The Essential Ken Wilber

This book is only a collection of excerpts of some of Ken Wilber's books, but I think it met its purpose. Out of five books I have from the author, I made a good decision to begin reading his work by choosing this one as my first one. Of course, a warning is given by the editor Kendra Crossen Burroughs in the introduction or prologue of this book by making it clear that..."despite Wilber's skill in explaining complex philosophical ideas, much of his work is written for a professional or academic audience and remains beyond the reach of more casual readers". And that's true. I don't consider myself an expert in philosophy or psychology, but I have read and studied some of the most serious and respected modern --20th century--philosophers and psychologists and I find Ken Wilber as one of the most bright and knowledgeable thinkers of present time. I enjoyed very much the readings on "Buddhism and the Stages of Development", "One Hand Clapping", and to close this book, the "Spiritual Unfolding". Wilber makes some of the most complex ideas and concepts very clear and understandable. I hope his other books, which I will eventually read, be as interesting and didactic as this one.

Ken Wilber's writings are a new discovery for me and his passionate intellect has my neurons sparking and fizzing like electric Alka-Seltzer. As a grad student in the Humanities at FSU I'm a doing a Directed Independent Study this summer on the works of Wilber, and I am so impressed with this passionate thinker that I'm shouting my endorsement from this electronic mountaintop. It is now apparent to me that no modern scholar can be up-to-date in the world of anthropology, history, sociology, psychology, religion, economics, politics, humanities, science and mysticism without becoming at least familiar with the comprehensive synthesis of ALL these fields managed with profound insight by this American genius. Although there are many in academia who have not yet heard of Ken Wilber, I predict with great confidence that the man's work is going to be studied for centuries to come. We have the opportunity to explore his ideas as his contemporaries. Already, the universities of Pennsylvania, Indiana and several others offer courses in his work, called "integral psychology." Many more universities will follow. I am not idolizing Wilber, so don't misunderstand my enthusiasm. Nonetheless, I would say that his partial take on the truth is a vaster, richer parcel than I have seen in many years of being interested in comparative philosophy, mythology and religion.

Ken Wilber has made many inspiring observations about spirituality, philosophy, psychology, politics, history, you name it. His work is very unique in that he attempts to integrate the various theories and research findings in such a wide variety of fields of inquiry as has never been done before. This book is a very good introduction to the basics of this all-encompassing theory. Even though Wilber has lots to say about everything, this book boils it down to the few crucial points necessary to understand the basic framework of his theory. Another writer who integrates some of these ideas excellently at a smaller scale (focusing mostly on psychology and spirituality) is Toru Sato. His book "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" is an amazing one in this regard! I would recommend that book in addition to this one if you are a novice interested in theories that integrate many fields of inquiry.

this was the first book i read by ken wilber. i have seen some comments by readers of other titles saying that they found him egotistical, but i thoroughly enjoyed & savored this book...no one owns the truth and when you see/hear it, you know it, regardless of who presents it, and i don't think that really matters. anyways, it was just right for starters...not too technical but definitely not trivial...enlightening & thought provoking.