A Study of the Philosophy of Science and Spirituality

Are religion and spirituality in conflict? The prevailing opinion in today’s world seems to be that they are. But a careful examination of ontological, epistemological, and teleological factors may lead to a surprising answer: there need not be a conflict if we clearly define our terms and understand the pivotal importance of metaphor in human thought. If science and spirituality (or religion) are carelessly defined with claims of absolute truth, and if the unsupportable assumption is made that reality consists only of matter-energy, a dramatic conflict will result between science and spirituality. But these logical flaws invalidate much of what we think we know in the fields of science and spirituality themselves. If we examine Kuhn’s work on paradigms, the revelations of Quantum Mechanics, and consider the topic in the light of Process Philosophy and Transpersonal Process Philosophy, we will be prepared to evaluate the philosophical ideas that underpin the work of Goswami’s “Science within Consciousness” and also the groundbreaking thought of Ken Wilber, Rupert Sheldrake, Owen Barfield, and Eric Weiss. We will discover that essentially all human thought depends upon metaphor, though usually not recognized as such. While necessary, metaphors must not be confused with absolute truth. Comprehension of the nature and proper role of metaphor will clarify our thinking about religion, spirituality, and many other essential matters. The egregious error that is fundamentalism in religion or science will be revealed and can then be avoided. The resulting dawn of understanding can lead us into a new meta paradigm that can eradicate almost all the supposed war between science and spirituality.

Climbing Towards Equity: Stages of Growth in the Partisan Mind

Partisanized politics is usually studied in terms of conservatism versus liberalism. Examined from George Lakoff's perspective in the field of cognitive science, this dichotomy appears to be based on family-oriented archetypes which he labels Strict Father Model versus Nurturing Parent Model. Philosopher and developmentalist Ken Wilber offers an integral perspective contextualizing this framework within a process of psychosocial evolution. He suggests that the differences represent unfolding of stages of growth characterized in their early levels by a lack of compassion for outsiders but in later levels by greater empathy and inclusiveness. This can create consternation among occupants of the less developed levels who don't grasp the value of showing compassion to those outside their own group. Wilber also identifies a yet more enlightened demographic that manages to recognize conservatism and liberalism as guideposts on a psychosocial evolutionary journey.

Ken Wilber’s Integral Spirituality

The book of Ken Wilber, a philosopher, psychologist and the founder of integral theory, is devoted to the role of spirituality, faith and religion nowadays and in the future. The author systematically applies the holist integral theory to many aspects of spirituality, considering modern methodologies and philosophical and religious traditions. He analyzes various practical approaches to the states and the stages of consciousness, views parallels and finds common ground between the Western and the Eastern, scientific and meditative branches of various spiritual systems, and complements them to build his own project – integral postmetaphysics – an area that, according to K. Wilber, can withstand the criticism of postmodernism. Although the author sometimes presents the ideas in a rather partial manner, one should note his erudition and his broad outlook on world religions, phenomenology, behaviorism, structuralism, yoga, meditation, philosophy of mind, psychophysiology and many other spheres. Certainly, the integral theory is a sphere of philosophic analysis that tends to be ambiguous and not universal in application. As it is noted by K. Wilber: “An integral map is just a map. This is not a territory. It would be an obvious mistake to confuse them” [Wilber, 2006: 2]. Nevertheless, it seems that this book can be useful for those interested in the development of holism and modern approaches to spirituality.

La educación y el despertar de la consciencia | Education and awakening of consciousness

Este trabajo gira en torno a una pregunta y una respuesta. La pregunta es acerca de cuál debería ser el sentido último de la educación y la respuesta apunta hacia la dimensión espiritual del ser humano. Tanto la pregunta como la respuesta son recurrentes en la historia de la pedagogía, no así la forma en que van a presentarse aquí, pivotando sobre la consciencia y sobre una teoría sobre el desarrollo humano, la llamada “teoría integral” de Ken Wilber, donde la consciencia es el núcleo central. Se describen tres tipos de “ataques” contra la consciencia dentro de la institución escolar: a) las dinámicas del curriculum oculto, b) la no promoción explícita de la autorreflexividad y c) la exclusión de cualquier aproximación “espiritual” a la consciencia. Igualmente, se describe a grandes rasgos una propuesta para reconfigurar el sentido de la educación a partir de la teoría integral de Ken Wilber, presentada como un interfaz entre el estado actual de las cosas y la deseable incorporación a los sistemas educativos de distintas tradiciones de sabiduría.AbstractThis work revolves around a question and an answer. The question is about what should be the ultimate meaning of education and the answer points to the spiritual dimension of the human being. Both the question and the answer are recurrent in the history of pedagogy, but not so the way they are going be addressed here, pivoting on consciousness and on a theory about human development, the so-called "integral theory" by Ken Wilber, where consciousness is the core element. Three types of "attacks" against consciousness within the school institution are described: a) the dynamics of the hidden currículum, b) the lack of explicit promotion of self-reflexivity and c) the exclusion of any "spiritual" approach to consciousness. Likewise, a proposal to reconfigure the meaning of education from Ken Wilber's integral theory is described in broad strokes. It is suggested that this theory can act as a interface between the current state of things and the desirable incorporation into the educational systems of different traditions of wisdom.

Growing Up and Waking Up: A Conversation With Ken Wilber About Leaving Transpersonal to Form Integral Psychology

Although he formally departed from the transpersonal psychological community in the 1990s, Ken Wilber was, and continues to be, one of the most important and influential theoreticians in this subdiscipline of psychology. Given his indisputable prominence and substantive contributions to transpersonal psychological thought, both Harris L. Friedman and Douglas A. MacDonald met with Wilber in order to learn about his views of the field and to solicit him for suggestions on what might be done to help move transpersonal psychology forward. On November 16, 2018, Wilber, Friedman, and MacDonald met in Denver, Colorado. The 3-hour conversation that ensued was recorded and transcribed. In this article, we provide salient excerpts from this conversation, including some minor edits (in brackets) made to enhance quality of expression. The gist of Wilber’s recommendations, made early in the conversation, is that transpersonal psychology should “disband or, at the very least, come up with a different name.” What follows is a lively dialog between two transpersonal psychologists and one of the subdiscipline’s most renowned early thinkers who now disavows its worth and shares some of the reasons why he left the subdiscipline to pursue “integral” psychology.

What Is Gnosis? An Exploration

The word “gnosis” is widely used in contemporary scholarship in a range of fields including not only the study of the historical phenomenon of Gnosticism, but also in more unexpected areas like translations of Buddhist texts, where the term has taken on a fairly specific collectively understood meaning. Broadly speaking, in the developing consensus visible both in scholarship and in popular culture, gnosis refers to knowledge that transcends ratiocinative, discursive, or dualistic forms of knowledge. Gnosis, broadly understood both in scholarship and to some extent in popular culture, refers to knowledge understood as the transcendence of self/other dualism. Authors discussed include Edward Conze, Theodore Roszak, Carl Jung, Andrew Newberg, April DeConick, Peter Carroll, Andrieh Vitimus, Ken Wilber, and Christopher Bache.

Transitando hacia el ejercicio de autonomía y liderazgo: … «para el posicionamiento hay que luchar»

Introducción: En Chile, las enfermeras/os tienen respaldo legal para gestionar el cuidado, esto facilita el desarrollo de competencias para ejercer autonomía y liderazgo. Actualmente persisten barreras para transitar hacia un reconocimiento real de la independencia profesional. Objetivo: Develar la experiencia vivida de enfermeras con cargos en niveles de jefatura respecto al propio desarrollo para lograr el liderazgo y autonomía profesional. Metodología: Estudio cualitativo descriptivo-interpretativo, desde la trayectoria fenomenológica de Edmund Husserl. Muestreo selectivo de caso homogéneo de tres enfermeras que desempeñaban rol de jefatura en instituciones de salud, región Valparaíso, Chile. Participación consentida. Entrevista no estructurada. Análisis del discurso utilizando el modelo de liderazgo integral de Ken Wilber. Resultados: Categorías: Conciencia del líder «ser inquieta...intelectualmente». Construyendo competencias «el liderazgo se aprende». Transitando hacia el ejercicio de la autonomía y el liderazgo, “para el posicionamiento hay que luchar”. El peso de las estructuras organizacionales «tu rol es parte de un hospital». Interpretación: El eEjercicio del liderazgo y la autonomía se fundamenta en competencias actitudinales por sobre las cognitivas y técnicas. Existe mayor apoyo y reconocimiento a nivel institucional, que al interior del equipo de salud. Persisten limitaciones para lograr máxima expresión del liderazgo y autonomía, por persistencia de modelos institucionales hegemónicos, centrados en decisiones médicas y desconocimiento del rol integrado. Conclusión: El líder se mueve en un escenario dual, entre un menor reconocimiento del equipo y un creciente empoderamiento del rol autónomo y visibilidad a nivel directivo institucional.

La teoría del todo de Ken Wilber: una visión holísta para estudiar las organizaciones

El presente estado del arte se realizó con el propósito de reflexionar sobre los planteamientos holistas de Ken Wilber (1996, 2000, 2001) como referente conceptual de la categoría de estudio “Visión Integral” de la tesis doctoral titulada “Gerencia de Centros de Salud desde la Integralidad del Ser”, dentro del Doctorado en Ciencias Gerenciales de la Universidad Nacional Experimental Politécnica de la Fuerza Armada (UNEFA), Venezuela, cuyo aporte integrante de la fundamentación teórica, muestra el cómo este autor ha logrado constituir de forma magistral el conocimiento psicológico del Occidente moderno con el conocimiento psicológico de las grandes tradiciones del mundo, ofreciendo así, una teoría que integra las dimensiones humanas, el cuerpo, la mente, el alma y el espíritu. Los planteamientos recogidos a través de un diseño cualitativo e interpretativo de tipo documental, ofrecen una mirada al kosmos incluyendo las dimensiones físicas, emocionales, mentales y espirituales, además de la forma como ha evolucionado la conciencia, a través de un modelo de cuatro cuadrantes que permite reconocer y unificar los niveles o etapas del pensamiento y la conducta humana. En tal sentido, con esta compilación se tienen los insumos para comprender e interpretar el valor e importancia de concebir una visión integral u holista en los diversos campos organizacionales, mostrando prácticas que pueden seguirse y aplicarse en la gerencia moderna y la vida cotidiana, para descubrir aspectos antes no imaginados tendientes a la transformación histórica de nuestra sociedad desde un pensamiento integrativo, cooperativo y de unificación.