INTEGRAL WORLD MAILING LIST 
http://www.integralworld.net

Newsletter Nr. 796
Amsterdam, September 14th, 2019


THE POISONING OF CHARISMA - Death Threats, Personality Issues, Financial Intrigue, And Murder in Guru Succession - DAVID LANE

Guru succession can be an ugly business. I have long noticed that whenever a spiritual leader dies there is almost invariably a contest among disciples over who should be regarded as the rightful successor. Of course, if the guru leaves clear instructions before departing the in-fighting can be greatly lessened. But even then, troubles can still arise.

In addition, it is often difficult for disciples of a spiritual master to readily accept his successor. This is particularly the case if he has personality quirks or acts in ways contrarian to what is expected. While some devotees may find the new successor winsome, for others it can be a hard sell, especially if the successor alters specific aspects of the philosophy or has a unique approach that one finds disconcerting.

Read more:
http://www.integralworld.net/lane166.html


RATIONALITY AS WELL AS SPIRITUALITY - Wilber, Spinoza and Ontological Presuppositions - TOON VAN EIJK

Recently I published a book on Spinoza's philosophy titled Spinoza in the light of spiritual development.[1] Spinoza is an interesting philosopher, especially because some consider him to be a rationalist while others see him as a kind of mystic. How possible that one and the same philosopher is so differently interpreted? In my view these differing interpretations of Spinoza's work are due to different ontological presuppositions of the interpreters concerned. Unfortunately, most people (scientists and philosophers included) do not make their implicit presuppositions explicit. This results in a lot of confusion in scientific debates.

Could it be that the discussions on the Integral World website about the refusal of Ken Wilber to respond to his critics are related to non-explicated (especially ontological) presuppositions? Are the differing interpretations of Wilber's work due to differing implicit ontological presuppositions? And can rationality and spirituality be reconciled at all? In this article I will attempt to elucidate above questions with the help of my book on Spinoza's philosophy.

Read more:
http://www.integralworld.net/vaneik1.html