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Integral World: Exploring Theories of Everything
An independent forum for a critical discussion of the integral philosophy of Ken Wilber
 Brad Reynolds did graduate work at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) before leaving to study under Ken Wilber for a decade, and published two books reviewing Wilber's work: Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber (Tarcher, 2004), Where's Wilber At?: Ken Wilber's Integral Vision in the New Millennium (Paragon House, 2006) and God's Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age (Bright Alliance, 2021). Visit: http://integralartandstudies.com
A Critical Appreciation of Ken Wilber's Finding Radical WholenessPart 1: IntroductionBrad Reynolds“Great learning will be no protection when discipline is disregarded.” —The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, Verse 45, Chapter 10 Ken Wilber's new book Finding Radical Wholeness: The Integral Path to Unity, Growth, and Delight (2024, Shambhala Publications) is the best book he's written in over 20 years. It is an ideal summation of his Wilber/Phase-5 work and is written for a popular audience, not an academic one. I have been reading Wilber's books since 1982 as each was published, and since I also published a book reviewing all of his pre-2002 books chapter-by-chapter, I am very familiar with Wilber's writing style and tone (Reynolds, 2004, 2006). Personally, I am disappointed that he has veered from a more professional approach to a popular one since I find his sophomoric language and lack of academic resources a barrier to a broader and longer-lasting appeal. Yet, I suppose it will be helpful for people who are beginning to meditate and are trying to find an orienting map to the confusing array of information in our global culture. Wilber does have an uncanny ability to write in simple prose and directly cut to the chase, to shift through mounds of evidence and perspectives to offer a condensed version of the many elements needed for the developmental growth of the human being and, thus, for our collective society. It is true: he does provide a guide to “unity, growth, and delight” or a spiritual vision of life in the universe. In that, I am a Big Fan and supporter, but on other matters, not so much. 
Part of my disappointment stems from the oversimplicity of Wilber's language in his new book (and basically since 2006), plus his more exaggerated claims and hyperbole. Together, they distract an audience in positions of power and have failed to establish his academic credentials as a philosopher or serious thinker beyond his initial fame. Wilber's earlier attempts to unite science and spirituality, or at least make them compatible (even if seen as separate modes of investigation), and to critique “New Age” regressive tendencies (such as elevating mythical and magical elements to transpersonal status) have only been mildly successful. As one critic who recently reviewed Wilber's career noted, “With more than thirty books published and the creation of an Integral Institute, the irony is that the scientific academy virtually ignores him, while his work is found in the New Age section of bookshops.”[1] This is unfortunate. By reducing his philosophy to New Age-like postulates, Wilber has been accused of becoming a philosophical promoter, selling his AQAL model with courses, seminars, slogans, and membership access to his website. Thus, his critics maintain he has become an “organization machine” for lifestyle idealisms, not real philosophy. By not directly addressing (or dialoguing with) his critics, Wilber has become an anachronistic recluse, basically talking to himself and his admiring circle of disciples. Unfortunately, this has diluted the importance of his integral message, and this new book continues that misguided course. However, I also believe it has many valuable insights that need to be extracted and presented more favorably. In any case, his prose at times is transcendent and inspiring, for no one writes quite like Ken Wilber, and, as I say, this book is his best in over twenty years. Ken Wilber has been one of the most brilliant and prolific philosophers of the past 50 years—once called “the Einstein of consciousness research”[2] (in response to his first book's publication)—but in the past couple of decades, he has slipped from such an exalted status. Perhaps this is due to his poor health and advancing age, but I also find it is primarily because of his repetitive patterns of thought and inability to engage with his critics properly. Therefore, the task of continuing the Integral Project into the future beyond Wilber's lifetime is up to us, his students (and critics), which I believe is crucial. Without a doubt, Wilber's ideas are fundamental to initiating an integral revolution to help stabilize our emerging global culture and advance our human evolutionary project.[3] His desire to integrate science and spirituality, or Western knowledge and Eastern wisdom, is a hallmark of his generation and today's leading-edge thinkers. However, I also believe such a noble (and integral) project must be presented in a more sophisticated manner by diving more deeply into the evidence and correcting some of Wilber's weaknesses in scholarship and science. His critics, from Jorge Ferrer to Frank Visser et al., have left him wanting (surprisingly). Nonetheless, like any true pioneer, Ken Wilber has plunged straight into the deep end of the pool of wisdom and is thus inviting us to swim with him in unexplored integral waters. So, let's dive in! First, my main criticism revolves around his standardized terms and catch-all phrases representing complex developmental processes in cosmological, biological, and psychological growth. In human behavior, this refers to his “5 Ups” of “Waking Up, Growing Up, Opening Up, Cleaning Up, and Showing Up,” which he has kept adding to over the years. He now claims that only he has discovered all of them after humanity has been searching “for thousands and thousands of years, right up to today.” In other words, according to Wilber, “There is, today, no system of growth anywhere in the world that includes all 5 of these types of Wholeness”[4]—except for, naturally, his own Integral Metatheory. Such hyperbole (some call it arrogance) is unnecessary, for it sounds more like an author trying to sell us something, not elucidate a serious investigation of inclusion for our models of the universe and of maps reality. In addition, I have difficulty with his puerile metaphors such as “Big” this and “Big” that, from his big claims about “Big Wholeness” to “Big Bliss” to “Big Love” to “Big Mind,” a sloganeering tactic that belies the importance of the subject matter at hand. Wilber's simplified language is not attractive to more sophisticated thinkers or critics, even if his fundamental ideas are; thus, this elementary approach is unnecessary and deflecting. It definitely places his writing in the “New Age” category, not as serious philosophy (as noted above). Therefore, I would like to push beyond these inherent limitations and review his positive message while critiquing his exaggerations. For example, contrary to Wilber's claim, I maintain that ALL of these five processes (or “Ups”) have been recognized and worked with for at least two or three thousand years of human history (and longer in some cases). However, a person needs to do diligent anthropological research to properly uncover them from the sacred texts, mythological archetypes, and philosophies of the world. Wilber has not done his homework in this regard or merely relies on his memory from past decades of research, which is inadequate for today's challenging move into the new century (and millennium). Simply stated, Wilber often seems out of date with contemporary resources and scientific literature or unaware of the most recent research or philosophical debates surrounding his views. Wilber has been announcing these exaggerated claims about his Integral Metatheory since at least 2006 with his book Integral Spirituality. Yet, currently, no one comes to his defense since he's most often criticized for making such bold (and often false) claims. Unfortunately, this has reduced his influence over the past twenty years, damaging his Integral Institute, even while he's appreciated for his ground-breaking work trying to make science and spirituality compatible. His proposed “marriage” of Freud and Buddha (Schwartz, 1995), or the integration of science and religion, or Western knowledge and Eastern mysticism (Wilber, 1983, 1998), is still sorely needed in today's fractured world. His emphasis on the development (or evolution) of consciousness is backed by current, more scientifically grounded research (not just metaphysical speculation).[5] Wilber definitely has something to offer, but like Einstein (who at least had math on his side), he needs other geniuses and researchers to carry the project forward more adequately. Unfortunately, there are no simple formulas (such as E = mc2), but there is the motivation to gather data from the expanse of epistemological pluralism or using the various modes of knowledge acquisition, i.e., taken from the physical, mental, and spiritual domains—the “Three Eyes of Knowing.”[6] It might take another generation or two of metamodern thinkers and, importantly, spiritual practitioners working as scientists to carry his integral torch into the future. Hopefully, it won't be too late. Indeed, I agree it is essential we recognize all five intertwining processes of development covered by the “5 Ups,” for they are, in fact, vital for a healthy and robust—and peaceful—person and global cooperative community. More accurately, they are:
In other words, to live a holistic and integral life—or “radical wholeness”—a person must become a healthy, mature human being physically, psychologically, personally, socially, and spiritually. The same holds true for our collective societies, nations, and the emerging global culture. This is one of the great gifts of Wilber's four-quadrant AQAL model: the integration of the (1) interiors and (2) exteriors in (3) individual and (4) collective holons as they develop and evolve in a complex matrix of interactivity and cooperative participation. When spelled out like this, it is evident that previous cultures addressed many, if not all, of these processes of human growth, at least in certain elite (or educated) conclaves. True, most (if not all) past cultures and present societies have never achieved optimum human and social development for everyone. Humankind is a work-in-progress, which is why an integral developmental “theory” is so vital for human advancement and a better future. In this respect, Wilber believes he is offering possibilities never achieved before on a mass scale—especially with today's global population levels—and he is (partially) correct. Even today, most of us cannot claim to have fulfilled all “5 Ups” to completion, which is why a genuine Integral Metatheory is desperately needed. Indeed, such integration is the task for each human life, so Wilber is providing an essential contribution to the project of human wholeness and holistic health. Nevertheless, there is no justifiable reason to claim they “were discovered only in the last one hundred years” or that only Wilber can “show you these 5 areas of 'Big Wholeness'.”[7] Sure, they might not have been labeled with the terms of modern psychology—which is where Wilber gets the “last one hundred years” date—but that does not mean their essential dynamics were not uncovered or understood by previous cultures or their wisest individuals embedded in esoteric systems of spirituality, for they were. All of them. Thus, there is no reason to accept Wilber's prejudices about his own system while still being able to appreciate the pioneering routes he has blazed. I hope to clarify some of the differences in my continuing series of reviews. In this case, it is possible to bracket Wilber's exaggerated claims and still benefit from his principal thesis, which is my proposal. I am sure many people will see (and read) great value in his new book, even when presented in a somewhat elementary fashion, as if talking to high school students, because the ground he covers is vast and far-reaching. Ever since Wilber began making public presentations in the early 2000s with his Integral Institute, he has oversimplified his massively complex AQAL model and the intricacies of the evolution of consciousness so that the general public can digest it better. However, by doing so, he lost a critical edge in his scholarship and its proper academic presentation. In other words, by attempting to go mainstream, Integral has gone off course. This is a shame, for the value of Wilber's integral methodology and model in viewing—and participating with—the Kosmos is vital for healthy human growth and wisdom. Indeed, this is the main project of his new book: finding radical (or “at the root”) wholeness. Therefore, I think it's crucial that his students continue to refine what Wilber has boldly begun, even if we must dispense with his fallacies and exaggerations. In other words, it might be wiser to accept a critical appreciation when reading and studying Ken Wilber. Next (in Part II), I will briefly (and critically) review Wilber's personal odyssey from a self-proclaimed pandit (or a spiritually-oriented pundit), basically an intellectual scholar or theorist to becoming “a veritable spiritual guide”[8] (as Visser's recent book review put it) or a Guru, acting as a Spiritual Master capable of leading you to Enlightenment. Or that's his claim in actions and words (if not explicitly), one I do not support. Wilber should have stuck with his skill set, not try to transform people's consciousness as if chapters in a book—even if eloquently written—are adequate to the task. They are not, as most wise philosophers in human history have unanimously noted. Such is the current state of Wilber's philosophy in overstepping and oversimplifying (and even distorting) the search for real radical wholeness.
Brief BibliographyCook-Greuter, Susanne R. and Melvin E. Miller, Creativity, Spirituality, and Transcendence: Paths to Integrity and Wisdom in the Mature Self (1999, Praeger Publications). DiPerna, Dustin, editor, H. B. Augustin, editor, The Coming Waves: Evolution, Transformation, and Action in an Integral Age (2016, Occidental, CA: Bright Alliance). DiPerna, Dustin, Streams of Wisdom: An Advanced Guide to Spiritual Development (2014, 2018, second edition, Occidental, CA: Bright Alliance). Esbjörn-Hargens, Sean and Zimmerman, Michael E., Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World (2000, Integral Books). Esbjörn-Hargens, Sean and Nicholas Hedlund, Big Picture Perspectives on Planetary Flourishing (2022, Routledge Studies in Critical Realism). Ferrer, Jorge, Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality (2002, Albany, NY: SUNY State University of New York Press). Ferrer, Jorge, editor, The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies (2008, Albany, NY: SUNY, State University of New York Press). Freinacht, Hanzi, The Listening Society: A Metamodern Guide to Politics, Book One (2017, Metamoderna). Kegan, Robert, The Evolving Self: Problem and Process in Human Development (1982, Cambridge: Harvard University Press). Luna, Alejandro Christian, “The Light and Shadow of Ken Wilber According to Astrology,” published on Integral World website, May 2024. McIntosh, Steve, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution (2007, NY: SelectBooks; 2013, Paragon House, Reprint edition). Pema, Dragpa, An Integral View of Tibetan Buddhism: Preserving Lineage Wisdom in the 21st Century (2023, Occidental, CA: Bright Alliance). Reynolds, Brad, Embracing Reality: The Integral Vision of Ken Wilber—A Historical Survey and Chapter-By-Chapter Guide to Wilber's Major Works (NY: Tarcher/Putnam, 2004). Reynolds, Brad, Where's Wilber At? The Vision of Ken Wilber in the Third Millennium (Paragon House, 2006). Reynolds, Brad, God's Great Tradition of Global Wisdom: Guru Yoga-Satsang in the Integral Age—An Appreciation of Avatar Adi Da Samraj in Illuminating The Great Tradition of Humankind (2021, Occidental, CA: Bright Alliance). Reynolds, Brad, In God's Company: Transcending the Fear of Guru-Cults In The Integral Age—An Appreciation of Avatar Adi Da Samraj as an Authentic Agent of Divine Enlightenment (2024, Occidental, CA: Bright Alliance). Schwartz, Tony, What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America (1995, 1996, New York: Bantam Books). Visser, Frank, Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion (SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology) (2003, 2013, SUNY State University of New York Press). Visser, Frank, My Critical Essays on Ken Wilber: A List of My Contributions (www.integralworld.net/visser25.html) White, John, “Ken Wilber: The Einstein of Consciousness Research,” Phoenix, Vol. 6, Nos. 1 and 2, 1982; New Age Book Review, 1983; Yoga Journal, July-August, 1986. White, John, The Meeting of Science and Spirit: Guidelines for a New Age: The Next Dynamic Stage of Human Evolution, and How We Will Attain It (1990, NY: Paragon House). Wilber, Ken, Eye to Eye: The Quest for the New Paradigm (1983, 1990, 2nd edition, 2001, Boston: Shambhala Publications). Wilber, Ken, The Eye of Spirit: An Integral Vision for a World Gone Slightly Mad (1997, 2001, Boston: Shambhala Publications). Wilber, Ken, Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy (2000, Boston: Shambhala Publications). Wilber, Ken, Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World (2006, Boston: Shambhala Publications). Wilber, Ken, The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions (2017, Boston: Shambhala Publications). Wilber, Ken, Finding Radical Wholeness: The Integral Path to Unity, Growth, and Delight (2024, Boston: Shambhala Publications). NOTES
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