23.6.14

The Wild West Wilber Report: Looking Back on the Wyatt Earp Episode, Frank Visser

The Wild West Wilber Report: Looking Back on the Wyatt Earp Episode, Frank Visser

 Monday, June 23, 2014
Frank
Visser founded IntegralWorld.net in 1997 (back then under the name of
"The World of Ken Wilber"). He is the author of the first monograph on
Ken Wilber and his work: "Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion"
(SUNY Press, 2003), which has been translated into 7 languages, and of
many essays on this website. He currently is Service Desk Manager at the
Dutch divison of the global online marketing agency DigitasLBi.

The Wild West Wilber Report

Looking back on the Wyatt Earp Episode

Frank Visser


In June 2006 Ken Wilber embarrassed himself in front of the world by"Having just read Jeff Meyerhoff’s rebuttal to Wyatt Erpy on Integral World, “INTELLECTUAL TRAGEDY”, 
I’m quite surprised, frankly. The dunderheaded Neanderthal Meyerhoff,
as I was lead to expect by Erpy, turns out to be quite reasonable,
cogent, pithy, and well balanced in his presentation.

 In fact, I’d have to say, if I’d never heard of either of them before,
and “simply” read the entire Erpy blog series and this one response by
Meyerhoff, I’d mistake Meyerhoff for the world famous philosopher, and
Wilber for the unbalanced critic."
– Colmar3000.blogspot.com.
abusing and insulting those of his critics who did not "understand" his
work, and invited those who "did" to come to his integral "sanctuary".
His main complaint was the low level of the criticism he had received so
far, especially from Integral World authors.

 Well, even if that were true, make sure you get better critics
then, I would say. Start playing the game by the rules. Behave yourself.
Enter the academic arena. Start debates with people who really
matter in the fields of science and philosophy, instead of either
preaching to the converted, or abusing those who don't seem to "get it".
It was an attack on reason and free enquiry, basically, which was
applauded by the closest of his followers.

Obviously, this alerted some cult-watchers to reflect on what on
earth is currently going on in the integral scene. Here's a listing of
most of the relevant blog postings and articles, including my three
personal replies to Ken Wilber. Compiled for future historians,
Wilberologists – and psychiatrists!

Ken Wilber's blog postings:


Follow Up Postings

The Shadow Series

  • Ken Wilber, The Shadow Series. Part 1: How to Spot the Shadow, June 15, 2006.
  • Ken Wilber, The Shadow Series. Part 2: Integrating the Shadow, June 18, 2006.
  • Ken Wilber, The Shadow Series. Part 3: A Working Synthesis of Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy, June 23, 2006.

My Responses to Wilber


  • Frank Visser, Games Pandits Play, A Reply to Ken Wilber's Raging Rant, June 14, 2006.
  • Frank Visser, Not So Fast, Cowboy, A Plea For Some Dispassion, June 25, 2006.
  • Frank Visser, For The Record, Final Comments to Wilber's Recent Blog Postings, July 3, 2006.

Other Blog Commentaries (A-Z)

Longer Reflections (A-Z)

Early Warning Signs

Related Wikipedia Entries (A-Z)




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