The Integral Vision

The depth and scope of Ken Wilber’s vision is not easy for most of us to encompass. Many of his critics take issue with the details of one small segment or another, but never address his philosophical position as a whole. It seems that there are few people who can challenge the over arching view that integrates so many disciplines and perspectives. For many years I have told students of transpersonal psychology that they must read Ken Wilber if they want to know how transpersonal theory integrates psychology and spiritual teachings from the world’s religions. No one is expected to agree with everything he says, but they need to understand why his perspective is important. My own acquaintance with Wilber’s work dates back to 1975, when I was an associate editor of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and we had the privilege of being the first to publish his paper, The Spectrum of Consciousness. When his book by the same title was published soon afterwards, I realized what a great service he was doing for us all. His ability to articulate in a clear and coherent manner the integral vision that many of us had been attempting to formulate, with limited success, expanded the field of psychological and spiritual inquiry to encompass a truly global view of the spiritual quest. Wilber is undoubtedly one of the greatest thinkers of our time. His cross-disciplinary syntheses encompass the psychology, philosophy and religion of East and West, as well as sociology, anthropology and post-modern thought. In the last two decades Wilber has been widely recognized as an outstanding philosopher. Some people have compared him to Hegel, but to my mind he is much easier to read! He has