Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Towards An Integral Theory of Consciousness

Published by

Matt Stone

2005-09-02

I’ve been prompted by a fellow blogger to look up Ken Wilber and thought it was worthwhile drawing attention to his wikipedia bio. Here’s an excerpt:

Kenneth Earl Wilber Jr. (born January 31, 1949, Oklahoma City, USA) is an American philosopher and mystic. His work focuses mainly on creating an “integral theory of consciousness” in which the insights of mysticism, postmodernism, science and systems theory come together to form a coherent picture of the Kosmos. In Kosmic Consciousness, Wilber states that he considers himself a storyteller and a mapmaker; his stories address universal questions and his maps integrate various perspectives of the cosmos.

I found this fascinating as that roughly describes my own journey, to integrate various fields of “knowing” – such as quantum information theory, cross-cultural anthropology, mysticism, meditation, ecstatic trance, post-modern theory, chaos mathematics, historical criticism, etc – with the way of Jesus and Christian apologetics. Obviously a guy I’ll have to research further.

Tags Ken Wilbur, Psychology

6 responses to “Towards An Integral Theory of Consciousness”

Dan

2005-09-05

Matt,
I’ve been reading Wilber for a couple of years now. I think you’ll find that journey very enlightening. I particularly like the video clips from the Integral Naked site. Those with Rabbi Gafni, Father Keating, and the late Brother Teasdale are excellent.

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Whitewave

2005-09-07

Dan, let’s talk! Seriously! Gafni is the greatest, second only to Zalman. Have you heard Zalman’s story in two parts on IN? Holy cow! What a living treasure! And I am so, so, so grateful to have my evangelical prejudices shattered by Gafni’s little schpiel about “black leather”. That was like pulling a rock out of my shoe!
Anyhoo! Matt. I only got your email about 20 minutes ago, and it is now, 10:08 on Tuesday am, Sept. 6th. It got stuck in my junk box at my server. So, last night I was desparing and I blogged this black, black post on the death of my dream…. LOL Little did I know that you had thrown me a life preserver! You’re a dear. I’m a dork.
Rock on!

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Matt Stone

2005-09-07

Whitewave
Glad to hear you got the email. I was starting to wonder if it got lost in the noosphere.
For what it’s worth from a fellow sojourner, in the dark spaces remember the resurrected hands, forehead and side of Jesus. He appeared to his disciples – Mary, Peter, Thomas and John – as the Master of Life, overflowing with vitality, yet the path he had walked involved scars. Like a shapeshifting shaman he walks beside us as the wounded healer. His message is: there is hope in the darkness for I have been there ahead of you.

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Whitewave

2005-09-10

The noosphere, huh? I had a dream the other morning. Check this. This is all I could remember:
I just awoke from a dream in which I was told that Teilhard de Chardin was a Christian who practices or knows witchcraft (I had heard of him, but knew nothing about him when I had this dream…). I was warned not to go see him. I was told that hands of an enemy are the ultimate power objects and that objects which an enemy had once used and then discarded or abandoned are also powerful. Something of mine was taken and evil magic was being worked against me.
Hands.
And an object that I had used and abandoned.
Something powerful is coming for me. But it’s not here yet. I’ve described Jesus’ work as Shamanic before too. I had this wonderful idea about working with people who use that craft and bringing Jesus to them, but I’ve been too timid to talk about it. He so outdid any other religious idea or ideal – swallowing them all up and evolving them all upward. There is nothing He doesn’t finish. And in reality, nothing that wasn’t begun by Him in its true form. I’m sure of it.

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Matt Stone

2005-09-10

Whitewave
Speaking of working with people of the Craft, I am off to a pagan drumming workshop tonight. Second time I’ve gone so I’ll see how the skills improve.
Just brief a word on magic and protection since you raise the subject: I think the magic of the resurrection is supremely powerful and that there is a paradoxical power in loving vulnerability. Love is a kind of magick. Remember the New Testament tells us the faith, hope and love of Jesus has the power to drive out all fear and anxiety. My experience is that most witches wouldn’t dream of performing magic on a person without their permission, but even so, trust that the power of the Sprit is more powerful than any god, goddess, spirit, charm, curse or hex. As for Teilhard de Chardin, an interesting character but I’ll have to leave that discussion for another day.

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Whitewave

2005-09-10

Drumming workshop!?
Can I come?!
Bwa-a-a-a-ha-a-a-a-a
I am not afraid.
The dream must be the dying wimpers of that which could not eat food sacrifice to idols because it had inherited all the fear from those who freak out about such things.
Opening to the Freedom…

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