Changes

From the beginning Wilber collected hundreds of bits of truth, wisdom, and theory from every imaginable source and struggled to make sense of it all.  Many of the concepts in his collection were mutually contradictory.  Then one day he was struck with a sudden flash of insight.  The result was a map of reality he calls “AQAL“ (all quadrants, all levels) which I will attempt to illustrate below.  Basically, the idea is that all existential reality lies in four coterminous dimensions even though we typically remain unconscious of those dimensions in the same way that a fish remains unaware of water.  For present purposes I will limit this discussion to the quadrants as they relate to human consciousness-events.  These are the quadrants:

From the beginning Wilber collected hundreds of bits of truth, wisdom, and theory from every imaginable source and struggled to make sense of it all.  Many of the concepts in his collection were mutually contradictory.  Then one day he was struck with a sudden flash of insight.  The result was a map of reality he calls “AQAL“ (all quadrants, all levels) which I will attempt to illustrate below.  Basically, the idea is that all existential reality lies in four coterminous dimensions even though we typically remain unconscious of those dimensions in the same way that a fish remains unaware of water.  For present purposes I will limit this discussion to the quadrants as they relate to human consciousness-events.  These are the quadrants:

'''HISTORY OF THE QUADRANTS'''

'''HISTORY OF THE QUADRANTS'''

The Premodern paradigm

'''The Premodern paradigm'''

Wilber describes at some length how the four quadrants evolved through the history of culture.  Back in premodern, or prerational times, all four quadrants were undifferentiated.  In other words, there was a magical thinking that inner beliefs directly influenced outer manifestations.  For example, I may believe that I can cause you pain by sticking pins in a doll.  Or I may pray for rain and when it finally does rain I see the prayer and the rain as cause and effect.  Alchemists believed that lead could become gold so they kept experimenting, expecting gold to appear.  Premodern thinking did not end in modern times—it persists everywhere.  To give a familiar example, many Protestant Christians believe that inner faith is given directly from God and is accompanied by a corresponding external object—the Bible—which also comes directly from the mind of God.  The Bible is thus literally the Word of God and once internalized, can be invoked to produce God’s miracle-working power.  I have known more than a few people who believed that Bible quotes can be used much like spells and incantations to manipulate reality and change circumstances, not unlike a voodoo doll!

Wilber describes at some length how the four quadrants evolved through the history of culture.  Back in premodern, or prerational times, all four quadrants were undifferentiated.  In other words, there was a magical thinking that inner beliefs directly influenced outer manifestations.  For example, I may believe that I can cause you pain by sticking pins in a doll.  Or I may pray for rain and when it finally does rain I see the prayer and the rain as cause and effect.  Alchemists believed that lead could become gold so they kept experimenting, expecting gold to appear.  Premodern thinking did not end in modern times—it persists everywhere.  To give a familiar example, many Protestant Christians believe that inner faith is given directly from God and is accompanied by a corresponding external object—the Bible—which also comes directly from the mind of God.  The Bible is thus literally the Word of God and once internalized, can be invoked to produce God’s miracle-working power.  I have known more than a few people who believed that Bible quotes can be used much like spells and incantations to manipulate reality and change circumstances, not unlike a voodoo doll!

The Modern Paradigm

'''The Modern Paradigm'''

The Enlightenment and the scientific revolution led to modern times with a powerful new way of understanding the right hand side (the objective side) of reality, the result being that the entire left hand side (subjective) became demoted, unreal, or unimportant at best.  One example is modern medical practice.  When you are sick the doctor is not concerned with your inner consciousness but rather with the mechanics and chemistry of your body (UR).  He or she likely does not even want to talk to you other than possibly to ask where it hurts.  Typically you will be given a pill which is a chemical designed to alter your body chemistry.  This is a radical right-hand approach to reality which assumes that the LH side is immaterial to the cause and cure of your symptoms.  A right-hand approach to religion can be seen in studies where researchers have gone to prayer meetings and connected electrodes to participants’ brains (UR).  They discovered that certain brain waves (UR) activate during prayer (UL) and that endorphins (UR) are released in the brain (UR), thus creating the feeling of having a religious experience (UL). They conclude therefore that nothing is happening except chemistry (UR).  So the modern paradigm involves promoting the right hand side to the status of being verifiably real, while the left hand side is merely delusional in terms of knowing any real truth.   

The Enlightenment and the scientific revolution led to modern times with a powerful new way of understanding the right hand side (the objective side) of reality, the result being that the entire left hand side (subjective) became demoted, unreal, or unimportant at best.  One example is modern medical practice.  When you are sick the doctor is not concerned with your inner consciousness but rather with the mechanics and chemistry of your body (UR).  He or she likely does not even want to talk to you other than possibly to ask where it hurts.  Typically you will be given a pill which is a chemical designed to alter your body chemistry.  This is a radical right-hand approach to reality which assumes that the LH side is immaterial to the cause and cure of your symptoms.  A right-hand approach to religion can be seen in studies where researchers have gone to prayer meetings and connected electrodes to participants’ brains (UR).  They discovered that certain brain waves (UR) activate during prayer (UL) and that endorphins (UR) are released in the brain (UR), thus creating the feeling of having a religious experience (UL). They conclude therefore that nothing is happening except chemistry (UR).  So the modern paradigm involves promoting the right hand side to the status of being verifiably real, while the left hand side is merely delusional in terms of knowing any real truth.   

Wilber strongly asserts that when modernism differentiated the subjective (LH) side from the objective (RH) side, that was a very positive thing for the most part. It gave us almost miraculous mastery of our world, including medical knowledge, electricity, automobiles, and other amazing benefits, and freed us from myth and the magical thinking of alchemy, voodoo, etc.  But it came with a price tag:  it demoted the states of inner consciousness to a place of relative unimportance.   

Wilber strongly asserts that when modernism differentiated the subjective (LH) side from the objective (RH) side, that was a very positive thing for the most part. It gave us almost miraculous mastery of our world, including medical knowledge, electricity, automobiles, and other amazing benefits, and freed us from myth and the magical thinking of alchemy, voodoo, etc.  But it came with a price tag:  it demoted the states of inner consciousness to a place of relative unimportance.   

The Postmodern Paradigm

'''The Postmodern Paradigm'''

Next came postmodernism which was basically a reaction against the radical objectivity of modernism.  It insisted that subjectivity is really at the heart of knowing.  Subjectivity, however, proved to be a subversive foundation for knowledge because if anything it tended to debunk any kind of certainty.  In the hands of postmodernism subjectivity became a two-edged sword, cutting both right and left, even carrying the potential seeds of its own self-destruction.  On the RH side postmodernism challenged the foundations of science itself, which it saw as a series of subjective mental models, expressed in relativistic language, and ever subject to revision.  Science may have successfully manipulated nature but it delivered no truth.  While science never experienced a crisis of self-doubt because of this line of reasoning, it certainly demonstrated that subjectivity is an important component of any kind of knowing, even scientific knowing.   

Next came postmodernism which was basically a reaction against the radical objectivity of modernism.  It insisted that subjectivity is really at the heart of knowing.  Subjectivity, however, proved to be a subversive foundation for knowledge because if anything it tended to debunk any kind of certainty.  In the hands of postmodernism subjectivity became a two-edged sword, cutting both right and left, even carrying the potential seeds of its own self-destruction.  On the RH side postmodernism challenged the foundations of science itself, which it saw as a series of subjective mental models, expressed in relativistic language, and ever subject to revision.  Science may have successfully manipulated nature but it delivered no truth.  While science never experienced a crisis of self-doubt because of this line of reasoning, it certainly demonstrated that subjectivity is an important component of any kind of knowing, even scientific knowing.   

Let’s stop and summarize this cultural history of the quadrants:

Let’s stop and summarize this cultural history of the quadrants:

'''PREMODERN:'''  LH & RH are together (undifferentiated)  

'''PREMODERN:'''  LH & RH are together (undifferentiated)

'''MODERNISM:'''    LH & RH are differentiated  

'''MODERNISM:'''    LH & RH are differentiated

'''POSTMODERNISM:'''  UL is differentiated from LL  

'''POSTMODERNISM:'''  UL is differentiated from LL  

Wilber’s solution is:

Wilber’s solution is:

Now let’s take another tour through AQAL consciousness.  This time we will fill in with more detail than with the examples we used earlier.  Let’s consider a contemplative prayer group at a weekend Catholic retreat as an example.

Now let’s take another tour through AQAL consciousness.  This time we will fill in with more detail than with the examples we used earlier.  Let’s consider a contemplative prayer group at a weekend Catholic retreat as an example.

Here’s the AQAL chart for our Catholic experience:

Here’s the AQAL chart for our Catholic experience:

[[Image:Quad_2.jpg|right|frame]]

[[Image:Quad_2.jpg|right|frame]]

Obviously we have many different viewpoints here.  The unique position of Wilber is that every one of these people is correct!  But we must understand that each observer in this scenario is looking only at one quadrant and they are doing so from a specific observation point.  Each comment on the given quadrant is correct relative to the perspective of the speaker.  Here’s how we can map these perspectives:

Obviously we have many different viewpoints here.  The unique position of Wilber is that every one of these people is correct!  But we must understand that each observer in this scenario is looking only at one quadrant and they are doing so from a specific observation point.  Each comment on the given quadrant is correct relative to the perspective of the speaker.  Here’s how we can map these perspectives:

Speaker Focused on Quadrant   Speaker’s Location

Speaker                   Focused on Quadrant               Speaker's Location

Father Luigi Individual Interior Interior

Jung Individual Interior Interior

Father Luigi             Individual Interior               Interior

Freud Individual Interior Exterior

Jung                     Individual Interior               Interior

Dr. Moreau Individual Exterior Exterior

Freud                     Individual Interior               Exterior

Durkheim Collective Interior Exterior

Dr. Moreau               Individual Exterior               Exterior

Mead Collective Exterior Exterior

Durkheim                 Collective Interior               Exterior

Foucault Collective Interior Interior           .       

Mead                     Collective Exterior               Exterior

Foucault                 Collective Interior               Interior

'''A Final Question:  Is Wilber “elitist”?'''

'''A Final Question:  Is Wilber “elitist”?'''

If you have read this far it has likely occurred to you to wonder how some of the great spiritual luminaries from centuries past—St. John-of-the-Cross, for example—could be considered spiritually advanced when they utterly lacked the clarifying power that according to Wilber came only in the wake of modernism and postmodernism.  Is it true that only those of us on this side of history have any hope of being spiritually awakened?  In a sense, yes, Wilber is elitist concerning this question.  He would say that we are indeed at a spiritual advantage today.  Not that St. John, Jesus, or Siddhartha did not represent pinnacles of spiritual genius by any standards.  But their spirituality derived primarily from a direct ability to attain and sustain states of mystical union, or non-dual consciousness, as opposed to an ascent through the vertical stages as we have discussed.  Disadvantaged?—yes, but still more enlightened than most people will ever be.   

If you have read this far it has likely occurred to you to wonder how some of the great spiritual luminaries from centuries past—St. John-of-the-Cross, for example—could be considered spiritually advanced when they utterly lacked the clarifying power that according to Wilber came only in the wake of modernism and postmodernism.  Is it true that only those of us on this side of history have any hope of being spiritually awakened?  In a sense, yes, Wilber is elitist concerning this question.  He would say that we are indeed at a spiritual advantage today.  Not that St. John, Jesus, or Siddhartha did not represent pinnacles of spiritual genius by any standards, but their spirituality derived primarily from a direct ability to attain and sustain states of mystical union, or non-dual consciousness, as opposed to an ascent through the vertical stages as we have discussed.  Disadvantaged?—yes, but still more enlightened than most people will ever be.   

By his own admission Wilber is somewhat of an elitist where consciousness is concerned.  But he explains that this simply means that some things have more value than others.  Looking at an example of cultural customs, we could say that it’s probably better to allow every citizen to vote in elections than to throw citizens into volcanoes to appease the gods.  For those who are still in the pluralistic/green stage, that is a politically incorrect position because one of the paramount principles of that stage is that  “all cultural values are equally valid.”  For Wilber, this pluralistic lack of discernment is simply wrong-headed.  Many green-stage people will tout Native American spirituality as being superior because it calls for "honoring the land" in contradistinction to the exploitation of the land perpetrated by the modern ratonalist paradigm.  Wilber would dispute this position, arguing that Native American spirituality is a low level form of consciousness being prerational as well as magical/mythic.  According to Wilber we should indeed honor the land, but do so from a [post-postmodern] integral perspective.  Why unnecessarily set your spirituality back two or three hundred years just to be ecologically responsible?  While this approach makes Wlber sound like a 1950’s conservative and a Sierra Club liberal all rolled into one, the fact is that he is post-conservative and post-liberal.  Wilber has no interest in anything but truth and in that pursuit he often takes positions that appear in turn regressively conservative and boldly liberal from our contemporary perspective.  

By his own admission Wilber is somewhat of an elitist where consciousness is concerned.  But he explains that this simply means that some things have more value than others.  Looking at an example of cultural values, we could say that it’s probably better to allow every citizen to vote in elections than to throw citizens into volcanoes to appease the gods.  For those who are still in the pluralistic/green stage, that is a politically incorrect position because one of the paramount principles of that stage is that  “all cultural values are equally valid.”  For Wilber, this pluralistic lack of discernment is simply wrong-headed.  Many green-stage people will tout Native American spirituality as being superior because it calls for "honoring the land" in contradistinction to the exploitation of the land perpetrated by the modern rationalist paradigm.  Wilber would dispute this position, arguing that Native American spirituality is a low level form of consciousness being prerational as well as magical/mythic.  According to Wilber we should indeed honor the land, but do so from a [post-postmodern] integral perspective.  Why unnecessarily set your spirituality back two or three hundred years just to be ecologically responsible?  While this approach makes Wlber sound like a 1950’s conservative and a Sierra Club liberal all rolled into one, the fact is that he is post-conservative and post-liberal.  Wilber has no interest in anything but truth and in that pursuit he often takes positions that appear in turn regressively conservative and boldly liberal from our contemporary perspective.  

Wilber’s tendency to place cultures and ideas in a hierarchy of importance and value is rooted not so much in pure elitism as in his strong connection to German Idealism as represented by philosophers such as Hegel, and especially Schelling, who hold that evolution is driving history toward a cosmic goal .  This idealism sees history as an upward evolutionary spiral in which Spirit, as the underpinning of nature, is animating all of Being toward the goal of complete Self-Consciousness.  Assuming the correctness of the metaphysics of idealism, it logically follows that the further along in history we are the more advanced we are in consciousness growth, collectively speaking, and thus we have greater potential overall for spiritual enlightenment than those from past centuries.  If this philosophy constitutes “elitism” then Wilber is guilty as charged.

Wilber’s tendency to place cultures, ideas, and consciousness stages in a hierarchy of importance and value is rooted not so much in pure elitism as in his strong connection to German Idealism as represented by philosophers such as Hegel, and especially Schelling, who hold that evolution is driving history toward a cosmic goal .  This idealism sees history as an upward evolutionary spiral in which Spirit, as the underpinning of nature, is animating all of Being toward the goal of complete Self-Consciousness.  Assuming the correctness of the metaphysics of idealism, it logically follows that the further along in history we are the more advanced we are in consciousness growth, collectively speaking, and thus we have greater potential overall for spiritual enlightenment than those from past centuries.  If this philosophy constitutes “elitism” then Wilber is guilty as charged.

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