Ken Wilber's Transpersonal Psychology.pdf

Pastoral Psychology, Vol. 48, No. 2, 1999

Ken Wilber's Transpersonal Psychology:

An Introduction and Preliminary Critique

Duane R. Bidwell

Ken Wilber is unquestionably the leading figure in the developing field of Transper-

sonal Psychology, and his work deserves serious engagement by pastoral theolo-

gians and pastoral counselors who seek to find their place in today's postmodern,

post-Christian culture. This article summarizes the key concepts of Wilber's model

of Transpersonal Psychology, provides an elementary pastoral and theological

critique of his ideas, and suggests contributions that Wilber's thought can make

to the field of pastoral theology and pastoral counseling.

INTRODUCTION

Ken Wilber is unquestionably the leading figure in the developing field of

Transpersonal Psychology, a science possible only in the late twentieth-century as

ancient religious traditions began to meet and mingle with modern psychologies

and psychotherapies in an unprecedented way. Heralded by Kelly (1991) as "the

first of modern sciences to take human spirituality seriously", Transpersonal Psy-

chology attempts a synthesis that rethinks both spirituality and psychology. And as

the dust begins to settle about the newly constructed foundation of a postmodern,

post-Christian culture at the heart of the global village, Wilber's thought deserves

serious engagement by today's pastoral theologians and pastoral counselors.

Transpersonal Psychology grows from a certainty that "behind the happen-

stance drama [of life] is a deeper or higher or wider pattern, or order, or intelli-

gence" (Wilber, 1995, p. vii) that can be apprehended by human beings. Wilber

(1997) posits a "spectrum of consciousness" in which, "at the upper reaches of the

1 Duane R. Bidwell, M.Div., is a Ph.D. student at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, Fort

Worth, TX 76129. Duane received his M.Div. at Brite and also holds a licentiate in spiritual theology

and spiritual direction from the Anglican School of Theology at the University of Dallas.

& 1999 Human Sciences Press. Inc

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spectrum of consciousness—in the higher states of consciousness—individuals

consistently report an awareness of being one with the all, or identical with spirit,

or whole in spirit, and so on" (p. 124). These levels of consciousness (which Wilber

contends are pathologized by "shallower psychologies, such as psychoanalysis"

(p. 124.)) are open to "experiential disclosure" and can be rationally reconstructed

but not rationally experienced. Wilber (1984) describes this experience as follows:

"in the mystical consciousness, Reality is apprehended directly and immediately,

meaning without any mediation, any symbolic elaboration, any conceptualization,

or any abstractions; subject and object become one in a timeless and spaceless act

that is beyond any and all forms of mediation" (Wilber, 1984, p. 7).

Reclusive and prolific, Wilber exhaustively documents his work and seeks

not to narrow the field but to achieve "vision logic," the goal of which is to "not

just reasonably decide the individual issues, but hold them all together at once in

mind, and judge how they fit together as a truth vision" (Wilber, 1995, p. 185).

Stating (1997) that the "contemplative sciences" (meditation, prayer, etc.) are

the "only domain of direct data", Wilber argues that contemplative introspection

and the communal verification of such experience prove that "higher domains of

awareness, embrace, love, identity, reality, self and truth" (p. 265) exist and can

be experienced by others.

Wilber (1997) writes poetically of the human quest for God, wrestling with

essential questions and looking for answers with passionate hope in the future

unfolding around us.

We are yet the bastard sons and daughters of an evolution not yet done with us, caught

always between the fragments of yesterday and the unions of tomorrow, unions apparently

destined to carry us far beyond anything we can possibly recognize today, and unions that,

like all such births, are exquisitely painful and unbearably ecstatic (p. 254).

This paper summarizes the key concepts of Wilber's model of Transpersonal

Psychology, provides an elementary pastoral and theological critique of his ideas,

and suggests contributions Wilber's thought can make to the field of pastoral

counseling.

KEY CONCEPTS OF WILBER'S INTEGRATIVE MODEL

The essence of Wilber's integrative model of Transpersonal Psychology is

this: "psychological growth or development in humans is simply a microcosmic

reflection of universal growth on the whole and has the same goal: the unfolding

of ever higher-order unities and integrations" (Wilber, 1983a, p. 83). Thus, his

thought transcends psychology to become a cosmology (Wilber, 1995, p. viii.)

organized by "orienting generalizations." These generalizations are principles that

"show us, with a great deal of agreement, where the important forests are located,

even if we can't agree on how many trees they contain" (p. ix.). There are five

major approaches to Transpersonal Psychology (systems theory, altered states

Ken Wilber's Transpersonal Psychology

of consciousness, Grof s holotropic model, Jungian psychology, and Wilber's

"spectrum" or "integral" approach) (Wilber, 1997, p. 139), and Wilber contends

that the key concepts of his model include and transcend the other approaches.

The Great Chain of Being

Transpersonal psychology understands consciousness to be the stuff of the

universe, the field in which all else manifests. The Great Chain of Being—ranging

from matter (the furthest from pure consciousness) to life, life to mind, mind to

soul, and soul to spirit (the closest to pure consciousness and the stuff of which

consciousness is made)—dictates the manifestation of reality, overflowing in a

fecundity that hides each stage from the ones below it.

At every stage of development, in fact, the next higher stage appears to be a completely

'other world,' an 'invisible world'—it has literally no existence for the individual, even

though the individual is in fact saturated with a reality that contains the 'other' world.

The individual's 'this worldly' existence simply cannot comprehend the 'other worldly'

characteristics lying all around it (Wilber, 1997, p. 267).

The Human Self

Human selfhood emanates from the Great Chain of Being, developing from

a pre-personal subconscious (characterized by an awareness of nature and body)

to self-consciousness (an awareness of mind and psychic realities) and finally

to transpersonal superconsciousness (an awareness of subtle, causal and ultimate

realities) (Wilber, 1981, p. 9). The evolving self has three components: a basic

structure (enduring characteristics such as linguistics, cognition, spatial coordina-

tion, etc.); transitional structures (characteristics that develop and dissolve such as

world-views, self needs, moral stages, etc.); and the self and its fulcrums (char-

acteristics that unite and integrate the other two components, such as identifica-

tion, organization, will, defense, and "digestion of experience") (Wilber, 1997,

p. 142-144).

Developmental Model

The human being is marked by quasi-independent development of "at least a

dozen developmental lines" (p. 215) through all levels of consciousness. These

developmental lines include the affective, cognitive, moral, spiritual, interper-

sonal, and object-relations components of the human creature. The "self jug-

gles these developmental lines, which are interdependent but advance at their own

paces. "Translation" is the process of integrating, stabilizing and equilibrating

the different developmental lines on a horizontal level. 'Transformation" is the

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process of transcending one consciousness and advancing vertically to the next.

"Development" occurs in the tension between these horizontal and vertical dimen-

sions of human being.

In Wilber's understanding, the spiritual growth line (levels of consciousness

called psychic, or the experience of the universal Self; subtle, or interior marriage

with spirit; and causal, or non-dual experience beyond self and God) (Wilber, 1995,

p. 279-316) is the goal of human life and the heart of Transpersonal Psychology.

Wilber (1997) joins Tillich in "defining the spiritual line as that line of development

in which the subject holds its ultimate concern" (p. 221) regardless of content

(which itself ranges from pre-personal concerns [survival] to personal concerns

[belongingness] to transpersonal concerns). Spiritual growth (based on the esoteric

"perennial philosophy" at the core of the world religions) is measured in the

individual's ability to transcend a subjective point-of-view and move on to higher

perspectives. This transcendence is a hallmark of the "integrated self at the core

of Wilber's psychological model.

Advancing from personal to transpersonal concerns, Wilber (1995) writes,

is "the Kosmic evolutionary process, which is 'self development through self-

transcendence,' the same process at work in atoms and molecules and cells, a

process that, in human domains, continues naturally into the superconscious, with

precisely nothing occult or mysterious about it" (p. 258). Because awareness has

"differentiated from (or disidentified from, or transcended) an exclusive identifi-

cation with body, persona, ego, and mind, it can now integrate them in a unified

fashion, in a new and higher holon with each of them as junior partners" (p 262).

Behold the Integrated Self.

Model of Pathology

Pathologies can occur, as well documented by traditional sciences, in all of

the developmental lines running through an individual and at all levels of con-

sciousness. Wilber contends that new and potential pathologies will be discovered

as evolution continues (p 197). The primary spiritual pathology, however, is ex-

istential anxiety born of the realization that "personal life is a brief spark in the

cosmic void" (p. 263). The separate self, Wilber (1983b) says, is "a contraction of

angst" (p. 51). "No matter how wonderful it all might be now, we are still going

to die: dread ... is the authentic response... a dread that calls us back from self-

forgetting to self-presence, a dread that seizes not this or that part of me (body or

persona or ego or mind), but rather the totality of my being-in-the-world" (p. 263).

Transcendence is the only cure, but complete transcendence is unlikely: "the great

liberation finally takes place only at the sagely level of casual/ultimate adaptation.

All lesser stages, no matter how occasionally ecstatic or visionary, are still beset

with the primal mood of ego, which is sickness unto death" (p. 50).

Ken Wilber's Transpersonal Psychology

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC APPLICATION

Wilber calls for an "integrative therapy" that takes a holistic approach—

investigating and addressing each of the developmental lines, prescribing treat-

ments that range from nutrition and exercise to cognitive restructuring or Jungian

individuation to specific spiritual disciplines, depending on the client's develop-

mental stage and pathologies. The transpersonal therapist must be ready to draw

from all traditions, both Eastern and Western. "A truly integrative and encompass-

ing psychology can and should make use of the complementary insights offered

by each school of psychology" (Wilber, 1977, p. 15), each of which, Wilber says,

is directed to a different level of his Spectrum of Consciousness. Thus, the ther-

apist must be an expert guiding the client through the maze of developmental

possibilities.

Elsewhere, Wilber presents psychotherapy as a task of hermeneutics. Psy-

chological symptoms are hidden texts and subtexts that indicate that some aspects

of consciousness have been split off during the developmental process. His ap-

proach seems similar to that of the narrative therapists, being more explicit about

what the therapist brings to the encounter: a knowledge of structural development

used to determine what aspects of consciousness need to be restructured. 'The

therapist helps the client to re-own those facets of self by re-authoring them and

thus re-authorizing them, that is, consciously assuming responsibility for their

existence— Overall therapy involves a critical self-reflection on past translations

and possible mistranslations (hidden texts)" (Wilber, 1983b, p. 129-132).

No matter what traditions are drawn on for treatment, transpersonal therapy

will always seek to send the client inward. "The more one can introspect and reflect

on one's self, then the more detached from that self one can become, the more one

can rise above that self's limited perspective, and so the less narcissistic or less ego-

centric one becomes (or the more decentered one becomes)" (Wilber, 1995, p. 256).

Therapy helps the client develop the "requisite cognitive tools" (p. 267) (through

meditation and contemplation) to experience and perceive the transpersonal levels

of consciousness. Doing so requires the therapist to assess the deep-structure of

the client's self to know what developmental level has been reached and thus what

spiritual practice is most appropriate. For example, "a pre-rational, borderline indi-

vidual, who needs desperately to create rational structures and ego strength, should

not be introduced to the more strenuous transrational meditative-yogic disciplines,

because they are designed to loosen the rational structure temporarily and thus will

dismantle what little structure the borderline has left" (Wilber, 1983b, p. 124).

Wilber recognizes that few individuals are ready to work at the transpersonal

levels he advocates. He (1997) writes that in America "a disproportionately large

number of people who are drawn to transpersonal spirituality are often at a pre-

conventional level of self development. This means that much of what American

[spiritual] teachers have to do is actually engage in supportive psychotherapy,

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