tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8974481375695763274.post6909977263182017217..comments2023-10-20T05:18:16.801-05:00Comments on Rational Answers: What is Ken Wilber Selling?Captain Rationalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08832946179896855998noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8974481375695763274.post-62659807108049130952008-05-07T21:51:00.000-05:002008-05-07T21:51:00.000-05:00I'd say as far as you're concerned, the most direc...I'd say as far as you're concerned, the most direct answer to the question 'What is Ken Wilber selling?' is 'Spiritual practice.' <BR/><BR/>Take half an hour out of your day, every day for, say, six years. Read up on Zen practice, and try it out. Play along with Big Mind practice on a fairly regular basis. Bring as much skepticism as you can. <BR/><BR/>The heart of his rationalistic claim is not 'You can reconstruct this from a rationalistic viewpoint.' It's more like, 'Repeat this as an experiment and see what happens to your mind. You won't become irrational, but you will add some capacities that could be described as trans-rational.' <BR/><BR/>And judging whether that happens or not entails the use of these new capacities, which is sort of why it doesn't quite make sense till you engage. But you can judge the entire process that way: 'do this, learn this.' It's straightforward, from a narrow process perspective. It's just that what we're judging is the change in your broader personal perspective.<BR/><BR/>So there's an odd sort of leap he's asking of you. Try to sell rationalism to someone absorbed in a prerational value system, and they'll respond with something like, 'so if I learn to think like you, and apply empirical materialist rational thought, then... well, I'll lose my beliefs. I might go to hell.' <BR/><BR/>The analogous response from a rational perspective would be something like, 'If I do spiritual practice and learn to be like you, I'll lose my personal boundaries. I won't be 'me' anymore.' No, you won't. Now, from my perspective, that would be great. That's what we mean by 'trancending the ego.' <BR/><BR/>But it's not the best sales pitch. Most folks don't want to transcend their ego, even if they say they do. It sounds a little self-aggrandizing. 'I've transcended my ego! You can too!' It's a great way to feed the ego. That's what makes it tricky business. Otherwise everyone would do it.John Stonerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08717364613598254710noreply@blogger.com