Christianity: The Great Lie

PROGRESSIVE RELIGION AND INTEGRAL POLITICS

PART ONE: PROLOGUE

The Devil is in the detail

Ken Wilber has often said he is merely dealing in orienting generalizations. He has said that he is providing the broad outline and that others must fill in the detail. This is a perfectly reasonable position to take. It has one problem. What happens if the detail disproves the generalization? Several critics on this site, including myself, have pointed out that some of Wilber’s generalizations are not supported by the detail, and where he does include detail he sometimes gets it plain wrong.

This is unfortunate, and dangerous for the integrity of the overall theory. It erodes his credibility. I still find much to admire in his work but I also find things to be critical of, even to reject. There is a lesson in this for anyone interested in integral theory, to pay attention to the detail, and above all to pay attention to the facts. The devil is in the detail.

I’ve already covered much of what I find wrong in Wilber. Other writers have done an excellent job in areas of interest to them. My concerns now are about applying integral theory to real problems and in confronting the devils in the detail. What integral theory can least afford is to build an ivory tower for itself and hide away behind a self-made wall of grand theory, generalization and jargon. I’m always suspicious of jargon. It usually serves one main purpose, to create an us and them divide. If you do not use and understand the jargon you are not one of ‘us’.

A perfect example of both the ivory tower syndrome and the use of jargon is Don Beck’s article ‘Hard Truths and a Fresh Start‘. This is an article that promises much and delivers absolutely nothing. I understand this is a harsh criticism but it has to be said. The Israel-Palestine conflict is too serious to be taken lightly and Beck promises a unique solution. And what finally, is that solution? As in most of what he writes it is Spiral Dynamics and closely related ideas. This is simply self-serving (I don’t believe he was seriously offering a solution anyway, just promoting SD). In this particular instance the solution seems to be something called an ‘Integral Sapient Circle.’ Yep, that’s the buzz word amongst Hamas supporters in Gaza – all we need is an ISC. Am I being cruel?