Hieromonk Damascene and Wilber Dashh: A Day In The Integral Life March 02, 2007
An interesting post over at the Ken Wilber Forum regarding Wilber and evolutionary spirituality - it is from a book by Fr. Seraphim Rose called Genesis, Creation, and Early Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision, which Hieromonk Damascene edited and contributed an intro and epilogue to as well.
I think his view helps me to see the various takes on creation and evolution these days. On the one hand you have the orthodox creationists, another view is the naturalistic Neo-Darwinian (Gould, Flanagan) and then a third view is the synthetic spiritual evolution such as panentheism (Teilhard de Chardin, Marcus Borg, Wilber). Of course these are rough generalizations but it helps me to wrap my brain around the various perspectives. I definitely need to read over this chapter again.
While checking out other material by Damascene Christensen, I came across this interview and an interesting quote:
Even if Darwinistic evolution becomes outdated, there is still the danger, coming from those who do not believe in the Christian God, of a rejection of the purely Darwinian concept of evolution—that everything came from natural causes—and the embracing of a pseudo-spiritual evolution: the kind of spiritual evolution that we find in the Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky and Alice Bailey, the Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, the writings of Teilhard de Chardin, the Kaballah, the New Age movement, etc. According to this teaching of spiritual evolution, God is identified with the creation, and the creation is seen as evolving to Divinity. This is a heretical, pagan idea that could replace, in the minds of many, the purely Darwinian concept of evolution. Proponents of the New Age in America, such as Ken Wilber, say that “evolutionary spirituality” is the “cutting edge” of the new religious consciousness. This is the spirituality of Antichrist. In the epilogue to Fr. Seraphim’s book [Genesis, Creation, and Early Man] there is a lengthy discussion of how this evolutionary spirituality is deeply anti-Christian.
I think his view helps me to see the various takes on creation and evolution these days. On the one hand you have the orthodox creationists, another view is the naturalistic Neo-Darwinian (Gould, Flanagan) and then a third view is the synthetic spiritual evolution such as panentheism (Teilhard de Chardin, Marcus Borg, Wilber). Of course these are rough generalizations but it helps me to wrap my brain around the various perspectives. I definitely need to read over this chapter again.
While checking out other material by Damascene Christensen, I came across this interview and an interesting quote:
Even if Darwinistic evolution becomes outdated, there is still the danger, coming from those who do not believe in the Christian God, of a rejection of the purely Darwinian concept of evolution—that everything came from natural causes—and the embracing of a pseudo-spiritual evolution: the kind of spiritual evolution that we find in the Theosophy of Madame Blavatsky and Alice Bailey, the Anthroposophy of Rudolf Steiner, the writings of Teilhard de Chardin, the Kaballah, the New Age movement, etc. According to this teaching of spiritual evolution, God is identified with the creation, and the creation is seen as evolving to Divinity. This is a heretical, pagan idea that could replace, in the minds of many, the purely Darwinian concept of evolution. Proponents of the New Age in America, such as Ken Wilber, say that “evolutionary spirituality” is the “cutting edge” of the new religious consciousness. This is the spirituality of Antichrist. In the epilogue to Fr. Seraphim’s book [Genesis, Creation, and Early Man] there is a lengthy discussion of how this evolutionary spirituality is deeply anti-Christian.
The Chapter posted by Chiron titled Hieromonk Damascene's Criticism of Ken Wilber: A New Evolutionary Synthesis
Having discussed all these points of Teilhardism in our attempt to identify the metaphysical foundation of the "religion of the future," we should once more emphasize that Teilhard's ideas did not ultimately come from him. As Fr. Seraphim said, "There really is a 'spirit of the time' " --and Teilhard tapped into it.
When Teilhard died in 1955, the neo-Darwinist theory of evolutionary gradualism was nearing the peak of its prestige. The synthesis he devised between evolution and spirituality fit the intellectual milieu of his times. This is reflected in his idea of "psychic selection": a spiritualized view of neo-Darwinian natural selection.
But, as we have seen, the intellectual milieu has changed considerably since Teilhard's times. Now that the neo-Darwinist edifice has begun to crumble, a new synthesis of evolution and spirituality is emerging -- one that retains the metaphysical foundation laid down by Teilhardism but which takes into account the new developments.
One of the main architects of this new synthesis is the contemporary American writer Ken Wilber. As the most influential thinker in the movement known as Transpersonal Psychology, Wilber is now enjoying a growing vogue among spiritually oriented intellectuals. Both President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore have read his writings and publicly called attention to them. With sixteen books translated into over twenty languages, he is now the most translated academic author in the United States. We are not in a position to ascertain whether he will be a figure of continuing importance, as Teilhard de Chardin has been. What concerns us now is that he, at least as much as any other thinker now writing, seems to be on the cutting edge of the spirit of the time. [As a sign of this -- or rather as a result of it -- Ann Godoff, the current head of the largest publishing conglomerate in the world, Random House, has said: "There is no living writer I would rather publish more than Ken Wilber."]
Wilber does not attempt to be an original thinker. The task he has chosen for himself, he says, is to gather "orienting generalizations": that is, to take what he regards as the "best" from everything and everywhere, and organize it into one philosophical synthesis. In his work, one sees a confirmation of what Fr. Seraphim wrote two decades ago:
Quote:A characteristic of modern currents of thought is "universalism" -- the attempt to make a synthesis that will include all "partial" views: Masonry: ecumenism, Hegelianism, Bahai, Unitarianism, unity of all religions. This is what "evolutionary" philosophy is -- a "universal" theory to explain everything, and to justify everything the way it is -- universal salvation, a cosmic view of everything entering into the universal harmony of things as they are.
Wilber, in drawing together his synthesis of everything (one of his most popular titles is called A Brief History of Everything), draws from the "wisdom traditions" (i.e., traditional religions and philosophies, East and West), from Western philosophers, and from modern psychologists and scientists; and at the same time he closely follows contemporary popular culture and fashions in order, as he says, "to spot the zeitgeist." Among his readers and colleagues he is respected for his apparent ability to integrate literally thousands of intellectual sources at once. For many, his aura of brilliance is intensified by the fact that he writes about having reached advanced levels of Tibetan Buddhist meditation and having had an experience of merging with the Transpersonal Absolute, which he calls (deliberately using a generalized term) "Spirit."
Although Wilber quotes from Teilhard de Chardin, uses some of his terminology, and offers praise for him, he cannot, strictly speaking, be called Teilhard's follower. Teilhard's writings represent only a small fraction of the thousands of sources which Wilber has integrated into his system. However, it is of deep significance that Wilber, as a transmitter of the core of modern philosophy, has come up with an integral vision of the spirit of the times; and it is, in all its major components, Teilhardian!...
Having discussed all these points of Teilhardism in our attempt to identify the metaphysical foundation of the "religion of the future," we should once more emphasize that Teilhard's ideas did not ultimately come from him. As Fr. Seraphim said, "There really is a 'spirit of the time' " --and Teilhard tapped into it.
When Teilhard died in 1955, the neo-Darwinist theory of evolutionary gradualism was nearing the peak of its prestige. The synthesis he devised between evolution and spirituality fit the intellectual milieu of his times. This is reflected in his idea of "psychic selection": a spiritualized view of neo-Darwinian natural selection.
But, as we have seen, the intellectual milieu has changed considerably since Teilhard's times. Now that the neo-Darwinist edifice has begun to crumble, a new synthesis of evolution and spirituality is emerging -- one that retains the metaphysical foundation laid down by Teilhardism but which takes into account the new developments.
One of the main architects of this new synthesis is the contemporary American writer Ken Wilber. As the most influential thinker in the movement known as Transpersonal Psychology, Wilber is now enjoying a growing vogue among spiritually oriented intellectuals. Both President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore have read his writings and publicly called attention to them. With sixteen books translated into over twenty languages, he is now the most translated academic author in the United States. We are not in a position to ascertain whether he will be a figure of continuing importance, as Teilhard de Chardin has been. What concerns us now is that he, at least as much as any other thinker now writing, seems to be on the cutting edge of the spirit of the time. [As a sign of this -- or rather as a result of it -- Ann Godoff, the current head of the largest publishing conglomerate in the world, Random House, has said: "There is no living writer I would rather publish more than Ken Wilber."]
Wilber does not attempt to be an original thinker. The task he has chosen for himself, he says, is to gather "orienting generalizations": that is, to take what he regards as the "best" from everything and everywhere, and organize it into one philosophical synthesis. In his work, one sees a confirmation of what Fr. Seraphim wrote two decades ago:
Quote:A characteristic of modern currents of thought is "universalism" -- the attempt to make a synthesis that will include all "partial" views: Masonry: ecumenism, Hegelianism, Bahai, Unitarianism, unity of all religions. This is what "evolutionary" philosophy is -- a "universal" theory to explain everything, and to justify everything the way it is -- universal salvation, a cosmic view of everything entering into the universal harmony of things as they are.
Wilber, in drawing together his synthesis of everything (one of his most popular titles is called A Brief History of Everything), draws from the "wisdom traditions" (i.e., traditional religions and philosophies, East and West), from Western philosophers, and from modern psychologists and scientists; and at the same time he closely follows contemporary popular culture and fashions in order, as he says, "to spot the zeitgeist." Among his readers and colleagues he is respected for his apparent ability to integrate literally thousands of intellectual sources at once. For many, his aura of brilliance is intensified by the fact that he writes about having reached advanced levels of Tibetan Buddhist meditation and having had an experience of merging with the Transpersonal Absolute, which he calls (deliberately using a generalized term) "Spirit."
Although Wilber quotes from Teilhard de Chardin, uses some of his terminology, and offers praise for him, he cannot, strictly speaking, be called Teilhard's follower. Teilhard's writings represent only a small fraction of the thousands of sources which Wilber has integrated into his system. However, it is of deep significance that Wilber, as a transmitter of the core of modern philosophy, has come up with an integral vision of the spirit of the times; and it is, in all its major components, Teilhardian!...
In an introduction to the teachings of the Hindu evolutionist Sri Aurobindo, Wilber writes:
Quote:As Aurobindo saw -- probably more clearly than anybody before or since -- the scientific account of evolution, which relies on nothing but frisky dirt, dynamic matter, and process systems (e.g., chaos theories, far-from-equilibrium dissipative structures, autopoiesis, etc.) cannot even begin to explain the extraordinary series of transformations that brought forth life from matter and mind from life, and that is destined to bring forth, in just the same way, higher mind and overmind and supermind: Spirit alone can account for the astonishment that is the glory of evolution.
Wilber acknowledges the fact that almost all premodern cultures viewed the history of the world not as an evolutionary unfolding from a lower state, but rather as a devolution from a higher state. "But," he writes,
Quote:sometime in the modern era -- it is almost impossible to pinpoint exactly -- the idea of history as devolution (or a fall from God) was slowly replaced by the idea of history as evolution (or a growth toward God). We see it explicitly in Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854); Georg Hegel (1770-1831) propounded the doctrine with a genius rarely equaled; Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) made evolution a universal law; and his friend Charles Darwin (1809-1882) applied it to biology. We then find it appearing in Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), who gave perhaps its most accurate and most profound spiritual context, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), who made it famous in the West.
Suddenly, within a span of a mere century or so, serious minds were entertaining a notion that premodern cultures, for the most part, had never even once considered, namely that -- like all other living systems -- we humans are in the process of growing toward our own highest potential, and if that highest potential is God, then we are growing toward our own Godhead.
And, this extraordinary view continued, evolution in general is nothing but the growth and development toward that consummate potential, that summum bonum, that ens perfectimmus, that highest Ground and Goal of our own deepest nature. Evolution is simply Spirit-in-action, God in the making, and that making is destined to carry all of us straight to the Divine.
Quote:As Aurobindo saw -- probably more clearly than anybody before or since -- the scientific account of evolution, which relies on nothing but frisky dirt, dynamic matter, and process systems (e.g., chaos theories, far-from-equilibrium dissipative structures, autopoiesis, etc.) cannot even begin to explain the extraordinary series of transformations that brought forth life from matter and mind from life, and that is destined to bring forth, in just the same way, higher mind and overmind and supermind: Spirit alone can account for the astonishment that is the glory of evolution.
Wilber acknowledges the fact that almost all premodern cultures viewed the history of the world not as an evolutionary unfolding from a lower state, but rather as a devolution from a higher state. "But," he writes,
Quote:sometime in the modern era -- it is almost impossible to pinpoint exactly -- the idea of history as devolution (or a fall from God) was slowly replaced by the idea of history as evolution (or a growth toward God). We see it explicitly in Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854); Georg Hegel (1770-1831) propounded the doctrine with a genius rarely equaled; Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) made evolution a universal law; and his friend Charles Darwin (1809-1882) applied it to biology. We then find it appearing in Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), who gave perhaps its most accurate and most profound spiritual context, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), who made it famous in the West.
Suddenly, within a span of a mere century or so, serious minds were entertaining a notion that premodern cultures, for the most part, had never even once considered, namely that -- like all other living systems -- we humans are in the process of growing toward our own highest potential, and if that highest potential is God, then we are growing toward our own Godhead.
And, this extraordinary view continued, evolution in general is nothing but the growth and development toward that consummate potential, that summum bonum, that ens perfectimmus, that highest Ground and Goal of our own deepest nature. Evolution is simply Spirit-in-action, God in the making, and that making is destined to carry all of us straight to the Divine.
Like Teilhard, Wilber speaks of the "universal organism ... growing toward its own highest potentials, namely, the ever-unfolding realization and actualization of Spirit." But as a transpersonal psychologist, he also focuses on individual growth and evolution. Since we, like everything else in the cosmos, are manifestations of Spirit, as we further our evolution we merely remember that, after all, we are the very God -- I AM -- that has started the universe rolling:
Quote:You are the Kosmos, literally. But you tend to understand this ultimate fact in increasing glimpses of the infinity that you are, and you realize exactly why you started this wonderful, horrible Game of Life. But it is absolutely not a cruel Game, not ultimately, because you, and you alone, instigated this Drama.... If we engage all the levels of our own potential ... won't that better help us to remember the Source of the great Game of Life, which is not other than our own deepest Self? If Spirit is the Ground and Goal of all of these levels, and if we are Spirit in truth, won't the wholehearted engagement of all of these levels help us remember who and what we really are?...
Quote:You are the Kosmos, literally. But you tend to understand this ultimate fact in increasing glimpses of the infinity that you are, and you realize exactly why you started this wonderful, horrible Game of Life. But it is absolutely not a cruel Game, not ultimately, because you, and you alone, instigated this Drama.... If we engage all the levels of our own potential ... won't that better help us to remember the Source of the great Game of Life, which is not other than our own deepest Self? If Spirit is the Ground and Goal of all of these levels, and if we are Spirit in truth, won't the wholehearted engagement of all of these levels help us remember who and what we really are?...
Now, echoing Nietzsche, Wilber calls our deepest Self our "Superman Self." In realizing that you are God, he says, "You will awaken to a world where the Kosmos is your soul, the clouds in your lungs, the rain-drops in the beat of your heart.... You will look at the moon as part of your body and bow to the sun as part of your heart, and all of it is just so."
In order to expedite this remembering, he recommends what he calls "integral practice" for all levels of our being, saying that we should "mix and match" physical and spiritual practices ranging from jogging to tantric sexuality to deity yoga to centering prayer to Advaita Vedanta to "Christian formless meditation."
In order to expedite this remembering, he recommends what he calls "integral practice" for all levels of our being, saying that we should "mix and match" physical and spiritual practices ranging from jogging to tantric sexuality to deity yoga to centering prayer to Advaita Vedanta to "Christian formless meditation."
Rose, Fr. Seraphim (2000). Genesis, Creation, and Early Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision. Platina: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2000, pp. 557-567. March 02, 2007 Permalink
No comments:
Post a Comment