Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution [Paperback]

Ken Wilber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2007

This book chronicles humanity's cultural and psychospiritual evolutionary journey over some six million years from its primal past into its dazzling cosmic future.

Product Details

• Paperback: 421 pages
• Publisher: Quest Books (May 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835607313
• ISBN-13: 978-0835607315
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ken Wilber is one of the most widely read and influential American philosophers of our time. His recent books include "A Brief History of Everything", "The Marriage of Sense and Soul" and "Grace and Grit".

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Painful History of Mankind- and a way Beyond..., July 12, 2002

By 

Nicq MacDonald (Sioux Falls, SD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution (Paperback)

After the success of his initial works (The Spectrum of Consciousness and No Boundary), Ken Wilber gave his "spectrum" model a serious reappraisal and found it woefully lacking. It seemed that he had made a mistake that he goes on to chide others for in his later books- he confused prerational myths with transcendental truths, and confused the spiritual fall with the scientific fall. He makes up for his previous errors with "Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution".

In UFE, Wilber covers the historical development of consciousness, from the animalistic/uroboric level to the typhonic, and then to the development of the Solar ego, the disassociation of the mind from the body, and the development of the rational mind. But he takes it a step further as well, discussing the development of transrational consciousness throughout history, and discussing the differences between magical fetishism and psychic Nirmanakaya and between mythic religion and subtle archetype. Drawing upon Freud, Jung, Campbell, and a ream of Anthropoligical and Archaeological data, Wilber paints us a fascinating picture of society, it's history, and it's discontents. Lastly, he finishes the book by discussing his ideas for a politics of the transrational, in a fascinating chapter titled "Republicans, Democrats, and Mystics".

As far as Wilber's older books go, this is one not to be missed. Although some concepts are better elucidated in Wilber's later "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality", nowhere does he draw on more anthropological support for his theories than in "Up From Eden".

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Readable and Plausible Account of Evolution, December 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution (Paperback)

Wilber develops in detail his model of consciousness as applied to human evolution from the earliest prehistoric levels to levels beyond those attained by average human beings today. Typical of all his works, he incorporates insights from the anthropological, sociological, biological, physical and psychological sciences for his exposition of evolution in the body/mind realms, and the explanations provided by both Eastern and Western mysticism for the higher levels of consciousness. Unlike Eastern mystic writers, Wilber provides his insights with startling clarity and profound logic that resonate with the current, admittedly rational, Western mentality. This is among the best of his many works we have read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A history of transcendence...cool!, March 21, 2002

By 

Shawn Regan (marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution (Paperback)

What a great book. It's the human evolution of consciousness. Ken has shown in his other books how we progress through several, well defined, stages of congnitive growth. In this book he discusses the same stages but with the period in history that they are associated with. He also keeps track of the highest achievers of each period.