Ken Wilber is a mystic-par-excellence and he lets you know it from the first page. For those unfamiliar with his work, he basically launched the transpersonal psychology movement back in the late 1970s with his "Spectrum of Consciousness" book; here he tackles that controversial of all topics, human origins--not just anthropological evolution, although he definitely covers that; but CULTURAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, and SPIRITUAL evolution. As noted by others, he definitely buys into some of the work of Joseph Campbell (read: Carl Jung mark II); he synthesizes this perspective with some remarkable insights not only on how human consciousness evolved, but how this process is traceable through the archaeological record and through the myths of our distant, proto-human ancestors. He also highly touts (with good reason) the "perennial philosophy" of mysticism, and uses it in tandem with existential, psychological, and anthropological insights. What is slightly difficult about Wilber is the way he treats the major world religions, however. I'm not saying I think he'll go to hell, I'm not a dogmatist by any means nor do I believe in a hell; but as a former theology student I do find some of his terms puzzling. He consistently uses the words "Atman" as representative of the "Ground of Being" (ie. Paul Tillich's term for "God"), and talks about Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism, and many strains of Hinduism as essentially the same. If he'd done his homework he'd know that "Atman" is not the Whole; that's BRAHMAN, as any Hindu will tell you! And the key to salvation in Hinduism is the enlightenment that the Atman-self inside the human soul and the Brahman, the Universal Self, are one--he alludes to this idea but uses the wrong terminology. His understanding of Judaism and Christianity are also somewhat skewed; he basically sees Jesus of Nazareth being at heart a Gnostic and somewhat divorces him from Jewish ideas, and chooses to take the esoteric, symbolic ideas of the Gospel of John rather literally, making Christ seem a lot more like Buddha. I greatly admire and respect both Buddha and Christ, but I think Wilber does a small disservice to both traditions by assuming they are essentially the same. Nonetheless, these are merely academic differences of opinion; I think Wilber has made a significant stride towards healing the split between the rational and intuitive natures of humanity, and this book is a solid contribution to an emerging body of holistic literature which is helping us all become more integrated, self-aware human beings.

After the success of his initial works (The Spectrum of Consciousness and No Boundary), Ken Wilber gave his "spectrum" model a serious reappraisal and found it woefully lacking. It seemed that he had made a mistake that he goes on to chide others for in his later books- he confused prerational myths with transcendental truths, and confused the spiritual fall with the scientific fall. He makes up for his previous errors with "Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution".

In UFE, Wilber covers the historical development of consciousness, from the animalistic/uroboric level to the typhonic, and then to the development of the Solar ego, the disassociation of the mind from the body, and the development of the rational mind. But he takes it a step further as well, discussing the development of transrational consciousness throughout history, and discussing the differences between magical fetishism and psychic Nirmanakaya and between mythic religion and subtle archetype. Drawing upon Freud, Jung, Campbell, and a ream of Anthropoligical and Archaeological data, Wilber paints us a fascinating picture of society, it's history, and it's discontents. Lastly, he finishes the book by discussing his ideas for a politics of the transrational, in a fascinating chapter titled "Republicans, Democrats, and Mystics".

As far as Wilber's older books go, this is one not to be missed. Although some concepts are better elucidated in Wilber's later "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality", nowhere does he draw on more anthropological support for his theories than in "Up From Eden".

What a great book. It's the human evolution of consciousness. Ken has shown in his other books how we progress through several, well defined, stages of congnitive growth. In this book he discusses the same stages but with the period in history that they are associated with. He also keeps track of the highest achievers of each period.

... and for Wilber, this is it. The Spectrum of Consciousness was Wilber's first attempt at outlining an integral model of the human psychological experience, combining Freudian ego-psychology, existentialism, and spiritual transcendence in one neat, elegant package. Although the original conception shown here has not survived the test of time (or Wilber's ever critical mind), it still stands as a masterful beginning to a corpus of work that will make Wilber as famous and influential as Nietzsche and Freud a century from now. For an intellectual treat, read this book in conjunction with Wilber's "No Boundary", and then compare with "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality" and "Integral Psychology" for a fascinating look at the continuing evolution of integral thought. Enjoy!

Ken is considered one of the greats when it comes to the philosophical study on consciousness. This book is an objective comparative study of world religions and philosophies. Wilbers cuts through the mysticism to find the underlying mechanisms of the various disciplines.

There are some people that suggest that Wilber has been too repetitive in his last few books. That he's simply been repeating the same basic refrain over and over again. I can understand that criticism, but I disagree with it. Wilber's theory of integration is both complex and important, and I find it incredibly useful to have new books in which he expands the examples of his theory. My own feeling is that the integral theory is a very important theory to understand, so the more in depth Wilber goes, and the various diffirent paths of exploration he goes at his thory from, the happier I am, as I feel like I have a greater grasp of what he's speaking about. As an aside, there is a wondeful novel called We All Fall Down by Brian Caldwell which seems to take quite a bit of Wilber's theory, and even mentions him several times in the book. The novel is a great example of a man caught trying to transform his life into something better, but who is able only to translate. It's about the frustration and difficulties in trying to move up to the next level of consciousness. Techinically, it's set in a Christian framework, but it elevates past that small structure and uses it to really bring home quite a few of Wilber's theories. It's a wonderful novel and I'd highly recomend it to any fan of Wilber.

Extending the message of THE MYSTIC HEART, Teasdale articulates a challenge to all of us to live our spirituality by engaging the world and it's many problems through the lovingkindness, compassion, mercy and justice at the core of the great spiritual traditions. The challenge is an important one during this period of spiritual awakening that we are experiencing, particularly in the USA. Self-centered spirituality ignores the core teachings of Jesus, Buddha, and so many others regarding selfless love and service. His challenge is nothing less than to change the world, to create "a civilization with heart!"

In doing so, he describes a variety of spiritual practices and perspectives, punctuated with personal and other stories. He then articulates a number of critical social needs, focusing on some of his personal passions: homelessness, oppression of Tibet, and world violence.

He also critices the Catholic Church for its failures to fulfill the Christian message of compassion and service in the world, particularly for the poor and oppressed in Tibet, China, and elsewhere. In the end, Teasdale offers a challenge to the Church to be the "matrix" or model for the interfaith dialogue and "a new human order."

The book includes numerous suggestions for each of us to engage our spirituality in the world through compassionate action and service. It is an important message for the new millennium.

How does one cultivate a spiritual life in the modern world? In 1986 the author accepted an invitation to visit a Benedictine monk living in India: his third visit prompted an invitation to take an Indian monkhood. His experiences as a monk and mystic make for thought-provoking, important reading.

Read this book if you hunger for more than just the daily grind. Teasdale will light the lampost to the formation of the interior silence. A great book by a man who is not afraid to share his vision and experience.

Wilber is no doubt an excellent philosopher, and his notion that every aspect of human "consciousness"-especially spiritual consciousness-can and should be integral topics of study in psychology is indisputable. However, Wilber's book is a good example of the mistakes made by those who attempt to posit theory in disciplines they are not sufficiently trained in. Psychology is a science-or, at least, an attempt at science-and, as such, involves more than just logic and appeals to aspects of consciousness that have long been granted legitimacy in non-scientific fields. Wilber's "system of psychology" could not be adequately subjected to empirical analysis because it is simply not quantifiable and relies too heavily on unobservables and posited structures. This book is worth reading, and may hopefully serve as a call to arms (along with several other existing calls to arms) for empirical psychologists to embrace topics like spirituality. At the least, it may inspire people in our scientific age to re-consider spirituality as legitimate and worthwhile. But it is not psychology in its best scientific sense, and should not be mistaken for it.

"The roots of modern psychology lie in spiritual traditions, precisely because the psyche itself is plugged into spiritual sources." As a branch of his Integral Studies, Wilber reviews the history of psychology and establishes his Integral Psychology as, of course, necessarily a developmental one. Few are integrating East and West better than Ken Wilber, and no one explains the painful ramifications of the four hundred year split between matter and spirit better. No one offers better (integral) solutions. The correlating charts here alone are worth the price of the book.

One objection I must include: "Horizontal Typologies" on page 53. "Finally, a word about 'horizontal' typologies, such as Jungian types, the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, and so forth. For the most part, these are not vertical levels, stages, or waves of development, but rather different types of orientations possible at each of the various levels." For the most part. For one thing, "Jungian types" and "Myers-Briggs" are the same thing; for another, the unfolding developmental pattern of hardwired Jungian function preferences (extravert/introvert, thinking/feeling, intuition/sensation) may very well fit vertically into Wilber's charts. Nevermind -- he has something important to add to, revise or refine in his stunning four quadrant model with each new book (here he joins with Spiral Dynamics), and he, most important, never fails to make a deliberate point to welcome authoritative feedback for continual revision for accuracy and precision. "Whatever [integral] contributions any of us might make will only be the shoulders, we can hope, upon which others will soon stand."

This is the second book I've read toward my goal of reading all of Ken
Wilber's books this year. In 1835, philosopher Gustav Fechner wrote
"Man lives on earth not once, but three times: the first stage of
life is continual sleep; the second, sleeping and waking by turns; the
third, waking forever (pp. vii-ix). This observation inspired Wilber
to write this book. His aim, he writes, is to start a discussion, not
to finish it, to act as a beginning, not an end (pp. xii; 193).
Wilber's book is not so much a "history of psychology," as
he calls it (p. ix), but an attempt to reconcile the spiritual
dimensions of the human consciousness with the discipline of
psychology. "Consciousness is real, the inward observing self is
real, the soul is real, however much we debate the details"
(p. xi).

From Wilber's perspective, we are living in a modern
"flatland." "The nightmare of scientific materialism is
upon us (Whitehead), the nightmare of the one-dimensional man
(Marcuse), the disqualified universe (Mumford), the colonization of
art and morals by science (Habermas), the disenchantment of the world
(Weber)" (p. 70). "Flatland," Wilber explains, is
"the belief that only the Right-Hand world is real--the world of
matter/energy, empirically investigated by the human senses and their
extensions (telescopes, microscopes, photographic plates, etc.). All
of the interior worlds are reduced to, or experienced by
objective/external terms" (p. 70). Modernity "marked the
death of God, the death of the Goddess, the commodification of life,
the leveling of qualitative distinctions, the brutalities of
capitalism, the replacement of quality by quantity, the loss of value
and meaning, the fragmentation of the lifeworld, existential dread,
polluting industrialization, a rampant and vulgar materialism"
(p. 59). With the "thundering authority of science"
(p. 55), modernity denies the premodern belief that higher potentials
are available to any individual "who wishes to pursue a path of
awakening, liberation, or enlightenment" (p. 55), and reduces the
entire spectrum of consciousness and certainly its higher levels (soul
and spirit) . . . to permutations and combinations of matter and
bodies" (p. 64). However, Wilber is not without optimism.
"This is the dawning of the age of vision-logic," he writes,
"the rise of the network society, the postmodern, aperspectival,
internetted global village. Evolution in all forms has started to
become conscious of itself. Evolution, as Spirit-in-action, is
starting to awaken on a more collective scale" (pp. 193-4).

A
truly integral psychology, Wilber says, would involve the best of
religious premodernity, scientific modernity, and postmodernity,
"all level, all quadrant" (p. 87). "The soul is not
running around out there in the physical world; it cannot be seen with
a microscope or telescope or photographic plates. If you want to see
the soul, you must turn within. You must develop your consciousness.
You must grow and evolve in your capacity to perceive the deeper
layers of your Self, which disclose higher levels of reality: the
great within that is beyond: the greater the depth, the higher the
reality" (p. 189).

Integration is possible through authentic
spiritual practice. Authentic spirituality is "fostered by
diligent, sincere, prolonged spiritual practice . . . such as active
ritual, contemplative prayer, shamanic voyage, intensive meditation,
and so forth. All of those open one to a direct experience of
Spirit" (p. 136). In one of the book's many poetic passages,
Wilber writes, "looking deep within the mind, in the very most
interior part of the self, when the mind becomes very, very quiet, and
one listens very carefully, in that infinite Silence, the soul begins
to whisper, and its feather-soft voice takes one far beyond what the
mind could ever imagine, beyond anything rationality could possibly
tolerate, beyond anything logic can endure. In its gentle
whisperings, there are the faintest hints of infinite love, glimmers
of a life that time forgot, flashes of a bliss that must not be
mentioned, an infinite intersection where the mysteries of eternity
breathe life into mortal time, where suffering and pain have forgotten
how to pronounce their own names, the secret quiet intersection of
time and the very timeless, an intersection called the soul"
(p. 106). Wilber encourages us to beware of those spiritual paths
that involve simply changing your beliefs or ideas. "Authentic
spirituality is not about translating the world differently, but about
transforming your consciousness" (p. 136).

Whether you are
interested in psychology or not, this book is filled with fascinating
insights into human consciousness. Although portions of Wilber's book
overlap in subject matter with his other books, this is not a
criticism. Rather, it is an indication, perhaps, of how
all-encompassing Wilber's philosophy is when applied to a variety of
subjects. This book left me in awe.

G. Merritt

This book is a sweeping overview of the Yoga tradition of India and its many subdivisions. He covers everything from Tantra yoga, Karma yoga to Sri Aurobindo and everything in between.

Does he do a good job at presenting this vast subject?
Yes and no. Yes he covers the various topics in some detail. Though his coverage is spotty. On some topics he does a good job and on others he glosses over. He also suffers though from accepting every guru and school as valid. As such he includes several well known cults and bogus teachers as legitimate.

He also does not cover the problems with gurus in the yoga tradition. A good many of them have sexually or emotionally abused their student and had to leave the schools they founded. The kundalini teachers are especially notorious in this regards.

Also does not adequately cover the so-called 'crazy wisdom' teaching and how it is abused.

Two cases of his intellectual sloppiness stand out:
Adi Da(franklin Jones)- a brutal authoritarian with a god complex, Fuerstein gives a glowing review of his teachings and him as a authentic guru. Da's group is considered a cult by all cult-watch organizations. BTW Fuerstein was/is a student of Da.

Yogi Bhahan. This man is teaching a mish-mash system of yoga with no lineage. The Sikh's don't even do yoga in India. It is also considered a cult. Yet georg includes his teaching as valid.

His inclusion of these two groups makes me wonder if he really does investigate and research the various schools of yoga or accepts what they say on face value.

As such this work is marred by dubious scholarship. Ken Wilber's glowing comments not withstanding.

Despite this it is still worth purchasing. But don't accept it on his say so alone, do some research.

This extraordinary work represents a lifetime of devotion to yoga by its preeminent Western scholar. It is at once a distillation and compilation of all that Georg Feuerstein has gleaned in his extensive travels both academically and spiritually. It greatly broadens the usual scope of yoga to include its manifestation in other religions and goes back in time to the edge of the prehistory. Feuerstein understands that yoga is both an ancient practice, and, by itself, a profound and venerable religion. More than anything, however, it is a salient expression of the culture and philosophy, the lifestyle and history of the Indian subcontinent where it was the midwife of the great religions of Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism and of course that great body of belief and practice known as Hinduism.

Feuerstein is in one sense a true believer. He has devoted his life to the study of yoga and attendant phenomena, in particular Hinduism and the broad Tantric tradition. One gets the sense that even here in this lengthy work, he knows much more than he is conveying; that there is a synergistic power in his extensive knowledge that allows him to know things that he cannot express. One feels his intense desire to say something that perhaps cannot be said, something spiritual and personal that can only be experienced.

In another sense he is a hard-working scholar who reports on what he has learned without passing unnecessary judgments or drawing unwarranted conclusions, although he does interpret. He is, in this sense, the American expression of the great French scholar Mircea Eliade with perhaps a pinch of the Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo, on the one hand, and the English tantrist Sir John Woodroffe, on the other, folded in.

The book begins with a thorough definition of yoga and then an overview, and then its inescapable conjoining with Hinduism. This is "Part One: Foundations." Then Feuerstein looks at "Pre-Classical Yoga" and overviews the entire Vedic tradition including the yoga of the earliest Upanishads, culminating in its expression in the Bhagavad Gita. Then in "Part Three: Classical Yoga," he comes to Patanjali and the yoga of the eight limbs, the famous yoga of the aphorisms. Part Four is "Post-Classical Yoga" from the later Yoga-Upanishads from the Middle Ages in which the focus is on bhakti, technique, mantra and meditation. It is here that Western readers will find much that is new, or at least not readily available in English. And it is here that a non-dualistic yogic philosophy (as opposed to the dualism of Patanjali) holds sway. Part Five is on tantrism and "Yoga as Spiritual Alchemy." It is in this last part that the so-called "subtle body," with its nadis and pranas, its cakras ("psychoenergetic centers") and the mysterious serpent power of kundalini, is explored in depth. Here too we have the ritualistic practice of the five forbidden things from tantra yoga, the infamous "left-handed path." Here is Feuerstein's take: "Practitioners of the left-hand path ()--vâma means both "left" and "woman"--know they are breaking profound social taboos, and their only justification for their conduct is that their goal is not sensual gratification but self-transcendence in the context of bodily existence." (p. 484)

To me--and I have studied and practiced yoga for 28 years--yoga is first and foremost a profound psychology, a way of life that has evolved along with the human experience, from the prehistory to today, a guide on how to live that has come down to us in part (only in part: so much has been lost) as a philosophic and religious tradition. Feuerstein's book is at once a great reference and a heart-felt exposition on the power of yoga to transcend this world in which we are enveloped in the "food sheath," where we are both the eater and the eaten, but with our eyes on the stars.

The book includes numerous black and white illustrations, passages from yogic works, and an extensive, selected bibliography. There is a chronology, a glossary and an excellent index.

This is a historic publication that will for decades be the most authoritative source for anything on yoga, ranging from its roots to its nurturing within the traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It is written in a very readable style, has a lot of illustrations, and it presents the translations from the originals of some key texts. Simply magnificent! This is a book everyone should have on their personal library shelves. It has also been nicely printed and designed.

Out of the cottage industry of new and recycled Wilber works, this book comes as the best representation of his thinking. In it, he is schematic and has tried to develop a theoretical framework on which to hang his ideas about what makes the universe run, in general, and human culture progress, in particular. It is a better exposition than his somewhat egotistical "Brief Explanation of Everything" and provides more of the sources from which he derived his concept.

This is the type of book that will intrigue students, fuel New Age adherents, alert science followers, and probably anger traditionalists in the religious and scientism fields. It is an interesting project. I am always skeptical of works that purport to explain in relatively simple ways the complexity of the universe or of the human mind (let alone both), but welcome any systematic attempts at exploring these. I bet there is a rising cult of Wilber followers, people who bring to the book various hopes or vaguenesses of discrimination that incline them to raise up a new prophet. But taken for the methodical thinking and consideration of philosophical ideas that it represents, the book deserves to be honestly read and considered. It would be interesting to see where Wilber would go with rigorous application of philosophical consideration or what serious commentators might add to the discussion.

This book is a strange mixture of oppositions; populist style and complex material, originality and repetition, astounding insight and blundering oversight. Wilber's insights into postmodernism, Freudian psychology and spiritual development are among the most original of the 20th century, but some authors he has obviously misread and others completely misunderstood, esp. Jung and various Western philosophers, and his claims to be a Buddhist are flatly contradicted by his holon theory, which is completely antithetical to the philosophical core of Buddhist teachings. His style, when dealing with complex material, is often very clear and precise, but the introduction and various individual paragraphs are full of misleading metaphors and populist literary techniques which give a sometimes sickly and pompous impression of Wilber. Certainly read this and appreciate it, but be careful not to be always taken in by his persuasive style, and remember to constantly question him.

It is interesting to read the other reviews on Wilber's masterpiece. Either the reviewer is too garbled in philosophical mumble to trust, too pretentious in his or her philosophy, or the reader apparently didn't read very well. This book is the most profound, encompassing book that I believe has ever been written. It integrates EVERYTHING without connecting EACH THING with hazy, seemingly forced strings. Instead, ALL is incorporated in a very simple, elegant pattern that (regardless of what anyone says) is undeniable. The pattern Wilber attempts to show us (and in order to get an intuitive feel for patterns, we must see it over and over... a tactic of Wilber's about which one reviewer complained), is the only pattern there CAN be. Wilber makes this evident, and to expect a belief such as reductionism or "flatland holism" to be proven wrong by virtue of its own tenets is impossible (a point Wilber makes time and again). These worldviews can only be seen wrong in light of a greater context, which Wilber provides.

This book was written with all the depth and scope that is. Those who complain about its lack of philosophical rigor don't know how to appreciate the honest sincerity with which Wilber writes this. He leaves room for modification and correction. Wilber is a wise, humble man whom all should be fortunate enough to read with an open mind and an open heart. He practices what he preaches, and this is detectable in the warm humor and light style with which he speaks.

If you are a rigorous philosopher looking for caustic argumentation and tedious dispute, this book is not for you. This book is for the honest, sincere reader who is seeking to understand all that is. Patterns cannot all be proven, but to see them is proof enough. If you try to see what Wilber asks you to, you will understand.

A Review from BLACK PEARL: The Journal of the College of Thelema (Vol. I, No. 5, March, 1999). Copyright 1999, College of Thelema (permission by editor granted Amazon Books to use). This is a flawed but thought-provoking synthesis of various scientific and "wisdom" traditions, both ancient and modern. Essentially a condensation of Wilber's Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, this book attempts to weave together the threads of Eastern and Western spiritual traditions including Buddhism and Kab-balah, with scientific findings in fields as diverse as psychology, anthropology, and biology. The book is written in a conversational, question/answer format well suited to the broad, intertwined topics being covered. The main problem with this approach is that the book is devoid of references, and there is a sense that the material has been watered down somewhat for mass consumption. Wilber is up front about this, however, and directs the reader to consult Sex, Ecology, Spirituality for elaboration. Some occasional redundancy further detracts from the book's impact, but not so much as to negate its value. In general, Wilber's treatment of the topic areas suggests he has a broad and balanced understanding of his material. This is, in fact, one of the primary reasons I can recommend this book to students of the Mysteries. It provides a convenient refresher course in various philosophies and their implications for modern scientific and spiritual thought. Wilber's "four-quadrant" model is the framework for this approach, and accounts for internal-external, and individual-collective polarities of the human condition. Remarkably, Wilber manages to communicate all this in a very readable and accessible manner, and his discussion of the material is quite insightful. Despite its flaws, this book would be a good addition to any student's library. - DAVID G. SHOEMAKER

To me as a scientific minded person approaching spirituality but having a hard time integrating the two, this book was a landmark.

Not only does the book give an excellent structure where all sorts of wisdom and knowledge may live side by side in a friendly manner, but on the personal level it helped me at least intellectually to unify various aspects of myself and my life.

Lately I have read large amounts of buddhist texts, new as well as traditional. This book takes a wider perspective and helps me relate my spiritual understanding and experiences in framework where it can co-exist with everything else I know about biology, physics, psychology, etc.

I recommend this book to everyone with an open mind that has the capacity to understand and grasp the subject and has any interest in science, psychology, philosophy, religion, history, feminism, biology.

I have already one other book by Wilber in my book stack, and I'm sure I will at least buy and read a few more before I move on.

Ken Wilber is one of the truly great wise men of our time. in this book he has given us a vast panoramic look at humankind's past, present, and possible future. primarily, he treats our spiritual nature and transpersonal potential. early in the book he writes, "i think the sages are the growing tip of the secret impulse of evolution. i think they are the leading edge of the self-transcending drive that always goes beyond what went before. i think they embody the very drive of the Kosmos toward greater depth and expanding consciousness. i think they are riding the edge of a light beam racing toward a rendezvous with God." he backs up this huge statement with a wise exploration of evolution, philosophy, history, psychology, systems theory, gods and goddesses, comparative religion, gaia theory, gender issues, great men and women of the past and much more. the question and answer format works well as he weaves into the tale interesting sidebars, humor, anecdotes, research and the musings of a modern mystic/seer/scholar. this book is something special and destined to be a classic in the field of human potential. whether you're an established Ken Wilber fan [as i am] or reading him for the first time, this book should be on your short-list of must read books. Enjoy!!!

This is by far one of the BEST books I have ever read in my life!!! Ken Wilber brilliantly addresses one of the most difficult arguments of the modern world... The integration of science and religion. Ken Wilber approaches this enormous beast by penetrating to the very CORE of all the world's great spiritual and wisdom traditions and empirical sciences. The dignities AND disasters of BOTH spheres are categorized and laid down on the table with a perspective that is absolutely astonishing! This book could very well lay the foundations for an integration that would FOREVER change our perception of the INTERIOR and EXTERIOR universe!!! I HIGHLY recommend this book and/or audio cassette to everyone.

I read the reviews of this book on this page and found that the ones that rated it poorly--including the _Kirkus Reviews_ review--demonstrate in their explanation a serious misunderstanding of what they ostensibly read. I don't have time for specifics, but I just wanted to say that this book is an excellent introduction to some of Wilber's ideas for the average reader unfamiliar with Wilber's more technical works (_Sex, Ecology, Spirituality_, _The Eye of Spirit_, _Up From Eden_, to name a few). More importantly, it is also an excellent explanation of the differences between science and religion, the differences between different conceptions of science, and the differences between different conceptions of religion--all of which, I assure you, Wilber understands perfectly. If you're at all interested in the topic, read this book. If you're looking for something a little more in-depth, you can't beat Wilber's _Sex, Ecology, Spirituality_.

I throughouly enjoyed this work. After reading this book, I was moved to read all that I can by Ken Wilber, starting (per his advice) with _Brief History of Everything_ and _The Eye of Spirit_ and almost everything after all. Its his style that I like best--that is, he writes for the layman, first time reader, and academic alike.

This books addresses the thread that can connect sprituality with science. That is all it is--not by reducing each, but by showing how they connect. It's really quite elementary in approach and it makes more and more sense with time.

The thread is that if something, some form of knowledge (beit scientific or spiritual) can be known, anyone can know it. It can be known each time someone (scientist or a spiritual seeker) sets out to find it. Do something, get results, compare with results of others doing the same thing. How much more scientific could an apporach be? Or even, how much more egalitarian could one hope for?

The assumption for this, and all of Wilber's books, is that spiritual experience is indeed "something." It might not be able to be seen in the laboratory, or in a test tube, but it is "something" and as such, can be studied, verified, debated, agreed upon--but more than that, can be *experienced*. If the reader does not share the same assumption, then she might not find much in this book worth much.

That thread is the crux of the book, and the rest is an interesting account of how historical movements (romantic on through post-modernism) have viewed knowledge. And in doing so, he provides the layman with a clear and general account of the movements, enough to give readers a working understanding and the ability to jabber and babble about "intellectual things" at parties.

This book does not address in great detail much of his work in transpersonal psychology, which perhaps is his strongest suit, and for that I'd recommend his newly published "Collected Works, Volume Four".

At least thirty percent of the population will probably not like this book, yet it may turn out to be a great example of the Perfect Postmodern Novel. If the three editorial reviews of "Boomeritis" I've seen are any indication, many readers will not understand Wilber's intent in writing this book. It's so sad when you see people get whacked between the eyes with a Stick Of Compassion and yet they don't even know they've been whacked.

You'll soon see why I give this book 5 stars, but this is what you can expect to find in Boomeritis (as I shamelessly rip concepts and phrases from the book - I doubt Ken would mind. He might even find it humorous):

1) This book is sharply critical of many of society's closely held ideals and ideas, and many sacred cows are viciously gored. Too, it isn't soothing that the author comes across as polemical and pathetically narcissistic.

2) As written, there seems to be no difference between fact and fiction. Did this really happen? Does this character really exist, or not? At least one character, in fact, has a real-life counterpart of the same name and job description, but others seem to be an amalgam of various personalities both real and fictional. And many so-called facts are truly questionable.

3) Some of the main characters have been portrayed with shady, shallow, and reprehensible backgrounds. A certain segment of the readership will probably find the demographic distribution of these characters to be expected and fitting, others will find it curiously unnerving.

4) It's boring! The writing is incredibly flat. It often seems to be all Theory, a stream of verbal vomit, with no flowing prose or colorful descriptions of surroundings, people, or places. If it weren't for the X-rated fantasy scenes interjected every ten minutes, would the book even hold our interest?

5) There seems to be no great, highbrow writing here, as we're accustomed to seeing from 'old' Ken Wilber. The text is simply an ad hoc mixture of fleeting images and scenes, largely drawing on elements of pop culture and the quintessential hooks of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.

6) The characters are flat and two-dimensional. No depth, only surfaces. 'Character development' would be an oxymoron in "Boomeritis."

7) The book is written with an attitude of cranky criticism. What is positive in the book has been ripped off from other people, including Wilber's own past work.

And all of that, Dear Souls, is exactly why this book is so darned wonderful!

Readers who are not at all aware of Wilber's intent will find the book to be most objectionable. (Let's hope!) Some readers might consider it to be nothing more than convoluted spew. (Well, yes, it is.) Others who are more familiar with Wilber's previous works will consider this to be a further reduction by a pandit who claims to shun reductionism, a lame attempt to boil his message down into a form suitable for mass marketing, a sell-out, nothing more than a continuation of the thinning down that was last seen in steps from "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality" to "A Brief History of Everything" to "A Theory Of Everything." (Okay, that's true, of course.)

If or when you feel this way, open your copy to page 324. Read the next few pages very carefully. Now, stop and realize: The book is INTENDED to be all of this and more!! (Or shall I say "less"?) This book is a deliberate poke in the ribs with a sharp stick. He even TELLS you this right in the text. Why does this escape some people? Gosh, it's about as subtle as, well, a sharp stick in the ribs.

I fear that many won't see the beauty of "Boomeritis." The cunning humor, irony, layered mind-play, inside jokes, fact, fiction and fantasy that were cleverly crafted into this intentionally vitriolic indictment of our society's greatest problem will go unnoticed as some engage in reflexive, knee-jerk reactions when confronted with their own behavior. Indeed, the more you react to this book in a negative fashion, the more you need to pay attention to exactly what it is that bothers you about it. Only truthful introspection will tell you, then, that Wilber has twanged a nerve for our betterment.

This is not a self-absorbed romp for Wilber; his intention is clear and pointed when you understand what he's doing. Through his latest work, he has attempted to make his message known to more people, primarily those not familiar with his previous work, in terms and language that they might absorb, understand, and integrate into their lives. Sadly, the fact that he's had to resort to this format says a lot more about the audience than it does about the author.

At the very least, Wilber has tried to reformat his message and, Spirit willing, he'll continue to try. If he can help just a fractional percentage of "Boomeritis" readers to move along on their path, then his efforts will not have been in vain. For those who 'get it', this book is a reaffirmation of what we have already experienced in the behaviors we've witnessed, in our own path, and in the unlimited potential of humanity unfettered by self-absorbtion. In the end, the book is every bit as touching and inspirational as we might expect from Ken Wilber, and his message remains the same. Only the format has changed, as he jumps up and down on the wire a bit more vigorously than before.

"My generation, my dear sweet generation, do you know how much I love them?" By now you know not to really expect a novel in Boomeritis -- the characters are slight but memorable. Expect Wilber's characteristic highly differentiated thinking at its best in a wickedly entertaining, endlessly ironic device to get you interested in the extremely important Spiral Dynamics and the disasters of pluralism, narcissism, deconstruction, the New Age, artificial intelligence, hardwired sexuality, "boomeritis" . . . . apparently a 1,000 page diatribe on "boomeritis" was edited in two weeks into this 456 page "novel." In his fabulous marriage to Spiral Dynamics, Wilber has written his best and most cutting popular descriptions of his Pre-Trans Fallacy, of preconventional/regressive and postconventional/integrated (and narcissistically resolved) values, behavior and "spirituality" to date. If you don't get every last nonstop beyond ironic joke in, about, and on the cover of this book that, despite the bitter irony of the subtitle, really is meant to "set you free" into the "hyperspace of second tier consciousness," it's frickin' time you did -- dude. The ultimate goal of Boomeritis is to get you to study second tier thinking and into an "integral transformative practice" (page 410). Though not without its uncovered flaws, on a scale of five stars Boomeritis is monumentally, gloriously way off the scale.

Having read all of Wilber's books, I often wonderd which would be the best introdution, the best to give to a skeptical professor or cynical freind, the book to spark a real interest. This book is it. As a daring, accurate, and sophisticated exposure of the narcissim which pervades our culture, Boomeritis is a demanding read. Philosophicaly dense, the book delves into the implications outlined in many of his other books. He outlines the cutting edge psychological model called Spiral Dynamics, and using this developmental framework he examines everything from post-modernism to UFO abductions, from 60's counter cuture to gender roles to artificial intelligence. And yet it's a novel, and it's witty and hilarious. The book unfolds as a series of lectures attended by some very cynical and always amusing gen Xers. But as the story moves along irony slowly gives way to a more serious look at the state of the world. Ultimately, however, it is an invitation to awaken not only to the meaning and depth in the world which unfolds around us, but to the very single Self which stares out through all our various eyes. Ken Wilber has released a bomb of integrity, a land mine of meaning into our culture, and disguised it as the perfect post-modern novel. Be careful, the blast may leave you naked and alone, but it may take you from that alone to the Alone.

As Ken Wilber's oeuvre has expanded, each new book becomes less a work unto itself and instead tends to illuminate one or another aspect of Wilber's broad worldview. Even with that in mind, this book fails to live up to either the "vision" described in the subtitle or Wilber's usual standard. Although the discussion on Beck and Cowan's Spiral Dynamics greatly enhances the four-quadrant holarchy (and greatly improves on Beck and Cowan's original), the section on politics only skims the surface of the possibilities and the section on business illuminates nothing, merely namedropping business writers who may, perhaps, someday give us a little integral vision. This is a shame because the spiral dynamics/holarchy discussion is his his most clear and concise presentation of it. If you havent read Wilber before, skim the early chapters in your bookstore and then pick up "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality" or "A Theory of Everything" to get a real glimpse of the rest.

Ken Wilber has been criticized for repeating the same themes over and over, from book to book. He answers this criticism by saying that he wants the reader of any one of his books, who might not have read his other work, to understand the specific subject of this or that particular book in the context of his overall system of thought. And, sure enough, A Theory of Everything re-covers much ground already thoroughly covered in many of his other books. But Wilber offers this as an introductory work (perhaps to a broader readership than he ordinarily reaches.) And the new ideas he offers in this book would probably be incomprehensible to new Wilber readers without an overview of his integral theory to go with them. So, what's in this book for readers new to Wilber and for KW veterans?

For the newbie, first of all, Ken Wilber is considered by many (including me) to be among the most profound thinkers of this age. Wilber says in the introduction to this work that he considers this the best introduction to his work. Well, it is relatively brief, it outlines rather succinctly key aspects of his overall thought and then applies that structure to areas of common interest like politics, medicine and business. This is interesting and will give the new reader a glimpse of the profundity of Wilber's work, the breadth of its potential applicability and will hopefully stimulate the reader's interest in reading his more detailed works. I still think A Brief History of Everything is the best introduction to KW's work, though, because it masterfully presents an outline of Wilber's thought system in a way that leaves no important major themes out, yet manages to be both accessible and relatively succinct. In ATE, he touches on major tenets of his thinking like the Four Quadrant system, but I wonder how much the first time reader will glean from his rather shorthand explanation here, as opposed to the clear explanation available in ABHE. On the other hand, he presents his philosophy here in a more obviously practical context, applicable to many aspects of daily life, than in any other of his books, and for that reason alone would be a good first Wilber book for many.

As for the KW vet, what's in this book for you? Well, primarily some explanation of Wilber's latest thinking on topics like the adaptation of Spiral Dynamics theory to his spectrum of consciousness model. But this is also avilable in Integral Psychology, yet another introductory work. In short, I would say this book is a bit thin on new material for the KW vet, but has enough intriguing new stuff to tide you over until Wilber releases something more meaty again. Some great stuff, for example, on liberals and conservatives and "Greens," as the latest manifestations of the unfolding of consciousness in world history, a stream of thought most thoroughly treated in Up From Eden.

Meanwhile, Ken, the faithful are ready for volume 2 of the Kosmos work or something equally meaty. The last two books have been appetizers. We're ready for another main course.

This is a terrific book that gives you a general overview of how integral theories can be applied to various aspects of life like politics and business. Since the integral field is only in it's infancy, the book contains only overviews. So I have no clue why the ignorant idiot in the other review called the book "blah blah blah". The book is superb as are all Ken Wilber books.

If you want a good background to his works, read "Brief History of Everything", if you want to know about practicing it in your personal life, read "One Taste", if you want to know how to approach problems in relation to science and religion, read "Marriage of Sense and Soul". TOE gives you a good idea, a vision of what Integral business, integral politics etc. will look like, so it's a very visionary book. If you are seriously interested in applying integral theory, checkout the Integral Institute, (http://www.integralinstitute.org)

In short, I believe, Ken Wilber is a genius and like Deepak Chopra says, we must read all his books, because he is a tremendous gift to the world. Most critics of his work seem to be ignorant, so they post reviews like one of them in this list. I believe we all need a heavy dose of Ken Wilber, and only people passionately committed to the Path of Ignorance will ignore his work!