The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development

In my opinion, The Atman Project is Ken Wilber's best work, even though it is one of his earliest works.Ken did his homework with volumes of cross-cultural research, and came up with some astounding results in terms of how the individual human develops. There are also several charts in the appendices showing the stages of development proposed by various philosophers, psychologists, and mystics. The Atman Project is the companion book with Up from Eden, which addresses how humanity as a whole developed. But in both books, Ken doesn't stop with the past, he also shows us where we are headed in terms of the higher stages of human development. This is one of those books that will go down in history as a breakthrough in human thought and research.  Up from Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution

Of the dozen books I want when stranded on a desert island, this is one. Been reading books on consciousness n transcendence for 50 yrs. This is the best; although I recommend starting with "The Spectrum of Consciousness". I read many sections 3 times to really absorb what Ken was saying. The extra effort was well worth it.

I have read the other reviews below mine and I understand that Wilber has shortcomings. On the other hand, I also think he has much strength and that this particular book is incredible for a variety of reasons.First, I think his presentation of transpersonal development is a great attempt at a synthesis of many schools of thought and his overall model for such a cycle is realistic. While some of the correspondences between disparate models might be inaccurate in the particulars, there are enough correlations that it is reasonable to take this work as a good starting point for a more complete synthesis.Second, I loved the way Wilber explained what it must be like to be an infant or small child. He described the experience of different stages of development so well; I couldn't put the book down and read these sections over and over again.Third, I liked the way Wilber positioned human development as part of a larger evolution. I believe that he is correct in his general ideas and he presents a hopeful picture of the future of humanity.Overall, I think this is a very interesting read and complimentary to most of the good standard material that is already out there on development. It doesn't read like a text, it is much more engaging and thought provoking. I really appreciated this approach. The book is also dense; he packs a lot of useful information in a short space without repeating himself as much as he does in some other books.I did not love the preface, but once I got into the core of the book I was very pleasantly surprised. You can get this volume for as little as $5.00 used. I have bought copies for my friends because I think it is especially good for parents, teachers and others who need to understand the different lines and stages of development from the INSIDE. It is good stuff don't be discouraged away from this book because it isn't perfect in every respect.

Thanks for another amazing book Ken!

Overly ComplicatedVery tough read. Author uses way too many complicated terms and long words, extremely convoluted explanations more suited to impressing the academia than informing a lay reader. Could have been far more simplified, though the work has definite value. If you want to read about the various stages of psychological development, it's pretty clinical. It does a decent job of tying the various disciplines together for a more holistic view of transpersonal psychology, and at the heart of it is a really powerful idea of how people use substitute gratifications which prevent the psyche from achieving true transcendence, which I find fascinating. It also gives a better understanding of some of Sri Aurobindo's ideas of transcendence of self, but it's a long way to travel for what it delivers. I skipped to the second half of book, and found the final 1/4 of book much easier to digest.

I read the book thoroughly and got a full understanding of Ken Wilber`s point of view to see through the evolution of human spirituality. So much supportive enough to be introduced in the contenz of Wilber`s successive writings.

Terrific book. Terrific service.

Cant go wrong with learning from Ken Wilbur

Drawing on a large number of psychologists, both inside and outside the mainstream, Wilber describes a transpersonal developmental psychology. He outlines a series of developmental stages and shows that each can be seen as the human's failed attempt to complete the Atman project, the Atman project being the project to be the universe, to be God, Atman.Wilber shows that, at each stage, the seeds of failure inhere in the nature of the stage itself and that the human resolves this by raising itself one level higher thereby integrating the problematic elements of the current stage. However, the new stage has an essentially similar, flawed structure and so the process goes on and on until the project is completed and the human achieves total integration i.e. he does, in fact, become God.Ken regards the process as having an outward swing, which is the ground covered by Western psychology and an inward swing, which is the ground covered by Eastern religion. The achievement of this book is to make a sensible whole out of the two. In the course of this Ken lays out his own ideas about the nature of developmental failure and argues strongly and persuasively that the desires seen in some people for further self-integration by such techniques as mediation are not, in general, desires to regress to earlier, more satisfying, states as many psychologists believe, but are the engines of further developmental progress.After we have been taken along this somewhat controversial route the position is rounded out by describing what happened *before* we were born. I don't mean what happened to us in the womb, I mean he describes the developmental nature of the interlife(!) and he does this by reference to the Tibetan book of the Dead(!) OK, by now you have the idea, we are talking here about the BIG, big picture, the biggest there is, and inevitably, it is open to dispute.In its favour the book is *seriously* well referenced, tightly argued and presents a very elegant argument. Against it is that some evidence that bears heavily on the more tenuous areas appears to me to have been ignored in order to make the case. For example, we are told that the Tibetan Book of the Dead says that, at death, irrespective of the stage a soul has achieved while on earth, the Atman project is momentarily completed in the interlife. But the (immature?) soul cannot sustain the integration and so a series of descents is made until physical birth recurs. This is an accurate reading of the TBOTD sure enough, but this admittedly ancient and well-respected work is not in accord with the evidence we get from certain modern-day seers and that which has been revealed by access to the superconcious under hypnosis. This leaves us (as always, groan) in a position where we choose our evidence, and we choose our world-view as a result.Some reviewers have said Ken is repetitive, and I have to reluctantly agree with that. Repetition is, to some extent, inevitable in this book because he is describing a repetitive process, but he does make this worse by occasionally saying the same thing several times, all in close proximity. It is not a major failing but you do sometimes have the feeling you are being clubbed over the head with his points.But I should not leave you on a negative. This book is a seriously good piece of work dealing concisely with a very difficult matter; a matter which to some of us is of the utmost importance i.e. it makes sense of the apparent contradictions between Western psychology and religion i.e. ego enhancement and ego dissolution. If this area matters to you then I strongly recommend it. For my own part, this was my first book by Wilber and I will read more, mainly to see if my perception that certain evidence is ignored under his worldview is incorrect.

I needed to go back and unearth some of Ken's earlier ideas. This book is great!

Good book. Bad production! Looks like a pirated book. Amazon should insist on quality.

Ouvrage irremplaçable à tous ceux qui ont une quête spirituelle.Il est très rare de trouver un livre si clair et qui pose des jalons aussi nets.Il n'y a que Guénon qui m'a ouvert de tels horizons.