Wilber I–V: the books on a line

Every book in the catalog at its year of first publication, to scale, under the phases of Wilber's thinking.

Wilber I–V: the books on a line. Ken Wilber’s books on one time axis, grouped into the five phases of his work. A shelf: a horizontal time axis from 1977 to 2024 on which every entry in the wiki’s catalog of Ken Wilber’s books stands as a spine at its year of first publication. Five soft bands above the axis mark the periods of Wilber I to V as the wiki dates them: I, the early spectrum, late 1970s; II, development, around 1980 to 82; III, levels and lines, 1980s; IV, the four-quadrant synthesis, mid-1990s to 2000; V, post-metaphysics and perspectives, early 2000s onward. Filled spines are the twelve books the wiki treats as core, outlined spines the other books the phases page names for a phase, thin ticks the rest of the catalog, dotted marks a retitled edition, an unverified entry, or the unpublished second volume of the Kosmos trilogy. The shelf is empty between 1987 and 1994 apart from a co-edited collection and the memoir Grace and Grit, under Wilber’s own words: the first theoretical book I had written in almost ten years. Below, Wilber’s one-sentence description of each of phases 1 to 4 from Integral Psychology, and a note that phase V is not in his list.
Wilber I–V: the books on a line. Ken Wilber’s books on one time axis, grouped into the five phases of his work A shelf: a horizontal time axis from 1977 to 2024 on which every entry in the wiki’s catalog of Ken Wilber’s books stands as a spine at its year of first publication. Five soft bands above the axis mark the periods of Wilber I to V as the wiki dates them: I, the early spectrum, late 1970s; II, development, around 1980 to 82; III, levels and lines, 1980s; IV, the four-quadrant synthesis, mid-1990s to 2000; V, post-metaphysics and perspectives, early 2000s onward. Filled spines are the twelve books the wiki treats as core, outlined spines the other books the phases page names for a phase, thin ticks the rest of the catalog, dotted marks a retitled edition, an unverified entry, or the unpublished second volume of the Kosmos trilogy. The shelf is empty between 1987 and 1994 apart from a co-edited collection and the memoir Grace and Grit, under Wilber’s own words: the first theoretical book I had written in almost ten years. Below, Wilber’s one-sentence description of each of phases 1 to 4 from Integral Psychology, and a note that phase V is not in his list. WILBER WIKI · A READER’S MAP OF THE WORKS Wilber I–V: the books on a line Every book in the catalog at its year, under the phases Wilber numbered himself: where the shelf is full, and where it is empty. 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 1977 2024 IThe early spectrumlate 1970s IThe early spectrum “Phase-1 was Romantic (a ‘recaptured-goodness’ model)…” WHAT EACH PHASE ADDED, IN WILBER’S WORDS Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000), ch. 9, note 15: “I have, for convenience, divided my overall work into four general phases.” IIDevelopmentaround 1980–82 IIDevelopment “Phase-2 was more specifically evolutionary or developmental (a ‘growth-to-goodness’ model)…” IIILevels and lines1980s IIILevels and lines “Phase-3 added developmental lines to those developmental levels…” IVThe four-quadrant synthesismid-1990s–2000 IVThe four-quadrant synthesis “Phase-4 added the idea of the four quadrants…” VPost-metaphysics and perspectivesearly 2000s onward VPost-metaphysics and perspectives ◇ Phase V is not in Wilber’s list of four; the name is this wiki’s, after later commentators. “the first theoretical book I had written in almost ten years”Wilber, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, rev. ed. preface The Spectrum of Consciousness1977 No Boundary1979 The Atman Project1980 Up from Eden1981 The Holographic Paradigm (ed.) · 1982 A Sociable God1983 Eye to Eye1983 Quantum Questions (ed.) · 1984 Transformations of Consciousness1986 Spiritual Choices (co-ed.) · 1987 Grace and Grit1991 Sex, Ecology, Spirituality1995 · rev. 2001 A Brief History of Everything1996 The Eye of Spirit · 1997 The Essential Ken Wilber (anth.) · 1998 The Marriage of Sense and Soul · 1998 One Taste1999 · rev. 2000 A Theory of Everything2000 Integral Psychology2000 Boomeritis2002 The Simple Feeling of Being (anth.) · 2004 Kosmos vol. 2 · excerpts only, unpublished Integral Spirituality2006 The Integral Vision · 2007 Integral Life Practice2008 The Pocket Ken Wilber (anth.) · 2008 The Fourth Turning (ebook) · 2014 Wicked and Wise (co-auth.) · 2015 Integral Meditation · 2016 The Religion of Tomorrow2017 Trump and a Post-Truth World · 2017 Integral Buddhism · 2018 · retitled Finding Radical Wholeness2024 A Post-Truth World · 2024 · 2nd ed. ◇ the bands are periods, dated from works/phases; their edges are approximate, and a book standing inside one is not thereby a statement of that phase memoirs, anthologies and retitled editions carry no phase · Kosmos vol. 2 stands where Wilber said it would be ready, “around the year 2005” Titles and years: works/catalog · periods: works/phases · phase sentences: Integral Psychology (2000), ch. 9 n. 15 · the gap: SES, rev. ed. preface Filled: the wiki’s twelve core books · outlined: others named for a phase · thin: the rest · dotted: retitled, unverified or unpublished · ◇ this wiki’s own device SEEDS OF RENAISSANCE · WILBER WIKI
An empty shelf: one time axis, 1977 to 2024, to scale. Phase I, the early spectrum: The Spectrum of Consciousness and No Boundary. Wilber's own one-line description of phase 1 appears below the shelf. Phase II, development: The Atman Project and Up from Eden (and an edited anthology, thin). Phase III, levels and lines: A Sociable God, Eye to Eye, Transformations of Consciousness. The gap: a co-edited collection and the memoir Grace and Grit, then nothing until 1995. "The first theoretical book I had written in almost ten years" is Wilber's own phrase for SES. Phase IV follows: SES, A Brief History of Everything, Integral Psychology, with the shelf's densest years around them. Phase V, post-metaphysics and perspectives, open-ended: Integral Spirituality and the rest, with the unpublished second volume of the Kosmos trilogy standing dotted where Wilber said it would be ready. Phase V is not in Wilber's own list of four. The settled frame, with the key and the sources. This is the shareable image.

Every book in the catalog at its year of first publication, to scale, under the phases of Wilber's thinking. Laid out this way, the shape of the work shows at a glance: a run of early books, then almost nothing between 1987 and 1995 except Grace and Grit, then a crowded shelf from Sex, Ecology, Spirituality to Integral Life Practice. Wilber called SES "the first theoretical book I had written in almost ten years" (SES, preface to the revised edition).

He numbered the first four phases himself:

"I have, for convenience, divided my overall work into four general phases."

Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology (2000), ch. 9, note 15

Phase V is not in his list; the name is this wiki's, following later commentators. The bands are approximate periods, and no line between books claims that one led to another. Filled spines are the twelve core books; outlined ones are others named for a phase. More: The evolution of Wilber's thought.

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