Stillness Speaks Book Previews

True? Spirituality & Evolution To A More Inclusive Future? Wilber

by Sanjiv Manifest | Jan 23, 2025

“… There is indeed a new dawn, a new world, a new man, a new woman, a new horizon altogether—and it exists nowhere but in the texture of this very you, unfolding timelessly, eternally. …” ~ Ken Wilber

An unfortunate “non-physical plague” of current times is the perplexing – and increasing – acceptance of divisiveness (and a hatred of the “other”).

Stillness Speaks mission is to facilitate the journey of self discovery … and deeper the self awareness, deeper the realization that unity is the foundation of all that we experience … and this stems from the timeless wisdom of all the traditions … so, in the spirit of the most abiding unity possible, what if we posed the following question:

Can we bridge spirituality and human evolution to shape a more inclusive future for humanity?

This is the post’s title question – paraphrased … and the answer is YES! … according to Ken Wilber who explores this topic, in depth, in his 2017 book The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions—More Inclusive, More Comprehensive, More Complete …

Ken – one of the preeminent philosophers of our times – has written over 20 books synthesizing multiple disciplines including spirituality, psychology, and more. They have been translated into 20+ languages. He’s considered to be “… one of the most widely read and influential American philosophers of our time …” … Richard Rohr calls him “… a true postmodern Thomas Aquinas …” …

This post is our 1st glimpse into Ken’s prolific work … with his answer to the above, important, question – via an excerpt- where he makes a compelling case for the affirmative answer.

Religion of Tomorrow is a comprehensive exploration of spirituality/consciousness and modern psychology … it reimagines spirituality for our current, modern, evolving world. He integrates ancient wisdom with cutting-edge developmental psychology … and explores the evolution of consciousness, particularly the role of nonduality, and what he calls the Fourth Turning of Buddhism. Ken posits a transformative vision that unites timeless truths with humanity’s potential for inclusivity, depth, and wholeness.

In this post we offer the 2nd half of the books concluding chapter – The Evolution of Nonduality – where he synthesizes the book’s overarching ideas into a practical vision for future spiritual development … or a call for an evolved understanding of nondual awareness.

He envisions a transformative future where spiritual development is integrated as a natural stage of human growth. He emphasizes the union of timeless Emptiness and evolving Form, suggesting a Fourth Turning of Buddhism and a universal Integral Semiotics. Humanity, powered by Spirit’s evolution, can collectively awaken to a harmonious, inclusive reality, transcending past limitations while remaking the world through individual and collective realization.

In the 1st half of the conclusion (not part of this excerpt), Wilber explores how the timeless essence of nonduality (Emptiness) intertwines with evolving human structures (Form) … emphasizing that as humanity progresses through developmental stages, Enlightenment itself evolves, becoming richer and more inclusive … setting the stage for integrating personal and collective growth into a unified spiritual vision.

We highly recommend taking a Look Inside on Shambhala’s page for this book … as it offers Ken’s Introduction and What Is a Fourth Turning? – both provide important background.

This post is part of our ongoing Shambhala Publications series that offers substantive previews of selections from Shambhala Publications new and classic titles …

All italicized text here is adapted from Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions—More Inclusive, More Comprehensive, More Complete by Ken Wilber, © 2017 by Ken Wilber. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO.

You can purchase the book at Shambhala Publications or Amazon.

Humanity’s More Inclusive Future: Bridging Spirituality and Evolution?

We need a new language. We need a new vocabulary. We need an Integral Semiotics. The very structure-stages of growth are headed toward a new individual Emancipation, a new and deeper Freedom and Fullness, infinite Emptiness and finite Form, a Great Liberation more gloriously dazzling, sumptuously inclusive, and luxuriously comprehensive than has ever before been seen on this earth. All indications, all evidence, and all data are that this will be an absolutely staggering transformation in almost every way conceivable—in medicine, politics, art, education, therapy, religion, economics, business, leadership, relationships, parenting, and play—among others.

A Fourth Turning in Buddhism (or a similarly Integral Spirituality in any major Great Tradition) would help to ensure that Spiritual Self-Realization is part of humanity’s higher and further inevitable structure‑stage development (that is, not just a voluntary state‑stage development that you can take up or not as you choose, but a universally given structure‑stage of growth that exists in all humans). Individuals would pass through these structure-stages without exception, if they continue to grow, beginning at turquoise and indigo, just as individuals today pass, without exception, through magenta, red, amber, and up to turquoise integral. These structure-stages would supply not only higher states of consciousness but also higher structures of consciousness. This would very likely be the single greatest revolutionary transformation that humanity has experienced to date—and by a staggering margin—not only moving (and GROWING UP) into a truly Integral 2nd tier (and beginning 3rd tier) for the first time in its history, but also including a state WAKING UP to its own deepest nature and real condition for the first time in the modern and postmodern eras. Taken together (both higher structures and higher states, not just higher states), this development would be so radically new and (r)evolutionary as to defy comparison with any other period in our entire history.

Add to this transformation the technological singularities, including robotics, nanotechnology, and genomic revolutions in the Right-hand quadrants, which are all headed our way with undeniable certainty and speed (including renewable energy discoveries, new Gaia‑cleansing capacities, and the extension of the average life span into hundreds of years) and humanity will indeed begin to think, in all sincerity, about something resembling a real heaven on earth, a true intervention of Spirit in history—a union of this-worldly and otherworldly, samsara and nirvana, Emptiness and Form, heaven and earth—as a normal, natural, universal stage or stages of human development in general.

The implications truly and deeply defy imagination in virtually every way. We will look back on this (and all previous) ages as being the Darker-than-Dark Ages, which was followed by the dawn of a new Light, a new world, a new man, a new woman, a new horizon altogether—as Spirit continues its unstoppable, undeniable, irrevocable evolution, dragging us with it.

Thus, a new Freedom in Waking Up; a new Fullness in Growing Up; a new Flourishing in Cleaning Up; and a new Fully Functioning in Showing Up—this is the astonishing face of a new Spirit headed in our direction with unstoppable fury. For this, indeed, we need a new language, a new vocabulary, a new inclusive view for the new man and new woman—in many ways, the superman and superwoman—powered by a supermind whose brain is directly plugged into the total technological infrastructure of the entire planet (not to mention Spirit itself!), uniting the Right-hand technological realities with the Left-hand consciousness and culture realities, resurrecting a Being that is Becoming while riding the very edge of a ray of light traveling at the limit of velocity itself, racing to a rendezvous with a tomorrow the likes of which has never even been imagined anywhere on this earth.

We need a new critical theory, a new Holistic/Integral Critical Theory (or, more accurately, metatheory), which criticizes existing cultures, not only when they fail to produce communication undistorted by domination or economic exchanges not dominated by force and prejudice, but also when they fail to open human development to genuine Wholeness—to post pluralistic, post‑postmodern stages of development, at least 2nd-tier Integral and hopefully 3rd-tier Transpersonal levels in each and every line (individual and collective). Culture needs to resume its primary function as a pacer of transformation, with the bar set beyond hyper individuality to transindividuality (Integral and Super‑Integral Awareness), and religious systems recalibrated as conveyor belts, picking people up at prepersonal levels, helping them move into personal levels, and then delivering and releasing them into transpersonal and superconscious levels altogether—a wholeness upon wholeness upon wholeness, everlastingly.

And you already know this Wholeness, don’t you? You already immediately recognize the ever-present I AMness in you right now, do you not? You, the very feeling of you, right here, right now, just as it is; engaging that feeling‑awareness fully is the experiment that Machen’s character Hampole spoke of, the one that transmutes the entire Universe and delivers men and women to a world of even greater joy, beauty, and splendor. There is indeed a new dawn, a new world, a new man, a new woman, a new horizon altogether—and it exists nowhere but in the texture of this very you, unfolding timelessly, eternally.

Take your seat as ever‑present I AMness (opening onto Suchness), this present utterly obvious feeling of being you, and ride it into the future, bringing your own specific, unique, one-of-a-kind gifts and talents with you, therein to work on transmuting this earth into a radiant heaven of outrageous love and foolishly offered-everywhere kindness. Rest in both the timeless Being of your ever‑present Self and the raging urgency of evolution’s unfolding Eros as it races through the world of Becoming, recognizing that your Being and Becoming, your Emptiness and Form, your Eternal Thusness and your temporal Eros, is Spirit’s own way of continuing to realize more and more of its own true Self and real Condition in and through the only vehicle it could ever use to do so: You.

And so now, go out and remake the world. And start to do so by rethinking the world, using a better, more comprehensive, more ultimately accurate map of this extraordinary territory you call your life. The AQAL Matrix has likely made you aware of areas and dimensions of yourself that you didn’t fully realize were there, and indicated ways that these are simply more avenues and perspectives through which Spirit itself can inhabit and fulfill your own being. The Total Painting of All That Is just got bigger for you—wider, deeper, higher, with all of it evenly being observed by your own true Witness, your own “I‑I,” even now. And that empty Witness can spill out of itself and into a “headless” union with the Total Painting itself, as the entire universe is seen truly to be arising within you. The remaking and rethinking of the world is a remaking and rethinking of your very own Self and its own deeper Suchness, even now again, which is why you can undertake this extraordinary task in the first place.

It is possible to remake this world because you—the very deepest you—are its one and only Author, its sole Creator. But it—you—are not alone, because the deepest Self of this deepest you is looking out through the eyes of every sentient being alive, including all 9 billion humans on the planet. You can remake the world because you possess 18 billion hands, more than enough to reshape and refigure all that needs to be done. Feel the unimaginable creative power of this one and only I AMness, and know that anything is possible. Grab the very best map you can possibly find, and strike out in the direction of this radically new territory, knowing that the entire Creative Force of the whole Kosmos is your constant companion. Grab your Self, find the World, reawaken and remake both. This is now your own deepest moral imperative—by whatever lights you can find, shine on the World, radiate the World, illuminate the World, enlighten the World. If you can’t do it, it can’t be done—so please hurry and engage in this. We’re all anxiously awaiting, and deeply depending on you for our own salvation . . .

~ Ken Wilber

Stay tuned for … more from Ken … and other luminaries in this Shambhala Publications series …

All italicized text here is adapted from Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions—More Inclusive, More Comprehensive, More Complete by Ken Wilber, © 2017 by Ken Wilber. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO.

You can purchase the book at Shambhala Publications or Amazon.