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The One Two Three of God
Is it possible to develop an all-inclusive embrace of God, one that can satisfy scientists, philosophers, and priests at the same time? It is, teaches best-selling author Ken Wilber, if you are able to understand The 1-2-3 of God. According to this premier modern philosopher, the seemingly innumerable ways humans conceptualize God can actually be broken down into three basic perspectives.
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First published November 1, 2006
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About the author
Ken Wilber
226 books1,246 followersKenneth Earl Wilber II is an American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a systematic philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 26, 2011
Finally some accessible material from Ken Wilber. Wilber is the kind of guy who thinks up a 7 point system for conceptualizing consciousness, assigns colors to each level, and then decides =not= to make the colours ROYGBIV (red orange yellow green blue indigo violet), but starts with infrared, goes to ultraviolet, has amber there somewhere in the mix as well as orange, but at a different level than the scale WE ALL KNOW ALREADY. Which always made me question whether it was worth the hard work of reading him.
Anyway, accessible Ken Wilber. The Sounds True publisher who is a friend of Ken and also finds him hard to follow realized he was best doing his explanations person to person in the course of a conversation, so she interviewed him in his loft for –The 1-2-3 of God— http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/92...
http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/The-1-...
Really interesting stuff. Wilber basically talks about 2 different kinds of enlightenment. One kind is the identification with the witness rather than the experiences witnessed, non-dual experience, etc. This is Buddhist/spiritual enlightenment. The other is what I would call continual enlargement of the in-group vs. out-group. First you care about youself but no one else. Then your family, but no one else, then tribe, nation, race, species, life… a high level is the understanding that meaning is not inherent but dependent on POV, which eventually leads to the nihilistic idea that there is no meaning (the dark side of post-modernism), which is transcended at the next higher level by valuing all systems of meaning and seeing similarities between them…
Wilber says that many eastern masters might be fully enlightened in one direction but still quite nationalistic and sexist in another direction. His suggestion is to experience as much of the higher level territory from as many points of view as possible. There are 2 included meditations by a cohort of his as well-- good stuff though with a wee bit of questionable sound editing.
What is valuable is the way he helps one get beyond identifying any single path or method as the one, and to also point to the true direction of cutting edge enlightenment, which is to merge the best of both east and west and have experience of non duality while also having done some personal work and generally not be a dick while living in the modern world.
I would like to emphasize this last bit. For a long time people have gone into monasteries in order to pursue advanced states of spirituality. There they have rules about everything—what to do during the day, what to eat, where the food comes from, who to talk to, etc. This is good in the sense that it allows one to focus on the task of developing spirituality, but it is devoid of guidance for how to live in the outside world and how to grow as a person in a nonmonastic context.
What is needed now is support for all the westerners pursuing enlightenment while living regular lives, and the 1-2-3 of God is of assistance. It also presents a much broader view of different paths to enlightenment than you will get from most traditions. Recommended.
Anyway, accessible Ken Wilber. The Sounds True publisher who is a friend of Ken and also finds him hard to follow realized he was best doing his explanations person to person in the course of a conversation, so she interviewed him in his loft for –The 1-2-3 of God— http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/92...
http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/The-1-...
Really interesting stuff. Wilber basically talks about 2 different kinds of enlightenment. One kind is the identification with the witness rather than the experiences witnessed, non-dual experience, etc. This is Buddhist/spiritual enlightenment. The other is what I would call continual enlargement of the in-group vs. out-group. First you care about youself but no one else. Then your family, but no one else, then tribe, nation, race, species, life… a high level is the understanding that meaning is not inherent but dependent on POV, which eventually leads to the nihilistic idea that there is no meaning (the dark side of post-modernism), which is transcended at the next higher level by valuing all systems of meaning and seeing similarities between them…
Wilber says that many eastern masters might be fully enlightened in one direction but still quite nationalistic and sexist in another direction. His suggestion is to experience as much of the higher level territory from as many points of view as possible. There are 2 included meditations by a cohort of his as well-- good stuff though with a wee bit of questionable sound editing.
What is valuable is the way he helps one get beyond identifying any single path or method as the one, and to also point to the true direction of cutting edge enlightenment, which is to merge the best of both east and west and have experience of non duality while also having done some personal work and generally not be a dick while living in the modern world.
I would like to emphasize this last bit. For a long time people have gone into monasteries in order to pursue advanced states of spirituality. There they have rules about everything—what to do during the day, what to eat, where the food comes from, who to talk to, etc. This is good in the sense that it allows one to focus on the task of developing spirituality, but it is devoid of guidance for how to live in the outside world and how to grow as a person in a nonmonastic context.
What is needed now is support for all the westerners pursuing enlightenment while living regular lives, and the 1-2-3 of God is of assistance. It also presents a much broader view of different paths to enlightenment than you will get from most traditions. Recommended.
September 24, 2025
Interesting information but not suited for the audio version I listened to. I cannot find an epub version. The author speaks too fast to comprehend what is being said.
March 12, 2017
This was a difficult read. I think I should set it aside and come back to it.
March 13, 2012
I downloaded this for free from my local library to listen to on my Blackberry during a drive to and from NJ. It was way too deep, philosophical, and metaphysical for me! I don't understand enough about Eastern Religion to even follow most of it.
August 4, 2008
Ken Wilber is an incredible intellectual and author. He is a great source for those of us who enjoy exploring the crossroads between philosophy, science, and spirituality.
October 9, 2012
Very interesting, new prospective, enlightening.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews