Review
by Justin C. Maaia, Spring, 2002
Ken Wilbur. The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human
Development. 2nd ed. Wheaton,
IL: Quest Books, 1996. 240 pp.
The Atman Project is
Ken Wilbur’s daring attempt to trace human development from its origins in the
womb to its telos. Wilbur
first surveys the extensive body of work documenting human consciousness from
its beginnings in the form of a fetus, to its maturation as a developed ego.
This work basically comprises the widely accepted research of Piaget,
Vygotsky, and others. It describes the path that almost all people take in their
development into adults, and it is termed the “Outward Arc” by Wilbur.
As amazing as this development is, it is only half of the story–or so
Wilbur claims. What follows is the
“Inward Arc,” and this is where the story becomes more interesting and also
more unbelievable.
The reason for this disbelief is simply the fact that most people have
not experienced the levels of development described by Wilbur.
The first stage of development along the Inward Arc is characterized by
many different types of Western thinkers. It
is embodied by the psychological term “self-actualization,” and it is also
the stage of development which prompted the existentialist philosophers to write
their stories, tales, parables, and philosophies.
After this stage, Wilbur then turns to the wisdom traditions of the East. With the help of these traditions, as well as some of the
Western mystical traditions, Wilbur traces the further development of human
consciousness through the “Subtle,” “Causal,” and “Atman” realms.
He shows how human development has taken place, from its beginning,
through a process of differentiation, transcendence, and integration.
One can think of the example of a toddler.
He has previously used the technique of crying or fussing in order to get
what he desired. However, as his
desires become more particular and varied, his technique becomes less useful for
satisfying his desires. Consequently,
he is forced to differentiate himself from his current mode of being. He gradually begins to transcend his current stage of
consciousness by doing what his parents have encouraged him to do–use
language. As he becomes more adept
with this tool, he is able to more exactly satisfy his desires.
Before long he has even internalized this language and uses it to further
develop into a syntaxical thinking being. Content
to use the tools of this new level of consciousness, he does not, however,
discard his old tools. Instead, he
is able to integrate these tools with his current stage of consciousness.
He may still cry and fuss to get certain things, or to lay emphasis on
his new verbal requests. He may
also use them in a different way, for example, to express sadness.
This process of differentiation, transcendence, and integration, Wilbur
argues, is used not only to attain each level of consciousness on the Outward
Arc, but is also used along the Inward Arc.
It is the process used by the mystics of the Jewish, Christian, and
Muslim traditions, by the adepts of Yoga, Buddhism, and Taoism, and also by
those who belong to no religion at all, such as those existentialist
philosophers, artists, and psychologists who reached the first stage of the
inward arc.
Wilbur gives a phenomenology of the various mystical experiences of
these traditions. He then
synthesizes these particular experiences into descriptions of distinct, concrete
stages of development. He shows
that certain types of practice lead to certain stages of development.
This is the reason why many mystical experiences look the same, and why
many also seem to be fundamentally different.
For the individual who succeeds in experiencing the final stage of
“Atman Consciousness,” these experiences are but signposts on their
developmental journey. Sometimes a
person becomes caught in a particular stage of development–for example the
“ego” stage. Sometimes a mystic
becomes attached to his “subtle stage” experiences of light and sound and
refuses to recognize that there may be other, higher stages of development.
Sometimes, a person is given a glimpse of a higher stage through
artificial means like drugs. This
means affords him the experiences, but not the honing of the tools of
differentiation, transcendence, and integration that are so important for
reaching the next stage of consciousness or for simply assimilating his current
one. It is for these reasons that
most people have given up on their evolutionary path, or see the various wisdom
traditions as being at odds, or feel that “alternate” states of
consciousness can be reduced to merely
scientific phenomena that can be induced by drugs or surgery.
Only by transcending all of these things can one continue in his
development. To think one is finished evolving is to put one’s evolution
to a premature end.
Wilbur makes an articulate, well supported, and valiant effort at
explicating this theory of development. However,
by the nature of the subject, it is only through one’s own experience that one
can verify Wilbur’s conclusions. The data and descriptions of the higher stages of evolution
can be empirically verified just like that of the lower stages.
The experiments and observations of Piaget and Vygotsky were conducted in
such a way as to afford anyone at their level of development–the level of most
of the human race–to reenact and verify them.
The data observed regarding the Inward Arc can also be verified by anyone
possessing the same level of consciousness as its observers.
However, this data was and is experienced by a relative few people.
Therefore, it is natural for most people to be skeptical of the
mystics’ accounts of experience. It is only by ascending to their heights that we will have
the opportunity, indeed the awareness, to verify what it is they have
experienced. This ascension, it is
conceded, can be a long path, but it is the only path leading to the fulfillment
of human potential.
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