The spiritual intellectual Ken Wilber takes on the hottest theory in modern physics, known as the "M Theory," or the "The Theory of Everything." As Wilber explains, it is "a model that would unite all the known laws of the universe into one all-embracing theory that would literally explain everything in existence." Of course this new "M Theory" opens up a can of wormy, slippery questions, which Wilber addresses: "What does 'everything' actually mean? Would this new theory in physics explain, say, the meaning of human poetry? Or how economics work? Or the stages of psychosexual development?"

Being Ken Wilber, he couldn't resist answering these questions by folding the "Theory of Everything" into some of his own personal visions and theories. This overlay is presented in his signature straightforward, clearly written style. The upshot is that common readers can easily follow Wilber on a quantum journey and wind up with a lasting souvenir--a scientific and spiritual understanding of how the mind, body, soul, and universe all work together like a never-ending symphony. And that's just in the first four chapters. From there he shows readers the practical applications of this vision--explaining how it could lead to more integrative styles of business, education, medicine, ecology, and even how we address world conflicts. Wilber admits that this "holistic quest is an ever-receding dream, a horizon that constantly retreats as we approach it." Nonetheless, he can still take readers on an incredible journey--one that's well worth the price of the ticket. --Gail Hudson


From Beliefnet
Ken Wilber, a spirituality and psychology writer of the highest caliber, is one of the few people who could even attempt a book like this--a book that reflects a Renaissance-like optimism that all disciplines can be known, and all knowledge acquired, by a single person.

Wilber adapts the idea behind string theory (the notion that all of physics can be united under a single theory explaining the behavior of matter) to suggest that disciplines as diverse as medicine, economics, and spirituality work in the same way. Wilber sees the Western split between rational and spiritual knowledge as a dangerous mistake; he rejects, for example, Stephen Jay Gould's dualistic insistence that religion and science are "nonoverlapping realms." For Wilber, overlap is the key to the universe. He seeks to integrate all aspects of an individual, and from there a society. The book's diagrams show circular flows of knowledge: spiraling levels of selfhood, types of knowledge, variations of society.

Such an ambitious project necessarily elides what people have come to regard as important differences among cultures; Wilber's chart showing Sub-Saharan Africa as an example of "horizontal" civilization over and against Euro-American "vertical meme structure" risks gross stereotyping, at best.

While some of Wilber's ideas are interesting--and readers should tip their hats to him for even trying such a project in our hyper-specialized society--it suffers from its own elephantine proportions, and misses the trees for the forest. (Beliefnet, Sept. 2000)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A Theory of Everything is a concise, comprehensive overview of Ken Wilber's revolutionary thought and its application in today's world. In clear, nontechnical language, Wilber presents leading-edge models that integrate the realms of body, mind, soul, and spirit. Wilber then demonstrate how these theories can be applied to real-world problems in the fields of business, politics, medicine, and education. He also presents daily practices that readers can take up in order to apply this integrative vision to their own, everyday lives.

Topics include: a leading model of human evolution called "spiral dynamics" Wilber's ground-breaking "all level, all quadrant" approach for integrating the realms of science and religion maps of the Kosmos that bring together the most influential worldviews that have developed throughout the ages a discussion of "integral tranformative practices" that combine meditation and sophisticated psychological techniques to help readers develop this integral vision in their own lives

About the Author: Ken Wilber is among the most widely read and influential American philosophers of our time, credited with creating a genuine world philosophy. The eight volumes of his recently published Collected Works include seventeen of his books as well as essays and other writings.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Ken Wilber is one of the most creative spiritual thinkers alive today, and A Theory of Everything is an accessible taste of his brilliance. Like a masterful conductor, he brings everyone in, finds room for science and spirit, and creates music for the soul. — (Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor-in-chief, Tikkun magazine, author of Jewish Renewal and The Politics of Meaning)

I read Ken Wilber every day so I can be inspired by the most extraordinary mind of our times. — Deepak Chopra

This is the book I've been longing for, one that is written with astonishing lucidity about human development and spirituality and makes plain how these abstract and complicated ideas can be integrated into our every day lives. — (Warren Bennis, Professor, University of Southern California, author of On Becoming a Leader)

Ken Garrison

To my mind, Ken Wilber is the most sublime thinker since Plato and provides all of us with a vision of life and the cosmos which inseparably fuses spirit into the matrix of everything we say and do. Reading Ken Wilber is a must, and A Theory of Everything is the place to begin. — (Jim Garrison, President, State of the World Forum)