Ken Wilber: Difference between revisions

Wilber believes that many claims about non-rational states make a mistake he calls the pre/trans fallacy. According to Wilber, the non-rational stages of consciousness (what Wilber calls "pre-rational" and "trans-rational" stages) can be easily confused with one another. In Wilber's view, one can reduce trans-rational spiritual realization to pre-rational regression, or one can elevate pre-rational states to the trans-rational domain.<ref>[http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev3_intro.cfm Introduction to the third volume of The Collected Works of Ken Wilber] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615012815/http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev3_intro.cfm/ |date=June 15, 2009 }}</ref> For example, Wilber claims that [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]] and [[Carl Jung|Jung]] commit this fallacy. Freud considered mystical realization to be a [[Regression (psychology)|regression]] to [[infantile]] [[oceanic statesstate]]s. Wilber alleges that Freud thus commits a fallacy of reduction. Wilber thinks that Jung commits the converse form of the same mistake by considering pre-rational myths to reflect divine realizations. Likewise, pre-rational states may be misidentified as post-rational states.<ref>Wilber, Ken. ''Sex, Ecology, Spirituality''. Shambhala Publications, 2000, pp 211 f. {{ISBN|978-1-57062-744-6}}</ref> Wilber characterizes himself as having fallen victim to the pre/trans fallacy in his early work.<ref>{{cite web|title=The introduction to Volume 1 of The Collected Works of Ken Wilber |work=Ken Wilber Online |url=http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev1_intro.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319023750/http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/books/cowokev1_intro.cfm/ |archive-date=March 19, 2009 }}</ref>