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Monday, April 28, 2008 12:00 AM

You are the river: An interview with Ken Wilber

The integral philosopher explains the difference between religion, New Age fads and the ultimate reality that traditional science can't touch.

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  • Monday, April 28, 2008 06:31 PM

    no heart

    Ken Wilber is obviously a very, very smart man but I can't help but be put off by his arrogant "I've been there, you haven't" attitude. His positivist approach, "this is the way things are" and it's too bad so many don't get it is, I believe, a reflection of "little self" and big ego.

    Almost all spiritual traditions write of the danger of too much self obsession; some even posit the self is an illusion. But in this interview, and perhaps it's an unfair portrait of his complex body of work, Wilber is all about aggrandizing self under the guise of calling it "big self." There is virtually nothing about compassion or service or the ways in which one's spiritual/trans-rational experiences help one live in a world of such suffering. Every other sentient being is simply a prop in our great human journey.

    All head, no heart; I am left completely cold by Wilber.

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