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Beyond Absolutism and Relativism in
Transpersonal Evolutionary Theory
JORGE N. FERRER
World Futures, 1998, Vol. 52, pp. 239-280 © 1998 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V.
Reprints available directly from the publisher Published by license under
Photocopying permitted by license only the Gordon and Breach Publishers imprint.
Printed in India.
239
240 JORGE N. FERRER
and value; and (2) the critique of any privileged picture, metanar-
rative or "Big Story" about human beings and their place in history
and the cosmos.1 As Lyotard (1974) put it in his often quoted
dictum, postmodernity can be characterized by an "incredulity
toward metanarratives." According to many contemporary thinkers,
metanarratives have historically not only claimed universal status,
but also functioned as legitimization devices of ethical and epistemic
judgments and practices. The absolutist character of metanarratives
has been fiercely criticized for being totalizing, imperialistic, and
logocentric. Postmodernism emerged as a reaction against these
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Horton, 1973; Hollis and Lukes, 1982). In the eyes of their respective
antagonists, of course, the universalists appeared "imperialistic"
and "ethnocentric," and the relativists look "irrational," "nihilistic,"
and "amoral." It soon became evident, however, that both extreme
positions—radical universalism and radical relativism—entailed
unbearable implications for our modern ideals of justice, democ-
racy, and equality among human beings. On the one hand, the
commitment to radical universalism traps us in the conceptual
straitjacket of dogmatic superiority and intolerance towards other's
values and ways of life, so painfully evident in the historical
justification of colonialism and imperialism. On the other hand, the
acceptance of radical relativism builds unbridgable gaps among
cultures that now "live in different worlds," not only positing a priori
obstacles to cross-cultural communication, but also preventing the
critique of any historically or culturally accepted form of life (includ-
ing organized slavery, systematic genocide, ritualistic cannibalism,
or institutionalized torture). In the light of these difficulties, it
should not be surprising that an increasing number of anthropo-
logists, philosophers, and social scientists are today intentionally
seeking a middle way between these excesses that honors their
insights while avoiding their dangers (e.g., Bernstein, 1983; Tambiah,
1990; Fay, 1996). As in contemporary philosophy, then, the agenda
of modern anthropology and evolutionary philosophical thinking
is to transcend these pernicious dualisms and move beyond
absolutism and relativism.
It is in this context that I want to discuss here the most recent
work in transpersonal evolutionary theory as proposed by Ken
Wilber (1995a) in his massive Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. The Spirit of
242 JORGE N. FERRER
in the universe. In this section, I want to show how this map is laid
out from the absolutist position known as the perennial philosophy.
Before proceeding further, however, it may be necessary to
say some words here about my use of the term "absolutism," instead
of the more in vogue "objectivism," to refer to Wilber's position
throughout this paper. As is well known, absolutism has been a
term in disuse in Western philosophy for the last decades. Recently,
for example, Bernstein (1983) encouraged the substitution of
objectivism for absolutism in the classic dichotomy "absolutism-
relativism." Bernstein (1983) argued that, since all human knowl-
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its general form, then, the perennialist thesis includes two different
knowledge claims: A descriptive claim, that affirms the homogeneity
of the message of the contemplative traditions; and a normative or
epistemological claim, that maintains the absolute truth of that
message (cf., Griffiths, 1991). Although I cannot develop this point
here, it is important to note that the evaluation of these two claims
may require different testing procedures. The examination of the
former claim, for example, may involve hermeneutic comparative
analyses of the different mystical texts, as well as interviews and dia-
logues among representatives of the living traditions. In contrast, the
assessment of the latter may entail epistemological analyses of the
cognitive value of mysticism, and, in my opinion, personal involve-
ment in certain forms of spiritual inquiry (see, e.g., Rothberg, 1994).
But, what is the "single Truth" about which all contemplative tradi-
tions supposedly agree? According to the modern defenders of the
mystical version of the perennial philosophy, such as Huston Smith
(1976, 1987, 1989), Frithjof Schuon (1984), and Seyyed Hossein
Nasr (1989, 1993), the doctrinal core of the perennial phi-
losophy is the belief that Spirit, Pure Consciousness or the Universal
Mind is the fundamental essence of both human nature and the
totality of reality. In the perennialist view, that is, Spirit is the
ontologically primary foundation of the cosmos.
Briefly, the other major principles derived from this primor-
dial Truth are involutionary cosmology, hierarchical ontology and
axiology, and hierarchical epistemology (see, e.g., Rothberg, 1986;
Smith, 1976, 1989; Nasr, 1989, 1993; Wilber, 1977, 1990, 1993a;
Quinn, 1997): (1) Involutionary cosmology, or the postulate that the
physical universe is the result of a process of emanation, restriction
248 JORGE N. FERRER
(...) there is still That One, or the timeless and absolute Spirit of
which the entire universe is but a manifestation, but that world of
manifestation is not now devolving away from Spirit, it is evolving
toward Spirit. God does not lie in our collective past, God lies in our
collective future; the Garden of Eden is tomorrow, not yesterday; the
Golden Age lies down the road, not up it. (p. 63)
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and one goal for human spiritual evolution: "Common deep struc-
tures with culturally situated surface structures seem to me to steer
a course between 'no similarities at all' and 'mostly or only one
common core'" (1995a, p. 604, note. 16).
Accordingly, Wilber (1995a) plots the transpersonal territory into
four types of hierarchically laddered realms or deep structures. The
psychic (or nature mysticism: the realm of OBEs, vibrations, Kun-
dalini, chakras, etc.); the subtle (or deity mysticism: the realm of
luminosity and archetypal forms, of God, etc.); the causal (or
formless mysticism: the realm of pure consciousness, emptiness,
nothingness, the Void, etc.); and, finally, the nondual (nondual
mysticism: beyond being and non-being, where "emptiness is form,
and form is emptiness," the world as expression of Spirit, etc.).
According to Wilber (1995a), these four types of mysticism "can
most definitely be found cross-culturally. Nobody is denying that
a Buddhist will interpret the luminosity as the Sambhogakaya, the
Christian will interpret it perhaps as an angel or Christ himself,
a Jungian will interpret it as an archetypal emergence, and so on"
(p. 621, note. 58). In other words, although very specific arche-
typal visions and deities (different surface structures) can be ob-
served in different traditions, all of them belong to the same level
of spiritual development, i.e., the subtle level, the realm of the
archetypal manifestations (the same deep structure). In sum, human
spirituality is ultimately universal, as constituted by an evolutionary
hierarchy of deep structures. Contextual factors only shape and
determine the situated manifestations and interpretation of these
deep structures and the level of spiritual evolution attainable in
each tradition.
ABSOLUTISM AND RELATIVISM 251
are guilty of these charges and well deserve the harsh reprimand
they receive at his hands. 14 Furthermore, I also agree with these
authors on the significance and inevitability of making qualitative
distinctions in human life—and, in the next section, I will be giving
a brief account of how these contrasts can be made without falling
into the extremes of absolutism and vulgar relativism.
The problem with Wilber's presentation, however, is that it forces
the reader to mistakenly believe that one can only "take one of two
routes:" Absolutism/universalism or a self-contradictory vulgar rela-
tivism. In other words, Wilber consistently omits to mention that
many alternatives to absolutism, such as certain types of pluralism,
perspectivism, pragmatism, and moderated forms of relativism and
constructivism, are not necessarily inconsistent.15 What all these
approaches have in common is not to be self-refuting, but to
challenge absolutist, universalist, and objectivist beliefs in the exis-
tence of transcultural and transhistorical standards of rationality,
truth, and morality. As Adorno (1979) already warned, to inter-
pret this denial as a self-refuting positive theory is both fallacious
and question-begging. In short, what I am suggesting here is that
the self-refuting nature of most non-absolutist approaches only emerges
when they are either believed to have absolutist purposes or judged from
standards (notions of absolute truth, rationality, etc.) only appropriate in an
absolutist domain of discourse. In other words, these approaches are
self-refuting only when they are supposed to have an absolutist
agenda, i.e., to make absolutist claims.16
The imputation of purposes alien to non-absolutist approaches is
a common strategy employed, with more or less awareness, by most
absolutist philosophers. The neo-pragmatist Rorty (1989), for
256 JORGE N. FERRER
reality (pp. 693-694, note. 1); with the Suchness of all Forms (p. 693,
note. 1); with pure Presence (p. 696, note. 1); and even suggests that,
once the Madhyamaka via negativa is relaxed, Nagarjuna's emptiness
can be metaphorically matched with the Hindu Brahman (p. 698,
note. 1). Furthermore, Wilber (1995a) adds, the Buddhist no-self
doctrine cannot be literally applied to the Absolute, because both self
and non-self "are equally manifestations of the Primordial State, self-
cognizing Emptiness and spontaneous luminosity" (p. 706, note. 1).
Several objections can be raised about Wilber's account of empti-
ness (sunyata): First, Wilber omits to mention that Murti's work
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Notes
1. For a popular introduction to the main themes of postmodernity, see the
interesting collection of essays compiled by Anderson (1995) in his The Truth
About the Truth.
2. Although I cannot subscribe all its conclusions, the work of Carr (1992) is uniquely
valuable in offering both a taxonomy of the different varieties of nihilism
(epistemological, alethiological, ontological, ethical, and existential), and lucid
distinctions between nihilism on the one hand, and relativism, skepticism and
atheism on the other.
3. Throughout this essay, I will also be referring to Wilber's popular version of SES,
A Brief History of Everything (1996), and to its sequel The Eye of Spirit (1997).
4. In contrast to a metanarrative—e.g., Darwinism, Freudianism or Marxism—which
generally tells the story of human existence in its own terms—e.g., biological
evolutionism, psychic determinism, or social-economic historicism—without ex-
tensive reference to other branches of knowledge, a meta-metanarrative explicitly
attempts, à la Hegel, to accommodate or correct all already existent metanar-
ratives within an all-encompassing scheme about "how things really are." Notice
that meta-metanarratives also function as legitimizing both knowledge claims and
moral judgments. For example, the Basic Moral Intuition derived from Wilber's
272 JORGE N. FERRER
meta-metanarrative is "to protect and promote the greatest depth for the
greatest span" (1996, p. 334, his emphasis), and an example of moral judgment
that follows from that intuition is that if we have to choose between killing a
dozen apes or killing Al Capone, we should kill Al (1996, p. 336). After all, Wilber
(1996) adds, "There's nothing sacrosanct about being a human holon" (p. 336).
5. In a rather personal article, Wilber (1995b) stated that the ultimate purpose, the
"single and unmistakable goal of the twelve books" (p. 21) he has authored "is
not to get people involved in intellectual head trips" (p. 22). On the contrary,
he added, "That is exactly what my books are attempting to stop, as those who
have read them will readily acknowledge. The problem is that many people,
academic or otherwise, are already playing head games (....) So I have
attempted to engage these people in their own game, and to play it very fast and
hard, simply to get to this conclusion: at some point, you and I must stop this
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Truth is open to only "one right interpretation" that can be ascertained by the
human mind and translated into a "Theory of Everything." In contrast, more
pluralistic views, even admitting an independent unique reality, may maintain
that there can be rational disagreements about its nature, a plurality of "right"
interpretations, and that no single theory can map reality in all its complexity and
proclaim to be paradigmatic for the rest (see, e.g., Hoy and McCarthy, 1994).
9. It is probable that many of the universalist claims of the perennial philosophy
stem from an a priori commitment to an absolutist view of reality. As Perovich
(1985), a perennialist philosopher, put it: "The point [of the perennial philos-
ophers] in insisting on the identity of mystical experiences was, after all, to
bolster the claim that the most varied mystics have established contact with 'the
one ultimate truth'" (p. 75).
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10. In several passages (e.g., 1995a, pp. 264-276), Wilber suggests the possibility of
validating perennialist claims on the basis of the experiential content of mystical
experiences. Although I consider this proposal highly controversial, I will not
discuss here its validity insofar as Wilber promises to deal in detail with this topic
in the third volume of the Trilogy (see p. 599, note. 15). Meanwhile, the reader
interested in pursuing this issue further can consult the works by Wilber (1990)
and Shear (1994) for different argumentations suggesting that the principles of
the perennial philosophy can find epistemic support in mystical experiences. For
the contrary view, that is, that mystical experiences offer no evidential value for
mystical metaphysics, see Smith (1987), Angel (1994), and Fenton (1994).
11. Elsewhere (Ferrer, 1997) I have critically discussed the relationship between
transpersonal theory and the perennial philosophy. Here, I would like to merely
point out that the roots of this association can be traced to the very birthplace
of the transpersonal orientation, i.e., Maslow's seminal works. Maslow's most
clear perennialist manifesto can be found in Chapter 3 of his Religions, Values,
and Peak-Experiences (1970), adequately entitled "The 'Core-Religious,' or 'Tran-
scendent,' Experience." In this essay, he wrote: "This private religious experi-
ence [the peak-experience] is shared by all great religions including the atheistic
ones like Buddhism, Taoism, Humanism, or Confucianism" (p. 28). Trans-
personal theory, that is, was born in a perennialist world. Arguably, the second
major factor for the perennialist flavor of most contemporary transpersonal
scholarship is the strong influence of Wilber's thinking in transpersonal circles
(see Davis and Wright, 1987; Walsh and Vaughan, 1994). In any event, the fact
that many perennialist claims have been usually taken for granted by most
transpersonal thinkers suggests that an exhaustive examination of the precise
relationship between transpersonal psychology and the perennial philosophy is
imperative (cf. Walsh and Vaughan, 1993b).
12. Any serious investigation of the issues raised by the different varieties of relativism
should include, at least, the anthologies by Wilson (1980), Hollis and Lukes (1982),
Krausz and Meiland (1982), Bernstein (1983), Margolis (1986), Siegel (1987),
Krausz (1989), and Harre and Krausz (1996).
13. In the Thaetheus, 170a-172c. See Burnyeat (1990) for a detailed examination of
Protagoras' self-refutation.
14. However, listen to Gadamer (1990): "That the thesis of skepticism or relativism
refutes itself to the extent that it claims to be true is an irrefutable argument.
But what does it achieve? The reflective argument that proves successful here
rebounds against the arguer, for it renders the truth value of reflection suspect.
274 JORGE N. FERRER
which some of these distinctions are hammered out. For distinctions between
perspectivism and relativism, see Graham (1992) and MacIntyre (1988). See
Matilal (1991) for a contrast between pluralism and vulgar relativism. Also, see
Rorty (1989) for a defense of a non self-refuting pragmatism, Rescher (1993)
for an account of a non self-refuting pluralism, and Margolis (1986, 1989),
Maclntyre (1987), and Tianji (1991) for descriptions of non self-contradictory
forms of moderated relativism.
16. For several works explicitly challenging the self-refuting nature of relativism, see
Meiland (1980), Smith (1993), Hales (1997), and Krausz (1997).
17. See also Bernstein (1983) for a lucid presentation of the shift from an argumen-
tative to a dialogical model of rationality in contemporary philosophy through
the study of the work of Rorty, Gadamer, Habermas, and Arendt. For further
contrasts between argumentative epistemology and dialogical understanding, see
Maranhão (1990).
18. Of course, the following discussion raises the perennial herneneutical issues of
the limits of the meaning and valid interpretations of a text. There are different
positions on this issue in contemporary philosophy, from the extreme that there
are no limits on the meaning and interpretation of a text, to the opposite
position holding that there is only one correct meaning and interpretation per
text. In my opinion, although the adoption of different standpoints may allow
the emergence of different meaning units potentially embedded in a text, this
does not mean that "anything goes" in the hermeneutic enterprise. To be sure,
the limits of both the potential meaning and the valid interpretations of a text
are neither pre-fixed by the author's intentions nor pre-given by the text.
Furthermore, these limits are in constant fluctuation according to shifts of
discussion in the communities of pertinent scholars working at specific historical
and cultural milieus. However, and this is of fundamental importance, these
fluctuations in valid meaning, far from being arbitrary, occur within certain
constraints (anything does not go!). And these constraints emerge from the
interaction among the author's intentions (conscious and unconscious), the text,
and the interests and situation of the relevant community of inquirers. There-
fore, although there may exist an unlimited number of valid interpretations and
meanings of a text, some interpretations go beyond the margins of potentially
valid meanings. In other words, at any given moment, certain interpretations are
more plausible than others, and some can be even blatantly absurd. For
example, I do not think that anyone will make now, or at any point in future
history, a consistent case for the gender-egalitarian nature of Freud's account of
ABSOLUTISM AND RELATIVISM 275
psycho-sexual development. No, Freud was not genderly unbiased, and, as I will
show, Nagarjuna did not defend an absolutist view of ultimate reality. For a lucid
work clarifying some of these hermeneutical issues, see Gracia (1995).
Acknowledgments
fax: 812-855-6271). The author would like also to thank Steve Dinan
for helpful comments on an early draft of this paper, and Alfonso
Montuori, Ph.D. for his encouragement and editorial assistance.
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