The Marriage of Sense and Soul:: Integrating Science and Religion

Have you ever found a book that looked fairly interesting but completley blew you away instead? Where you finished the last page only to sit there in stunned silence thinking, "Holy...this is exactly what I've been looking for!" This was that book for me. After reading it the first time, I felt as if I should have discovered this slim volume in a dusty, darkened attic trunk like some long lost hidden treasure, rather than at a book store at O'Hare airport. It's the first book by Wilber I read, and since then I've devoured everything else of his I could get my hands on. Yes, it's that good. 'Sense & Soul' is a great place to take a quick dip in the deep blue ocean that is Wilber's Integral Philosophy. His grand idea is simple yet profound, and a Herculean undertaking: everybody's right (to a degree), so we'll gather the best of all knowledge, east and west, from both the past and today while discarding what doesn't work, and create something new and remarkable, an integral philosophy. The breadth and depth of his work to integrate the world's knowledge into a functional and coherent system is nothing short of staggering and delightful. Wilber's vision expands and deepens while becoming more refined with each new book, and it is clear that what he is creating is a viable blueprint for a globally and spiritually aware future for this planet and it's inhabitants. 'Sense & Soul' is a beautifully clear glimpse of this vision. I can't recommend it highly enough. From here I would move on to 'A Brief History Of Everything' and then perhaps tackle 'Sex, Ecology, Spirituality'. After that, you're on your own to cherry pick as you please. The ideas contained within Ken Wilber's works are utterly transformative, but don't believe me, come see the future for yourself.

I've read five Wilber books so far (Brief History of Everything, Theory of Everything, One Taste, Eye of the Spirit, and Marriage of Sense and Soul) and this one contains the most comprehensive, clear and complete exposition of his ideas. I don't know why Kirkus calls it "labarynthine", because I found it also among the most readable and humorous. I love hearing him slam away at the excesses of post-modern theorists. I also think this book has the most lucid descriptions of the quadrant theory, the pre/trans falacy and other big Wilber constructs. The "theory of everything" books both felt like he was always talking about the theory without ever really taking you through it. This is the one to get to really get going with Wilber.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This book moved me to read all of his other books, per his advice at the end of this one. I found his tour through the various knowledge movements beginning with Romantic times and on through postmodernism to be entertaining and enlightening. His style is very clear and understandable, and he writes for layman and academics alike.He seems to have intended this book for a wider audience than his other books, and as such, leaves plenty of areas rather vague by just touching on them lightly. Having read his other works, people who are interested in the ideas put forth in Marriage of Sense and Soul should definetly use this book as a springboard to his other books.And that I think is this book's strength: a very good introduction to the complex world of integral studies. Whether "correct" all the time or not, he represents the cutting edge of the movements, perhaps from the sheer number of philosophers, mysticists, psychologists, theorists and academics that he has read and attempted to integrate; it is clear from reading only a few pages that Wilber is well read!The assumption that Wilber seems to be operating under is that spiritual experience is indeed "something". Something that can be verified, explained, replicable, and studied. It may not be able to be observed in the laboratory, or in a test tube, but using a broad definition of the "scientific method" that he offers, spirituality is given a new, modern light that can be understood by anyone, and most of al, *experienced* by anyone. If this assumption is not shared by the reader, then this book might not be very interesting or worth the effort.All in all, Marriage of Sense and soul is a very good read on a complex topic with a set of ideas that are ultimately very egalitarian.

I throughouly enjoyed this work. After reading this book, I was moved to read all that I can by Ken Wilber, starting (per his advice) with _Brief History of Everything_ and _The Eye of Spirit_ and almost everything after all. Its his style that I like best--that is, he writes for the layman, first time reader, and academic alike. This books addresses the thread that can connect sprituality with science. That is all it is--not by reducing each, but by showing how they connect. It's really quite elementary in approach and it makes more and more sense with time. The thread is that if something, some form of knowledge (beit scientific or spiritual) can be known, anyone can know it. It can be known each time someone (scientist or a spiritual seeker) sets out to find it. Do something, get results, compare with results of others doing the same thing. How much more scientific could an apporach be? Or even, how much more egalitarian could one hope for?The assumption for this, and all of Wilber's books, is that spiritual experience is indeed "something." It might not be able to be seen in the laboratory, or in a test tube, but it is "something" and as such, can be studied, verified, debated, agreed upon--but more than that, can be *experienced*. If the reader does not share the same assumption, then she might not find much in this book worth much.That thread is the crux of the book, and the rest is an interesting account of how historical movements (romantic on through post-modernism) have viewed knowledge. And in doing so, he provides the layman with a clear and general account of the movements, enough to give readers a working understanding and the ability to jabber and babble about "intellectual things" at parties.This book does not address in great detail much of his work in transpersonal psychology, which perhaps is his strongest suit, and for that I'd recommend his newly published "Collected Works, Volume Four".

Ken Wilber presents a brilliant synthesis of the major branches of knowledge and clearly shows their relationship to "Religion in General". It is clear from some of the reviews, which rated this book poorly, that they do not understand where Wilber is coming from. Some reviews are just too stupid to even comment upon. (Eg. granpubah) The Kirkus review states that Wilber doesn't explain how the integration of the Great Chain of Being with the major differientiations of modernity is supposed to occur. I can't follow this line of reasoning as Wilber has clearly shown how this can be achieved. I do agree, however, that Wilber does not tackle the old epistemological question of the relation of consciousness/mind to matter, although he does touch on this question in pages 145-147. The philosopher Rudolf Steiner did an excellent job in solving this problem from an introspective point of view in his books "Truth & Knowledge" and the "Philosophy of Freedom". (No I am not an Anthroposophist!) Basically, Wilber tackles the problem of the unification of knowledge from an external perspective and clearly defines what he means by empiricism (observation/experiment) and knowledge (understanding of experience). These terms are not loosely equated as implied in the Kirkus review, far from it. Wilber also defines what he means by religion in a very precise manner, ie. religion is at its core, "direct mystical, transendental, meditative, contemplative, or yogic experiences". What else could it be? Virgin births or 'crossing the Red Sea' are unsubstantiated beliefs which have grown around religion. These myths may have symbolic meaning but they were not real events. The criticism that Wilber makes vague generalisations about the scientific method are unfounded and way of the mark. (Kirkus) He very precisely defines the scientific method as having three basic strands. To paraphrase him they are: experimental practice, collection of data and the confirmation or rejection of results. Again what else could it be? I don't recall Wilber stating that the deeply religous and deeply scientific feel a strong need to integrate science and religion (Charles Stout review) Wilber's view could not be termed manipulative by any stretch of the imagination as claimed. He asks only that science broaden its focus and religion identify its core essence. If this is done then the scientific method can be applied to an analysis of "inner experience". Phenomenological tests could then establish the consistency, or otherwise, of inner structures reported by subjects experienced in the art of meditation. The word science is derived from an old Latin word scire, meaning 'to know', and as Wilber states all knowledge is based on experience, whether inner or outer. There is no science apart from consciousness observers and sometimes this fact is easily forgotten. Consciousness, and what we call matter, are inextricably linked together and one cannot be