Worldcentrism
The American integral theorist Ken Wilber uses the term worldcentric to describe an advanced stage of ethical development. This involves a broadening of the spiritual horizon through the formulation of a transpersonal ethic in which we do not only desire the best for all people but for all living beings.[1]
It is this aspect where worldcentrism is viewed as an expansion of sociocentrism where one focuses beyond self-needs to also extend care about the group, community, and society.[2] The idea is that worldcentrism situates the positive aspects of egocentrism and sociocentrism in a larger context of concern so that consideration does not only include one's self or one's people but all peoples and all beings.[2] Synonyms of worldcentric include global and planetary.
There are also worldcentrists who maintain that living beings engage in autopoiesis (self-making, self-producing, and self-repairing), which renders these beings as ends-in-themselves and of equal ground value, in addition to whatever extrinsic or intrinsic value they possess.[3]
Wilber also sometimes refers to an ethical stage that is beyond the worldcentric, which he calls kosmocentric.[4] In a kosmocentric awareness, one experiences a release of attachments of the gross realm and a radical recognition of evolutionary processes so that an individual is compassionately called to action and becomes capable of letting the gravity of outcomes go.[2] Wilber used to associate these advanced ethical stages with mystical states,[5] but since 2002 he has associated these advanced ethical stages with the development of complexity in the self-related lines of identity, studied by Susanne Cook-Greuter.[6] By 2021 he had identified several levels of consciousness, with worldcentrism being at the fifth level.[7][8]
See also
[edit]- Biocentrism (ethics)
- Cosmopolitanism
- Cosmopolitan democracy
- Democratic globalization
- Global citizens movement
- Global citizenship
- Global city
- Global justice
- Mundialization
- Postnationalism
- Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
- Transnationalism
- World government
References
[edit]- ^ Visser, Frank (2003). Ken Wilber: Thought as Passion. New York: State University of New York Press. pp. 226. ISBN 0791458156.
- ^ a b c Esbjorn-Hargens, Sean; Zimmerman, Michael (2011). Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World. Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala Publications. p. 403. ISBN 978-0834824461.
- ^ Dea, Willow (2010). Igniting Brilliance: Integral Education for the 21st Century. Tucson, AZ: Integral Publishers. p. 240. ISBN 978-1450722247.
- ^ "Glossary". Integral Life. 5 February 2017.
- ^ Wilber, Ken (November 8, 2016). "The Leading Edge of The Unknown in the Human Being". Science And Non Duality.
- ^ See Integral Spirituality, Ken Wilber; See also Transcendence and Mature Thought in Adulthood, Susanne Cook-Greuter.
- ^ Edwards, Ross (2021). "Ken Wilber's 12 Levels of Consciousness". Deep Psychology.
- ^ Edwards, Ross (2022). "The Highest Levels of Consciousness According to Ken Wilber". Deep Psychology.
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