Philosophy: (1 of 3) Ken Wilber

So I’m reading Ken Wilber now (thanks to Zen Unbound’s comments); more ‘listening to him‘ actually, I have Kosmic Consciousness on audio, along with A Brief History of Everything, which I tried to get into a while back but got distracted.

I also read “A Way out for Wilberians” by John Heron, a critical examination of his life’s work today. I didn’t find it too convincing, to be honest. Quotes like, “Buddhists throw the distinct baby out with the separated bathwater” tend to show a low level of understanding of such doctrines as no-self (anatta, anatman). A good criticism must display competence in the subject being criticized. (hopefully I can take my own advice here! I find myself critical at times – but try to make clear my level of knowledge when doing so)

Heron also makes logical leaps such as this (attempting to discredit Wilber’s theory of evolution): “Wilber picks out one ancient sage after another, each of whom was the first explorer of some high spiritual stage (1983: 241-60). This means they did it all alone, without one whit of necessary co-evolvement, of agency-in-communion, of inseparable interaction.” No… to be the first explorer of some particular spiritual stage requires standing on the shoulders of those who have come before you. Heron’s cite from Wilber doesn’t support his assertion.

Heron’s criticisms seem to come from a particular stage in Wilber’s schemata, where relative truths are admitted, but absolute Truth is still looked at a bit scornfully (a stage I suppose we all move through, see my next post). But, from what little I have absorbed of Wilber’s thought (maybe 1%!), he seems to anticipate this entirely. In the end, Heron’s criticism made me more interested in Wilber’s work (sometimes your best supporter is an attempted critic).

That’s not to say that I’m a wholesale proponent of Wilber (it would be pretty sad if I were after such a brief introduction to his thought). I agree with some of Heron’s implicit assertions in the beginning of his work: that sometimes a mind (such as Wilber’s) attracts uncritical sycophants. Buddhist teachers have the same problem, summed up by the ironic comment: “I am pointing toward the Truth, but all you do is stare at my finger.” However, in the audio I’ve heard thus far, Ken Wilber has made it clear that he is ‘storytelling’ or ‘mapmaking’, not revealing absolute truth (as something for us to grab and hold forever as our own).