm of the Greeks. It also shows the birth of democracy and its rebirth in modern times. The rise of modernity shows a strong movement beyond the religions of antiquity and the stealth efforts bordering on fascism to undermine modernity, freedom, and autonomy and make the future of obsolete religions a force of the future run by dead boddhisattwas. Wilber's account doesn't amount to a path and doesn't make any sense. The fourth turning is a card trick and transparently nonsense. The idea of an integral path is not without interest, but if it means some interaction with science then the issue arises as to the basis for all this new agism in science. The obvious fact lurks in the background: the future of religion begins with a movement beyond buddhism, an accounting of hinduism, and an accurate history of these subjects that isn't an attempt to ward off any real new future of religion.
Buddhism has a dark side and its renewed spread in the last generation is perhaps misleading: this religion is passing away as it dissolves in a secular context. The legacy of hinduism is cursed by its hopeless confusion over the issue of the aryan invasions and the reconstruction of ancient primordial shaivism as an indo-european legacy. The whole set of traditions are living a lie and if the future of religion means anything it is the passage to some sanity beyond the Axial Age traditions now so corrupted.
One of the strangest things about the new age movement (one of many from the nineteenth century) is that after forty years of gurus, teachings, much brouhaha, no real spiritual path is really an option for the majority of seekers. Fascist buddhism, incoherent advaita, hatha yoga, a rabble of phony gurus, the field is littered with rubbish and a cohort of 'practitioners' with virtually no cases of enlightenment nor any coherent statement of what the path of enlightenment might be.
Consider Debriefing Santana Dharma (amazon)
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IW Ferreira
5.0 out of 5 stars WAKING UP, GROWING UP, CLEANING UP AND SHOWING UP.
Reviewed in the United States on 20 July 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Ken Wilber managed with The Religion of Tomorrow to explain Integral Theory and the Fourth Turning for all spiritualities in accessable language. He notes that Eastern spirituality is focused on WAKING UP while Western thought is about GROWING UP - and only for the past 100 years or so. Integral Theory combines the two and ads two more: CLEANING UP and SHOWING UP. The Buddha, for instance, was enlightened but only at the mythic level - thus ethnocentric. While Being has "no moving parts", Becoming has and that is where the GROWING UP is taking place. One cannot be aware of one's structural stage. It is only when "the subject of the lower stage becomes the object of the subject of the next stage" that one can look back and by being made aware of the content (aqs object) of the level one is at, that you can understand why you act in a certain way and believe certain things.
I know about the criticism of Wilber's take on evolution and the 2nd and 3rd tier developments, but it will not take away the importance of the content of this book.
I am also listening to the book on Audible (all 30 hours), reading it on Kindle and and on hardcover - great investments.
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Susan
2.0 out of 5 stars Major Disappointment
Reviewed in the United States on 9 August 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I have studied Wilber's work in depth starting in the late 1970's.....and have studied SES many, many times. In other words I'm as much an expert on the Integral approach/philosophy as anyone on the planet save KW himself. RT is a very, very difficult book. As others have suggested, start with BHE, then go on to SES, again study it in depth. Why do I not like RT very much?:
1. RT is really two books....one is an in depth look at the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The second book is on psychopathology and Wilber's psychotherapy, the 321 method. I fantasize that Wilber's good friend psychiatrist Roger Walsh must have told him it was irresponsible to not urge people who are psychologically damaged to seek professional help. Wilber, in my imagination, rejected Dr. Walsh's advice....and has opened himself up to accusations of grandiosity and irresponsibility (as an aside, many people I know attracted to
Buddhism are psychologically damaged people looking for relief....and should be referred to professional psychotherapists.). Just because the meditative state of mind has a tendency to trigger shadow material it should not follow untrained meditation teachers need to do psychotherapy.
2. Wilber in RT has jettisoned the SES transpersonal system of psychic, subtle, causal, and non-dual, substituting a very complex and difficult to understand system of subtle states. Yes, I am aware of his reasoning on the matter in IS, (it has to do with level of cs. and correlated "bodies").
3. Wilber is very worried that organized religion is gravely threatened....and may go extinct with an enormous loss to humankind......yet his book is 99% Buddhist...in a country that speaks English and is Christian in its heritage and present religious culture! Unbelievable.
If you want to introduce the Integral perspective into your church, Paul Smith's book Integral Christianity is an outstanding choice.
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Brian McConnell
5.0 out of 5 stars A Future of Unprecedented Spirituality?!
Reviewed in the United States on 19 July 2017
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In reviewing a text of over six hundred and fifty pages, the observance of brevity is probably a valued thing. So, that being said and in my view, perhaps Ken Wilber's most salient proclamation in "The Religion of Tomorrow" heralds the fact that in respect to its own conscious experience, humanity's future is poised on the brink of either unprecedented disaster or . . . creative potential.
Consequently, but in introducing "two major paths" of Growing Up and Waking Up, the author reveals that never to this point in history have they been brought together "not only in theory but in actual practice" (p. 57). Yet simply enough, but at this juncture, this is the project otherwise facing humankind. Your assignment then, should you accept it, will in addition to Growing Up, and Waking Up, necessarily entail Cleaning Up and Showing Up as well.
Brass tacks?!? What about the cost?
Well, the price of the book of course, the time to read it, and a willingness to engage an exemplar poised by (arguably perhaps) one of the finest minds of the last century or more. Ready, set, . . .
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Robert D. Niederman
1.0 out of 5 stars No Religion Here
Reviewed in the United States on 1 September 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This reads more like propaganda than any book I have encountered in a long time. How many times does Wilber need to repeat the refrain of 6-8 stages and 4-5 states? I imagine he thinks he is being more convincing by repeating the same exact words and phrases page after page. But it's like reading a magazine that has the same advertisements on each page. It dulls the mind. I start to imagine that if Wilber ruled the world, I would be forced into a Stalinist gulag named "ethnocentric" until I worked my way out. Then I would be into the forced labor camp named "world-centric or green" where we would put down everyone else not in our camp. The whole thing does not seem to be liberating but instead confining. It feels more like a bombardment than an invitation to think differently.
Also, the certitude disturbed me. I did research in child development on stages. It's definitely not as definite as Wilber claims it to be. There are no real stages in the sense that Piaget imagined or that Wilber claims. Children don't really see things through the lense of their stage. They use concepts from many stages all in the same sentence. They are extremely fluid and don't hold to rigid frameworks which is implied by the stage theory.
Wilber claims to have discovered an integral theory- a theory of everything that places things in their right place and juxtaposes each thing with each other thing in an orderly fashion. However, my experience is that he has created a kind of shopping cart. Everything goes in there, it doesn't matter what it is. True, maybe the computer I'm buying is on the top left corner, and the groceries on on the bottom right. But is this a revolution in thinking that will save mankind? I don't see that. Sorry!
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Fala
2.0 out of 5 stars Far too repetitive to spend my time trying to get through.
Reviewed in the United States on 6 December 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I purchased the audio book and had to stop listening after the first few chapters. I considered purchasing the hardcover version, but the book itself it too large to carry on my commute, and frankly - I've already wasted my money on this and I'm not so much a fool as to do it twice.
I found the repetitions of concepts and ideas to be annoying bordering on insulting, and wondering what the point was in all of this repetition. I needed to review material, I certainly have the power to do that and I don't need Wilber to decide what I have retained and what I have not. I've read a few of his other works, so I'm not unschooled in both his writing style (which I have always found to be irritating) nor his materials/concepts. Say what you have to say, then move on: trust your reader.
It appears that the book itself is unedited, or in dire need of a better editor with a stronger backbone. Even though Wilber has stated that he writes as if a person never read his material - that's what introductions are for, where the author has the opportunity to supply the reader with "what they are in for" in terms of recommended readings and concepts that this current work is founded upon.
Because of this hurdle, I am not able to extract the essence of the book - nor do I want to spend my time parsing out the wheat from the chaff within this book.
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Buyer
5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh insights from Ken's genius
Reviewed in the United States on 22 June 2024
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I believe this to be Ken's most comprehensive and rational book on spirituality yet. Uniting psychological development with spiritual intelligence in a fresh 3rd tier, Ken will make you smarter in ways never before imagined or thought possible.
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Allen A. Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book; tough going in parts
Reviewed in the United States on 22 April 2018
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Outstanding book; tough going in parts! As is often the case, I felt Wilber went into more detail than I needed or wanted, especially about spiritual states that are, frankly, totallly beyond my experience. Maybe some day these thoughts will be useful to me, but for now, I found myself skipping sections about the pathologies of the third tier, and so on. There were a number of lyrical and poetic passages that really lifted my spirits, and I came away with a much better understanding of Ken's AQAL theory, and a much clearer idea of what religions (in my case, our Unity church) need to do to stay relevant in a changing world.
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Jack Schneider
5.0 out of 5 stars And inspirational explanation of a great metamap
Reviewed in the United States on 22 July 2017
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For full disclosure I am a fan of Ken Wilber's integral philosophy. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Ken Wilber's Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality. I started studying Buddhism 19 years ago to be able to understand/experience the states of mind that were discussed by Ken Wilber. Reading this book makes me want to study adult development. If you want a map of where your spiritual life can go together with a list of where all the potholes are this is the book for you. Reading this book has inspired me to actively seek out others who want to use the map that is explained in this book.
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Mary L. Landauer
5.0 out of 5 stars A long awaited book from Ken Wilber that doesn't disappoint. His genius of integrating our history of religion ...
Reviewed in the United States on 22 June 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
A long awaited book from Ken Wilber that doesn't disappoint. His genius of integrating our history of religion and their great traditions gives a greater vision for how we, as a humanity, may better live this vision by deeper connections to our sameness as we move up the developmental ladder of our differences where we embrace a greater, higher love that clearly drives our entire existence and evolution. He offers a clear path to growing up our differences, waking up to our sameness through cleaning up our shadow wounds, where we then show up as a higher soul self to live our higher vision in a more integral postmodern world.
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Adeline van Waning MD PhD
5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, impressive, urgent
Reviewed in the United States on 5 January 2018
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A brilliant synthesis, new integrations, with many details elaborated, in comparison to earlier works. Written in accessible language; the repetitions of many points may be in part a didactic means of viewing their value and richness from so many corners, views and vantage points - and working out really 'psychoactive' for the reader. Especially the parts on higher states and stages have impressed me. A consequent 'working through' of the 'patterns that connect' - showing the urgency of our further growing up, waking up, cleaning up and showing up!.
Adeline van Waning, author of 'The less dust the more trust... meditation and science.'
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kanne
4.0 out of 5 stars Wilbur's book is very inspirational. It takes a bit ...
Reviewed in the United States on 16 September 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Wilbur's book is very inspirational. It takes a bit to follow along, but he repeats what he is teaching often enough that I am understanding and appreciating the various levels of human consciousness. I am not just trying to understand these levels. Through Ken Wilbur's book I am also learning ways to practice and grow in consciousness. Thank you, Ken Wilbur.
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Alex a customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful last chapter
Reviewed in the United States on 21 July 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Ken Wilber followers will find this book to repeat too many of his previous works. But wait until the last chapter, that one is wonderful and worth the whole book.
If you have never read Wilber before, this is a good synopsis of his previous work. If you have read most of his works, skip to the last chapter.
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Suzanna
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Finally! Thank you!!
Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
This is the Ken Wilber I absolutely love. The fearless pioneering probing philosopher mystic warrior -- with footnotes. And man has it been a long 10 years since Integral Spirituality! I'll write a full review when I have actually digested the complexity in total. But if you loved No Boundary, SES, Integral Spirituality and Integral Psychology... just buy it, I mean, come on "Post Metaphysical Minimalism" -- Thats punk rock! If you have ever wonder to yourself -- 3rd Teir, WTF? This is WTF!
Evan
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Fredrik
5.0 out of 5 stars How to keep religion relevant
Reviewed in the United States on 20 August 2017
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Reading Wilber is always an adventure, a journey into Mystery and Wisdom, a simultaneous arrival at the farthest reaches and a coming home. This is the book to read about religion and spirituality at this moment in history. Here we have a truly integral map for our wisdom traditions. And, as always with Wilber, a psychoactive meta-narrative that stretches your capacity for knowing and feeling. Thank you Ken for making life immensely fuller and deeper here where my head used to be!
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Harold
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend. It is a little tedious as Ken wants ...
Reviewed in the United States on 25 August 2017
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
Phenomenal book. Highly recommend. It is a little tedious as Ken wants this to be comprehensive of as many belief systems as possible. He also repeats himself a lot. It reads more like a transcript of one or more talks he has given rather than concise points of a book. Hang in there though as it incredible information. More important, it dovetails nicely with meditation practice.
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JKL
5.0 out of 5 stars Grateful
Reviewed in the United States on 5 July 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This book is Wilbur wordy. Quite repetitive. But also quite wonderful. He is putting together a lifetime of his work. I am slowly plowing my way through as I have only arrived at page 177. But I'm glad he wrote it and glad that I have the honor of reading it. Because of the wordiness and repetitiveness of the text, I'm better able to digest Wilbur's synthesis.
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Guy Lamunyon
3.0 out of 5 stars If you want a new theory, make one up! Wilber did.
Reviewed in the United States on 2 September 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I bought the audiotape (30 hours). The first chapter was good with scientific criticism of older religions. When Wilber started assigning very outdated Freudian stages to the chakra regions it was too much for me. No scientific support for this application. If you want a new theory, make one up! Wilber did. I will buy a hard copy or the references when I can get one used for a few dollars.
5 people found this helpful
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David J. Malinowski
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than advertised!
Reviewed in the United States on 23 February 2022
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
The service was excellent - the book arrived earlier than expected. The quality of the book is like new just as described. Thank you worldofbooksinc
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John H. Mix
5.0 out of 5 stars A monumental tome destined to open the way to the ...
Reviewed in the United States on 11 September 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
A monumental tome destined to open the way to the transformative (and only sustainable) path for any spirituality worthy of the name. Don't let your religion be allergic to the riches of the last hundred years of science, embrace it! Wilber is wiser than most and delivers a readable path to an enlightened future.
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