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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great & Accessible Intro to Wiber IV Integral Philosophy , August 18, 2004
Have you ever found a book that looked fairly interesting but completley blew you away instead? Where you finished the last page only to sit there in stunned silence thinking, "Holy...this is exactly what I've been looking for!" This was that book for me. After reading it the first time, I felt as if I should have discovered this slim volume in a dusty, darkened attic trunk like some long lost hidden treasure, rather than at a book store at O'Hare airport. It's the first book by Wilber I read, and since then I've devoured everything else of his I could get my hands on. Yes, it's that good.
'Sense & Soul' is a great place to take a quick dip in the deep blue ocean that is Wilber's Integral Philosophy. His grand idea is simple yet profound, and a Herculean undertaking: everybody's right (to a degree), so we'll gather the best of all knowledge, east and west, from both the past and today while discarding what doesn't work, and create something new and remarkable, an integral philosophy. The breadth and depth of his work to integrate the world's knowledge into a functional and coherent system is nothing short of staggering and delightful.
Wilber's vision expands and deepens while becoming more refined with each new book, and it is clear that what he is creating is a viable blueprint for a globally and spiritually aware future for this planet and it's inhabitants. 'Sense & Soul' is a beautifully clear glimpse of this vision. I can't recommend it highly enough.
From here I would move on to 'A Brief History Of Everything' and then perhaps tackle 'Sex, Ecology, Spirituality'. After that, you're on your own to cherry pick as you please.
The ideas contained within Ken Wilber's works are utterly transformative, but don't believe me, come see the future for yourself.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant synthesis of the major branches of knowledge, June 17, 1999
Ken Wilber presents a brilliant synthesis of the major branches of knowledge and clearly shows their relationship to "Religion in General". It is clear from some of the reviews, which rated this book poorly, that they do not understand where Wilber is coming from. Some reviews are just too stupid to even comment upon. (Eg. granpubah) The Kirkus review states that Wilber doesn't explain how the integration of the Great Chain of Being with the major differientiations of modernity is supposed to occur. I can't follow this line of reasoning as Wilber has clearly shown how this can be achieved. I do agree, however, that Wilber does not tackle the old epistemological question of the relation of consciousness/mind to matter, although he does touch on this question in pages 145-147. The philosopher Rudolf Steiner did an excellent job in solving this problem from an introspective point of view in his books "Truth & Knowledge" and the "Philosophy of Freedom". (No I am not an Anthroposophist!) Basically, Wilber tackles the problem of the unification of knowledge from an external perspective and clearly defines what he means by empiricism (observation/experiment) and knowledge (understanding of experience). These terms are not loosely equated as implied in the Kirkus review, far from it. Wilber also defines what he means by religion in a very precise manner, ie. religion is at its core, "direct mystical, transendental, meditative, contemplative, or yogic experiences". What else could it be? Virgin births or 'crossing the Red Sea' are unsubstantiated beliefs which have grown around religion. These myths may have symbolic meaning but they were not real events. The criticism that Wilber makes vague generalisations about the scientific method are unfounded and way of the mark. (Kirkus) He very precisely defines the scientific method as having three basic strands. To paraphrase him they are: experimental practice, collection of data and the confirmation or rejection of results. Again what else could it be? I don't recall Wilber stating that the deeply religous and deeply scientific feel a strong need to integrate science and religion (Charles Stout review) Wilber's view could not be termed manipulative by any stretch of the imagination as claimed. He asks only that science broaden its focus and religion identify its core essence. If this is done then the scientific method can be applied to an analysis of "inner experience". Phenomenological tests could then establish the consistency, or otherwise, of inner structures reported by subjects experienced in the art of meditation. The word science is derived from an old Latin word scire, meaning 'to know', and as Wilber states all knowledge is based on experience, whether inner or outer. There is no science apart from consciousness observers and sometimes this fact is easily forgotten. Consciousness, and what we call matter, are inextricably linked together and one cannot be reduced to the other. This, I believe, is the essence of Wilber's argument.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great introduction to Wilber, October 8, 2004
Ken Wilber is quite possibly the most significant philosopher writing today. Yet his work is dense, academic, and difficult for those outside of academia or professional psychology to grasp.
With "The Marriage of Sense and Soul", Wilber writes a popular introduction to Integral thought, in which he outlines the basics of his philosophy- the "nest of being", interiors vs. exteriors, prerational/rational/transrational thinking, mystical states of consciousness, and the rest of the essentials of his philosophy. While there's still a lot of terminology to digest, and Wilber drops more than a few names that non-academics probably won't recognize, Wilber does manage to strip his philosophy down to a brief introduction that is far more elegant and feels like less of an abridgement than "A Brief History of Everything".
At the same time, I don't know if Wilber succeeds in pulling off the mission of the book- "Integrating Science and Religion." While Wilber does a fine job of defining science and the limits of science, his definition of religion throws out the very components of religion that are most relevant to the typical religious believer! He strips religion down to meditative contemplation, while rendering the other components of religion irrelevant to his model. Ultimately, his "integration" is only possible by redefining religion into his model. While Wilber's philosophy is powerful and coherent, (and hence I'm not ashamed to admit to being a "Wilberian") his explaining-away of religion makes the own purpose of his book impossible. You might as well ask Richard Dawkins (the famously atheistic evolutionary biologist) to write a book on the integration of science and religion- it would be just as unsatisfactory.
Despite this, however, the book does do an excellent job of presenting integral theory to a broader audience. As a companion volume, I'd recommend Robert Wright's "Nonzero" as another fine book on the integral vision.
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