Ken Wilber, Joseph Campbell, & The Meaning of Life (B&W): How Two Great Thinkers Collaborate to Give Us the Ultimate Hero's Journey of Personal Growth ... Human Odyssey') (The Human Odyssey Series)
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This book is the main text of the advanced version of the authors' landmark, two-volume study of Human Development,Â
The Human Odyssey (B&W interior). Â (For most readers, the one-volume Quickstart Version is the better place to begin their explorations of this unique, new perspective on human life.)
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***FROM THE PREFACE:
- THE MEANING OF LIFE.
- What is the Meaning of Life? What makes life significant? What gives life purpose? Where are we headed -- and why? How can we live our life to its fullest potential? *YOUTH. If I am young, and starting out my adult life, what paths are available for me? What should I value most? What choices will make the best use of my talents, my interests, my ideals, my aspirations? *MIDDLE YEARS. If I am in my middle years, what have I accomplished thus far? What have I missed out on? What new joys do I hope to experience, while I still have time? How can I immerse myself in a life that is deeper, more meaningful, more rewarding? *MATURITY. If I am older, and approaching my later years, what have I achieved that is truly enduring? What good have I done? What legacy of wisdom, self-knowledge, or material comfort will I pass along to succeeding generations? How can I use the insights and perspectives of a lifetime to make these years the richest and most satisfying of all? *** In the course of our life, are we just plodding relentlessly toward our own demise? Or are we in fact progressing toward some higher, more ennobling goal? Are we, like Forrest Gump, just a feather floating through a vast field of purposeless change? Or are we, like Odysseus from Homer's The Odyssey, on a great and significant Life Journey - a Journey from Infancy to Eternity, a Hero's Journey?Â
- KEN WILBER & JOSEPH CAMPBELL.
- Thanks to the work of two great men, we are now in a position to explore systematically the Meaning of Life from a developmental perspective. From philosopher and systems theorist KEN WILBER, we have learned that Life is all about Human Development. Through Wilber's famous AQAL MODEL, and his more extended THEORY OF EVERYTHING, we have further learned that all the multitudinous strands of Human Development are in essence the same sequence. From scholar and mythologist JOSEPH CAMPBELL, we have learned that much of the greatest literature and myth describes the Soul's journey through the vicissitudes of Life -- our HERO'S JOURNEY. Through Campbell's famous HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, and his more extended MASKS OF GOD, we have further learned that all the multitudinous Hero's Journeys are in essence the same Story.Â
- ADAPT & THE LIFE JOURNEY.
- When we spin out all the details and implications of Ken Wilber's AQAL and Theory of Everything, we arrive at an all-inclusive Model of Human Development we call ADAPT - a model consisting of five major conceptual Domains, with seven or more Sectors within each Domain. When we spin out all the details and implications of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, we arrive at an all-inclusive mythic story we call the LIFE JOURNEY ARCHETYPE - a Story which is told likewise through five overarching symbolic Domains, with seven or more Sectors within each Domain. *** When we compare the extended versions of Wilber and Campbell - when we trace the parallels between our ADAPT Model and our mythic story of the Life Journey - we find that in essence the two are the same. The ADAPT Model describes in abstract or conceptual terms the various factors that result in Human Development. The Life Journey describes in symbolic or mythic terms those same factors. This Journey of the Soul through the Stages of life - this Journey which can be described either through conceptual or mythic terms - is what we call THE HUMAN ODYSSEY...
