Table of Contents

FOREWORD Ken Wilber INTRODUCTION Ken Wilber: The person and his work The structure of this book 1. WHO IS KEN WILBUR? "I'M A PANDIT, NOT A GURU" Top of the class "An entirely new world" "Life for me was sour" "The Einstein of consciousness research" "The lonely pursuit of the writer" The Kosmos trilogy "A fundamental pattern" So, yet another Grand Theory? "I'm a pandit, not a guru" The seven faces of Ken Wilber 2. A FLYING START: "CONSCIOUSNESS IS LIKE A SPECTRUM" What is transpersonal psychology? The perennial philosophy as a guiding concept A "perennial psychology" The spectrum of consciousness Evolution--the movement from Spirit to embodied individual Involution--the movement from embodied individual to Spirit Consciousness without boundaries "And yet, something was definitely wrong ..." 3. CRISIS AND REORIENTATION: IN SEARCH OF A NEW FOOTING "Instantly the entire scheme became clear" A forgotten truth The search for the Self Developmental psychology as a starting point The prepersonal The personal The transpersonal General principles of development Pause for thought A fall from Paradise? Cultural evolution The evolution of religion New Age or Dark Age? "No longer lost in thoughts" To sum up ... 4. FURTHER REFINEMENTS: SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES Towards a New Paradigm? The three eyes of knowledge Three types of science The pre/trans fallacy A further refinement of the developmental model Physics and mysticism: An unhappy marriage? A holographic paradigm? Quantum questions Transpersonal sociology Methodological considerations The new religious movements The stage model is complete 5. LOVE, DEATH, AND REBIRTH: YEARS OF TEST AND TRIAL "Love at first touch" "I went into a profound depression" "My path has been Buddhist" "I do not condemn the entire New Age movement" "And that is what Treya had done for me" Death and rebirth in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition 6. AN EVEN BROADER HORIZON: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL VIEW OF SPIRIT The Kosmos trilogy Popular holism falls short Individual and cultural progress The four quadrants The collapse into flatland Ascending and descending spirituality An interview ... with himself The four quadrants revisited Global consciousness as a platform In the grip of flatland The eye of spirit The integral approach Is humanity evolving? The ever-present Spirit The integration of science and religion A closer look at science and religion Earlier attempts at integration The integral agenda The taste of Oneness A day in the life Pitfalls on the Path Continuity of consciousness The Collected Works Integral Psychology Boomeritis A theory of everything The Integral Institute "By far the most productive years of my entire life" Towards a post-metaphysical spirituality 7. KEN WILBER IN PERSPECTIVE: THE BACKBONE OF WILBER'S MODEL Materialist science: the domain of matter Is there an inner dimension? "The hard problem" Back to introspection Orthodox psychology: the domain of the personality The realms of nature The stage paradigm Philosophy of development Transpersonal psychology: the domain of the soul Wilber versus Jung Wilber's main opponents The Wilber conference in San Francisco Metaphysical religion: the domain of Spirit The perennialists The theosophical tradition A Western Vedanta? Epilogue: The map and the territory NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY Books by Ken Wilber Complete bibliography of Ken Wilber INDEX

About the Author

Frank Visser is an internet specialist who studied the psychology of religion at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and is the author of Seven Spheres.

Reviews

"Finally, in a single highly readable edition we have a description of the life and work of one of the most controversial and profound thinkers of our age. Despite, or indeed because of, the prodigious number of books, articles, and interviews that Ken Wilber has produced over the years, most readers know little of the history of his intellectual, spiritual, or private lives, and only a few have attempted to keep track of the complex and fascinating intricacies of his thinking on topics as diverse as transpersonal psychology, religion, sociology, and European philosophy. In these pages we get both the big picture and a good read. Here is a gift to everyone interested in the life and work of a spiritual and philosophical genius."

"Finally, in a single highly readable edition we have a description of the life and work of one of the most controversial and profound thinkers of our age. Despite, or indeed because of, the prodigious number of books, articles, and interviews that Ken Wilber has produced over the years, most readers know little of the history of his intellectual, spiritual, or private lives, and only a few have attempted to keep track of the complex and fascinating intricacies of his thinking on topics as diverse as transpersonal psychology, religion, sociology, and European philosophy. In these pages we get both the big picture and a good read. Here is a gift to everyone interested in the life and work of a spiritual and philosophical genius."