A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality

Wilber’s ‘integral vision’ offers readers the opportunity to make valuable connections among disparate disciplines and—just maybe—to prepare themselves for a brave new world.

—Publishers Weekly

A soaring tour de force and daring exposition by one of America’s most inventive thinkers. Don't quit the search for an integral culture until you have given it a whirl—and take this book with you as a sturdy guide.

—Professor Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School

"Ken Wilber is one of the most creative spiritual thinkers alive today, and A Theory of Everything is an accessible taste of his brilliance. Like a masterful conductor, he brings everyone in, finds room for science and spirit, and creates music for the soul."

—Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Politics of Meaning

ABOUT THE BOOK

Here is a concise, comprehensive overview of Wilber’s revolutionary thought and its application in today’s world. In A Theory of Everything, Wilber uses clear, nontechnical language to present complex, cutting-edge theories that integrate the realms of body, mind, soul, and spirit. He then demonstrates how these theories and models can be applied to real-world problems in areas such as politics, medicine, business, education, and the environment. Wilber also discusses daily practices that readers take up in order to apply this integrative vision to their own everyday lives.

KEN WILBER is the author of over twenty books. He is the founder of Integral Institute, a think-tank for studying integral theory and practice, with outreach through local and online communities such as Integral Education Network, Integral Training, and Integral Spiritual Center.

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A THEORY OF EVERYTHING

An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science, and Spirituality

Ken Wilber

SHAMBHALA

Boston

2011

SHAMBHALA PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

© 2000 by Ken Wilber

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The Library of Congress catalogs the hardcover edition of this book as follows:

Wilber, Ken.

A theory of everything: an integral vision for business, politics, science, and spirituality/Ken Wilber—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2304-4

ISBN 978-1-57062-724-8 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-57062-855-9 (pbk.)

1. Life I. Title

BD431 .W5155 2000

191—dc21

00-040024

Contents

A Note to the Reader

1. THE AMAZING SPIRAL

Fragmentation at the Leading Edge

Boomeritis

The Waves of Existence

The Human Consciousness Project

The Jump to Second-Tier Consciousness

2. BOOMERITIS

Development as Declining Egocentrism

The Spiral of Compassion

Fight the System!

Growth Hierarchies versus Dominator Hierarchies

Boomeritis

The Many Gifts of Green

Beyond Pluralism

The Integral Culture

3. AN INTEGRAL VISION

Integral Transformation

Sex, Ecology, Spirituality

A Full-Spectrum Approach

All-Quadrant

A More Integral Map

To Change the Mapmaker

The Prime Directive

A More Measured Greatness

The Integral Vision in the World at Large

4. SCIENCE AND RELIGION

The Relation of Science and Religion

Nonoverlapping Magisteria?

The Brain of a Mystic

All-Quadrant, All-Level

Good Science

Deep Religion

The Integral Revelation

Vive la Différence!

Narrow Religion

Spirituality and Liberalism

5. THE REAL WORLD

Integral Politics

Integral Governance

Integral Medicine

Integral Business

Integral Education

Consciousness Studies

Relational and Socially Engaged Spirituality

Integral Ecology

Minorities Outreach

All-Quadrants, All-Levels, All-Lines: An Overview of UNICEF

The Terror of Tomorrow

Integral Institute

6. MAPS OF THE KOSMOS

A Holistic Indexing System

Worldviews

Robert Bellah, Mark Gerzon

Vertical Depth

Francis Fukuyama: The End of History and the Last Man

Samuel P. Huntington: The Clash of Civilizations

Vertical and Horizontal

The Mean Green Meme

World Civilization

Thomas L. Friedman: The Lexus and the Olive Tree

The Waves of Spiritual Experience

Why Doesn't Religion Simply Go Away?

Integral Practice

7. ONE TASTE

Integral Transformative Practice

Recommendations

True but Partial

And It Is All Undone

Notes

Chapter 1: The Amazing Spiral

Chapter 2: Boomeritis

Chapter 3: An Integral Vision

Chapter 4: Science and Religion

Chapter 5: The Real World

Chapter 6: Maps of the Kosmos

Index

E-mail Sign-Up

A Note to the Reader

AT THE DAWN OF THE MILLENNIUM , what’s the hottest item on the intellectual front? An item that commands the interest of academia as well as intellectual fashion magazines such as Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker ? That captures public interest as well as professorial? That promises finally to reveal long-hidden secrets of the human condition? Whose terms those in the know can quickly name, if not explain, and thus beam with this searingly hot new idea?

Some would say evolutionary psychology, which is the application of evolutionary principles to the study of human behavior: you know, human males are sexually profligate and females are nest-builders because a million years of natural selection have made us so. Evolutionary psychology has indeed become a very hot item, largely because it has managed to displace three decades of postmodernism, which previously was the megahip item but is now met with a slow yawn and casual scorn: postmodernism is so yesterday (and isn’t that ironic?). Postmodernism had built its huge band of followers largely on its capacity to deconstruct everybody else’s ideas, leaving the wielder of this postmodernist demolition as the king or queen of the academic hill.

Evolutionary psychology managed to pull the rug out from under the rug-pullers, and it did so by showing that evolutionary principles give much more interesting and compelling explanations of human behavior than the standard postmodern claim that all behavior is culturally relative and socially constructed. Evolutionary psychology made it clear that there are indeed universals in the human condition, that evolution can be denied only by embracing incoherence, and that, most of all, postmodernism just wasn’t any fun any more.

Evolutionary psychology is actually a branch of a radically new understanding of evolution itself. The previous neo-Darwinian synthesis saw evolution as the result of random genetic mutations, the more favorable of which (in terms of survival value) are carried forward by natural selection. This theory always left many people with a deeply uncomfortable feeling: how could all of the extraordinary vitality and diversity of life come from a universe that is supposed to be governed solely by the laws of physics, laws that bluntly assert that the universe is running down? The second law of thermodynamics tells us that in the real world, disorder always increases. Yet simple observation tells us that, in the real world, life creates order everywhere: the universe is winding up, not down.

The revolutionary new understanding found in chaos and complexity theories maintains that the physical universe actually has an inherent tendency to create order, just as when water chaotically washing down the drain in your bathroom sink suddenly organizes itself into a beautiful swirling whirlpool. Biological life itself is a series of swirling whirlpools, creating order out of chaos at every turn, and these new and more highly ordered structures are carried forward by various selection processes operating at all levels, from physical to cultural. In the human domain, this shows up in exactly the behavior studied by the new evolutionary psychology—a very hot topic, understandably!

Still, as hot as evolutionary psychology is, it’s not the hottest. Starting seriously in the early 1980s and building to something of a crescendo in the late 1990s, the world of physics began to hum with rumors of a theory of everything: a model that would unite all the known laws of the universe into one all-embracing theory that would literally explain everything in existence. The very hand of God could be seen in its formulas, some whispered. The veil had been lifted from the face of the ultimate Mystery, others said. The final Answer was at hand, the hushed consensus hinted.

Known as string theory (or more accurately, M-theory), it promises to unite all of the known models of physics—covering electromagnetism, nuclear forces, and gravity—into one all-encompassing supermodel. The fundamental units of this supermodel are known as strings, or one-dimensional vibrating chords, and from the various types of notes that these fundamental strings play, one can derive every known particle and force in the cosmos.

M-theory (the M is said to stand for everything from Matrix to Membrane to Mystery to Mother, as in the Mother of All Theories) is indeed an exciting and promising model, and should it eventually prove sound—it has yet to have any extensive physical corroboration—it would indeed be one of the most profound scientific discoveries of all time. And that is why, for those in the know, string theory or M-theory is the hottest of the hot intellectual stories, an explosively revolutionary supermodel that pushes even evolutionary psychology into the mundane corner of the merely interesting.

M-theory has certainly got intellectuals thinking; that is, thinking differently. What would it mean if there were a theory that explained everything? And just what does "everything" actually mean, anyway? Would this new theory in physics explain, say, the meaning of human poetry? Or how economics works? Or the stages of psychosexual development? Can this new physics explain the currents of ecosystems, or the dynamics of history, or why human wars are so terribly common?

In the interiors of quarks, it is said, there are vibrating strings, and these strings are the fundamental units of everything. Well, if so, it is a strange everything, pale and anemic and alien to the richness of the world that daily presents itself to you and me. Clearly strings are an important part of a larger world, fundamental to it, but not that significant, it seems. You and I already know that strings, should they exist, are only a tiny part of the picture, and we know this every time we look around, listen to Bach, make love, are caught transfixed at the sharp crack of thunder, sit rapturous at sunset, contemplate a radiant world that seems made of something so much more than microscopic, one-dimensional, tiny rubber bands. . . .

The Greeks had a beautiful word, Kosmos, which means the patterned Whole of all existence, including the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual realms. Ultimate reality was not merely the cosmos, or the physical dimension, but the Kosmos, or the physical and emotional and mental and spiritual dimensions altogether. Not just matter, lifeless and insentient, but the living Totality of matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit. The Kosmos!—now there is a real theory of everything! But us poor moderns have reduced the Kosmos to the cosmos, we have reduced matter and body and mind and soul and spirit to nothing but matter alone, and in this drab and dreary world of scientific materialism, we are lulled into the notion that a theory uniting the physical dimension is actually a theory of everything. . . .

The new physics, it is said, actually shows us the mind of God. Well, perhaps, but only when God is thinking about dirt. So without in any way denying the importance of a unified physics, let us also ask: can we have a theory, not merely of the cosmos, but of the Kosmos? Can there be a genuine Theory of Everything? Does it even make sense to ask this question? And where would we begin?

An integral vision—or a genuine Theory of Everything—attempts to include matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit as they appear in self, culture, and nature. A vision that attempts to be comprehensive, balanced, inclusive. A vision that therefore embraces science, art, and morals; that equally includes disciplines from physics to spirituality, biology to aesthetics, sociology to contemplative prayer; that shows up in integral politics, integral medicine, integral business, integral spirituality. . . .

This book is a brief overview of a Theory of Everything. All such attempts, of course, are marked by the many ways in which they fail. The many ways in which they fall short, make unwarranted generalizations, drive specialists insane, and generally fail to achieve their stated aim of holistic embrace. It’s not just that the task is beyond any one human mind; it’s that the task itself is inherently undoable: knowledge expands faster than ways to categorize it. The holistic quest is an ever-receding dream, a horizon that constantly retreats as we approach it, a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow that we will never reach.

So why even attempt the impossible? Because, I believe, a little bit of wholeness is better than none at all, and an integral vision offers considerably more wholeness than the slice-and-dice alternatives. We can be more whole, or less whole; more fragmented, or less fragmented; more alienated, or less alienated—and an integral vision invites us to be a little more whole, a little less fragmented, in our work, our lives, our destiny.

There are immediate benefits, as you will see in the following pages. The first four chapters introduce a Theory of Everything, and the last three outline its relevance in the real world, where we will discuss integral politics, integral business, integral education, integral medicine, and integral spirituality—as they are already finding widespread and enthusiastic applications. The last chapter discusses integral transformative practice, or the ways in which an integral approach to psychological and spiritual transformation can be used in your own case, if you so desire.

(The endnotes are for advanced students or for a second reading. And, in the last chapter, I will give recommended readings for those who would like to further pursue the integral vision and a Theory of Everything.)

Please use the ideas in the following pages as simple suggestions. See if they make sense to you; see if you can improve them; see in any event if they help you bring forth your own integral ideas and aspirations. I once had a professor who defined a good theory as one that lasts long enough to get you to a better one. The same is true for a good Theory of Everything. It is not a fixed or final theory, simply one that has served its purpose if it helps you get to a better one. And in the meantime, there is the wonder and the glory of the search itself, drenched in the radiance of being from the start, and always already completed before it even begins.

K. W.

Boulder, Colorado

Spring 2000

1

The Amazing Spiral

WE LIVE IN AN EXTRAORDINARY TIME : all of the world’s cultures, past and present, are to some degree available to us, either in historical records or as living entities. In the history of the planet Earth, this has never happened before.

It seems hard to imagine, but for humanity’s entire stay on this planet—for some million years up to the present—a person was born into a culture that knew virtually nothing about any other. You were, for example, born a Chinese, raised a Chinese, married a Chinese, and followed a Chinese religion—often living in the same hut for your entire life, on a spot of land that your ancestors settled for centuries. From isolated tribes and bands, to small farming villages, to ancient nations, to conquering feudal empires, to international corporate states, to global village: the extraordinary growth toward an integral village that seems humanity’s destiny.

So it is that the leading edge of consciousness evolution stands today on the brink of an integral millennium—or at least the possibility of an integral millennium—where the sum total of extant human knowledge, wisdom, and technology is available to all. And sooner or later we will have, of course, a Theory of Everything to explain it all. . . .

But, as we will see, there are several obstacles to that integral understanding, even in the most developed populations. Moreover, there is the more typical or average mode of consciousness, which is far from integral anything and is in desperate need of its own tending. Both of those pressing issues—the integral vision as it relates to the most developed and the modestly developed populations—are some of the central topics of this book. Even if we have a Theory of Everything that charitably embraces all and unduly marginalizes none, will it really benefit all peoples? And how can we help to ensure that it does?

In short, what is the status of the integral vision in today’s world, both in the cultural elite and in the world at large? Let us start with the leading edge, and the many obstacles to an integral vision in our cultural elite.

FRAGMENTATION AT THE LEADING EDGE

Integral: the word means to integrate, to bring together, to join, to link, to embrace. Not in the sense of uniformity, and not in the sense of ironing out all the wonderful differences, colors, zigs and zags of a rainbow-hued humanity, but in the sense of unity-in-diversity, shared commonalities along with our wonderful differences. And not just in humanity, but in the Kosmos at large: finding a more comprehensive view—a Theory of Everything (T.O.E.)—that makes legitimate room for art, morals, science, and religion, and doesn’t merely attempt to reduce them all to one’s favorite slice of the Kosmic pie.

And, of course, if we succeed in developing a truly holistic or integral view of reality, then we will also develop a new type of critical theory—that is, a theory that is critical of the present state of affairs in light of a more encompassing and desirable state, both in the individual and the culture at large. The integral paradigm will inherently be critical of those approaches that are, by comparison, partial, narrow, shallow, less encompassing, less integrative.

We will be exploring this integral vision, this T.O.E., in the following pages. But it is definitely not a final view or a fixed view or the only view; just a view that attempts to honor and include as much research as possible from the largest number of disciplines in a coherent fashion (which is one definition of an integral or more comprehensive view of the Kosmos).¹

Yet the very attempt itself does raise the interesting question: can a truly integral vision exist in today’s climate of culture wars, identity politics, a million new and conflicting paradigms, deconstructive postmodernism, nihilism, pluralistic relativism, and the politics of self? Can a T.O.E. even be recognized, let alone accepted, in such a cultural state? Aren’t the cultural elite themselves in as fragmented and rancorous a state as ever? Perhaps the masses of humanity are bent on tribal warfare and ethnocentric cleansing; but what if the cultural elite itself is likewise so inclined?

We are talking, in other words, about the leading edge of consciousness evolution itself, and whether even the leading edge is truly ready for an integral vision. In the end we will find, I believe, that there is some very good news in all this; but first, a little bit of what I see as the bad news.

BOOMERITIS

The baby boomer generation has, like any generation, its strengths and weaknesses. Its strengths include an extraordinary vitality, creativity, and idealism, plus a willingness to experiment with new ideas beyond traditional values. Some social observers have seen in the boomers an awakening generation, evidenced by an extraordinary creativity in everything from music to computer technology, political action to lifestyles, ecological sensitivity to civil rights. I believe there is much truth and goodness in those endeavors, to the boomers’ considerable credit.

Boomer weaknesses, most critics agree, include an unusual dose of self-absorption and narcissism, so much so that most people, boomers included, simply nod their heads in acknowledgment when the phrase the Me generation is mentioned.

Thus, it seems that my generation is an extraordinary mixture of greatness and narcissism, and that strange amalgam has infected almost everything we do. We don’t seem content to simply have a fine new idea, we must have the new paradigm that will herald one of the greatest transformations in the history of the world. We don’t really want to just recycle bottles and paper; we need to see ourselves dramatically saving the planet and saving Gaia and resurrecting the Goddess that previous generations had brutally repressed but we will finally liberate. We aren’t able to tend our garden; we must be transfiguring the face of the planet in the most astonishing global awakening history has ever seen. We seem to need to see ourselves as the vanguard of something unprecedented in all of history: the extraordinary wonder of being us.

Well, it can be pretty funny if you think about it, and I truly don’t mean any of this in a harsh way. Each generation has its foibles; this appears to be ours, at least to some degree. But I believe few of my generation escape this narcissistic mood. Many social critics have agreed, and not just in such penetrating works as Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism, Restak’s Self Seekers, Bellah’s Habits of the Heart, and Stern’s Me: The Narcissistic American. Surveying the present state of cultural studies even in American universities, Professor Frank Lentricchia, writing in lingua franca: The Review of Academic Life, concluded: It is impossible, this much is clear, to exaggerate the heroic self-inflation of academic literary and cultural criticism.

Well, ouch. But it’s true that if you peruse books on cultural studies, alternative spirituality, the new paradigm, and the great