The Radiance of Being: Understanding the Grand Integral Vision; Living the Integral Life

by Allan Combs

“Allan Combs...adroitly presents the grand possibility that systems/complexity theory, cognitive neuro-science, and the great mystical traditions can work together to illuminate that most ordinary yet mysterious power we all possess, which Combs prefers to call “subjective presence” or more plainly, “consciousness”.... Combs centers his reader in a consciousness that beholds the entire living museum and artifice of mental structures while also describing the most evolved, if distant-sounding stages in the evolution of consciousness. If while reading The Radiance of Being you become a bit giddy, perhaps it will be because Combs’ words and incisive quotes have guided you into, then out of the labyrinth of the mind and onto that “farther shore” where only the One Shines, ever-new.”―Stuart Sovatsky, California Institute of Integral Studies, Cybernetics & Human Knowledge, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1999

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy

350 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Allan Combs is a consciousness researcher, neuropsychologist, and systems theorist. He considers his most significant work to be the development of a developmental/evolutionary model of the mind using concepts from systems science. Much of this was accomplished in collaboration with his friend and colleague Stanley Krippner. He is most widely known, however, for his collaboration with Ken Wilber on the Wilber-Combs lattice.

Reviews

[Elliot]

He has me hooked on page one..... "Not since late antiquity with its myriad religions, philosophical crosscurrents, and mystery schools, have people in such numbers looked beyond the limits of tradition for the deep narratives of their own souls." ....."So desperate is our dependence on viable models and myths that we subconsciously try to elevate them from the muddy world of human emotions and interests to the crisp, clear heights of absolute truth." (Eric Jantsch)

[Willa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to the development of consciousness, explaining consciousness itself, complexity theory, developmental models, and much more. A really great start for anyone wanting to get into the field of consciousness and the future of our thinking.