stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

NORMAN EINSTEIN 169
the four great books of this [twentieth] century” (Integral,
2004).
Ken Wilber is “an American bodhisattva pandit.”
Ken Wilber is “one of the most important pioneers in the field
of consciousness in this century.”
Ken Wilber is “a source of inspiration and insight to all of us.”
Ken Wilber is “the most comprehensive philosophical thinker
of our times.”
Ken Wilber is “the most cogent and penetrating voice in the
recent emergence of a uniquely American wisdom.”
Ken Wilber is “the most influential integral thinker in the
world today.”
One need not search far at all to find glowing endorsements of
the work which the esteemed Mr. Ken Wilber has done over the
past quarter of a century in consciousness studies. Indeed, the latter
three of the above recommendations can be found, as of this
writing, on the home page of Wilber’s own website (http://wilber
.shambhala.com). The first two, further, come from one of his own
(1991) books, via his late wife’s diaries. Two others are only a click
away from his home web page, nestled in an adoration-filled “update”
on the value of his work, written by one of his long-time students.
Wilber began writing his first book at age twenty-three, having
dropped out of postgraduate biochemistry studies in 1973 to
pursue that activity. The Spectrum of Consciousness was rejected
by twenty publishers over a three-year period (Schwartz, 1996) before
finally being accepted by the Theosophical (Society’s) Publishing
House. Since then, Wilber has written over a dozen books. He
has also acted (past tense) as an editor for both ReVision magazine
and the New Science Library imprint of Shambhala, and had his
Collected Works published by the same press.
Now in his mid-fifties and residing in Boulder, Wilber has recently
founded and assumed the presidency of the Integral Institute
(www.integralinstitute.org), with its affiliated Integral Naked
forum. Guests of the latter have included spiritual luminaries such
as Andrew Cohen, Deepak Chopra, Carolyn Myss, Michael Crichton—see
Mooney (2005) for Mr. Jurassic Park’s environmental unconsciousness—and
the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan. Since
1995, Wilber’s integral “Four Quadrant” model of reality has been
put to use by psychological, business and political leaders in Amer-