In the last few FM blogs you'll see my conversation on Ken Wilber's new (Integral) book called The Relgion of Tommorow (2017). My interest has been to look at slowly (in pieces) doing some kind of introductory fearanalysis of his book (and his work overall as a philosopher offering a world/kosmic therapia).
I already picked up in the book's Index that "dysfunctions" is the word that gets the most sub-entries. Indeed, he devotes a lot of the main text to outlining the different dysfunctions (what can go wrong--i.e., pathological) at each state-stage of his complex spectrum of consciousness theory/philosophy.
In this short blog I want to quote from the book and then share my initial List of Basic Vocabulary of the "Pathological" (as I call it) in Wilber's book. I'll then say a few words after these two inserts:
(1) Quote from Religion of Tomorrow - "... the esoteric teachings [across all major religions throughout time, across cultures] were the 'inner teachings,' the 'secret teachings,' usually kept from the public [masses] and open only to individuals of exceptional quality and character [and commitment]. These teachings weren't merely mythic [as in exoteric teachings] stories and beliefs; they were psychotechnologies of consciousness transformation. By performing the specific practices and exercises, an individual could reach an actual awakening to his or her own True Nature, gaining a Great Liberation [from suffering] and ultimate Freedom from the terror-inducing limitations of ordinary life and a direct introduction to ultimate Reality itself. This Great Liberation was also known by various names...". (p. 3)
[Now, I am fascinated by this opening of this huge 800pp book by Wilber, though, it is also very consistent in most all his work I have read over 35 yrs... he has a theory he follows, from the Great Traditions of wisdom/religion, in which ordinary life and its consciousness, generally, is "terror-inducing" and limiting to the highest human potential. This is exactly where a fearanalysis ought to begin with examining Wilber's Integral philosophy/theory in terms of how it is informed by this kind of intense and ominous fear-talk, as I call it. Not that he is using this fear-talk in the quote to be overly-negative, nor fearmongering, as we see he balances the 'good' and not so good part of the story of human existence and the evolution of consciousness on earth, in humans (and perhaps other creatures too)... his claim is that all the esoteric (or mystical) practices, from meditation, to contemplation, and rituals of purification and transcendence etc.. are all dedicated to clarifying the problem of human existence that is limiting and causes suffering--and, as I read this quote, the problem is a Fear Problem (more accurately, the 'Fear' Problem, which in my more detailed analysis includes concepts like 'Fear' Project(ion) and 'Fear' Matrix--not that I will go into elaborating any of that here; read my other works; So, my point is that if you are reading and studying Wilber's work you better get the core of his project, yes, Enlightenment and Liberation and Awareness, etc. for sure, but also that only comes, as this book makes very clear by wide-open analysis of the Fear Problem of evolution's inevitable 'messy' way of growing and evolving in which "fear" is a major influence, and in fact, he goes so far to claim it is "terror" not mere fear--and, all that would require a whole critical analysis further than what I can go into; So, my other point is, Wilber's work is thus all about fear management (or terror management, if you will)--and, my last 27 years are focused on developing a holistic critical and integral approach to fear management/education on this planet--and, I thank Wilber for all the work he has done on synthesizing a whole lot of others' great work on this--yet, there is so much to still articulate as Wilber himself has underplayed, and/or remained non-cognizant of the Fear Problem in his own philosophy/theory--and, thus, any good integral theory has to be up-graded to really catch the significance of this all. Note, I am using fearanalysis to pull this out, but it also goes by another name Desh Subba created as "dephilosophy" based on the philosophy of fearism--see our book on that, as in other earlier blogposts and photos on this website]
Okay, I'll leave this and go to the List of "Pathological" (and/or like-pathological) in Wilber's vocabulary in this book (ROT)... this list is just a beginning, but it is awesome in scope and descriptive color, of which it is essential for any serious Wilberian to understand and be able to apply this vocabulary accurately and critically to at least Wilber's own philosophy and theorizing on development and evolution (and its problems)--that is, the Fear Problem itself--so, I am suggesting the basic vocabulary of Wilber's implicit articulation of the human universal Fear Problem is right here [note, non-italic terms are not in ROT but I think could be because Wilber has used them elsewhere... there are many other terms he has used in other works earlier too that I have not put in this list but will be added with time]:
(2)
Wilber ROT & (Basic) “Pathological” Vocabulary
compiled by R. Michael Fisher (May 9, 2017)
absence-
absolutisms (quadrant)-
aborted-
addiction-
alienation-
allergy-
amok (run)-
attachment-
avoid(ance)-
Avoidance (Primordial)-
Bad News (story)-
banish(ed)-
biased (thinking)-
broken (consciousness)-
bypass (spiritual)-
catastrophe-
conceal-
confused-
confusion-
contraction (self-)-
corrupt(ion)-
crushed-
dark face,
dark side,
death drive-
defend(ing)-
defense(s)-
defense mechanisms-
deformed (holon)-
Demonic (trends)-
denial-
deranged-
destruction-inducing-
destructive (current)-
[devolve]-
disguised (forms)-
disorders-
dis-owning (drive)-
displaced-
displacement-
disrupted-
disruption-
disease-
dissociate(d)-
dissociation-
distorted-
distortion-
domination-
dominator (hierarchy)-
domineering-
dysfunction(s)-
evil-
excommunicated-
facade(s)-
fails (self)-
false self-
fear-
fixated-
fixation-
fractured-
fragment(ed)-
fused (with)-
gap-
grasping-
hankering-
hate-driven-
havoc (wreaking)-
hidden (subject, lens)-
“hole”-
hurt-
illness-
immoral-
immortality (addiction)-
infect-
insecurity-
invade-
irrational-
Jonah complex-
lack-
less (“alive”)-
lies-
limited-
loss (of faith)-
malformation-
marginalizing-
meltdown (communion)-
miscarriage (developmental)-
misinterpretation-
misreading-
negated-
negative-
neurosis-
numb-
oppressed-
oppression-
overblown-
[paranoiac]-
partial-
pathological-
perforation (in consciousness)
Phobos-
prejudiced (thinking)-
prevent-
projected-
project(ion)-
projective (dysfunctions)-
projects (immortality)-
psychoses-
psychotic-like-
reduced-
reduction(ism)-
regress(ion)-
repress(ed)-
repression-
resistance-
[retro-]-
security (needs)-
shadow (material)-
shame-
split-off-
stuck (to)-
suicidal-
terror(ized)-
terrorism-
Thanatos-
therapeutic culture-
toxic(ity)-
trauma(tized)-
twisted-
uncorrected-
unethical-
unhealthy-
unintegrated-
victim mentality/culture-
violence-
wars-
wrong (go)-
[Arguably, this vocabularly is based on a recognition in Wilber, consciously or not, of the "terror-laden" aspect of reality, that is, the fear-based aspect of reality, as humans experience it, consciously or unconsciously; so much more could be said about this, but it does raise the issue of Love-Fear as meta-motivational "forces" in the universe, if you will, which are all part of Wilber's major contribution to helping clarify and resolve the Fear Problem, and improvement fear management/education on this planet--before, not doing so adequate, really wipes us and a whole lot of other living systems off the face of the earth; we cannot ignore this any longer, we need as much fear-talk as love-talk, to put it simply in a nutshell--and, I pulled out this vocabulary from Wilber's work to get us talking about this other (shadowy, darker) side of the existence we live, and to not be seduced overly by the "transcendent" and "love n' light" consciousness talk that near totally dominates popular culture as it enters the "spiritual" (including human potential and new age)--okay, that's it for now]
