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Frank Visser, graduated as a psychologist of culture and religion, founded IntegralWorld in 1997. He worked as production manager for various publishing houses and as service manager for various internet companies and lives in Amsterdam. Books: Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion (SUNY, 2003), and The Corona Conspiracy: Combatting Disinformation about the Coronavirus (Kindle, 2020).

The Wolf of
Wilber Street

Integral Goes $uperhuman

Frank Visser

A few days ago, the website "Your Superhuman Potential" went live offering the above promises, through an online course based on the work of Ken Wilber.

Behind this initative is a company called Sacred Media ("experts at launch conversions"), specialized in product launches and online affiliate marketing. Endorsements are shown from Tony Robbins, author of the best selling Unlimited Power (1987), who considers Wilber a supremely influential teacher and mentor in his life, and Marianne Williamson.

"People Who Are Just Like You"

On this website, we read the following:

Imagine for a moment that there were no limits…

That you could literally become the person you have always dreamed of being.

For the last 30 years, developmental scientists and researchers from around the world have discovered something truly profound.

A small percentage of people are breaking through to an entirely new level of human evolution , that has NEVER existed on our planet before. And that like ever major transformation in history, this group will be responsible for major transformations in government, economics, religion, science, and nearly every other domain.

According to some researchers, this new level of development is up to 10 times more empowered, actualized and effective than all earlier stages of evolution in human history.

People around the world, people who are just like you, are completely upgrading their lives, and living a life full of meaning and purpose. And as a result they are experiencing a life that is free of the problems most people experience on a day-to-day basis.

This emerging higher capacity has been called various names but one thing is certain, that anyone who reaches this groundbreaking stage of development is literally becoming superhuman compared to the rest of the planet.

This is an entirely new phase of evolution in humanity. We are building momentum towards a profound shift in consciousness both individually and collectively, and whether you know it or not this transformation depends on you!

Join the renowned author, teacher and living legend Ken Wilber as he shares his latest discoveries about what this superhuman potential means for you and the world, and how you can start to accelerate your own development to unleash the greatest possible version of yourself.

This sales pitch is meant to generate interest for a free online call with Ken Wilber in March 2014:

"Expect to Get Paid !"

After this call, however, a $997 10-week training is offered to the public, involving hours of interviews with Wilber and contributions by other luminaries ("Tony Robbins, Eben Pagan, Marianne Williamson, David Wolfe, Seane Corne, Tami Simon and many others.").

On the accompanying affiliate page we read further:

Affiliates in this marketing campaign are offered 50% commision and a free pass to this training, when they bring in 500 participants. The text simply reads:

"In terms of expectations, the partners of Sacred Media are experts at launch conversions, one of the reasons Ken Wilber chose to work with them... So expect to get paid."

To boost confidence in the effectiveness of the campaign organizers, they state:

"The founding partners have generated over $20 Million combined in product launches and online sales to date."

With a few thousands of participants, the turnover of this campaign will indeed be counted by the millions of dollars.

The campaign product is called: the Superhuman Operating System: "a life changing series of tools, practices and perspectives based on the life’s work of living legend, and luminary philosopher, Ken Wilber".

The website continues—and some content editor needs to look at this:

WHO IS KEN WILBER?

Widely regarded as the “Einstein of consciousness” and the “Aristotle of our time” Ken Wilber is a truly living legend.

He was a 19 year old Masters student with when (sic) his journey to greatness began. Fed up with academia, he became obsessed with understanding the human condition and our highest potentials.

He wanted to know what was ultimately true, how everything fit together, and the real source of fulfillment for human life. He wasn’t getting answers from his college professors so he left grad school and set out on an epic journey to discover it for himself…

What he found in his research would change the world forever. When he was 23 [should be 28] years old he published his first book. The results of his 4 years of in-depth study, and he rocked the world of developmental psychology with an entirely new model of human potential. And that was just the beginning.

Over the past nearly 40 years he has published dozens of books, and has impacted nearly every field of human understanding. He has became (sic) a quiet giant. Growing from an idealistic college drop out, to someone who many consider to be “the smartest man alive” and “one of the greatest thinkers in history”.

No less. I thought Wilber was positioned as an alternative for Aristotle? Jack Crittenden: "“the twenty-first century literally has three choices: Aristotle, Nietzsche, or Ken Wilber.” Whatever—somebody famous... and dead.

... AND IT'S GETTING MORE AND MORE ABSURD

Is this a cynical mix of The Master and The Wolf of Wall Street ? This is integral marketing in overdrive, for sure. Integral goes $uperhuman.

One doesn't know what to deplore most in this shameless marketing messaging.

• The fact that marketing has finally taken over from intellectual integrity?
• The promise of instant transformation, both of oneself and of the world?
• Of becoming part of an elite that has access to "an entirely new level of human evolution, that has NEVER existed on our planet before"?
• Of suggesting that scientists from around the world are supporting this idea?
• Of becoming superhuman, not metaphorically but "literally"?
• That one can find all the answers by bypassing academia?
• The incredible, unfathomable narcissism of this whole project?
• The immature idealization and idolization of Ken Wilber's contributions?

It's hard to tell if this is all serious... but if it's for real... it's a joke.

In my opinion, the point is not that this marketing message doesn't convey the essence of Wilber's visions—because it does—but that it blows away the last hope for a sober, dispassionate reflection on the Wilberian body of knowledge.

Many mirror sites are springing up (such as: http://www.superhumanos.org/ ), with campaign related pep talk ("Each day we are getting closer and closer to the launch of Ken Wilber’s Superhuman Operating System….and I can not TELL you how exciting this is….." by J. - co-founder of Sacred Media Todd Jason?) mixed with dubious content: a Brazilian/Portuguese spoken YouTube video "Superhumanos" posted in 2012, subtitled: O verdadeiro atirador. The Real Shooter -- has Wyatt Earp returned?

Probably "Superhuman OS" is confused with "Super Humanos"? LOL.

Here's a nice parody -- even better than the original one:

And the give away: if you click on: http://yoursuperhumanpotential.com/optin, you go to: Tutte!

However, Tutte denies all charges...

Stay tuned!

Postscript

In an audio sent to IntegralLife members, Ken Wilber recently defended the use of the term "superhuman" for his new training programme by pointing out that the transition to second tier was (supposedly quoting Clare Graves) "a momentous leap". I consulted the Futurist article by that name (not Graves' term, but the publisher's), and found this about the first of the second tier stages.

It's all about becoming human -- no more, no less:

Cognitive Existence (First Being Level)

Once we are able to grasp the meaning of passing from the level of ‘being one with others’ to the cognitive level (G-T) of knowing [Wilber's TEAL and Spiral Dynamics YELLOW memes] and having to do so that ‘all can be and can continue to be,’ it is possible to see the enormous differences between man and other animals. Here we step over the line which separates those needs that man has in common with other animals and those needs which are distinctly human.

Man, at the threshold of the seventh level, where so many political and cultural dissenters stand today, is at the threshold of being human. He is truly becoming a human being. He is no longer just another of nature's species. And we, in our times, in our ethical and general behavior, are just approaching this threshold, the line between animalism and humanism.

Source: www.clarewgraves.com

See also: Comparison between Wilber, Beck and Graves.