Integral Psychology by Ken Wilber

Author:Ken Wilber [Wilber, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology, Movements, Transpersonal, Religion, Spirituality, philosophy, Mind & Body
ISBN: 9780834821149
Google: 8-yKcQRnD2EC
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
Published: 2000-05-16T00:09:18.445525+00:00

13

From Modernity to Postmodernity

NO EPOCH is without its geniuses, its wisdom, its enduring truths. Moreover, to ignore past truths seems to be the very definition of pathology. Therefore, an integral approach—a sane approach—would surely attempt to honor, acknowledge, and incorporate these enduring truths in the ongoing sweep of consciousness evolution.

From the premodern heritage, we have learned of the Great Nest of Being and Knowing, and found that it is a road map to Spirit, not in a pregiven way, but as a morphogenetic field of gentle persuasion. From the modern heritage, we have learned of the need to recognize and honor art, morals, and science, and let each pursue its own truths without violence from the others (a respect that contributed to the rise of the modern democracies, feminism, ecology, and the postconventional ideals of liberty, freedom, and equality).1 We also learned of the modern discoveries of evolution in the quadrants (a notion that is at least compatible with the Great Chain tipped on its side and set loose across geological, biological, and cultural time). And we have mentioned the “bright promise” of a constructive postmodernity, which involves the integration of the best of premodernity (the Great Nest) and modernity (the differentiation and evolution of the Big Three), resulting in a more integral “all-level, all-quadrant” approach.

It is time now to finish this integral overview by looking, very briefly, at postmodernism itself—which is, after all, the leading edge of today’s cultural evolution—and suggest exactly how it fits into an all-level, all-quadrant view.

Many people moan when “postmodern” anything is mentioned, so convoluted and indecipherable has postmodernese become. But these are important points, and I ask the reader to stick with me through this chapter, which I will try to make as painless as possible. We can then return, in the closing chapters, to a summary of what we have seen, and the implications for psychology, therapy, spirituality, and consciousness studies.

The Bright Promise

In trying to understand modernity, we asked the simple question: what made modernity different from the premodern era? We found many items (from industrialization to the liberation movements), but they could all be very generally summarized as the differentiation of the Big Three.

In attempting to understand postmodernity, let us ask again: what is it about postmodernity that makes it so different from modernity? We will see that there are also many items, but they can all be very generally summarized as an attempt to be inclusive—to avoid “marginalizing” the many voices and viewpoints that a powerful modernity often overlooked; to avoid a “hegemony” of formal rationality that often represses the nonrational and the irrational; to invite all races, all colors, all people, all genders into a rainbow coalition of mutual respect and mutual recognition. This inclusiveness is often simply called “diversity” (or “multiculturalism” or “pluralism”), and it is at the heart of the constructive postmodern agenda, in ways that we will explore throughout this chapter.

This attempt to be inclusive—holistic and embracing in the best sense—was in part a reaction to modernity’s

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