The Integral Movement springs from the voluminous writings of Ken Wilber, although there is disagreement over whether the Movement itself is identical with his belief system, and those of his supporters and co-workers, like Don Beck (Spiral Dynamics) and Andrew Cohen (Evolutionary Enlightenment), or whether "the Integral movement is bigger than Ken" as someone who posted on one of the forums said.
At it's narrowest (although this is a common and perhaps the official position; need to find ref in What is Enlightenment) "integral", "turquois" (Spiral Dynamics), and "second tier" (ditto) are all synonms, and in turn are equivalent to Wilber IV / AQAL/Wilber V "Post-metaphysical" AQAL. This is the position that "Integral Movement = Ken Wilber". It constitutes a new philosophical school or meme-set, in the tradition of charismatic esoteric teachers of all ages, in which an articulate, brillaint, and popular figure would arise, and gather a following around him- or her-self. After the teacher passes on, their teaching remains through books and organisations dedicated to perpetuating that teaching; although without the brilliant light of the Founder, things generally become pretty stultifying, and there is often little or no original development. Even so, the books themselves continue to inspire, and many people benefit greatly from these tecahings, and can contact the original Light of the founders to be inspired by them on the subtle planes. Some late 19th, 20th, and early 21st century examples of such teachers, known and less well-known, are Blavatsky, Theon, Steiner, Aurobindo, Gurdjieff, Crowley, Alice Bailey, Carl Jung, Ann Ree Colton, and now Ken Wilber. Also, many popular gurus belong in this category. It could plausibly be suggested that the founders of the great world religions started out no different, but their teaching really caught on n a big way.
A serious concern that has been raised regarding the current Integral movement is the commercialisation and charging of exhorbiant rates. For example,
Integral Life Practice, for a five day workshop: $2595. This does not include transportation, accomodation, and meals. Limited to 50 places. Assuming all are taken, this means 50 x $2595 = $129,750, a tidy amount for a singlke workshop. This is being promoted on Integral Naked. (For more on Integral Institute and Integral Naked see the links section below).
In contrast, compare http://www.agniyoga.org/, where all their books are free online. Or http://www.kabbalah.info/ where again all their books are available for free download, and more too. All the Theosophical writings of Blavatsky are available online for free as well.
Michel Bawens comments on the deleterious effect of money in the integral movement in his critique of Wilber.
Can the Integral Movement go beyond doctrinalism and commercialism, and provide something broader, that can contribute to a new and future emerging, ecologically and spiritually sane civilization? I believe that it can, but one has to distinguish then between "Wilberism" (the current integral movement) and Integralism in the broad sense, which would include both wilberian, postwilberian, and non-wilberian perspectives (see the links section below for a definition of these terms, and associated websites and projects).
At its broadest then, the Integral Movement and
Integral theory includes not only Wilber but those he cites as his influences and hold universal and evolutionary views or teachings, as well as those who, while influenced by him also differ somewhat, and even those like Arthur M Young that Wilber has apparently never heard of. Nevertheless, all share a common, evolutionary, "theory of everything" position, and, whilst they may differ on many details and even on many major points, taken together they could be considered a wave front for a new paradigm, a memetic revolution. I use the term Daimon of the Integral Movement to refer to the spiritual being or personality of light that is behind and working through this broader movement.
Now, this doesn't mean that this daimon is necessarily a negative entity. I see a lot of promise, a lot of potential, in the Integral Movement. From what I feel at the moment, the Integral Deva is a force and power of good.
But, as with any new spiritual or evolutionary development, there is duality, in that there are forces that hinder and oppose and distort, as well as forces that help and aid in the evolution and ultimate divinisation of the Earth and the cosmos. Thus even where a guru does give in the dark side (as very often happens with many gurus today) there still remains an element of Mixed Light that remains (one finds this ambiguity with Sai Baba, with Da Free John, and with Rajneesh); and we find this same cultic ambiguity with the Integral Movement, especially since Wilber's ego and surface personality has now become the central focus for the whole thing. The light will find its way, regardless. However, an Intregral Movement that is caught up in antagonism and worship of and obedience to an authority figure, will not be able to achieve what a movement unfettered by such shackles could. It may perhaps be that Wilber's time as a serious thinker is over; he would seem to be sliding downhill, probably as a result of entity posession.
Already today, we find that there are individuals, such as, for example, some of Wilber's critics on
Integral World,
Matthew Dallman and myself, who wish to keep what is good about the movement, and reject Wilber and the Wilberian element. This, I am convinced, is the only way that the Integral movement can possibly survive as an authentic experession of human evolutionary consciousness.
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By "Orthodox Wilberian" I mean the indentification of Ken Wilber's and Don Beck's teachings with the Integral Movement, and generally seeing Ken as the greatest philosopher of our time (if you think I am being sarcastic there, check out some of the statements on the Integral Naked forum).
Ken Wilber On-line - Wilber's home page, lists his books and has some on-line essays.
Spiral Dynamics Integral - website of Wilber's co-worker Don Beck, whose ideas have been incoporated into Wilberian orthodoxy (and vice versa). Beck and his former coworker Chris Cowan have fallen out over Wilber, and the original meaning of Spiral Dynamics
Integral Institute - a think-tank Wilber founded,
wiki page.
Integral University - Wilber's university; the curriculum all revolves around his own writings and philosophy, especially AQAL.
wiki page
Integral Naked - funky web site, features multimedia interviews, discussion forum, etc. Very "New Paradigm" Californian :-) While you won't find interviews with people who disagree with Wilber, and while many of the people on the discussion forums seem (to my very cursory glance, so maybe I am wrong) pretty uncritical in their devotion to Wilber, there are occasional voices of dissent, such as the questions regarding whether
Wilber's claims that Darwinism cannot sufficiently explain evolution indicate a lack of scientific understanding on his part (note: this caused Wilber to
come up with a reply that, for a non-groupie like myself, only confirmed the original doubts)
Andrew Cohen - home page - although based around the teachings and personality of Andrew Cohen, Cohen himself follows the orthodox Wilberian line. See also
What Is Enlightenment? Magazine, which Cohen edits. This includes a lot of excellent material. The magazine itself is not specifically Orthodox Wilberian, although you won't find any criticism of Wilber there either, and every issue includes a Cohen-Wilber interview.
Integrative Spirituality - while not officially associated with the Wilberian mainstream, this portal website nevertheless follows an orthodox and hierarchical Wilber-Beck paradigm
Integral Options Cafe - William Harryman's blog offers a place to discuss things related to an integral worldview. Posts will deal with Buddhism, Ken Wilber, Spiral Dynamics, psychology, poetry, and Integral Theory. Bill invites comments, different points of view, and anything that can add to a civil discussion of Buddhist and integral ideas.
By "Post-Wilberian" I mean that at one time these individuals and websites were associated with Wilber, but have since broken with him out of disillusionment with his personality or the limitations of his teachings. They still identify with the term Integral. Thus the Post-Wilberians continue the lineage that began with Da Free John. It goes as follows: From Da to Wilber and Sanuel Bonder, from Wilber and Beck (Orthodox Wilberian) to the post-Wilberians.
Integral World -
Frank Visser's website. The reading room is highly recommended; it includes well-written essays by both supporters and critics (hence not completely post-Wilberian). See also Frank's blog
Wilber's Watch
Integral Visioning - while this website includes a lot of Wilberian material, the emphasis as shifted from the supportive to the critical; it can therefore be considerd post-Wilberian rather than Wilberian. Included here are some essays that have also been posted on Integral World, and
an early version of my New Integral Paradigm essay. There is also
a wiki, which a number of people including myself have contributed to.
Open Integral Blog - a post-Wilberian Blog for the Integral Community; as the impetus for this was actually Wilber's recent cultic behaviour it is here [placed in the Post-Wilberian category, but it could equally be considered Non-Wilberian (as in the following category).
The Integral Research Group blogs - Integral Praxis and Integral Flow - Post-Wilberian explorations of Integral
Identify with the term Integral, but are not associated with Wilber
The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother - a different meaning of teh term Integral :-) Because Wilber speaks very highly of Sri Aurobindo (even if his understanding of him is only partial), that means that Aurobindonian ideas have been able to trickle through to even Orthodox Wilberian Integral theory (a bit like how Aristotle was able to enter Christianity via Aquinus perhaps)
California Institute of Integral Studies - founded by
Haridas Chaudhuri, a student of Sri Aurobindo, the
CIIS avoids the reliance on the teachings of a single individual that characterises the Integral University and other Wilberian orthodoxy. Basically, then, New Paradigm / Alternative / Transpersonal (Stan Grof) / Left-leaning / Aurobindonian
Includes both Orthodox, post-, and non-Wilberian positions
Integral theory - a wide range of "integral" perspectives, on Wikipedia. This page follows the "Integral is bigger than Ken" position. Many thinkers listed on this page are not traditionally considered Integral. However if one assumes that "Integral = Aurobindo, Wilber, and everything that is shares elements in common with either or both" than they can indeed all be thought of in that manner
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