There’s an interesting passage in Ken Wilber’s A Theory of Everything called “Integral Governance.” The idea is that his integral philosophy can be applied to every facet of human activity, including governments. He starts off the section by talking about how the US Constitution serves (or served) as a “pacer of transformation” - that it set a moral standard which was higher than that of the average person, to give them something to strive for. An interesting concept, though I’m not sure if I agree with it. Wilber talks about how the Constitution was the “culmination of first-tier governance philosophy” and that the main realities that they were addressing in writing if where the “formation and relation of the corporate states that evolved out of feudal empires and ancient nations.”
In other words, he seems to think it’s a trifle out of date. But don’t rely on my interpretation, check out what Wilber says on page 90:
But now global systems and integral meshworks are evolving out of corporate states and value communities. These interdependent systems require governance capable of integrating (not dominating) nations and communities over the entire spiral of interior and exterior development. What the world needs now is the first genuinely second-tier [ie, integral, holistic] form of political philosophy and governance. I believe, of course, that it will be an all-quadrant, all-level political theory and practice, deeply integral in its structures and patterns. This will in no way replace the US Constitution (or that of any other nation), [emphasis mine] but will simply situate it in global meshworks that facilitate mutual unfolding and enhancement - an integral and holonic politics.
The question remains: exactly how will this be conceived, understood, embraced and practiced? What precise details, what actual specifics, where and how and when? This is the great and exhilirating call of global politics at the millenium. We are awaiting the new global founding Fathers and Mothers who will frame an integral system of governance that will call us to our more encompassing future, [emphasis mine] that will act as a gentle pacer of transformation for the entire spiral of human development, honoring each and every wave as it unfolds, yet kindly inviting each and all to even greater depth.
I have yet to really follow this aspect of the research up, but does anybody have a good handle on what Wilber’s government and social contacts are? Is he the darling of the One World Government people that I expect he is from that above quote? The only evidence I’ve seen of that so far is his connection to the “Changing Images 2000” report of the Fetzer Institute. Wilber seems to have his hands in everything though, so I expect this is just one of many examples. What’s Wilber’s standing with the UN? With the Bush administration? With all the usual suspects of the New World Order conspiracy theories? Can somebody put together a nice list for me?
Does anyone else get the sneaking suspicion that Wilber’s integral philosophy is going to form the blueprint of a super-happy-fun-time One World Government? Is that a bad thing? Isn’t it better than the encroaching fascist police state that we seem to be moving towards? Or is it actually another name for the same thing? On the surface, he seems to be saying nice things: we’ll get to “keep” our Constitution (as it’s integrated into a “meshwork”), we’ll be gently “encouraged” and “honored” according to whatever level of human development we’re at, all guided by our benevolent holonic overseers whose motivation is entiraly altruistic and “integral to the bone”. Yeah sounds super. Sounds like the latest in a long line of justifications stretching back into the dawn of humanity for small groups of “illuminated” individuals to make decisions for everybody else.
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15 Comments
oh yeah i can see it…UN troops forcing everyone to wear color-coded clothing, in accordance with their capacity to ‘integrate’. definitely has a ‘logan’s run’ flavor to it.
well you probably’ll guess my opinion– once someone who claims to be a ’spiritual’ leader or guru starts dabbling in politics, that’s that. as ellul says again and again, it’s the political illusion, a red herring, an endless loop where all one can do is propose contentless means to reach ever-receding ends.
lucy wants charlie brown to kick the football. promises, promises. no, we don`t want to replace the constitution……………..a clue, i believe.
J. Puma: Wilber never claims that he is a spiritual leader or guru, in fact he goes out of his way to say that he’s only a philosopher who deals with spiritual issues.
As for Wilber and One-World Government… yeah, I’d say it’s fair to say he supports the idea, and I think it will probably be inevitable, as it’s ultimately going to be the only way to bring multinational capitalism under control before every economy in the world is systematically raped. Though I’m guessing it will take a form more akin to the EU (only hopefully more libertarian and less bureaucratic!) than the UN, with membership being voluntary and members having to meet certain requirements regarding governmental openness, universal civil rights, free trade, etc.
KW and the New World Order? Well, here’s what I know:
Both Bill Clinton and Al Gore are very big fans of Wilber, and they’ve expressed interest in conducting dialogues with him (ala IntegralNaked, I’d imagine, if they’re not private).
Jeb Bush had his staff trained in Spiral Dynamics seminars. No other connections between Bush and Wilber that I know of.
Tony Blair also had much of his staff trained in Spiral Dynamics…
Ken Wilber’s Sex, Ecology, Spirituality is a very popular book with management trainers worldwide, and it’s a required part of Motorola’s management training programs (given they have tens of thousands of managers throughout the world, that’s definitely some influence).
Wilber has quite a few fans among the World Economic Forum, and probably the UN as well…
In any event though, an “integral” world government sounds better than what we have in place right now… yipes…
Oh that World Economic Forum is a good catch. I forgot about that one, thanks! Will definitely be following that up.
Doesn’t matter what people claim to be. What they are is what they are!
why doesn’t that make me comfortable?
“who moved my cheese?” was also a huge management training book– doesn’t make it any better or worse.
so is the bible.
Yeah, the boys in Davos LOVE Wilber- and they like Don Beck even more. If you’re looking for Wilber’s link to the halls of power, it’s probably Dr. Spiral Dynamics himself.
As for Wilber being a Guru… well, I’d say he’s more of a “guru” in the style of Freud or Jung than Rajneesh or Adi Da. He’s created an intellectual cargo cult around himself and attracted a lot of big name followers. I doubt he’ll be building a compound or telling folks to worship him any time soon, however…
I kind of cringe at comparing him to Jung though, to be honest… I don’t think Wilber’s work is even a tenth of as groundbreaking or important, or in line with mystical traditions through history. Jung makes him look like a twerp
I’ve long thought the opposite was true… Wilber makes a tremendous amount of sense to me, whereas Jung’s philosophy just strikes me as close to useless, and insufficiently systematic. Wilber’s system (though he imports a lot of it from Huston Smith) seems much more in line with mystical traditions of spiritual development throughout history. All I’d say is that Wilber has a tendency to marginalize traditions that he doesn’t like or understand (for instance, he seems to have no grasp at all of Hermeticism, Ritual Magick, Gnosticism or Alchemy- to him, the important elements of the western tradition are Catholic contemplation, Orthodox Qabalah, Plotinus, and Sufism- the closest he comes to acknowledging other esoteric strands is a bit of fondness for Jacob Boehme. I think it might have been a flirtation with Theosophy in the early 70’s that turned him off to esotericism, but that’s just speculation on my part). Despite this, his model seems to integrate spiritual development in a much more coherent (there’s that damn word again!) fashion than Jung, though that could be my rational, hierarchical bias speaking again (which itself could be the consequence of playing Dungeons and Dragons and computerized “simulator” games, such as SimCity, Civilization, and SimEarth for far too many years, and thus seeing everyone and everything in terms of “levels” and “stats”…
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Maybe I just haven’t read enough Jung, however. Most of the scholars and professors I’ve talked to about Jung say he’s a waste of time, but they could be wrong… they tend to prefer the Smith/Wilber view of development, or are hardcore Aristotelians…
Okay, well that helps me to understand your background.
And this is essentially where Jung really excels, where he blows away just about everybody else. And that’s probably why I like him so much.
Again, what “uses” are you hoping to derive from a school of thinking? His fans and Wilber himself talks endlessly about applications and uses, but I honestly find it all a little vague (but then, I only read TOE). And then when I try to extrapolate how these things might be applied in a practical manner (here, or in the one about the personality types), people tell me that’s not what Wilber’s really saying - that his ideas aren’t meant to be used like that. Would somebody give me an example of how they ARE meant to be used? I also think it’s crap to put out ideas, ask people to apply them, and then criticize them for applying them in a way you didn’t intend. That’s just the nature of the beast! It’s what makes human cultural discourse so profound!
Unfortunately, if you want to understand Jung, you can’t start with him. I know I trashed Wilber for jargon, but Jung is also extremely dense in that regard. The best thing to do is to read his students. Marie Louise Von Franz and Edward Edinger are both fucking geniuses in their own right, and will give you the best foundation on Jung. Pick up any of their books which may interest you topically, and then go from there. Erich Von Neumann is good too. His book The Origins & History of Consciousness I think makes an excellent counter-point to Wilber’s talk of the “pre/trans fallacy”
Here’s a simple rule of thumb - don’t trust scholars or professors. But then, that’s why I dropped out of college after a year and started calling myself an *occult investigator* a few years later… I just like cutting my own way through the forest I guess.
Marie Louise Von Franz, Edinger (I’ve heard of his Ego & Archetype, but never read it), Neumann… gotcha. All going on the list.
And yes, I generally have a tendency to trust my professors, tutors, and advisors, often a bit more than I should. I’m still in graduate school, and probably will be for another 6+ years, given that I want to someday have a decent, paying job. Earning $10 an hour doing clerical work for the rest of my natural life vs. pursuing a professorship in the Ivies or a career with a Washington think-tank… it’s a no-brainer. But hey, that’s my life. Each to their own. I’ve thought about dropping out more times than I care to remember- until I recall what the consequences are.
Consequences schmonsequences, that’s all I have to say! Anyway, it’s been great to have you on board to discuss Wilber-stuff with. I hope you’ll stick around after things get a little less integral in the near future.
i have to tell you ken wilber’s integralism is just the kind of secular religion the NWO would be looking for. basically wilber’s current philosophical phase or as he calls it ‘Wilber 5′ started back when he discovered spiral dynamics by don beck in 2000. now spiral dynamics uses the theory of memetics but with a twist, as don beck sells himself and his book to corporations as the perfect solution for employee conflict in business, ie social control. so what i mean to say is with ken wilber’s ever evolving god conscious ‘god will become us’, or rrather that we humans, conscious beings are god to a degree/will become god AND you toss in spiral dynamics (a crafty tool to identify people’s mental landscapes and how they act from them - memes) you get an excellent means of social control through meme exploitation with the added spiritual delusion that is ken wilber’s perpetuative ability good (a mental virus of its own)
a side note: ken wilber likes to say that Tony Blair is the most integral leader there is today. while Don Beck told once that George Bush is such a nice guy who was ‘chosen by the spiral’ whatever that means
Wilber is over ambitious with his AQAL model (his self-styled ‘theory of everything’). He is not a philosopher, and philosophers don’t take him seriously. Why? Because he is not that profound a thinker. Everything he says has already been said, and those who claim he is one of the most important thinkers of our time have no understanding of the history of ideas. For example, YES, Jung was indeed way more groundbreaking in many ways because he came up with a new way to understand human consciousness.
Basically, if you aren’t a spiritual person Wilber derides you for having a ‘flatland’ cosmology. But just what the hell is spirituality? Wilber gives his version and if your’s doesn’t match his then you are assumed to be intellectually inferior. Not a very integral approach. Furthermore, it’s awfully conceited to think that everyone else on the planet has, in Wilber’s words, ‘partial truths’, but only some thoerist from Nebraska is smart enough to transcend all the world’s best thinkers and find the ultimate framework into which all the so-called ‘partial views’ fit. HA!!!