Ray Harris on Ken Wilber, Don Beck, and Integral Institute

It's worth noting that this post and the last one that I linked to are both by people who were initially courted by KW and I-I and then fell out of favor. They claim that the cause of their rejection is that they criticized Wilber and/or I-I, but we have only their word for it.

For a critique of the last post, see Jay's blog at Zaadz. He is somewhat dismissive of the evaluation.

On to the new material.

This comes from Ray Harris, blogger of Open Integral. He has some less than flattering things to say about KW and Don Beck, both of whom initially praised his brilliance then condemned his criticism of Boomeritis and the "Mean Green Meme."

Here is Harris's views after meeting KW and some other folks associated with I-I:

In my view it was all rather grandiose and unrealistic. There was a sense of mania about it all. Sure, there was a sense of excitement and of promise, but also a sense of over-reaching and of seeking the limelight. Ken wasn’t interested in beavering away in a quiet corner, he wanted to be centre stage. What I questioned was his idea of where centre stage is. With B grade actors?

After meeting some of the central I-I folk in San Francisco I came away with the feeling that there was more than a touch of narcissism and grandiosity to the I-I project.

Then things turned sour. When I returned to Oz I started to criticize Boomeritis and Ken reacted angrily, as did Don Beck. Instead of being touted as being a potential second in charge of I-I politics I had become, in Ken’s words “an angry greed dude, with red stripes”.

There’s more to this story about Don Beck (which I will share later) - but my conclusion is simply this. As long as you reflect Ken’s brilliance back to him you are fine. As soon as you find flaws you are attacked. The private emails to me, especially from Don Beck, were outrageous. How dare I criticize them! My motives apparently, were 1. Professional jealousy and 2. Personal animosity. This is just paranoid.

So I’ve been personally burnt by both Ken and Don because I crossed a line.

Harris goes on to caution that KW does eventually listen to his critics, though not always in the responsible, held-up-for-peer-review way that we might like.

Finally, He brings up the charisma element which was mentioned by Benjamin in the last post. He likens it to mania, but I am not convinced of this simply by his stating it. It is curious that even those who criticize KW find him so damn charming and charismatic.

As always, make up your own mind. It is my hope that if there is any truth to these evaluations of KW and I-I that both the man and the organization will take a hard look at themselves. If there isn't any truth in this, maybe Earpy will ride again.


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