Re: An Integral Psychology

From: Nicq MacDonald (namacdonald@stthomas.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 17 2000 - 12:44:06 MST


> << In thinking about psychology, has anyone here read the work of Ken
Wilber?
> I have derived much understanding form his integral approach to
psychology.
> I would be very interested in hearing some Extropian views about his
work.
> >>
> With Ken Wilber, I experienced a Asimovian MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over). I
> believe Ken Wilber, who on the covers on his books, looks like the musical
> performance artist MOBY, is basically into reincarnation aka
> transpersonalism. I think that is what the integral verbage is--could be
> wrong, tho'. Didn't inspire this boy, but he may not be for everyone's
taste.

Transpersonalism has little to say on what happens after death- at least in
the voluminous material that I've read on the field (which I plan to go
into, BTW). It's more or less about realizing that we aren't our bodies,
and that this revelation doesn't require the existence of any kind of
spiritual matter- just a recognition that our body is little more than a
nexus for all the outside influences controlling it (which are all part of
the actual I), and that your "I" is not the machine that percieves, but the
totality of the percieved existence. It's basically a return to idealistic
monism through the dissolution of the ego-complex, at it's heart.

When you die, the machine is gone, and no ephemeral "soul" survives- yet
existence, the true I, continues. The metaphysical implications of this are
pretty deep, and extremely hard to understand from a human perspective.

-Nicq



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