Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution

Rating:
Summary: The Painful History of Mankind- and a way Beyond...
Review: 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".

Rating:
Summary: The Painful History of Mankind- and a way Beyond...
Review: 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".

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes problematic, but a gripping and convincing account
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes problematic, but a gripping and convincing account
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A history of transcendence...cool!
Review: 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.