Ken Wilber Explained

Ken Wilber
Birth Date:January 31, 1949
Birth Place:Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Education:Duke University
(no degree)
University of Nebraska at Lincoln
(no degree)
Region:Western esotericism
Era:New Age
Main Interests:Integral theory
Notable Works:The Spectrum of Consciousness (1977)
The Atman Project (1980)
Grace and Grit (1991)
Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995, 2001)

Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American theorist and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory,[1] a four-quadrant grid which purports to encompass all human knowledge and experience.

Life and career

Wilber was born in 1949 in Oklahoma City. In 1967 he enrolled as a pre-med student at Duke University.[2] He became interested in psychology and Eastern spirituality. He left Duke and enrolled at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln studying biochemistry, but after a few years dropped out of university and began studying his own curriculum and writing.[3]

In 1973 Wilber completed his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness,[4] in which he sought to integrate knowledge from disparate fields. After rejections by more than 20 publishers it was accepted in 1977 by Quest Books, and he spent a year giving lectures and workshops before going back to writing, publishing The Atman Project, in which he put his idea of a spectrum of consciousness in a developmental context. He also helped to launch the journal ReVision in 1978.[5]

In 1982, New Science Library published his anthology The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes,[6] a collection of essays and interviews, including one by David Bohm. The essays, including one of his own, looked at how holography and the holographic paradigm relate to the fields of consciousness, mysticism, and science.

In 1983, Wilber married Terry "Treya" Killam who was shortly thereafter diagnosed with breast cancer. From 1984 until 1987, Wilber gave up most of his writing to care for her. Killam died in January 1989; their joint experience was recorded in the 1991 book Grace and Grit.

In 1987, Wilber moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he worked on his Kosmos trilogy and supervised the work and functioning of the Integral Institute.[7]

Wilber wrote Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995), the first volume of his Kosmos Trilogy, presenting his "theory of everything," a four-quadrant grid in which he summarized his reading in psychology and Eastern and Western philosophy up to that time. A Brief History of Everything (1996) was the popularised summary of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality in interview format. The Eye of Spirit (1997) was a compilation of articles he had written for the journal ReVision on the relationship between science and religion. Throughout 1997, he had kept journals of his personal experiences, which were published in 1999 as One Taste, a term for unitary consciousness. Over the next two years his publisher, Shambhala Publications, released eight re-edited volumes of his Collected Works. In 1999, he finished Integral Psychology and wrote A Theory of Everything (2000). In A Theory of Everything Wilber attempts to bridge business, politics, science and spirituality and show how they integrate with theories of developmental psychology, such as Spiral Dynamics. His novel, Boomeritis (2002), attempts to expose what he perceives as the egotism of the baby boom generation. Frank Visser's Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion (2003), a guide to Wilber's thought, was praised by Edward J. Sullivan[8] and Daryl S. Paulson, with the latter calling it "an outstanding synthesis of Wilber's published works through the evolution of his thoughts over time. The book will be of value to any transpersonal humanist or integral philosophy student who does not want to read all of Wilber's works to understand his message."[9]

In 2012, Wilber joined the advisory board of the International Simultaneous Policy Organization which seeks to end the usual deadlock in tackling global issues through an international simultaneous policy.[10] [11]

Wilber stated in 2011 that he has long suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, possibly caused by RNase enzyme deficiency disease.[12] [13]

Integral theory

See main article: Integral theory.

Upper-Left (UL)
"I"
Interior Individual
Intentional

e.g. Freud

Upper-Right (UR)
"It"
Exterior Individual
Behavioral

e.g. Skinner

Lower-Left (LL)
"We"
Interior Collective
Cultural

e.g. Gadamer

Lower-Right (LR)
"Its"
Exterior Collective
Social

e.g. Marx

All Quadrants All Levels (AQAL, pron. "ah-qwul") is the basic framework of integral theory. It models human knowledge and experience with a four-quadrant grid, along the axes of "interior-exterior" and "individual-collective". According to Wilber, it is a comprehensive approach to reality, a metatheory that attempts to explain how academic disciplines and every form of knowledge and experience fit together coherently.[14]

AQAL is based on four fundamental concepts and a rest-category: four quadrants, several levels and lines of development, several states of consciousness, and "types", topics which do not fit into these four concepts.[15] "Levels" are the stages of development, from pre-personal through personal to transpersonal. "Lines" of development are various domains which may progress unevenly through different stages. "States" are states of consciousness; according to Wilber persons may have a temporal experience of a higher developmental stage. "Types" is a rest-category, for phenomena which do not fit in the other four concepts.[16] In order for an account of the Kosmos to be complete, Wilber believes that it must include each of these five categories. For Wilber, only such an account can be accurately called "integral". In the essay, "Excerpt C: The Ways We Are in This Together", Wilber describes AQAL as "one suggested architecture of the Kosmos".[17]

The model's apex is formless awareness, "the simple feeling of being", which is equated with a range of "ultimates" from a variety of eastern traditions. This formless awareness transcends the phenomenal world, which is ultimately only an appearance of some transcendental reality. According to Wilber, the AQAL categories — quadrants, lines, levels, states, and types – describe the relative truth of the two truths doctrine of Buddhism. According to Wilber, none of them are true in an absolute sense. Only formless awareness, "the simple feeling of being", exists absolutely.[18]

Other ideas

Mysticism and the great chain of being

One of Wilber's main interests is in mapping what he calls the "neo-perennial philosophy", an integration of some of the views of mysticism typified by Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy with an account of cosmic evolution akin to that of the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. He rejects most of the tenets of Perennialism and the associated anti-evolutionary view of history as a regression from past ages or yugas.[19] Instead, he embraces a more traditionally Western notion of the great chain of being. As in the work of Jean Gebser, this great chain (or "nest") is ever-present while relatively unfolding throughout this material manifestation, although to Wilber "... the 'Great Nest' is actually just a vast morphogenetic field of potentials ..." In agreement with Mahayana Buddhism, and Advaita Vedanta, he believes that reality is ultimately a nondual union of emptiness and form, with form being innately subject to development over time.

Theory of truth

See also: Two truths doctrine.

 InteriorExterior
IndividualStandard: Truthfulness
(1st person)

(sincerity, integrity, trustworthiness)
Standard: Truth
(3rd person)

(correspondence,
representation, propositional)
CollectiveStandard: Justness
(2nd person)

(cultural fit, rightness,
mutual understanding)
Standard: Functional fit
(3rd person)

(systems theory web,
Structural functionalism,
social systems mesh)

Wilber believes that the mystical traditions of the world provide access to, and knowledge of, a transcendental reality which is perennial, consistent throughout all times and cultures. This proposition underlies the whole of his conceptual edifice, and is an unquestioned assumption. According to David L. McMahan, the perennial position is "largely dismissed by scholars", but "has lost none of its popularity".[20] Mainstream academia favor a constructivist approach, which is rejected by Wilber as a dangerous relativism. Wilber juxtaposes this generalization to plain materialism, presented as the main paradigm of regular science.

In his later works, Wilber argues that manifest reality is composed of four domains, and that each domain, or "quadrant", has its own truth-standard, or test for validity:[21]

Pre/trans fallacy

Wilber believes that many claims about non-rational states make a mistake he calls the pre/trans fallacy. According to Wilber, the non-rational stages of consciousness (what Wilber calls "pre-rational" and "trans-rational" stages) can be easily confused with one another. In Wilber's view, one can reduce trans-rational spiritual realization to pre-rational regression, or one can elevate pre-rational states to the trans-rational domain.[23] For example, Wilber claims that Freud and Jung commit this fallacy. Freud considered mystical realization to be a regression to infantile oceanic states. Wilber alleges that Freud thus commits a fallacy of reduction. Wilber thinks that Jung commits the converse form of the same mistake by considering pre-rational myths to reflect divine realizations. Likewise, pre-rational states may be misidentified as post-rational states.[24] Wilber characterizes himself as having fallen victim to the pre/trans fallacy in his early work.[25]

Wilber on science

Wilber describes the state of the "hard" sciences as limited to "narrow science", which only allows evidence from the lowest realm of consciousness, the sensorimotor (the five senses and their extensions). Wilber sees science in the broad sense as characterized by involving three steps:[26]

He has presented these as "three strands of valid knowledge" in Part III of his book The Marriage of Sense and Soul.[27]

What Wilber calls "broad science" would include evidence from logic, mathematics, and from the symbolic, hermeneutical, and other realms of consciousness. Ultimately and ideally, broad science would include the testimony of meditators and spiritual practitioners. Wilber's own conception of science includes both narrow science and broad science, e.g., using electroencephalogram machines and other technologies to test the experiences of meditators and other spiritual practitioners, creating what Wilber calls "integral science".

According to Wilber's theory, narrow science trumps narrow religion, but broad science trumps narrow science. That is, the natural sciences provide a more inclusive, accurate account of reality than any of the particular exoteric religious traditions. But an integral approach that uses intersubjectivity to evaluate both religious claims and scientific claims will give a more complete account of reality than narrow science.

Wilber has referred to Stuart Kauffman, Ilya Prigogine, Alfred North Whitehead, and others who also articulate his vitalistic and teleological understanding of reality, which is deeply at odds with the modern evolutionary synthesis.

Later work

In 2005, at the launch of the Integral Spiritual Center, a branch of the Integral Institute, Wilber presented a 118-page rough draft summary of his two forthcoming books.[28] The essay is entitled "What is Integral Spirituality?", and contains several new ideas, including Integral post-metaphysics and the Wilber-Combs lattice. In 2006, he published "Integral Spirituality", in which he elaborated on these ideas, as well as others such as Integral Methodological Pluralism and the developmental conveyor belt of religion.

"Integral post-metaphysics" is the term Wilber has given to his attempts to reconstruct the world's spiritual-religious traditions in a way that accounts for the modern and post-modern criticisms of those traditions.[29]

The Wilber-Combs Lattice is a conceptual model of consciousness developed by Wilber and Allan Combs. It is a grid with sequential states of consciousness on the x axis (from left to right) and with developmental structures, or levels, of consciousness on the y axis (from bottom to top). This lattice illustrates how each structure of consciousness interprets experiences of different states of consciousness, including mystical states, in different ways.[30]

Wilber attracted a lot of controversy from 2011 to the present day by supporting Marc Gafni, who was accused of sexually assaulting a minor,[31] on his blog.[32] [33] A petition begun by a group of Rabbis has called for Wilber to publicly dissociate from Gafni.

Wilber is on the advisory board of Mariana Bozesan's AQAL Capital GmbH,[34] a Munich-based company specialising in integral Impact Investing using a model based on Wilber's Integral Theory.

Influences

Wilber's views have been influenced by Madhyamaka Buddhism, particularly as articulated in the philosophy of Nagarjuna.[35] Wilber has practiced various forms of Buddhist meditation, studying (however briefly) with a number of teachers, including Dainin Katagiri, Taizan Maezumi, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Alan Watts, Penor Rinpoche and Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. Advaita Vedanta, Trika (Kashmir) Shaivism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Ramana Maharshi, and Andrew Cohen can be mentioned as further influences. Wilber has on several occasions singled out Adi Da's work for the highest praise while expressing reservations about Adi Da as a teacher.[36] [37] In Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Wilber refers extensively to Plotinus' philosophy, which he sees as nondual. While Wilber has practised Buddhist meditation methods, he does not identify himself as a Buddhist.[38]

According to Frank Visser, Wilber's conception of four quadrants, or dimensions of existence is very similar to E. F. Schumacher's conception of four fields of knowledge. Visser finds Wilber's conception of levels, as well as Wilber's critique of science as one-dimensional, to be very similar to that in Huston Smith's Forgotten Truth. Visser also writes that the esoteric aspects of Wilber's theory are based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo as well as other theorists including Adi Da.

Reception

Wilber has been categorized by Wouter J. Hanegraaff as New Age due to his emphasis on a transpersonal view.[39] Publishers Weekly has called him "the Hegel of Eastern spirituality".[40]

Wilber is credited with broadening the appeal of a "perennial philosophy" to a much wider audience. Cultural figures as varied as Bill Clinton,[41] Al Gore, Deepak Chopra, Richard Rohr,[42] and musician Billy Corgan have mentioned his influence.[43] Paul M. Helfrich credits him with "precocious understanding that transcendental experience is not solely pathological, and properly developed could greatly inform human development".[44] However, Wilber's approach has been criticized as excessively categorizing and objectifying, masculinist,[45] [46] commercializing spirituality,[47] and denigrating of emotion.[48] Critics in multiple fields cite problems with Wilber's interpretations and inaccurate citations of his wide ranging sources, as well as stylistic issues with gratuitous repetition, excessive book length, and hyperbole.[49]

Frank Visser writes that Wilber's 1977 book The Spectrum of Consciousness was praised by transpersonal psychologists, but also that support for him "even in transpersonal circles" had waned by the early 1990s.[8] Edward J. Sullivan argued, in his review of Visser's guide Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion, that in the field of composition studies "Wilber's melding of life’s journeys with abstract theorizing could provide an eclectic and challenging model of 'personal-academic' writing", but that "teachers of writing may be critical of his all-too-frequent totalizing assumptions". Sullivan also said that Visser's book overall gave an impression that Wilber "should think more and publish less."

Steve McIntosh praises Wilber's work but also argues that Wilber fails to distinguish "philosophy" from his own Vedantic and Buddhist religion.[50] Christopher Bache is complimentary of some aspects of Wilber's work, but calls Wilber's writing style glib.[51]

Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof has praised Wilber's knowledge and work in the highest terms;[52] however, Grof has criticized the omission of the pre- and peri-natal domains from Wilber's spectrum of consciousness, and Wilber's neglect of the psychological importance of biological birth and death.[53] Grof has described Wilber's writings as having an "often aggressive polemical style that includes strongly worded ad personam attacks and is not conducive to personal dialogue."[54] Wilber's response is that the world religious traditions do not attest to the importance that Grof assigns to the perinatal.

Works

Books

Audiobooks

Adaptations

Wilber's account of his wife Treya's illness and death, Grace and Grit (1991), was released as a feature film starring Mena Suvari and Stuart Townsend in 2021.[55]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Mark Der Forman, A guide to integral psychotherapy: complexity, integration, and spirituality in practice, SUNY Press 2010, p. 9.
  2. [Tony Schwartz (author)|Tony Schwartz]
  3. Web site: Ken Wilber – Teachers – Spirituality & Practice. spiritualityandpractice.com. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402131218/http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/teachers/teachers.php?id=310. April 2, 2015.
  4. Book: The Spectrum of Consciousness . 9780835606950 . Wilber . Ken . 1993. Quest Books .
  5. Book: Visser, Frank . Ken Wilber: Thought As Passion . SUNY Press . 2003 . 0-7914-5816-4. p. 27.
  6. The Holographic Paradigm and other paradoxes, 1982,
  7. Web site: About Ken Wilber. Famous Psychologists.
  8. Sullivan. Edward J.. Winter 2005–06. REVIEW: Sullivan/Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion. The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning. 11. 97–99.
  9. Paulson. Daryl S.. 2004. Review of Thought as passion.. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 36. 223–227. APA PsycNet.
  10. About Simpol-UK: uk.simpol.org – About Simpol-UK
  11. Endorsements: Simpol.org – Endorsements
  12. News: Wilber . Ken . Ken Wilber Writes About His Horrific, Near-Fatal Illness . May 26, 2011 . New Heaven New Earth . December 26, 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724141023/http://www.nhne.org/news/NewsArticlesArchive/tabid/400/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2292/language/en-US/Ken-Wilber-Writes-About-His-Horrific-Near-Fatal-Illness.aspx . July 24, 2011 .
  13. Web site: Wilber. Ken. RNase Enzyme Deficiency Disease: Wilber's statement about his health. IntegralWorld.net. October 22, 2002. May 26, 2011. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20110605120119/http://www.integralworld.net/redd.html. June 5, 2011.
  14. Rentschler . Matt . AQAL Glossary . https://web.archive.org/web/20171228172258/http://iniciativaintegral.es/Documentos%20P%C3%BAblicos/1.-%20Teor%C3%ADa/AQAL_Glossary_01-27-07.pdf . December 28, 2017 . AQAL: Journal of Integral Theory and Practice . Fall 2006 . 1 . 3 . December 28, 2017.
  15. Fiandt . K. . Forman . J. . Erickson Megel . M. . etal . 2003 . Integral nursing: an emerging framework for engaging the evolution of the profession . Nursing Outlook . 51 . 3. 130–137 . 10.1016/s0029-6554(03)00080-0. 12830106 .
  16. "Integral Psychology" In: Weiner, Irving B. & Craighead, W. Edward (ed.), The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, Vol. 2, 4. ed., Wiley 2010, pp. 830 ff.
  17. Web site: Excerpt C: The Ways We Are In This Together . Ken Wilber Online . December 26, 2005 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20051223205255/http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/kosmos/excerptC/intro-1.cfm/ . December 23, 2005 .
  18. Book: The Simple Feeling of Being. Shambala Publications. 2004. 9781590301517.
  19. "I have not identified myself with the perennial philosophy in over fifteen years ... Many of the enduring perennial philosophers—such as Nagarjuna—were already using postmetaphysical methods, which is why their insights are still quite valid. But the vast majority of perennial philosophers were caught in metaphysical, not critical, thought, which is why I reject their methods almost entirely, and accept their conclusions only to the extent they can be reconstructed"Web site: On the Nature of a Post-Metaphysical Spirituality: Response to Habermas and Weis . March 14, 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060322225146/http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/habermas/index.cfm . March 22, 2006 .
  20. Book: McMahan, David L. . 2008 . The Making of Buddhist Modernism . Oxford . Oxford University Press . 978-0195183276 . 269, n. 9.
  21. Book: Wilber, Ken . The Eye of Spirit . . Boston . 1998 . 12–18 . 1-57062-345-7 .
  22. Table and quotations from: .
  23. http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev3_intro.cfm Introduction to the third volume of The Collected Works of Ken Wilber
  24. Wilber, Ken. Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Shambhala Publications, 2000, pp 211 f.
  25. Web site: The introduction to Volume 1 of The Collected Works of Ken Wilber . Ken Wilber Online . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090319023750/http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev1_intro.cfm/ . March 19, 2009 .
  26. Book: Donald Jay Rothberg. Sean M. Kelly. Sean Kelly. Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers. February 1, 1998. Quest Books. 978-0-8356-0766-7. 12.
  27. Book: Ken Wilber. The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion. August 3, 2011. Random House Publishing Group. 978-0-307-79956-2. 187.
  28. Web site: What is Integral Spirituality? . Integral Spiritual Center . December 26, 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20051125042128/http://integralspiritualcenter.org/Integral%20Spirituality.pdf . November 25, 2005 . dead . (1.3 MB PDF file)
  29. Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World, 2006
  30. Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World, 2006
  31. Web site: 'I Was 13 When Marc Gafni's Abuse Began'. forward.com. January 13, 2016 . May 3, 2018. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180204000533/https://forward.com/opinion/329620/i-was-13-when-marc-gafnis-abuse-began/. February 4, 2018.
  32. Web site: Ken Wilber's Response to the Marc Gafni Debacle | Integral Life . February 18, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160206165122/https://www.integrallife.com/member/ken-wilber/blog/ken-wilbers-response-marc-gafni-debacle . February 6, 2016 . ?
  33. Web site: +kenwilber.com – blog. www.kenwilber.com. May 3, 2018. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171028230143/http://www.kenwilber.com/blog/show/701. October 28, 2017.
  34. Web site: Ken Wilber – AQAL Capital. aqalcapital.com. March 30, 2016. live. http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20160331182445/http://aqalcapital.com/advisory-board/ken-wilber/. March 31, 2016.
  35. Web site: The Kosmos According to Ken Wilber: A Dialogue with Robin Kornman . September 1996 . Shambhala Sun . June 14, 2006 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20060813160309/http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2059 . August 13, 2006 .
  36. Web site: The Case of Adi Da . Ken Wilber Online . https://web.archive.org/web/20080213072728/http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/misc/adida.cfm/ . February 13, 2008 .
  37. Web site: Adi Da and The Case of Ken Wilber . I mention Master Da (along with Christ, Krishna) as being the Divine Person as World Event. – Ken Wilber, Up From Eden, 1981 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20110303124109/http://www.adidawilber.com/ . March 3, 2011 .
    1. Kosmic Consciousness (12-hour audio interview on ten CDs), 2003,
  38. [Wouter J. Hanegraaff]
  39. "The Simple Feeling of Being: Visionary, Spiritual and Poetic Writings"
  40. http://www.newsweek.com/id/227746/page/2 Planetary Problem Solver
  41. News: The Perennial Tradition – Center for Action and Contemplation. December 20, 2015. Center for Action and Contemplation. August 17, 2018. en-US.
  42. Web site: You are the river: An interview with Ken Wilber. Steve Paulson. salon.com. April 28, 2008 . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20090703072657/http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/04/28/ken_wilber/. July 3, 2009.
  43. Web site: Helfrich. Paul M.. March 2004. Thought As Passion: Making Ken Wilber Accessible. October 10, 2020. en-US.
  44. Thompson, Coming into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousness pp. 12–13
  45. Gelfer, J. Chapter 5 (Integral or muscular spirituality?) in Numen, Old Men: Contemporary Masculine Spiritualities and the Problem of Patriarchy, 2009:
  46. Gelfer, J. LOHAS and the Indigo Dollar: Growing the Spiritual Economy, New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry (4.1, 2010: 46–60)
  47. Web site: Christian . de Quincey . The Promise of Integralism: A Critical Appreciation of Ken Wilber's Integral Psychology . . Vol. 7(11/12) . Winter 2000 . June 15, 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060507122350/http://www.deepspirit.com/sys-tmpl/thepromiseofintegralism/ . May 7, 2006 . dead.
  48. Web site: A Spectrum of Wilber Critics . Frank . Visser . April 28, 2006 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20060526210405/http://www.integralworld.net/visser11.html . May 26, 2006 .
  49. Steve McIntosh, Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution, Paragon House, St Paul Minnesota, 2007, pp. 227f.
  50. Notes to Chapter 6 of Dark Night Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind SUNY Press, 2000
  51. Web site: Stanislav . Grof . Ken Wilber's Spectrum Psychology . https://web.archive.org/web/20091209054241/http://primal-page.com/grofken.htm . December 9, 2009 . ... Ken has produced an extraordinary work of highly creative synthesis of data drawn from a vast variety of areas and disciplines ... His knowledge of the literature is truly encyclopedic, his analytical mind systematic and incisive, and the clarity of his logic remarkable. The impressive scope, comprehensive nature, and intellectual rigor of Ken's work have helped to make it a widely acclaimed and highly influential theory of transpersonal psychology..
  52. Grof, Beyond the Brain, 131–137
  53. Web site: Grof, "A Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology". https://web.archive.org/web/20110716130649/http://www.stanislavgrof.com/pdf/A%20Brief%20History%20of%20Transpersonal%20Psychology-Grof.pdf. dead. July 16, 2011.
  54. Web site: Grace and Grit (2021) - IMDb. www.imdb.com.