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A review by davehershey
A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber
3.0
Well, the title is correct. In this book, Wilber seems to give a history of everything! From the beginning on through to today, he builds a story of the universe. But it’s not a “history” as much as a philosophy/spirituality book. Overall, I found it a mix of good and bad.
The best was Wilber’s quadrant that truly does explain so much. On the upper left you have the interior individual, the usual “spiritual” stuff. Upper right is the exterior things like biology. Lower left are all the cultural forces that shape you. Finally, lower right is the exterior systems. Wilber excels in showing how you need all four. When you only have the exterior, as in much modern mindsets, you reduce everything to mere physical. Wilber’s critique of the idea that science is everything is worth the price of the book. But if you only have the interior, then you discount the physical world and live only in your head.
There’s other good in here. But I found Wilber’s creation of words and concepts tedious. Maybe it’s my Christian faith, but his invented words just seemed empty. Give me a deeper religion, whether Christianity or anything. It seems in trying to create a theory of everything, he waters down what people actually do. There’s not really practice here. Would a practicing Muslim or Buddhist or Christian see much here? I guess that’s not a fault, Wilber’s offering a theory of ”everything”. To do that means generalizing. Such generalizing ends up being a bit esoteric and academic, which isn’t a fault in itself. It’s just...if we’re talking about spirituality, when do we discuss what real people actually do and believe? Wilber does offer a sort of stages of faith, with nine steps, echoing Fowler and Erickson. I found much of what he said here helpful too. I guess I can’t put my finger on it...this book never really hit me deeply. It was interesting but not inspiring. To be fair, maybe he wasn’t going for inspiring.
I also hate the dialogue format! Why am I reading so many books in dialogue format!!!
If you’re into religion and philosophy and psychology and spirituality, this book is worth your time. There’s stuff her to chew on. But after a while it’s tedious.
The best was Wilber’s quadrant that truly does explain so much. On the upper left you have the interior individual, the usual “spiritual” stuff. Upper right is the exterior things like biology. Lower left are all the cultural forces that shape you. Finally, lower right is the exterior systems. Wilber excels in showing how you need all four. When you only have the exterior, as in much modern mindsets, you reduce everything to mere physical. Wilber’s critique of the idea that science is everything is worth the price of the book. But if you only have the interior, then you discount the physical world and live only in your head.
There’s other good in here. But I found Wilber’s creation of words and concepts tedious. Maybe it’s my Christian faith, but his invented words just seemed empty. Give me a deeper religion, whether Christianity or anything. It seems in trying to create a theory of everything, he waters down what people actually do. There’s not really practice here. Would a practicing Muslim or Buddhist or Christian see much here? I guess that’s not a fault, Wilber’s offering a theory of ”everything”. To do that means generalizing. Such generalizing ends up being a bit esoteric and academic, which isn’t a fault in itself. It’s just...if we’re talking about spirituality, when do we discuss what real people actually do and believe? Wilber does offer a sort of stages of faith, with nine steps, echoing Fowler and Erickson. I found much of what he said here helpful too. I guess I can’t put my finger on it...this book never really hit me deeply. It was interesting but not inspiring. To be fair, maybe he wasn’t going for inspiring.
I also hate the dialogue format! Why am I reading so many books in dialogue format!!!
If you’re into religion and philosophy and psychology and spirituality, this book is worth your time. There’s stuff her to chew on. But after a while it’s tedious.