Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution

Up From Eden is a brilliant account of the evolution of human consciousness. It is scholarly yet easy to read and understand.

The sensitive enough reader may come away form this book with a lot more than a coherent and vivid look back at the evolution of human consciousness, based solely on the amassed evidence of anthropology. That alone might be enough, but for myself, I got something more; a strange and deeply haunting sadness. It is so painfully clear how much and long and arduously mankind has aspired to discover who he/she is. How many billions an billions and billions of human beings lived and struggled and aspired, got confused, hoped, failed and died to get us to where we are now today . . . and still seemingly so very far away from what has always been with us, pushing us and drawing us onward, even unto this very moment? This book also clearly demonstrates the complete reversal of the traditional and historical interpretations of the advent of "original sin" and "samsara" laying to rest an improper "romantic" view forever. We did not arise out of some paradisiacal Eden, nor suddenly "move too much" and find ourselves lost in smasara. Rather, the evidence is clear, there was no such place, and nor does our salvation or liberation lie in our collective past. Mankind, as the result of evolution, AWOKE in consciousness to a world of sin, error, imperfection and suffering; a world which existed as such long before he realized it. And in that moment he/she/we were actually, for the very first time REALIZING Spirit; a Spirit creation "fell" from long, long ago . . .

After the success of his initial works (The Spectrum of Consciousness and No Boundary), Ken Wilber gave his "spectrum" model a serious reappraisal and found it woefully lacking. It seemed that he had made a mistake that he goes on to chide others for in his later books- he confused prerational myths with transcendental truths, and confused the spiritual fall with the scientific fall. He makes up for his previous errors with "Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution".In UFE, Wilber covers the historical development of consciousness, from the animalistic/uroboric level to the typhonic, and then to the development of the Solar ego, the disassociation of the mind from the body, and the development of the rational mind. But he takes it a step further as well, discussing the development of transrational consciousness throughout history, and discussing the differences between magical fetishism and psychic Nirmanakaya and between mythic religion and subtle archetype. Drawing upon Freud, Jung, Campbell, and a ream of Anthropoligical and Archaeological data, Wilber paints us a fascinating picture of society, it's history, and it's discontents. Lastly, he finishes the book by discussing his ideas for a politics of the transrational, in a fascinating chapter titled "Republicans, Democrats, and Mystics".As far as Wilber's older books go, this is one not to be missed. Although some concepts are better elucidated in Wilber's later "Sex, Ecology, Spirituality", nowhere does he draw on more anthropological support for his theories than in "Up From Eden".

What a great book. It's the human evolution of consciousness. Ken has shown in his other books how we progress through several, well defined, stages of congnitive growth. In this book he discusses the same stages but with the period in history that they are associated with. He also keeps track of the highest achievers of each period.

Wilber develops in detail his model of consciousness as applied to human evolution from the earliest prehistoric levels to levels beyond those attained by average human beings today. Typical of all his works, he incorporates insights from the anthropological, sociological, biological, physical and psychological sciences for his exposition of evolution in the body/mind realms, and the explanations provided by both Eastern and Western mysticism for the higher levels of consciousness. Unlike Eastern mystic writers, Wilber provides his insights with startling clarity and profound logic that resonate with the current, admittedly rational, Western mentality. This is among the best of his many works we have read.