Sep 25 2009
The 21st Century Religious Landscape – as mapped by Ken Wilber. – Rod Mitchell
click to enlarge
Slide 1
This is not how he defines himself – [i.e. As Genius or Nutter] This is my question – Ken states that he doesn’t see himself as American exclusively… Rather as Northern European Thinker; plus Southern European Lifestyle while having religious Practices from the East; this might better express who he is!
Slide 2
Brief outline for the evening.
Slide 3
I have heard him referred to as one of those New Age Types!
I have heard him be talked about as too complex in his thinking – a way above the ordinary person!
I have heard him be talked about as being too eclectic – bringing everything down to Lowest common denominator!
I have heard him be talked about as a person who is trying to include everything – which is totally impossible – Others argue that he can’t speak for women – he a white male etc!
Slide 4
Ken Wilber is selling his Boulder home after living there for over ten years (he now lives in Denver).
In this house, he wrote Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, A Brief History of Everything, The Eye of Spirit, The Marriage of Sense and Soul, One Taste, Integral Psychology, A Theory of Everything, Boomeritis, and edited The Collected Works volumes 1-8.
It was also here that Integral Institute was born, with over 450 of the world’s most gifted individuals gathering in this remarkable space to create an institution capable of bringing the Integral Approach into being!
Not your traditional monastic mystic!
Slide 5
Clearly the modern media have attempted to portray who he is!
Slide 6
So let us have a go at portraying Ken under seven headings! Try and give him some sort of Face.
Slide 7
Ken was both a fast reader and a fast writer.
It is said he could read three good books in a day and have excellent understanding at the end.
He read widely and selected the best from within the different fields of knowledge.
Slide 8
He was a constructor of maps.
A map maker is very useful but it is different from actually going into the territory. A map points the way…
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Slide 9
Ken tries to honour all quality truths wherever they may be found.
He is critical of anyone who made partial truths into absolutes.
Slide 10
He was strong against people who misrepresented his ideas or claimed he was something that clearly was not his stated and often written about view.
Slide 11
In India these two terms are used for spiritual wise people.
Pandit was someone who fought for a spiritual truth.
Generally didn’t have disciples or followers as such.
Slide 12
Ken was always trying to help people understand his ideas and practices.
Note the many books he wrote for different groups of people.
He wrote books for academic community and he wrote books for the wider public to understand.
“A Brief History of Everything” is an example.
Slide 13
Father Thomas Keating – Ken collaborated with the Catholic Spiritual contemplation expert – Keating.
Slide 14
Much Christianity has had a dismissive relationship to the body – its various desires often portrayed in very negative / mythical terms.
Note the negative characterisation given to women by linking back to Eve in a distorted way.
Slide 15
People are Spirit Beings living in temporal and material reality – Yes we turn away from this reality – we deny it for all sorts of reasons etc… Shadow!
Slide 16
Here is a basic claim / assumption that Wilber makes…Not able, as many steeped in the enlightenment traditions, to dismiss the claims which various wise people have made down the ages…
Slide 17
He was uneasy about taking on a Romantic Jungian – Keen to find bridge between East and West.
Slide 18
Easy to dismiss pre-rational as primitive / fantasy – childish – “Opiate of the People”: or people could take Pre-rational and claim it as higher spirituality/post –rational etc.
(Much New Age falls into this category.
Slide 19
Forward focused rather than backward looking…
He endorsed notion of development and progress but not in a naive way…
Also wanted Religions to begin being willing to put aside “Mythic” thinking -many claims within mythic religion are simply irrational- walking on water / virgin birth etc.
Slide 20
Three eyes of Knowledge not one!
Slide 21
Tended to see development in very relatively uniform process in this phase 3
Slide 22
Death of Wife a profound moment – all books from this point on did not have an acknowledged dedication to any other person – as far as Wilber was concerned his wife was always the acknowledged person he wished to dedicate his books to without naming her.
Note the four quadrants emerging.
Slide 23
Move to integral approach…
Slide 24
What Wilber is trying to do is reclaim Spirit/Spirituality and give it a role in our global world.
It is the key to providing a “meaning” system for people!
With the dismissal of the subjective – introspection as a source of verifiable knowledge – Spirit went out the door.
Spirit left in the throes of mythic / magic thinking…
Slide 25
He wants to honour all the quadrants and not collapse them into one dominant one!
Slide 26
This illustrates how much detail can be placed inside these 4 quadrants.
Slide 27
Just another refinement of the 4 quadrants. Highlighting the different intellectual disciplines associated with each of the 4 quadrants.
Slide 28
If we have time, I will highlight the different understandings of spirit that get generated by these 5 Key Elements that Ken highlighted in his book “Integral Spirituality.”
Slide 29
Practice. Follow a good scientific model:
- a. Do an injunction
b. Gather data
c. Test with a group of the competent.
Slide 30
Higher we go the greater our perspective on the world!
Prayer = Exploring the truth of the reality from the highest perspective.
Slide 31