WYATT EARP AND THE KOSMIC KID: THE DIS-INTEGRATION OF KEN WILBER. Back in the 1990\u2019s, I was on a spiritual search of sorts. Well, that\u2019s all a long story, which I\u2019m not in the mood to explain right now. Heck, a lot of people in my age bracket were on spiritual searches back in the 1990\u2019s. We all started worrying about getting old right around then. And Ken Wilber was there to help us, the great integrator, the doyen of transpersonal development, the guy who would lead us to all quadrants and all levels. He kept on knocking out books about a wide variety of psycho-spiritual growth topics, and the Baby Boom just kept on buying them. President Bill Clinton himself admitted to being a Wilber devotee (that was obviously a tip off regarding what was to come). Ken was the new-world man. <\/p>\n
I became familiar with Mr. Wilber thru a column he wrote for some spiritual quest magazine from California. I now forget the name of it, but it was basically New-age-ish, although the editor (a short, stout-looking fellow named Richard with a good sense of humor) still had some respect for the old-schools of religious spiritualism. Somehow they got my name and address, probably from some letter that I wrote to a more Christianized magazine regarding the contemplative life, and they started sending me free copies. Mr. Wilber seemed interesting, but after a few issues I could tell that he had an aggressive streak in him. He was always irritated with somebody about a disagreement regarding the finer points of kundalini energy<\/a> or spiral dynamics<\/a> or such. All the meditative experience and inner peace that a guru like Ken should have in spades had failed to extinguish something very angry deep down within him. That was my take, anyway.<\/p>\n After about a year, I decided to send payment to the magazine in question for a year\u2019s subscription; it seemed interesting, and I figured that you can only freeload for so long. Well, about a month after they cashed my check, I got a notice from them saying that my subscription was up and would I please send in payment for renewal. Oh, I see. The free issues weren\u2019t so free after all. OK, I figured it would be best to just call it even and walk away. I\u2019d have to somehow get by in life without the brilliant tidbits of wisdom from the great bald integrator.<\/p>\n I did consider buying one or two of his books, just before the turn of the century. But I decided against it. I don\u2019t remember exactly why; maybe it was the Bill Clinton connection. Or maybe Ken was just a little too brilliant for me.<\/p>\n The other day, I decided to do a Google on Ken, see what he’s been up to since the new millennium began. A lot, as it turns out. He\u2019s kept on knocking out the books, and he\u2019s formed a semi-academic institute dedicated to his approach to things. It\u2019s called the Integral Institute<\/a> (or I-I for short). And a cottage industry of Wilber de-constructors and critics<\/a> has grown up around him. <\/p>\n One of Mr. Wilber’s more noteworthy commentators is a Mr. Frank Visser, who has a rather interesting web site<\/a> just chock full of commentary on Wilber and transpersonal growth theories. I\u2019ve read that Mr. Visser and Mr. Wilber have met, and have even socialized a bit (no, they\u2019re not gay; Ken was married, but his wife died of cancer a number of years ago). Earlier this year, Mr. Visser critiqued one of Mr. Wilber’s recent books. I guess that it hit a nerve, because old Kenny had to write a long diatribe on his blog<\/a> (even longer than my rants!) about why he was mad at Visser, although it wasn\u2019t that he couldn\u2019t take honest criticism. (Even though that\u2019s really what it looks like).<\/p>\n Well, bottom line for me: Ken Wilber hasn\u2019t changed a whit. Wilber describes himself as having the kind of intellectual software which gets upgraded and renumbered every so often. Right now he\u2019s at Wilber 5.0. Back when I was reading his columns, it might have been Wilber 2.1 or something. But the main point is that Wilber still has something smoldering deep within himself. And that\u2019s probably the source of his genius; those at peace with themselves are not always the most creative of folk. It\u2019s the tortured souls constantly in search of something who knock out the best thinking. And Ken Wilber certainly has knocked out a whole lot of good thinking, really good. Way beyond what my slug brain could ever turn out. But as to finding peace within . . . . Wilber may have his integral theory<\/a> and his holons<\/a> down cold, but is he integrated and holistic himself? Or is he just like the rest of us after all; just another sloppy work in progress?<\/p>\n P.S. Actually, now that I shave my head once a week, I look a bit like Ken Wilber(!). But I\u2019m not going around bragging about it. <\/p>\n