From: Integral World [frank.visser@eurorscg.nl] Sent: maandag 14 augustus 2006 22:35 To: f.visser3@chello.nl Subject: [personal] Geoffrey Falk on Wilber (test) INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST =========================== http://www.integralworld.net Newsletter Nr. 162 Amsterdam, August 15, 2006 WILBER WATCH BLOG: "INTEGRAL WITHOUT HYPE" http://wilberwatch.blogspot.com/ Geoffrey Falk has been the most active, the most merciless, and the most ignored, critic of Wilber's writings to date. He recently gathered his blog comments on Wilber into the ebook "Norman Einstein". This expression comes from a famous sports quote by football commentator and former player Joe Theismann: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." To counter balance the increasingly commercial, not to say marketing-savvy language of the current Integral Institute, which is now trying to reach out to a larger audience, we need to take dissenters and sceptics on board as well. If "face everything, avoid nothing" is the motto, this definitely includes the shadow aspects of gurus and institutes, especially the ones we admire, as well as the objections and refutations coming from whatever field of science or philosophy. Ignoring all this is not a wise strategy. Actually, integral doesn't need strategy -- it needs intellectual honesty. "NORMAN EINSTEIN": THE DIS-INTEGRATION OF KEN WILBER "THIS BOOK GREW OUT of a chapter and an appendix in the original online version of Stripping the Gurus (STG). Following the electronic publication of that, over the first half of 2006 I posted three additional appendices concerning the flaws in the ideas and character of Ken Wilber, with the material being presented there largely in the order in which it was written. Here, the same information, with less commentary, has been regrouped by subject—although the “Bald Narcissism” chapter and the appendix on “Wilber and Bohm” remain largely as they were originally written. Even with that new, non-chronological presentation, however, the chapters still provide an instructive example as to how even the most well-intentioned of spiritual communities will invariably degenerate into closed, unquestioning, cult-like environments." Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/falk_books.html STRIPPING THE GURUS: SEX, VIOLENCE, ABUSE AND ENLIGHTENMENT "ONE OF MY DEAR, late mother’s most memorable expressions, in attempting to get her children to behave, was simply: “Be sure your sins will find you out.” It may take a minute, an hour, a day, a year, ten years or more, but eventually the details of one’s behaviors are likely to surface. Whether one’s public face is that of a saint or a sinner, ultimately “the truth will out.” This book, then, concerns the alleged sins which have been concealed behind the polished façades of too many of our world’s “saintly and sagely” spiritual leaders and their associated communities, with a marked focus on North America over the past century." Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/falk_books.html A SPECTRUM OF CRITICS The essays posted in this Reading Room (and some in the Criticism Section) are written from a great variety of perspectives, ranging from "strong positive" to "strong negative". I consider all of these useful in generating debate on the matter of the value and validity of Wilber's writings. To help you find your way in this virtual library, I have listed the main authors below, in their order of general affirmation/rejection of integral ideas, as formulated by Ken Wilber. Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/visser11.html RSS FEEDS AVAILABLE At long last, Integral World now has RSS functionality too, so you can get notified automatically of the latest updates. Just paste the URL http://www.integralworld.net/iw-rss.xml in your favorite RSS Feed reader! Read more: http://www.integralworld.net/rss.html If you know other people interested in this IW Newsletter, please forward this mail to them. Thanks. To SUBSCRIBE to this Integral World Newsletter or change your email address, click here: http://www.integralworld.net/index.html?newsletter.html To go to the Newsletter Archive, click here: http://www.integralworld.net/index.html?newsletter.html To UNSUBSCRIBE from this Integral World Newsletter, click here: http://frank.e-marketing.eurorscg.net/afmelden.php?a=aa&e=jwsokal@yahoo.com&id=0&m=20 ======================================== Frank Visser, Waterpoortweg 279, 1051 pv, Amsterdam Author of: Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion SUNY 2003 Read all about Ken Wilber : http://www.integralworld.net ========================================