stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

NORMAN EINSTEIN 225
less than that would make us guilty of exhibiting “idiot compassion.”
And if there is one thing we do not want to be accused of, it
would have to be that. Especially since the alternative is to be allowed
to express one’s “Rude Boy” side, for the “benefit of all sentient
beings.”
People’s lives and mental health are at stake in all this. “Fucking
up” is not an option.
* * *
After all that, one is reminded of Sokal and Bricmont’s (1998) observation,
in their discussion of the recent, bumbling forays of postmodernists
into scientific theorizing and commentary:
[W]hen [alleged] intellectual dishonesty (or gross incompetence)
is discovered in one part—even a marginal part—of
someone’s writings, it is natural to want to examine more
critically the rest of his or her work.
Indeed. For, as with issues of responsibility and the like, such
characteristics never confine themselves to merely one small part
of a person’s life or quasi-professional work, but rather profoundly
shape all aspects of it.
I personally am again in no position to give an informed evaluation
as to whether Wilber has equally garbled postmodernism, or
the various branches of psychology to which he frequently refers
and claims to have synthesized into a coherent spectrum, as he has
done for other fields.
Another one of the founders of Spiral Dynamics, Christopher
Cowan (www.spiraldynamics.org), however, is in such a position,
at least with regard to Wilber’s comprehension of SD. And his
knowledgeable position is indeed this:
[Wilber’s presentations of Spiral Dynamics] twist the theory
and contain glib over-simplifications and biases ... which reflect
neither the nuances nor the intent of this theory. There
is frequent confusion of values with Value Systems. He also
seems to have trouble differentiating the levels of psychological
existence from personality traits ... and grossly misunderstands
and overplays the “tier” notion....
Much of the material demonstrates a very limited grasp
of the underlying theory ... he’s wrong far more often than
there’s any excuse for. Thus, the supposed SD foundation on