Ken Wilbur

Ken Wilber
Wilber with Bernard Glassman (background)
Born	(1949-01-31) January 31, 1949 (age 68) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
Alma mater	Duke University (no degree) University of Nebraska at Lincoln (BS, Biochemistry; MS, Biochemistry)
Occupation	Author, integral theorist

Kenneth Earl "Ken" Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a four-quadrant grid which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience.

Wilber was born in 1949 in Oklahoma City. In 1967 he enrolled as a pre-med student at Duke University. He became inspired, like many of his generation, by Eastern literature, particularly the Tao Te Ching. He left Duke and enrolled at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, but after a few years dropped out of university to devote all his time to studying his own curriculum and writing books.

Wilber stated in 2011 that he has long suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, possibly caused by RNase Enzyme Deficiency Disease ("REDD").

In 1973 Wilber completed his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, in which he sought to integrate knowledge from disparate fields. After rejections by more than twenty publishers it was finally accepted in 1977 by Quest Books, and he spent a year giving lectures and workshops before going back to writing. He also helped to launch the journal ReVision in 1978.

In 1982 New Science Library published his anthology The Holographic Paradigm and other Paradoxes, a collection of essays and interviews, including one by David Bohm. The essays, including one of his own, looked at how holography and the holographic paradigm relate to the fields of consciousness, mysticism, and science.

In 1983 Wilber married Terry "Treya" Killam who was shortly thereafter diagnosed with breast cancer. From 1984 until 1987, Wilber gave up most of his writing to care for her. Treya died in January 1989; their joint experience was recorded in the 1991 book Grace and Grit.

In 1987 Wilber moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he worked on his Kosmos trilogy and oversaw the work of the Integral Institute. Wilber now lives in Denver, Colorado.