Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution

Wilber tells the story of humankind's evolutionary journey over some six million years, from its primal past to its dazzling cosmic future. For if men and women have come up from the beasts, Wilber says, they will likely end up with the gods. "Ken Wilber draws on evidence breathtaking in its sweep to outline a view of the trajectory of human evolution. In so doing, he joins the ranks of the grand theorists of human consciousness like Ernst Cassirer, Mircea Eliade, and Gregory Bateson."--Dr. Daniel Goldman, author of Emotional Intelligence Philosopher Ken Wilber has been mapping the territory of consciousness since the 1970s. His first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, launched the transpersonal psychology movement.

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LibraryThing member KatieBrugger

This book completely reframed my understanding of humanity in a wonderful way. Drawing on mythology and psychology, as well as his deep understanding of eastern metaphysics, Mr. Wilber explains how to understand human history as the evolution of consciousness.

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LibraryThing member CenterPointMN

Up from Eden portrays the saga of human evolution in several major stages. Beginning with the archaic world, primitive in its beliefs and practices, it moves to the stage of magic--rituals, totems, the struggle for life and death in a world of participation mystique. The next step is the mythic

world--the great classica civilizations of the world's mythologies, magnificent in their expression, but hiding a dark side of human sacrifice and ritual immolation. And finally, we reach the present stage of rationality, brilliant in it's logic, but alienated from its past organic roots, scarred by a repression of the body by the mind.But the story continues: based on the past evidence, Up from Eden suggests the higher stages toward which future evolution might now be moving: the very stages facing us tomorrow. And in that final vision, the world views of science and religion are boldly brough together in a startling synthesis.Up from Eden is a culmination of Ken Wilber's work in the field of consciousness and transpersonal theory.

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