Notes on Wilber

Advance is accompanied by Menace. History – as a movement of human consciousness – is the story of the human’s love affair with the Divine. This affair has been animated by Christ who is not the son of God but he was a historical event – intervening in the grand historical process: a pact between man and God. Wilber presents two views of history:

1. At one time, history was seen as a movement from paganism to Christ, culminating in the Day of Judgment – towards which all creation moves.
2. Today, history is seen as a history of scientific evolution – moving from amoeba, reptile, ape to humans.

Further, Wilber suggests that this movement is not all that different as both from lower to higher; both see a hierarchical movement from sin(less evolved) to salvation (more evolved). And then he makes an intriguing insight: while the content of the views is certainly different, the form is identical. Both the views wish to go somewhere.

The scientific view suffers from a limitation that it cannot ascribe a meaning to the historical process or rather it cannot say towards what it is moving. A physician can believably explain the intricate workings of the human body, cure it of any diseases; but cannot explain the meaning of life.

However, theology does explain the meaning of human life and the telos of it. The western conception of God is not the psychological Other (separated from us by unconsciousness) or a temporal Other (separated from us by time) or an epistemological Other (separated from us by ignorance). But, as an ontological Other, separated from us by Nature forever: an insurmountable barrier between man and God – as opposed to Advaita conception of the Brahman.

God’s contact is by contract.

Speculations assist scientific conceptions like matter, energy (though nobody has seen or perceived it.) So, because the ultimate integral wholeness is imperceptible doesn’t make the Absolute impossible. The Absolute is not the Other but is sewn through the fabric of all that is. So, Wilber moves from his definition of history as unfolding of a pact between man and God to the unveiling of a relationship between humanity and the ultimate Whole. And since this Wholeness is contiguous with consciousness, we can also say that history is the unfolding of human consciousness. So, history doesn’t move toward final Judgment but towards the Ultimate Wholeness; so, it is a tortuous path to transcendence. According to perennial philosophy, this path follows what is called the Great Chain of Being, a universal sequence of progressively expanding spheres of consciousness – from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit. Each sphere transcends but includes that which is transcended – a nested and networked system.