Guillem GallifaKenneth Wilber (b. 1949), better known as Ken Wilber, is an American writer whose main interests are in philosophy, psychology, comparative religion, history, ecology and mysticism.
Wilber describes his academic achievements as“a B.S. in biochemistry and a Ph.D. (without dissertation) in biochemistry and biophysics, with a specialisation in the mechanism of optical processes“, but he soon turned to a philosophical approach. Often described as a New Age writer, his work is, however, severely critical of this movement.
Practising various Buddhist meditation techniques (especially zazen), he acknowledges his philosophical position as largely influenced by Nagarjuna. However, Wilber does not identify himself as a Buddhist.
His thought is influenced by thinkers such as Nagarjuna, Huston Smith, Ramana Maharshi, Jürgen Habermas, Jean Gebser and Teilhard de Chardin (with whom he shares the intention of creating a theory that unifies science, art and morality), Plato, Hegel, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta.
During his early days as an author he contributed to the development of transpersonal psychology. For more than a decade, he started to develop an integral theory, where he articulates in a transdisciplinary way a large number of perspectives to address the human phenomenon using the AQAL model. To promote and advance this approach, in 1998 he founded the Integral Institute, a study centre to investigate the different applications of what he calls the integral approach.
Some of the numerous aphorisms found in his extensive bibliography:
- The spirit is not a particular stage, nor a particular ideology; nor a god or goddess, but the totality of the infinite process of development.
- Whether innocent or arrogant, sacred or profane, ignorance destroys the biosphere.
- I have one important rule: everyone is right. More specifically, everyone including some important pieces of truth. And all these pieces must be respected, appreciated and included in a wider cognitive and compassionate embrace.
- The human being is the mask of God.
- The adventure of awakening is one of the most universal human dramas.
- If the soul wants to know God, it cannot do so in time. As long as the soul is conscious of time, space or any other object, it cannot know God.
- Eternity is not eternal time, but the real, undisturbed, unshakeable present. The present is the only thing that has no end.
- Between the stimuli of life and our habitual responses is choice.
- This world is not a sin. The sin is to forget that this world is the radiance and goodness of the spirit.
- True love will take you beyond yourself; therefore, real love will devastate you.
📎 Gallifa, G. [Guillem]. (2024, 19 September). Ken Wilber. PsicoPop. https://www.psicopop.top/en/ken-wilber/
