The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion

by Ken Wilber

Overview

There is arguably no more critical and pressing topic than the relation of science and religion in the modern world. Science has given us the methods for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning. Yet the two are seen as mutually exclusive, with wrenching consequences for humanity. In The Marriage of Sense and Soul, one of today's most important philosophers brilliantly articulates how we might begin to think about science and religion in ways that allow for their reconciliation and union, on terms that will be acceptable to both camps.
        Ken Wilber is widely acclaimed as the foremost thinker in integrating Western psychology and the Eastern spiritual traditions. His many books have reached across disciplines and synthesized the teachings of religion, psychology, physics, mysticism, sociology, and anthropology, earning him a devoted international following. The Marriage of Sense and Soul is his most accessible work yet, aimed at guiding a general audience to the mutual accord between the spiritual, subjective world of ancient wisdom and the objective, empirical world of modern knowledge.
        Wilber clearly and succinctly explores the schism between science and religion, and the impact of this "philosophical Cold War" on the fate of humanity. He systematically reviews previous attempts at integration, explaining why romantic, idealistic, and postmodern theories failed. And he demonstrates how science is compatible with certain deep features common to all of the world's major religious traditions. In pointing the way to a union between truth and meaning, Ken Wilber has created an elegant and accessible book that is breathtaking in its scope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780767903431
Publisher:	Harmony/Rodale/Convergent
Publication date:	04/20/1999
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.84(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Ken Wilber's first book, The Spectrum of Con-sciousness, written when he was only twenty-three, was hailed as "the most sensible, comprehensive book about consciousness since William James.  He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Grace and Grit; Sex, Ecology, Spirituality; A Brief History of Everything; and The Eye of Spirit; and his large readership has kept all of his books in print. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

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Copyright © 1999 Ken Wilber.
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Interviews

Before the live bn.com chat, Ken Wilber agreed to answer some of our questions.

Q:  In The Marriage of Sense and Soul you trace the varying relationship between science and religion through numerous previous attempts at integrating the two. As we approach the millennium, do you foresee some sort of fusion between the two?

A:  If you think about it, the real war that is going on in the world is not between various nations, tribes, companies, or states. There is a more basic war that cuts across all of those, and it is a war between science and religion. Most "hard-core" scientists distrust or even despise religion because its myths and dogmas are not open to scientific proof, and many religionists think that science ignores and thus brutalizes the soul. Humanity is being torn in half by this most basic of conflicts. So when you ask whether I foresee some sort of fusion or union of science and religion, all I can say is: There better be, yes? Surely there are profound and important truths that each of these noble endeavors, science and religion, can bring to the marriage. That, anyway, is the theme of the book.

Q:  You contend that science and religion must coexist in order for us to live truly integrated lives. Do you see the Internet factoring into this coexistence?

A:  Anything that helps increase communication can help integrate science and religion, and that would certainly include the Internet. But let's remember that all technological communication systems are still variations on "in garbage, out garbage." We can have global stupidity as well as global wisdom. There is nothing magic about "global." What is magic is what you and I bring to the Internet -- our insight, intelligence, wisdom, courage. Otherwise the Internet just acts to spread the crap more rapidly.

Q:  We're curious to get your opinion on the recent popular trend of people searching for spiritual life in cyberspace.

A:  There are an enormous number of endeavors that call themselves "spiritual" or "religious." And one of the first things that you have to do in this field is try to develop some standards as to which spiritual aspirations are genuine and which are warped, loopy, whacked, or whatnot. You can have good and bad science, good and bad art, good and bad anything, and spirituality is no different. Searching for Zen on the Internet is one thing; searching for Heaven's Gate and subsequently committing suicide so as to hitch a ride on a comet -- that's quite different. So again, the Internet helps with quantity, global reach, and massively increased access. But what we access -- wisdom or crap -- that is still up to us as conscious, deciding, willing human beings. So I think it's great that the Internet increases access. It does not, however, increase wisdom -- that is up to you and me. So surf the net for God all you want -- that's terrific! -- but it is still you who will have to decide whether what you are getting is Buddha or bullshit.

Q:  How do you enjoy living in Boulder, Colorado?

A:  Boulder is nice. It's a great place to work, because it's quiet, with few distractions. On balance, though, I'd probably rather be in a large city -- say, the Bay Area or Manhattan, Boston, places like that. But I have no complaints. Boulder is ideal for the work I do, which is writing, writing, writing.

Q:  Have you read anything lately that you would highly recommend?

A:  I think you have an upcoming chat with Robert Thurman. His book Inner Revolution is wonderful. And you might check out Lama Surya Das's Awakening the Buddha Within. Both are excellent guides to genuine spiritual realization.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
April 1998

Ken Wilber is the author of more than a dozen books and is considered by many to be one of the most important philosophers of our time. In his latest book, The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion, Wilber writes about a critical dilemma of our day — the battle between the warring camps of religion and science. Science has given us methods for discovering truth, while religion remains the single greatest force for generating meaning.

Wilber addresses the ultimate millennial questions: How, in a postmodern era that acknowledges the failure of science to answer questions about the meaning of life, can we reconcile the answers offered by premodern religions that billions of people continue to practice today? Is mutual accord possible between the subjective spiritual world and the objective scientific world? Indeed it is, according to Wilber.

The author traces the development of Western ideology from a time when the spirit and soul were not considered at odds with empirical data. This is generally considered to have changed during the 18th-century Enlightenment, when religious and scientific thought became antagonistic toward each other. Western civilization's development thereafter consisted of a materialistic science, based solely on hard data, which left no room for spirituality.

The Marriage of Sense and Soul explores the schism between science and religion and the impact the rupture will have on the fate of humanity. Wilber reviews failed attempts at integration and suggests a path for the marriageofancient religious wisdom and modern knowledge as it is manifested in science.

"Ken Wilber is one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness in this century. I regard him as a mentor. He is a source of inspiration and insight to all of us. Read everything he writes. It will change your life." --Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra

No one has done as much as Ken Wilber to open Western psychology to the insights of the world's wisdom traditions. -- Huston Smith, The New York Times Book Review

Huston Smith

Yet another unsuccessful attempt to integrate all of science and all of religion in one Grand Unified Theory. Wilber has attempted before to wed the warring camps of science and religion (A Brief History of Everything; not reviewed; Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution, 1981; etc.). Here he claims that science is one of the "major differentiations of modernity" that have shattered a previously unified worldview in which all disciplines worked together in the same search for meaning. Today, he says, truth and meaning are distinct; science can provide the former, but religion is necessary to confer the latter. Wilber writes that we need to "integrate the Great Chain [of being] with the major differentiations of modernity," including science. Fair enough, but he never really explains how this is supposed to occur. Blithely brushing aside centuries-old epistemological dilemmas about how we can know the world, Wilber claims that the empirical methods of science can be applied to mental and spiritual experience. The words þexperience,þ þknowledge,þ and þempiricalþ seem to be equated in Wilberþs loose arguments. As for religion, he considers it in terms of þfunction,þ devoid of specific contents, such as the belief that the Red Sea parted for the Israelites or in the virgin birth of Jesus. He never truly defines what he means by religion, which he inexplicably, continually refers to as "premodern." So, too, scientists may quibble with Wilber's vague generalizations about "the scientific method." What kind of science? What types of religion? Wilber's lack of specificity makes this book an exercise in theoretical, purelyacademic navel-gazing. This fusion of science and religion fails to take either discipline seriously as multifaceted, complex sets of meaning. (Author tour)

Kirkus Reviews