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The integral concept of Ken Wilber can help in spiritual and psychological orientation In August of 2000 I was beginning to understand the pre/trans fallacy, reading Wilber's chapter in Spiritual Choices (see below). Before, my opinion was that rationality is no more needed if you are spiritual. The concept of Wilber helps to integrate spirituality and rationality. With individual and cultural development marks he gives a background which makes it easier to live spirituality in the modern and postmodern world. Recent and/or recommended Books NEW!! Spirituality is seen here mainly as a developmental line due to further development. The 'conveyor belt' for this task are the religions - from magic to mythic to modern and postmodern. "In his fabulous marriage to Spiral Dynamics, Wilber has written his best and most cutting popular descriptions of his Pre-Trans Fallacy, of preconventional/regressive and postconventional/integrated (and narcissistically resolved) values, behavior and "spirituality" to date." (From a review at amazon.com) Spiritual Choices: The Problem of Recognizing Authentic Paths to Inner Transformation edited by Dick Anthony, Bruce Ecker and Ken Wilber. From the blurb on the back: "This book may be a godsend. Confronting the harvest of religions that have burgeoned since the early 1960s, the authors show us how to separate the wheat from the chaff - how to distinguish the authentic from the bogus. Social scientists and general readers will appreciate the author's sensitive, unbiased, and thoroughgoing analysis..." - Nevitt Sanford, co-author of The Authoritarian Personality What I like especially in this book is the combination of the different forms of therapy. Wilber gave already a beginning of this in No Boundary , though he there still described the rational thinking as a counterpole to spirituality and not as a preliminary stage to permanent higher levels of spirituality (he changed it soon). Until now Wilber's best, generally intelligible and comprehensive description of integral theory and practice. For me this was a breakthrough to the experience of spirituality in everyday life. And it made me enjoy life. A groundbreaking tool which can really improve your life.
Bernhard Meyer, psychologist, Germany E-mail: Bernhard.Meyer[AltGr-Q]gmx.com |