Trump and a Post-Truth World

As enlightening as ever. This is my 7th Wilber on Integral Theory and loved it with a few caveats.I personally am one of those "Conservatives" that Ken keeps stating "hate the other 50%". Wilber also implies that all "Integral" folks are inherently "anti-Trump", which is simply not the case. The vast majority of "Conservatives" - i.e. Orange/Amber Ethnocentric if you use a sophomoric classification - do not "hate" anyone. They simply do not agree with the "there is not truth" arguments that have men with penis' in restrooms with your young girls. This is a clear collapse of political agendas (DNC) with internal and external Integral level assessment.The reality of the situation is that many more Trump supporters (or perhaps better stated as anti-corruption supporters) are already at higher levels of development, without the psychosis of the Mean-Green leading edge, and ready to move forward than Wilber would lead us to believe.Also missed in the book is the massive wave of voting DNC candidates out of office over the last 8 years. It should have been no surprised whatsoever that the "Leading Edge" DNC candidates espousing highly Regressive Mean-Green agendas would lose the White House. It was only 2 more seats out of 1,000.While I do agree playing to the Liberal Intelligentsia will sell more books, I would like Wilber to write a analysis in the next 12 months after the Mean-Green corruption has been fully exposed, with some validation for the Green, perhaps Teal, that refused to promulgate the systemic corruption of the DNC and Mean-Green.Is healthy Orange/Green/Teal "more truthful" than a vastly corrupt dominator Mean-Green wave that has been voted out of office across the nation and even around the world (Brexit, EU immigration reforms, ...).

...I am deeply grateful for it. I found Ken's touch here to be light where it needed to be as well as firm and clear where it needed to be, with surgical precision. Rising above the fray just enough to give a view of what's happening has already borne fruit for me. Despite being written before unforgettable moments like "...there were some very fine people..." on the side of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and KKK-members and "blame on many sides," Wilber managed to set the lenses in place to see a likely motivation behind the comment that doesn't involve agreeing with the statement or condemning those who want to support Mr. Trump.The book also provides a glimpse into what may be motivating the non-organized groups of antifa protesters in a way that stimulated some understanding, even some empathy, but in a way that challenged my own thinking and actions that may well have helped put Mr. Trump into the position he is now in, for better or for worse.And so I may be most grateful to this book for suggesting what felt like a workable path beyond "not Trump" for the future. I would highly recommend anyone interested in life in what is coming after the "post-truth world" take the time to absorb this book. And I'm not just speaking to those with political aspirations (if there are any of those still out there!), but I would implore progressive and integrally-minded clergy to get this book to the top of their reading list, as we have work to do too! And breathe...the truth is out there!

Culture is always shifting. There seems to be a battle for the mindset of America that is currently happening, and this book addresses some of these issues. The author talks about various outlooks on life and gives color names to them. Some people have an ethnic mindset, and group mindset, and a worldview, and a postmodern mindset. He encourages an integrated mentality. He talked about what happened with the election and pinned much of the blame on those with a postmodern mindset because of the hypocrisy within this perspective. He noted two ideas. One was that everyone is invited to the table to speak and all angles are valid unless it was not a world peace mindset. The other thought was that there is no truth, just context unless the truth was that there is no truth. People saw through this "loving message" and rejected it. Here is an example. "​to egalitarian “no judgment” attitudes that refused to see any “higher” or “better” views at all (even though its view was judged “higher” and “better” than all the others), to modes of entertainment that everywhere eulogized egalitarian flatland, to a denial of all growth hierarchies by confusing them with dominator hierarchies (which effectively crushed all routes to actual growth in any systems anywhere), to the media’s sense of egalitarian “fairness” that ended up trying to give equal time to every possible, no matter how factually idiotic, alternative viewpoint ​viewpoint (such as Holocaust deniers), to echo-chambered social media where “pleasant lies” and “reassuring falsehoods” were the standard currency (and which were educating kids daily on how to lie and fake the truth socially)." People started to reject some of the progressive mindsets that were happening. Here is an example. "​But the extremes of political correctness did become extreme. There was a full-fledged sit-in at UCLA because a professor had corrected the spelling and grammar on a graduate-level exam—the students angrily claimed it created an “atmosphere of fear.” Well, certainly when there is no truth, then forcing your version of spelling on somebody is an oppressive power drive. (Apparently, “the spelling that’s true for you is true for you, and the spelling that’s true for me is true for me.”) In one feminist meeting, after the first speaker was given a round of applause, one woman reported that the applause gave her anxiety, and so the group voted to stop applauding for the rest of the conference. These are simply cases of a person’s hyper-sensitivity being taken to extremes, and instead of seeing the person as themselves perhaps suffering from an emotional problem, they are labeled “victim,” and then it’s everybody else’s job to cater to their narcissistic whims. Again, nihilism and narcissism have no place in the leading-edge (if it is to function at all)." Just because someone is upset with you disagreeing with them, does not make you judgmental. The book is interesting and taught me a lot about what is taking place in culture. It is a solid read, and insightful into the culture today.

Ken Wilber is not your everyday read and this book is no exception. I’d recommend reading an introduction to his levels of consciousness before tackling this book. But once you have a handle on the levels represented here you’ll be able the manifest the early stages of the integrative approach to life.

Not an easy read but very interesting. A basic grasp of spiral dynamics or intergral metatheory is probably advised. Wilber makes a compelling case for the flaws in postmodern society and offers distinct options for resolving these flaws.

... wie immer bei Ken Wilber.Ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass die Wahl von Trump zum Präsidenten irgendeinen Sinn haben könnte. Dieser (sprachlich und emotional eingeschränkte) Mensch schafft es, wie kein Philosoph es schaffen würde, die "aperspectival madness" von aggressiver, fehlgeleiteter, flacher "grüner" Weltanschauung aus der Nicht-Hinterfragbarkeit herauszuholen und diskutierbar zu machen. Das macht bewusst, dass wir wirklich alle unter einer militant aggressiven, unterdrückenden Gleichmacherei leiden, die sich selber jedoch nicht als gleichberechtigte sondern allen anderen Meinungen überlegen aufdrängen und anders Denkende unterdrücken will. So werden Werte und Wahrheiten vernichtet, Entwicklung wird böse, weil alle Bestrebungen (zum Beispiel die Förderung von begabten Schülern) die irgendwie auf hierarchische Anordung (eigentlich Wachstum) hindeuten, mit negativ unterdrückenden Hierarchien verwechselt werden.Das Buch regt zum Weiterdenken an. Wie sieht es im eigenen Land aus? Wer könnte sich bei uns in Österreich abgehängt fühlen? Wie sollen wir mit Rechts-Parteien umgehen, schafft Abwertung, An-den-Rand-Drängen der (in der Entwicklung) Abgehängten nicht neue Probleme?Warum ist die Spaltung der Bevölkerung in den USA derart extrem?Wann in der Geschichte gab es ähnliche Situationen, wo ein evolutionärer "leading-edge" (Übersetzung?) zusammengebrochen ist? War es nicht dauernd so, angefangen mit dem Christentum und der Katholischen Kirche? Kommt es nicht häufig vor, dass große Ideen Anhänger finden, die die ursprünglichen Inhalte nicht internalisiert haben und starre, autoritäre Ideologien daraus machen? Ken Wilber führt als Beispiel den Marxismus an, erklärt aber nicht, was sich auf psychologischer Ebene abspielt wenn Menschen zu Fundamentalisten werden.Was mir auch fehlt, ist eine "Anleitung", wie man mit asozialen, bösartigen Menschen auf niederen Stufen umgehen soll. Von der integralen Stufe aus lieb haben oder auf deren Stufen zurechtweisen, bestrafen?Was ich generell an Wilbers Gedanken zu dem Thema bezweifle, ist die evolutinäre Führungs-Stellung der Grünen in den USA. Welche Rolle spielen andere Länder, hat die grüne Revolution dort (andere) Früchte getragen (in Österreich erbärmlich gescheitert), was können sie beitragen? Sieht die Gesamtentwicklung aus integraler Sicht in anderen Ländern nicht viel besser aus? Ich bin sicher, dass die Vereinigten Staaten sich langsam aber sicher von der Vorstellung trennen müssen, irgendwie besser, moralisch auf höherem Niveau als der Rest der Welt zu sein ... das Gegenteil ist der Fall. AUCH DAS zeigt sich durch Trump, da hat Ken Wilber aber einen blinden Fleck.Zum Stilistischen: Wiederholungen gibt es wirklich seeehhhr viele, aber so checkt man am Schluss das Wesentliche, mich hat das nicht gestört. Es sind viele für mich neue englische Wörter enthalten, da lernt man gleich ein bisschen Vokabel.Das Büchlein ist grundsätzlich eher ein Aufsatz ohne wissenschaftlichen Anspruch, das steht auch gleich am Anfang.Auf den Inhalt - DIE WAHRHEITEN - kommt es an,daher 5 Sterne für die genialen Gedankenanstöße .. :)

This is a comprehensive description and analysis of the current chaos ... and a way out ... please do read it and pass it on

Wilber gets the culture wars more than most of us. If you're into Integral you'll be okay with this book. However, it may be daunting to anyone unfamiliar with the lingo. Integral theory needs to dumb itself down considerably to reach the masses. I doubt that Trump supporters will ever get near to this fine contribution to the post-truth world, but hopefully some liberal thinkers will catch Wilber's vibe. Look around, you won't see any better solutions.Read this book, slowly, and contemplate its encouraging message of transcendence and inclusion.