Sex, ecology, spirituality

In a tour de force of scholarship and vision, Ken Wilber traces the course of evolution from matter to life to mind, and describes the common patterns that evolution takes in all three of these domains. In each case, evolution has a "direction," a tendency to produce more highly organized patterns. The "spirit of evolution" lies in its directionality: order out of chaos.

After arriving at the emergence of mind, Wilber traces the evolution of human consciousness through its major stages of growth and development, pointing out that at each stage there is the "dialectic of progress" - every increase in consciousness is bought at a price: new freedom also means new license to choose destruction and new ways to implement disaster.

He particularly focuses on the rise of modernity and post-modernity - what they mean, how they relate to gender issues, to psychotherapy, to ecological concerns, and to various liberation movements, and, most important, how the modern and postmodern world can even conceive of Spirit. How can spiritual concerns be integrated with the massive developments of the modern world? Where is God, where the Goddess?

. Already being hailed as one of the great books of this era, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality is grand in its sweep and compelling in its vision, and it fundamentally changes the nature of the dialogue in each of these domains.