The Paradox of Witnessing

With over two-dozen published books translated in nearly as many languages, Ken Wilber has created what is widely considered the first truly comprehensive Integral Map of human experience. By exploring and integrating the major insights and conclusions of nearly every human knowledge domain in existence, Wilber created the revolutionary AQAL Integral Framework. In short, the Integral Approach is the coherent organization, coordination, and harmonization of all of the relevant practices, methodologies, and experiences available to human beings. Wilber states: “You can’t [realistically] honor various methods and fields, without showing how they fit together. That is how to make a genuine world philosophy.” He is the founder of the nonprofit think tank Integral Institute, co-founder of the transformational learning community Integral Life, co-founder of Source Integral exploring the nature of Integral Society, and the current chancellor of Ubiquity University. Ken's site: kenwilber.com Some of Ken's many books: The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions Integral Buddhism: And the Future of Spirituality Integral Meditation: Mindfulness as a Way to Grow Up, Wake Up, and Show Up in Your Life Trump and a Post-Truth World Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview. Interview recorded April 28, 2018. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Welcome to Buddha at the Gas Pump 00:04:54 - From Graduate School to Writing a Book 00:10:43 - The Meditation Technique and Awakening Experience 00:16:03 - The State of Witnessing during Meditation 00:21:34 - The Witness and Radical Oneness 00:27:16 - The Illusion of Waking Up 00:32:41 - Overpowering Fear from Repressed Anger 00:38:16 - The Importance of "Cleaning Up" in Spiritual Practice 00:44:00 - The Role of Spirituality in Human Development 00:49:12 - The Three Major Groups of Development Lines 00:55:03 - The Different Levels of Growing Up 01:00:52 - The stages of moral development 01:05:50 - Honoring and Including Different Perspectives 01:10:54 - Expressing Authentic Enlightenment 01:15:57 - The Recent Discovery of Growing Up Levels in Spiritual Systems 01:20:35 - Development of Cognitive and Emotional Intelligence 01:25:31 - Different lines of development 01:30:57 - The need for waking up, growing up, and cleaning up in spiritual practice 01:36:40 - The Evolution of Spiritual Pursuit 01:41:39 - The Problem of Overthinking in Philosophy 01:46:27 - The Unity of Nirvana and Samsara 01:52:06 - Differentiating Relative and Ultimate States of Consciousness 01:57:23 - Dissolving into Oneness 02:03:03 - Working with Good Maps and the Importance of Spiritual Growth 02:07:07 - Aurobindo's Influence on Integral Yoga 02:13:38 - Spirit, consciousness, and the four quadrants 02:19:31 - Describing Ultimate Reality 02:25:19 - The Problem of Describing Ultimate Reality 02:30:58 - President Trump: A Sociocultural Analysis 02:37:36 - The Stages of Growing Up 02:42:14 - Exploring Ken Wilber's Books and Resources