Wholeness : On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao [Paperback]

Alex Gerber Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001 | ISBN-10: 0963536710 | ISBN-13: 978-0963536716

Much has already been said about wholeness, holistic education, and their need for humans to accord with the rest of nature, but many people are still unfamiliar with these vital concepts and how they relate to our present and future options. Still others value the idea of wholeness but don't' apply its wisdom in their daily lives. awakening to wholeness implies an ongoing process. One might ask, if someone can conceptualize wholeness, isn't the consciousness already present? The apparent contradiction of endeavoring to become whole, which the sages say we already are, is a familiar theme on the path of personal discovery. Even though wholeness is inherent, this doesn't mean we are aware of it, or rather, that we have remembered it.... Although omnipresent, the whole can seem elusive, vanishing like a bubble when dissected. This book presents one attempt to trace the untraceable. --- excepts from book's Introduction

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Gerber Educational Resources (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963536710
• ISBN-13: 978-0963536716
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,713,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For philosophical and educational studies collections, January 6, 2002

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wholeness : On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao (Paperback)

Wholeness: On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao is a treatise divided into three main chapters; as its subtitle suggests, the chapters focus upon Education, Buckminster Fuller, and the Tao. Unifying the theme of this scholarly, superbly crafted presentation is the concept of wholeness and how it applies to life in a world where so many are often blind to the whole picture that encompasses the countless different threads that make up the tapestry of global events. Six appendixes offer further selected readings and more thought on the interdependence of world problems. Highly recommended for philosophical and educational studies collections and reading lists, Wholeness is a scholarly, vital look at the unifying factors connecting diverse global problems today.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful!! A must-read book!, November 5, 2001

By 

"richard_fuller" (Grand Rapids, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wholeness : On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao (Paperback)

Life on Planet Earth is in serious trouble. We're adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere through fossil fuel burning, creating holes in the protective ozone layer, decimating forested lands, contaminating land and water, and ever-increasing our population.

Wholeness explores options for a brighter future--indeed salvation from an ultimate destruction. Author, visionary, and educator Alex Gerber Jr. demonstrates the theories of the famous inventor/philosopher Buckminster Fuller and the principles of spirituality found in Tao, and offers a means to understand where we are globally, as well as locally and individually, and what we can do about it.

Dr. Gerber writes, "`The whole' refers to everything--the entirety of creation, all that is, undivided, without diminution." By learning to view the world's many facets (e.g., ecology, energy, economics, ethics, and education) not as parts but as an integrated whole, we can begin to live in accord with each other and with nature rather than in fragmentation, discord, and self-destruction.

Focusing particularly on design (in the fullest sense of the word), education, and spirituality, Gerber shows us how Buckminster Fuller's philosophy of "comprehensivity" helps us to connect with and act in accord with the whole. He then presents the timeless philosophy of Tao as a complement to Fuller's that encourages continual connection with "the oneness of being" and teaches us, as Gerber puts it, "to exist and act in that state of wholeness."

Wholeness: On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao is an awakening to a better way. Here is a book intended for the broadest spectrum of people--those seeking to navigate in this complex and often bewildering world. Wholeness is far and away the best book this reviewer has ever read on this vital subject. Alex Gerber Jr., in his exceptional, timely offering, has given us a means to see the forest before there are no trees.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to "do" wholeness, October 1, 2007

By 

Tamara R. Belland (Lynnwood, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wholeness : On Education, Buckminster Fuller, and Tao (Paperback)

This book shows how to become whole, or rather, how to remember and accept one's wholeness. Dr. Gerber's book--a mind expander--also reveals how to teach this subject to the whole of humanity and how humanity will embrace the process.