Deep Surface

A month ago, I posted Sam Harris and Faith, embracing his Atheist point of view while doing little to explain how it fit into Integral Theory. I felt, and still feel that Harris is right, and that helping the faithful to understand reason is important for the survival of our species. I don’t think this conflicts with Integral approach, but Stuart Davis seems to think it does.

A few days ago, he ripped into Atheist crusaders like Harris in his Open Letter to Rational Pundits.

Knowing this, are you interested at all in how other people who are not yet at your Rational World view might develop? Would you like to help them, or would you like to opine to the converted choir for the BILLIONTH TIME? Because listen, the sun will expan and consume the Earth before you convert RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS with your Rational blather. They cannot hear you. No one hears you, except those who are already at your altitude, your level of World view, or are ready to enter into it (for reasons that have nothing to do with your rhetoric). We had better figure out how to see depth, experience altitudes of awareness, and embrace development, or those lower stations will render us undone.

Bob has a Cranky, mean-spirited reaction to Stuart Davis’s blog

Seriously dude, should we “simply” wait until George Bush and Osama Bin Laden evolve to “second tier consciousness,” the whole notion of which is highly dubious and at best scantily supported by empirical evidence? Should we convince them to buy Integral Institute’s latest multi-media package? Get ‘em into weightlifting? Ask ‘em to talk to “big mind?” Are you meaning to imply that you, Stuart Davis, are more highly developed than Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins?

I think we must use the tools at our disposal to bring the cultural center of gravity back up to the level of rational thought. One of the ways to do it certainly can be to use the tools of reason. This doesn’t preclude understanding development- it doesn’t even mandate discussing development. Just because we don’t understand how to help people develop to a rational world view doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to help them using rational arguments.

If there are other ways to help fundamentalists develop, I suggest that the Integral Institute direct some resources to create these methodologies. If Wilber’s take on these issues is accurate, and I believe it is, we need some solutions - not just a better understanding of the problem.