What would the scriptures and practices of the world’s major religions look like if they were developed today, fully integrating the major discoveries we have made in the past 2,000 years, including advances in science and psychology and human development?

How might that deepen or change your spiritual life and practice?

Join this study group for an exploration of the evolution of spirituality and the future of religion in a rapidly changing world. Author, philosopher and Integral theorist, Ken Wilber presents a visionary framework that integrates the wisdom of various spiritual traditions, history, modern science, and psychology in order to envision and mold the future of religion and spirituality.

• Scroll down for weekly reading list
• We will meet weekly on Thursdays at 8am Pacific Time / 11am Eastern / 5pm Central European Time
• Please follow US clock times. US clocks change on March 10, 2024 prior to session #2.
• Ken Wilber is not a part of this group.

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A provocative examination of how the great religious traditions can remain relevant in modern times by incorporating scientific truths learned about human nature over the last century.

A single purpose lies at the heart of all the great religious traditions: awakening to the astonishing reality of the true nature of ourselves and the universe. At the same time, through centuries of cultural accretion and focus on myth and ritual as ends in themselves, this core insight has become obscured. Here Ken Wilber provides a path for re envisioning a religion of the future that acknowledges the evolution of humanity in every realm while remaining faithful to that original spiritual vision.

For the traditions to attract modern men and women, Wilber asserts, they must incorporate the extraordinary number of scientific truths learned about human nature in just the past 100 years – for example, about the mind and brain, emotions, and the growth of consciousness – that the ancients were simply unaware of and thus were unable to include in their meditative systems. Taking Buddhism as an example, Wilber demonstrates how his comprehensive Integral Approach – which is already being applied to several world religions by some of their adherents – can avert a “cultural disaster of unparalleled proportions”: the utter neglect of the glorious deeper reaches of human potential by the materialistic postmodern worldview. Moreover, he shows how we can apply this approach to our own spiritual practice. This, his most sweeping work since Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, is a thrilling call for wholeness, inclusiveness, and unity in the religions of tomorrow.  Source

• Mar. 7: Introduction (pages 1-16) and Chapter 1: What is a Fourth Turning? (pages 19 – 35)
• Mar. 14: Chapter 2, What Does a Fourth Turning Involve? (page 36 – 78) (Please follow US clock times, which change on March 10)
• Mar. 21: Chapter 3, Fundamental States of Consciousness (page 81 – 123)
• Mar. 28: Chapter 4 The Gross and Subtle States of Consciousness + Chapter 5 partially  (124 – 166)
• April 4: Chapter 5, The Causal, Empty Witness, and Nondual States of Consciousness (166 – 196)
• Apr. 11: Chapter 7 The Structure-Stages of Development (pages 197 – 250)
• Apr. 18: Chapter 8 Shadow Work (pages 253-272) + Chapter 9 Dysfunctions of the 1st Tier Structure-Views (pages 273-328)
• April 25: Chapter 10 Dysfunctions of the 2nd Tier Structure-Views (page 329 – 351) +Notes for Chapter 10 (pages 713 – 717)
• May 2: NO CLASS
• May 9: Chapter 11 Dysfunctions of the 3rd Tier Structure-Views (page 352 – 412)
• May 16: Chapter 12 Dysfunctions of the Gross and Subtle States (page 413 – 447)
• May 23: Chapter 13 Dysfunctions of the Causal, Empty Witness, and Suchness States (page 448 – 489)
• May 30: Chapter 14 Structures and States (page 493 – 533)
• Jun. 6: Chapter 15 Shadow Work, Quadrants and Developmental Lines (page 534 – 579)
• Jun. 13: Chapter 16 Miscellaneous Elements (page 580 – 625)
  
• Jun. 20: Chapter 17 Integral Semiotics and a New God-Talk & Conclusion – The Evolution of Nonduality (626 – 663)