Product Description

Here is a concise, comprehensive overview of Wilber's revolutionary thought and its application in today's world. In A Theory of Everything, Wilber uses clear, nontechnical language to present complex, cutting-edge theories that integrate the realms of body, mind, soul, and spirit. He then demonstrates how these theories and models can be applied to real-world problems in areas such as politics, medicine, business, education, and the environment. Wilber also discusses daily practices that readers take up in order to apply this integrative vision to their own everyday lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22767 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-16
• Released on: 2001-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 189 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781570628559
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
The spiritual intellectual Ken Wilber takes on the hottest theory in modern physics, known as the "M Theory," or the "The Theory of Everything." As Wilber explains, it is "a model that would unite all the known laws of the universe into one all-embracing theory that would literally explain everything in existence." Of course this new "M Theory" opens up a can of wormy, slippery questions, which Wilber addresses: "What does 'everything' actually mean? Would this new theory in physics explain, say, the meaning of human poetry? Or how economics work? Or the stages of psychosexual development?"

Being Ken Wilber, he couldn't resist answering these questions by folding the "Theory of Everything" into some of his own personal visions and theories. This overlay is presented in his signature straightforward, clearly written style. The upshot is that common readers can easily follow Wilber on a quantum journey and wind up with a lasting souvenir--a scientific and spiritual understanding of how the mind, body, soul, and universe all work together like a never-ending symphony. And that's just in the first four chapters. From there he shows readers the practical applications of this vision--explaining how it could lead to more integrative styles of business, education, medicine, ecology, and even how we address world conflicts. Wilber admits that this "holistic quest is an ever-receding dream, a horizon that constantly retreats as we approach it." Nonetheless, he can still take readers on an incredible journey--one that's well worth the price of the ticket. --Gail Hudson

Review
"...a genuinely new school of thought, creating an original formulation out of ideas that had long seemed irreconcilable." -- Tony Schwartz, Fast Company, October 2000

"...offers readers the opportunity to make valuable connections among disparate disciplines, and ... to prepare themselves for a brave new world." -- Publishers Weekly, September 11, 2000

Ken Wilber, a spirituality and psychology writer of the highest caliber, is one of the few people who could even attempt a book like this--a book that reflects a Renaissance-like optimism that all disciplines can be known, and all knowledge acquired, by a single person.

Wilber adapts the idea behind string theory (the notion that all of physics can be united under a single theory explaining the behavior of matter) to suggest that disciplines as diverse as medicine, economics, and spirituality work in the same way. Wilber sees the Western split between rational and spiritual knowledge as a dangerous mistake; he rejects, for example, Stephen Jay Gould's dualistic insistence that religion and science are "nonoverlapping realms." For Wilber, overlap is the key to the universe. He seeks to integrate all aspects of an individual, and from there a society. The book's diagrams show circular flows of knowledge: spiraling levels of selfhood, types of knowledge, variations of society.

Such an ambitious project necessarily elides what people have come to regard as important differences among cultures; Wilber's chart showing Sub-Saharan Africa as an example of "horizontal" civilization over and against Euro-American "vertical meme structure" risks gross stereotyping, at best.

While some of Wilber's ideas are interesting--and readers should tip their hats to him for even trying such a project in our hyper-specialized society--it suffers from its own elephantine proportions, and misses the trees for the forest. (Beliefnet, Sept. 2000) -- From Beliefnet

Review
"Wilber's 'integral vision' offers readers the opportunity to make valuable connections among disparate disciplines and—just maybe—to prepare themselves for a brave new world."—Publishers Weekly

"A soaring tour de force and daring exposition by one of America's most inventive thinkers. Don't quit the search for an integral culture until you have given it a whirl—and take this book with you as a sturdy guide."—Professor Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School



"Ken Wilber is one of the most creative spiritual thinkers alive today, and A Theory of Everything is an accessible taste of his brilliance. Like a masterful conductor, he brings everyone in, finds room for science and spirit, and creates music for the soul."—Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Politics of Meaning

Customer Reviews

A Theory of Less Than Everything
For years I have been among those hailing Ken Wilber as the most original and comprehensive philosopher of our time. In book after book, this genius thinker has, with lucid and prolific creativity, familiarized us with the complex but unified universe of astonsihing terror and beauty we call consciousness--both human and Divine. In his monumental book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, for example, he was able to show how consciousness, or Spirit, manifests Itself through the unfolding, never-ending evolutionary forms we term creation,life, culture, ecology, spirituality, society--the whole shebang of reality. More importantly, he brilliantly pointed out some of the radical implications a spiritual worldview may have when integrated into the dusty soil of reality. And, maybe best of all, he managed to do this with unparallelled logic and depth of scholarship, yet without loosing a sense of lightness--or humor--of being. In Marriage of sense and Soul, a popularized version of his integral thesis of the interrelationship of body, mind and soul--of all things material and spiritual--he also managed to be both profoundly sublime and simple at the same time. Moreover, he accomplished this without reading like another pop-guru a la Deepak Chopra or Marianne Williamson.

It is thus with great disappointment that his latest book, A Theory of Everything, is not living up to its cover's promise--an integral vision for business, politics, science and spirituality. Because, in this book, we no longer meet the erudite Wilber we have become accustomed to. Indeed, this book's premise is far more challenging (and important!) than his previous ones. Yet, it looks as if marketing interests, rather than deeper, integral interests, so to speak--as often is the case with popular writers these days-- lies behind the publication of this book. With a shallow, lukewarm section on business that is a mere one and a half pages long, and another, on politics, which is only a few pages longer, one gets the distinct feeling that Wilber has become a victim of the one-dimensional consumer culture he so fiercely has rallied against. He has succumbed to the lowest common denominator by promoting simplistic, half-cooked ideas in the name of spiritual transformation and philosophical authenticity and originality. In other words, he has--unwillingly or willingly-- become another promulgator of flatland ideas (his term), otherwise known as the New Age.

This book tells us little about how an integral business person or politician might operate, even less about the deeper, philosophical map he or she needs in expressing spiritual values in today's fierce political and economic reality. Nor does he paint a constructive, integral vision of how business might look like in a society based on spiritual values. When Wilber attempts to do this, he simply offers a short laundry list of people who are trying to "ïntegralize" corporate life, or he briefly explains how a liberal vs. a conservative worldview differ or complement each other. The deeper questions about an integral political platform or agenda are left unanswered, and so are questions about what kind of an economy we need to harmonize the human spirit, the workplace, or the environment. I know that Wilber is up to the task, but in this book, he has failed to answer some basic questions about the societal implications of a spiritual worldview, or, in effect, A Theory of Everything. Questions such as: Which aspects of capitalism are compatible with A Theory of Everything? Which aspects of socialism? Are new economic ideas--such as those of Sarkar, Korten, Schumacher, and others--more compatible with an integral worldview than classical capitalist and socialist ideas? Will the new, integral economy favor decentralization and cooperative enterprises? What is the integral visions answer to the growing inequity in the corporate world and in society in general? Since capitalism is based on the egoistic pursuit of self-interest, can it ever favor integral business practices? Which aspect of the socially responsible business movement would be part of an integral business agenda, and which would not?

All that said, this book may be interesting to someone who has never read Wilber before. Indeed, the sections on science and spirituality are, for the most part, well written and comprehensive. Just remember, as Wilber writes in the introduction: "...use [my]ideas...as simple suggestions; see if you can improve on them." Indeed, many of them are simple. Too simple. Thus, improve on them we must.

Ken Wilber's fascinating vision.
Read this book. It provides a thought-provoking introduction to Ken Wilber's "integral vision," a theory that attempts to integrate all things--science, religion, art, morals, physics, politics, medicine, education, ecology, sociology and business. Wilber observes that approximately 20 percent of the population is poised for "second-tier" integral transformation (p. 33), and that we are at "a branch point:" we can continue travelling the road of scientific materialism, fragmented pluralism, and deconstructive postmodernism, or we can pursue a more integral, more embracing, more inclusive path to travel (p. xiii). The book's first four chapters introduce us to Wilber's "Theory of Everything," and the last three demonstrate the theory's "real world" relevance. In the final chapter, Wilber reduces his theory to a personal level of "integral transformative practice." Throughout the book, Wilber's prose is conversational in tone.

For me, reading this book has sparked a fascination with Wilber's philosophy, and as a brief introduction to his writings, this book left me eager to read Wilber's other books to hopefully obtain a deeper understanding of his integral vision.

G. Merritt

An Introduction to Integral Thinking by the Master
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.