Customer Reviews

A Brief History of Everything

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

This book was written as a summary of the work presented in Sex Ecology, Spirituality and was intended for a more popular audience. I recommend it as the best first Wilber book, as a relatively accessible introduction to his thought. That said, this is not a popular market "spirituality" book. There is a lot of meat here.

I am among those who think Ken Wilber is one of the great thinkers of our time. His great contribution to world thought is as an integrator of a staggering breadth of philosophical thought, psychological research and accounts of mystical experience. He maintains that each of the wisdom traditions and methods of inquiry into human experience has at least some valid contribution to make. He then sets about the daunting task of finding the ground upon which they all can be said to agree and integrating them into a theoretical structure that can be used to understand how, though no single discipline can present the whole truth, all can deliver a piece of it. For example, it is not that neuroscience is right and mysticism is wrong or vice versa. They are both right but incomplete. There really are neurons that can be observed to behave in certain ways. But that is not, and cannot be, all there is to say about human experience. Wilber succeeds establishing an integral theory of consciousness that draws from the wisdom of all the traditions of inquiry to a greater extent than any other thinker I have read.

I have read nine of Wilber's books so far, and I think this is the best one to start with, if you are interested in looking into his work. For those who have read some of his other work, this is a good, succinct overview of his system that can be a useful look at the forest when you get immersed into some of the more detailed material about the trees.

[For full review, see forthcoming, Torosyan, R. (2001). A system for everything: Book review of K. Wilber's Brief History of Everything. New Ideas in Psychology, 19 (3).]

Wilber manages to create a sweeping system for everything in life. He describes our spiritual evolution, and our dominant conceptual concerns: East and West, ancient and modern, individual and collective, physical and metaphysical. Wilber writes in an accessible common-sense style. He deliberately avoids a typical scholarly tone. While not free of some pretense at a monolithic voice, his work promotes rich conceptions of self-reflexiveness, interconnection, spirituality and empathy.

Wilber shows how the major theories of biological, psychological, cognitive and spiritual development describe different versions of how to find "the truth." At the outset, Wilber refers to Douglas Adams's best-selling cult novel Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. We desire final conclusions, just as Adams facetiously proposed the "answer that would completely explain 'God, life, the universe, and everything'" (p. xv). In the novel, that answer was "42," highlighting the absurdity of seeking such a final answer.

Wilber's "answer," instead, is a framework for connecting evolutionary currents. At first, he uses a Socratic dialogue, beginning with "KW" for Wilber and "Q" for the questioner, be s/he reader, fan, or friend. Initially, this appears somewhat contrived. The text pretends to be an interview, when it is clearly the author's own highly controlled construction. Upon further reading, however, the stylistic device helps Wilber engage the reader in a dialogue.

To Wilber, traditions of thought have usually been either "ascending" toward transcendental spirituality, or "descending" to the body, the senses, and sexuality (p. 11). The author suggests that humans must integrate dualities to survive as a species. In fact, we must not merely synthesize but accept the "nonduality" of ascending and descending, mind and body (p. 12).

Wilber's first chapter presents a brief summary of the entire book in the voice of the questioner:

Q: So we'll start with the story of the Big Bang itself, and then trace out the course of evolution from matter to life to mind. And then, with the emergence of mind, or human consciousness, we'll look at the five or six major epochs of human evolution itself. And all of this is set in the context of spirituality-of what spirituality means, of the various forms that it has historically taken, and the forms that it might take tomorrow. Sound right?

KW: Yes, it's sort of a brief history of everything...based on what I call 'orienting generalizations' (p. 17)

"Q" is obviously more highly informed than a first-time reader. Wilber uses Q less to ask questions than to help simplify points [the book summarizes the more complex content of Wilber's massive Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995)]. The "generalizations" he notes are Kohlberg's and Gilligan's moral stages. "Human moral development goes through at least three broad stages" (p. 17). In brief: before the child is socialized, it is "preconventional," as it learns the values of society it becomes "conventional," and eventually it may reflect on its own values critically, becoming increasingly "postconventional."

Wilber goes on to show a number of "tenets" or "patterns that connect." The first of these is that "reality is composed of whole/parts, or 'holons'" (p. 20). A holon is something that is itself "a whole and simultaneously a part of some other whole" (ibid.). Borrowing from Arthur Koestler, Wilber argues that the world is full of "holarchies," as opposed to hierarchies. Where a hierarchy typically separates distinct parts, a holarchy consists of both wholes that are parts, and parts that are wholes. For example, an atom is a whole of its own, but also a part of a whole molecule. A whole molecule is a part of a whole cell, and a whole cell is part of a whole organism. As Wilber says, "Time goes on, and today's wholes are tomorrow's parts" (ibid.).

Wilber uses the ideas of "depth" and "span" to say that whenever we map a territory, something always gets left out. For instance, as we narrow focus with a microscope, "There are fewer organisms than cells; there are fewer cells than molecules; there are fewer molecules than atoms; there are fewer atoms than quarks. Each has a greater depth, but less span" (p. 34). Similarly, if we move from mysticism and psychology, into biology and physics, the progression gives greater depth of specific detail but less span, embrace, or inclusion of levels of reality (pp. 36-38). These dimensions are neither dependent nor independent, but interdependent.

Great shifts in "reality" paradigms were brought by what Wilber calls "the watershed separating the modern and postmodern approaches to knowledge" (p. 58). Postmodernists criticize old paradigms such as "the Enlightenment,... the Newtonian, the Cartesian, the mechanistic, the mirror of nature, the reflection paradigm" (ibid.). In opposition, many postmodernists propose that "all truth is relative and merely culture-bound, there are no universal truths" (pp. 62-63). But as Wilber notes, even Derrida now concedes the elemental point that worldviews are not "'merely constructed' in the sense of totally relative and arbitrary" (p. 62). In Wilber's diagnosis, assertions that "there is no truth in the Kosmos, only those notions that men force on others," are nihilistic, replacing truth with "the ego of the theorist" (p. 63).

As a tool to place different worldviews, Wilber uses "four quadrants of development" (pp. 71-75). The exterior form of development is measured objectively and empirically. The interior dimension is subjective and interpretive, and hence depends on consciousness and introspection. And both interior and exterior occur not just separately but in social or cultural context.

Wilber describes how Foucault summarized the "monological madness" that dominated the eighteenth century and Enlightenment notions of the subject: "the subjective and intersubjective domains were thus reduced to empirical studies-I and we were reduced to its- and thus humans became 'objects of information, never subjects in communication'" (p. 269). Treated as objects, people were expected to meet norms of mental health, for instance, while their subjective position in the world was ignored.

Wilber says the whole of his morality aims to "protect and promote the greatest depth for the greatest span" (p. 335). He argues we must use these criteria when we make judgments. Although the spirituality risks opacity, the overall effort suggests deeply researched and grounded ways to structure reality. If we as a society need human empathy for multiple perspectives, then the patterns of thought laid out by Wilber provide a system for integrating such perspectives. Distilling messages of vast ranges of thought, Wilber presents highly differentiated worldviews and multiple points of intervention through which we can, if contingently, take action.

This is a disappointing book. I had read a couple of Wilber's earlier books and liked them, especially the superb "Grace and Grit." At his best, he can be very good at explaining a nondualistic Eastern style philosophy.

As the title suggests, this book is meant to introduce people to an all encompassing metaphysical system. No one could attempt such an enterprise without a little hubris. But why stop at a little? Wilber is fond of dropping the names of long lists of famous intellectuals whose work he finds consistent with, but subservient to, his system. Reality is sliced and diced in an endless taxonomy of levels, holons, stages, paradigm shifts, quadrants, centers, spheres and fulcrums before being reassembled into a nondualistic whole. Anyone satisfied with scientific explainations is dismissed as a "reductionist" holding what he calls "an insane world view." The science based world view is not so much argued against as it is insulted, dismissed and misrepresented.

The most remarkable thing in this book is it's bizzare description of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. He makes the astonishing claim that very few theorists believe in Darwinian evolution and that, "There is no evidence whatsoever for intermediate (fossil) forms." Wilber maintains it would take at least a hundred simultaneous beneficial mutations for something like a wing to evolve. He claims this would have to occur separately in both a male and a female who would then have to mate successfully. This is a grotesque caricature of Darwinan theory. Anyone who thinks it is adequate should buy this book. Others should read Richard Dawkins "Climbing Mount Improbable." Wilber never names any scientists who advocate this version of evolution for the very good reason that there aren't any.

What accounts for this straw man caricature of the most foundational scientific theory in modern biology? Well, Darwinian theory predicts that two species competing for the same niche will compete very fiercely. Wilber's Hegelian style spirit based pantheism competes with a science based pantheism in the tradition of Spinoza, Darwin and Einstein.

This book is written in a question and answer format. I bought it on audio cassette. The questions were read by a young woman. Her tone indicates she is struggling to understand. She is always co-operative and eager to receive the wisdom from on high. The answers are read by a man. His tone is authoritative and patiently condescending. This is perfect for the text.

Here is a one sentence sample, from the book, of Wilber's writing at it's worst: "So we have some very popular theorists who, tired of the burdens of postconventional and world-centric rational perspectivism, recommend a regressive slide into egocentric vital impulsive polymorphous phantasmic emotional revival." Like Hegel, Wilber has attracted legions of readers who assume that his most incomprehensible writing must be his most brilliant. If you are willing to make that assumption, this book will delight you.

To me as a scientific minded person approaching spirituality but having a hard time integrating the two, this book was a landmark.

Not only does the book give an excellent structure where all sorts of wisdom and knowledge may live side by side in a friendly manner, but on the personal level it helped me at least intellectually to unify various aspects of myself and my life.

Lately I have read large amounts of buddhist texts, new as well as traditional. This book takes a wider perspective and helps me relate my spiritual understanding and experiences in framework where it can co-exist with everything else I know about biology, physics, psychology, etc.

I recommend this book to everyone with an open mind that has the capacity to understand and grasp the subject and has any interest in science, psychology, philosophy, religion, history, feminism, biology.

I have already one other book by Wilber in my book stack, and I'm sure I will at least buy and read a few more before I move on.

Ken Wilber shows us that although we all take different roads in life, we share a common direction in our development and evolution. He brings together a vast number of theories and observations and organizes them into one theory. It is quite amazing! Wilber has written many books on this subject but this is the one I would recommend people to read first. If you'd like a shorter, more simplified but extremely well-organized / well-articulated book that covers this material, I strongly suggest "The Ever-transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It also discusses practical implications of these ideas that make you feel like you could have saved a lot of hassle and confusion if you read it eariler in your life. Both Wilber and Sato are clearly two of the most advanced thinkers of our time.

Ken Wilber has written many many books discussing his beef against what he calls "flatland", which is characteristic of the western civilization as well as the modern world in general. I believe that he makes his point most clearly in this book as well as "Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality". Although "Sex Ecology and Sprituality" is a scholarly masterpiece, this book is the easier to understand for the lay reader. If you are new to Wilber's "Comprehensive Everything" type books, I would suggest reading this book before reading his other ones. I think although many of us Wilber lovers struggle to fully understand and appreciate his vision, his books are a true joy to read. If you are interested in these topics, another book that is easy and enjoyable to read is "Rhythm, Relationships, and Transcendence" by Toru Sato. It is also a wonderful book on the subject-object differentiation (dual vs nondual)! Both books help remind us that although our world of objects is useful, the world of subjects is what makes it beautiful! Happy reading!

For any thinking person who's struggling with the schism between science, psychology and faith, this book has the answer. Mr. Wilber has an amazing mind, and in this book he simplifies his theoretical framework to make his brilliant thought easier to grasp. I disagree with the reader who complained about lack of references -- all the footnotes are available in his other works. This is the synthesis of his thought for those who want to understand, not those who want to nit-pick.

For me, it's a life-changing book, showing the way to order my own thoughts and experiences. Wilber is the only writer I've come across, other than James Hillman, who helps me reconcile all my disparate reading and experience.

In this book, he perfectly and succinctly outlines the growth process I see in my clients who are struggling to overcome dysfunction, find meaning in life and transcend their pasts.

I am grateful for this book's influence in my thought, and in my work as a therapist.

A BRIEF HISTORY (hereafter referred to as "ABH") is addressed "to those of us grappling to find wisdom in our everyday lives, but bewildered by the array of potential paths to truth" (xii). Ken Wilber is "in a category by himself," Tony Schwartz writes in the book's Foreward. "He is . . . far and away the most cogent and penetrating voice in the recent emergence of a uniquely American wisdom" (xi).

Written in an conversational, easy-access, question-and-answer format, ABH offers a simplified introduction to Wilber's integral vision, a vision which "attempts to include as many important truths from as many disciplines as possible, from the East as well as from the West, from premodern and modern and postmodern, from the hard sciences of physics to the tender sciences of spirituality" (p. xv). (A more in-depth discussion of Wilber's integral approach may be found in his 832-page SEX, ECOLOGY, SPIRITUALITY.)

In this mind-stretch of a book, Wilber takes on "God, life, the universe, and everything . . . it deals with life, mind, and spirit, and the evolutionary currents that seem to unite them all in a pattern that connects" (p. xix). And as Schwartz notes, ABH "delivers just what it promises. It covers vast historical ground, from the Big Bang right up to the desiccated postmodern present. Along the way, it seems to make sense of the often contradictory ways that human beings have evolved--physically, emotionally, intellectually, morally, spiritually" (p. xi). In this book, Wilber triumphs in integrating Freud and Buddha (p. 141), suggesting that on the "precious path to global consciousness" (p. 121), the "coming Buddha will speak digital" (p. 281).

Thoreau wrote: "With all your science can you tell how it is, and whence it is, the light that comes into the soul." In his recent book, WHY RELIGION MATTERS (2000), Huston Smith says that "the greatest problem the human spirit faces in our time is having to live in the procrustean, scientific worldview that dominates our culture" (p. 202). In ABH, Wilber also examines this dilemma. We are living under the Confucian curse of "interesting times" (p. 51), in a flatland of "zero" depth (p. 299)--"no consciousness, no mind, no soul, no spirit, no value, no depth, no divinity found anywhere in the disqualified universe" (pp. 224-5). We live in the scientific "world of the lab technician, slabs of meat each and all" (p. 244). And the "thought that somebody, somewhere might be higher or deeper . . . is simply intolerable" (p. 140). He writes: "Only by rejecting flatland can we arrive at an authentic environmental ethics and council of all beings, each bowing to the perfected grace in all. Only by rejecting flatland can we come to terms with the devastating culture gap, and thus set individuals free to unfold their own deepest possibilities in a culture of encouragement. Only be rejecting flatland can the grip of mononature be broken, so that nature can actually be integrated and thus genuinely honored, instead of made into a false god that ironically contributes to its own destruction" (p. 307).

In following "evolution from matter to life to mind" (p. 15), Wilber reveals "a more accurate, comprehensive map of human potentials" that directly translates "into a more effective business, politics, medicine, education, and spirituality" (p. xvi). (He covers this application in greater detail in A THEORY OF EVERYTHING.) ABH offers an "'all-level, all-quadrant' approach to consciousness, therapy, spirituality, and transformative practice" (p. 221).

Reading Ken Wilber is like being in the presence of someone who knows something you should know. He is a "rare voice" (p. xiii) that belongs on your bookshelf.

G. Merritt

Through an unfortunate clicking error, I accidentally purchased a copy of Ken Wilber's opus "A Brief History of Everything." I had read snippets of other Wilber books in the past and was saddened by my purchasing error when the box arrived from Amazon.

I reminded myself, however, that in the past I had made other purchasing mistakes and had then been ultimately pleased by the book when I finally got down to reading it. That was not the case with "A Brief History".

Armed with two undergraduate degrees, a doctorate, and a lifetime love of general reading on a broad host of subjects, I dove in. I felt that my education and experiences were both broad and narrow enough to decipher Wilber. I soon re-discovered that reading Wilber is like having your brain pushed through the extra-gooey sludge layer of popular intellectualism. His convoluted syntax is surpassed only by his wholly imaginary vocabulary. This kind of psycho-babble, new-age charlatanism should be reserved exclusively for the conversion of Silicon Valley CEOs to Wilber's zen-narcissism. The book should carry a safety warning for the general public. I am dumber having read it.

Reluctantly, I gave the book two stars, for three reasons. First, the cover photo on the book is the largest head shot of any author ever. It would have never fit on the back jacket flap. Second, Wilber's child-like belief in a universal unitarianism refreshes my own desire to believe in the transcendence of human nature. (Unless you think he's just saying all this stuff to sell books and lectures to Silicon Valley CEOs . . .?!). Finally, I'm amazed that he could string so many imaginary words together and make them sound like sentences.

Well, at least I got bubble-wrap.

This is going to sound petty to most, but it hit me really hard.

I saw this book in a store and, having heard a lot about Ken Wilber, I picked it up. Of course, I turned right away to the "Note to the Reader" in front. Within seconds I was gasping in disbelief. Here's why.

Wilber begins with one of my favorite books, Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Great, I thought, a fellow Hitchhiker's fan! But, he immediately gets it wrong, seriously wrong, several times. I quote:

"In Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a massive supercomputer is designed to give the ultimate answer, the absolute answer, the answer that would completely explain 'God, life, the universe, and everything.'"

Wrong. It's "Life, the Universe, and Everything". No mention of God. Wilber continues:

"But the computer takes seven and a half million years to do this, and by the time the computer delivers the answer, everybody has forgotten the question."

Also wrong. They never knew the question in the first place, and never realized they would have to know the question in order to understand the answer. Wilber goes on:

"Nobody remembers the ultimate question, but the ultimate answer the computer comes up with is: 42. This is amazing! Finally, the ultimate answer. So wonderful is the answer that a contest is held to see if anybody can come up with the question."

Utterly, utterly wrong. There was no "contest"; a second computer was built to find the Ultimate Question. This computer was so large it was frequently mistaken for a planet, and was called the Earth by its inhabitants. Onward:

"Many profound questions are offered, but the final winner is: How many roads must a man walk down?"

Again, wrong. The Earth was destroyed five minutes before it was due to complete its program, and those who had built it decided to come up with a fake question rather than go through the whole thing again. "How many roads must a man walk down?" was what they settled on.

So, that's four major mistakes in the first two paragraphs, about a book that's known and loved by many, many readers. If Wilber can't be bothered to get this right, then (I asked myself) how trustworthy could he be on a more serious subject such as "a brief history of everything"?

I put the book down and walked away.