Integral theory is Ken Wilber's attempt to place a wide diversity of theories and thinkers into one single framework.^[1] It is portrayed as a 'theory of everything' ('the living Totality of matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit'),^[2] trying 'to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.'^[1]

Wilber's integral theory has been applied by some in a limited range of domains. The Integral Institute publishes the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice,^[3] and SUNY Press has published nine books in the 'SUNY series in Integral Theory.'^[4] Wilber's ideas have mainly attracted attention in specific subcultures, and have been widely ignored in academia.^[5]^[6]

1Origins and background
- 1.2Background
2Theory

Origins and background[edit]

Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision: A Review Of Applications In Education Toward. A “Wisdom Culture”-R. Michael Fisher. For over 30 years, contemporary American integral philosopher, Ken Wilber. Ken Wilber’s Integral Vision: A Review Of Applications In Education Toward. A “Wisdom Culture”-R. Michael Fisher. For over 30 years, contemporary American integral philosopher, Ken Wilber, has.

Origins[edit]

Ken Wilber's 'Integral Theory' started as early as the 1970s, with the publication of The Spectrum of Consciousness,^[7] that attempted to synthesize eastern religious traditions with western structural stage theory, models of psychology development that describe human development as following a set course of stages of development.^[8]^{[note 1]}

Wilber's ideas have grown more and more inclusive over the years, incorporating ontology, epistemology, and methodology.^[9] Wilber, drawing on both Aurobindo's and Gebser's theories, as well as on the writings of many other authors, created a theory which he calls AQAL, 'All Quadrants All Levels'.

Background[edit]

Sri Aurobindo[edit]

The adjective integral was first used in a spiritual context by Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) from 1914 onward to describe his own spiritual teachings, which he referred to as Purna (Skt: 'Full') Yoga. It appeared in The Synthesis of Yoga, a book that was first published in serial form in the journal Arya and was revised several times since.^[10]

Sri Aurobindo's work has been described as Integral Vedanta ^[11]^[12] and Integral psychology (Sri Aurobindo)psychology,^[13]^[14] as well (the term coined by Indra Sen) and the psychotherapy that emerges from it.^[15] His writings influenced others who used the term 'integral' in more philosophical or psychological contexts.

In the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, integral yoga refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the Divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence.

As described by Sri Aurobindo and his co-worker The Mother (1878–1973), this spiritual teaching involves an integral divine transformation of the entire being, rather than the liberation of only a single faculty such as the intellect or the emotions or the body. According to Sri Aurobindo,

(T)he Divine is in his essence infinite and his manifestation too is multitudinously infinite. If that is so, it is not likely that our true integral perfection in being and in nature can come by one kind of realisation alone; it must combine many different strands of divine experience. It cannot be reached by the exclusive pursuit of a single line of identity till that is raised to its absolute; it must harmonise many aspects of the Infinite. An integral consciousness with a multiform dynamic experience is essential for the complete transformation of our nature. — Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 114

Aurobindo's ideas were further explored by Indra Sen (1903–1994) in the 1940s and 1950s, a psychologist, and devotee of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. He was the first to coin the term 'Integral psychology' to describe the psychological observations he found in Sri Aurobindo's writings (which he contrasted with those of Western Psychology), and developed themes of 'Integral Culture' and 'Integral Man'.^[16]

These ideas were further developed by Haridas Chaudhuri (1913–1975), a Bengali philosopher and academic who founded in 1968 the California Institute of Integral Studies.^[17]

Jean Gebser[edit]

The word integral was independently suggested by Jean Gebser (1905–1973), a Swissphenomenologist and interdisciplinary scholar, in 1939 to describe his own intuition regarding the next stage of human consciousness. Gebser was the author of The Ever-Present Origin, which describes human history as a series of mutations in consciousness. He only afterwards discovered the similarity between his own ideas and those of Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin.^[18] In his book The Ever-Present Origin, Gebser distinguished between five structures of consciousness: archaic, magic, mythical, mental, and integral. Gebser wrote that he was unaware of Sri Aurobindo's prior usage of the term 'integral', which coincides to some extent with his own.^{[citation needed]}

Georg Feuerstein[edit]

The German indologist Georg Feuerstein first wrote about Integralism in 'Wholeness or Transcendence? Ancient Lessons for the Emerging Global Civilization' (1992). Feuerstein used this term to refer to a particular outlook on spirituality which he saw present in the Indian tantric traditions. Feuerstein outlined three major approaches to life in Indian spirituality: nivritti-marga (path of cessation), pravritti-marga (path of activity) and purna-marga (path of wholeness).^[19] The path of cessation is the traditional path of renunciation and asceticism practiced by sanyasins with the goal of liberation from this world, while the path of activity is the pursuit of worldly goods and happiness. Feuerstein ties this integral approach to nondual Indian philosophy and the tantric tradition. According to Feuerstein the integral or wholeness approach: 'implies a total cognitive shift by which the phenomenal world is rendered transparent through superior wisdom. No longer are things seen as being strictly separated from one another, as if they were insular realities in themselves, but everything is seen together, understood together, and lived together. Whatever distinctions there may be, these are variations or manifestations of and within the selfsame Being.'^[20] An integral worldview also leads to body and sex positivism and anti-asceticism. Even negative experiences such as pain and disgust are seen as integral to our life and world and thus are not rejected by the integral approach, but used skillfully.

Collaboration with Don Beck[edit]

After completing SES, Ken Wilber started to collaborate with Don Beck, whose 'Spiral Dynamics' shows strong correlates with Wilber's model.^[21]

In Spiral Dynamics, Don Beck and Chris Cowan use the term integral for a developmental stage which sequentially follows the pluralistic stage. The essential characteristic of this stage is that it continues the inclusive nature of the pluralistic mentality, yet extends this inclusiveness to those outside of the pluralistic mentality. In doing so, it accepts the ideas of development and hierarchy, which the pluralistic mentality finds difficult. Other ideas of Beck and Cowan include the 'first tier' and 'second tier', which refer to major periods of human development.^{[citation needed]}

Theory[edit]

All Quadrants All Levels[edit]

Upper-Left (UL)

'I'
Interior Individual
Intentional

e.g. Freud

Upper-Right (UR)

Ken Wilber Pdf