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Phase 5: Post-Metaphysical AQAL (2001-present)

With each successive iteration, it seems that Ken Wilber's metaphysics becomes more complex, more profound, and also more unwieldly. The original Great Chain of Being that defined his early thinking even from the start has become lost in a maze of quadrants, levels, holons, lines, states, and types that constitutes the mature Wilber IV. And although his supporters claim that Wilber does indeed propound a single unified system of knowledge, seamlessly integrating all aspects of science and spirituality, art and culture, ancient and modern knowledge, this was not my impression of his philosophy (see critiques of Wilber's "AQAL" cosmology and of philosophical method and Arvan Harvat's review/critique

Writing on Post-Metaphysical AQAL stage (Wilber-V) is bound to be misleading, not least of all because there hasn't been anything yet of Wilber-5 in print, only online excerpts. Quite possibly Wilbers ideas themselves haven't fully crystallised regarding this. The following therefore is written with the proviso that this information may not be definite.

From the little that I've seen and read, it seems to be the case that even more so than Wilber III, this latest stage does not constitute a new philosophy or cosmology in itself. Rather, it seems to represent a rejection of metaphysics, especially his earlier (Wilbers I to III) position of an updating of the Perennial Philosophy's Great Chain of Being, in favour of a more Mahayana Buddhistic "emptiness" (shunyata) teaching, inspired by the Madyamika (Nagarjuna) and Yogachara schools [Brad Reynolds, Where's Wilber At? p. 14]. This marks the increasingly postmodernist flavour of Wilber's work, as the promised metaphysical synthesis of Wilber IV did not deliver the union of One and Many that one might argue should be at the heart of every grand esoteric synthesis.

The strong impression I get from reading Brad Reynolds on-line chapter, is that Wilber V also represents a transformation in Wilber's own personal outlook, a spiritual breakthrough or leap to a higher level. But, as Ken himself pointed out in his Wilber III phase, and in his critique of his guru Adi Da, not all developments of the various components of the being proceed at the same pace. So whilst Wilber's spiritual development might have progressed (at least this is the impression I have from reading Brad Reynolds' hagiography of him, in that I did contact a spiritual energy when reading it, but perhaps I was just picking up the psycho-spiritual energy and would probably contact the same energy when reading any devotional material; although I don't know enough to make a definite unbiased statement), the intellectual position remains basically AQAL / Wilber IV

This being the case, one wonders where the "post metaphysical" element comes in, for while a wholistic psychology or socio-memetic theory (the Wilber-Beck version of Spiral Dynamics) can be developed without metaphysics, the same cannot be said of cosmology, philosophy, an explanation of consciousness, and other such topics that Wilber covers in his integral system.

Since there is nothing yet on Wilber-V in print, one may ask does Wilber-V even exist as a philosophy? The on-line materials on Ken's site are pretty much Wilber IV.

Not surprisingly calling this postmodernist development his "post-metaphysical" phase (or more precisely, Integral Post-Metaphysics [Ibid p.14]) , Wilber shifts his focus to a here-now evolutionary view based on Rupert Sheldrake's notion of morphogenetic fields and formative causation, applying it now to all four quadrants. Ironically, I remember reading once in an issue of ReVision (maybe a quarter of a century ago) where Wilber was dismissive of Sheldrake because the latter does not have a proper hierarchy of being!

The Inheritance of the Past in All Four Quadrants

Ken Wilber diagram on "The Inheritance of the Past in All Four Quadrants"
from Excerpt A: An Integral Age at the Leading Edge
- Part I. Kosmic Karma: Why is the Present a Little Bit Like the Past?

Phase V also sees Wilber retain and further develop his and Don Beck's revised version of Spiral Dynamics, using it as a paradigm for human evolution. He also writes a curious novel attacking baby boomers (of which he himself is one), and further works on his external link Integral Institute, which has now established a number of new projects like external link Integral University and the rather hip-sounded external link Integral Naked (although if you expect to find sexy young new paradigm philosophers doing tantric practice in the altogether you'll be disappointed).

It remains to be seen whether Wilber's current shift away from cosmology, to social commentary and working in the pragmatic world, will be the last word, or whether he will develop a further novel new system (Wilber VI so to speak) to add on to the corpus of his previous work.

From what I have read of and about Ken Wilber, I would have to say the latter.



See also PDF Acrobat format Where's Wilber At? The Further Evolution of Ken Wilber's Integral Vision During the Dawn of the New Millennium, by Brad Reynolds. Unfortunately, the hagiographic style of the author is rather hard to take, and the whole thing reads rather like an over-enthusiastic devotee praising their guru-master, or the writings of a convert to a new religion (for the record, Wilber himself denies he is any sort of guru, preferring to consider himself a pandit or scholar of spiritual teachings). If you stomach (or ignore) that side of it, this essay gives some good pointers of Wilber's current approach.

online document Excerpt here (Word Format) on KW´s iteration #5



Bibliography - 2001-present:

Speaking of Everything (2 hour audio interview recording), 2001

Boomeritis Boomeritis: A Novel That Will Set You Free, 2002

Kosmic Consciousness Kosmic Consciousness (12 hour audio interview recording), 2003

Ken Wilber, Speaking of Everything, live audio interview with the world's most widely published spiritual philosopher. Just $24.95 for 2 CDs plus Alex Grey illustrated Glossary pamphlet.


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Biography and Ideas
Phase 1 - The Romantic Period
Phase 2 - The Pre-Trans Cycle
Phase 3 - Multiple Development - Holographic Mind
Phase 4 - All Quadrants All Levels
Phase 5: Post-Metaphysical


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