We're posting this, not because it's another foreign-language book (with books in up to 30 languages, this is not novel),  but because it's a book we wish was in English!  Ken agreed, saying 'It looks fantastic!'  Way to go, Dr. Forsberg.  If you're ever in the States, please stop by the loft.  – Eds.

From:   Odd Inge Forsberg
To:   Barrett Brown; Sean Esbjörn-Hargens
Subject:  New Wilber book
Time:  9/6/2006 at 6:53AM

Hi Sean and Barret,

You may remember me as an attendant on the Integral Ecology and Sustainability workshop two years ago.   The workshop was a really wake-up call for me, and the integral model has deepened in me over the last years.   A fruit of this renewed passion, I have taken a step off my professional track and written, together with my beloved wife Alanja (who attended the Integral Psyhotherapy workshop), an introductory book on integral theory and its applications.   Wilber readers we have talked with, feels that Kens work is hard to understand for many Norwegian readers due to its complex, academic language.  We have also been challenged to explain how integral theory can be applied in our daily life.  As a consequence, we have written a simple, easy to understand textbook on Wilber phase 4/5 phase ideas in a plain Norwegian language. Our 300p book is accepted for publishing spring 2007.   Its tentative title is "Wholeness in the time of confusion.  Ken Wilbers guide to a more understandable World ".

In part 1 of the book, the ideas of holons, the twenty tenets, the great chain of being, the five dimensions of the AQAL model and different modes of knowledge is presented.   The form is Q&A discussion inspired from "A brief history of everything".  We have decided to refer the integral model to phenomena most people have experienced or witnesses throughout their lives, rather than references to experiences, ideas and phenomena found in the academic literature and in the wisdom traditions.

In part 2 we have included numerous applications in how the five dimensions of the AQAL model are manifested in a Norwegian social context. Examples are drawn from different public debates in our society:

- Politics (we have seven political parties ranging from BLUE to YELLOW, where their political thinking ranges between individualism and collectivism and between progress and conservation)

- Faith and Christianity (we present James Fowlers stages of faith and its correlation to different perceptions of the Christian God)

- Nature and environment (Sean… I have briefly presented your wonderful work on Integral Ecology and how this show up in debates on nature conservation)

- Business (how AQAL show up in a business organisations)

- Art (Kens essay on "Integral Art and Literary Theory" are briefly presented and applied on a famous Norwegian poem)

- Masculinity and feminism express itself in the world (goes beyond the classic stereotypic sex and gender types)

- Relationships (presentation of  1. 2. and 3. person relationship with another human being)

- Loving relationships (David Deida´s work is briefly presented, and commented)

- Moral and ethics (Kolbergs stages of moral development are presented and correlated with 13 schools of ethical theories mapped on the AQAL framework)

- Communication (Beck & Cowans memetic codes of understanding and misunderstanding are briefly presented and commented)

- Social roles (how different memetic codes correlates with different social roles man and women take in our society)

- Personal awareness (awareness on the present state of my body, mind and spirit in self, culture and nature… AQAL break presented)

The aim of the many examples is to help the reader to grasp the integral theory through its external manifestations, and to point to the richness of perspectives man and women may have on a given phenomena.   We hope we can contribute that the many perspectives can be understood, embraced and integrated rather than many misunderstandings, isolation and fragmented thinking we see in private and public debates.

It seems that my path is to study and write about integral theory. The publisher house is so excited about our forthcoming book, and wants me to write a new book on integral understanding of nature, sustainability and peace, and how these domains are interrelated.   We work hard to get this book funded.  In addition, I try to fund a comprehensive book for professionals on Integral Sustainable Aquaculture   I'll keep you updated, and hope to meet you soon.  Please tell me how my wife and I can support your I-I phase 2 work.

I would appreciate if you could forward this to Ken, and wish him all the best. 

Love & Peace,

Odd Inge Forsberg, PhD