The 5 Part Integral Formula for Embodied Awakening

As taught by Ken Wilber

Waking Up: The spiritual path of enlightenment or awakening, involving direct experiences of non-dual awareness or unity consciousness. This path is about recognizing our fundamental nature beyond the ego.


Growing Up: Progressing through stages of psychological and cognitive development, from egocentric to ethnocentric to worldcentric and beyond. This path is about expanding our perspective and capacity for understanding complexity.


Opening Up: Expanding our awareness and capacity across multiple intelligences or ways of perceiving and engaging with the world. This path is about actively cultivating different forms of intelligence, such as aesthetic (recognizing beauty), moral, emotional, and others, broadening our perception and deepening our engagement with life.

Cleaning Up: Working through our psychological shadows and unconscious patterns, integrating repressed or denied aspects of ourselves for greater wholeness. By facing and embracing our hidden fears, traumas, and disowned parts, we free up energy and expand our capacity for authentic self-expression and relationship.

Showing Up: Fully embodying our development in the world, actively engaging with life and manifesting our potential in practical ways. This path involves bringing our inner growth and insights into tangible expression, taking responsible action in our relationships, work, and communities, and living with authenticity and purpose in everyday life.

Each of these five paths leads to a distinct form of wholeness that cannot be found through the other paths. The wholeness of Waking Up is not the same as the wholeness of Growing Up, and the wholeness achieved through Cleaning Up is different from that of Opening Up or Showing Up. These various types of wholeness complement each other, but are not reducible to one another, highlighting the importance of a comprehensive approach to human development and transformation.