Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos
The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Presents a revolutionary new theory that bridges the divide between science and spirituality
• Discloses the ramifications of non-localized consciousness and how the physical world and spiritual experience are two aspects of the same reality
• Includes contributions from Jane Goodall, Ed Mitchell, Stanislav Grof, Ralph Abraham, and Christian de Quincy, among others
What scientists are now finding at the outermost frontiers of every field is overturning all the basic premises concerning the nature of matter and reality. The universe is not a world of separate things and events but is a cosmos that is connected, coherent, and bears a profound resemblance to the visions held in the earliest spiritual traditions in which the physical world and spiritual experience were both aspects of the same reality and man and the universe were one. The findings that justify this new vision of the underlying logic of the universe come from almost all of the empirical sciences: physics, cosmology, the life sciences, and consciousness research. They explain how interactions lead to interconnections that produce instantaneous and multifaceted coherence--what happens to one part also happens to the other parts, and hence to the system as a whole. The sense of sacred oneness experienced by our ancestors that was displaced by the unyielding material presumptions of modern science can be restored, and humanity can once again feel at home in the universe.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ever since the beginning of the rise of modern science, according to Laszlo, we have been living in a disenchanted cosmos. The mechanistic view of the universe touted by Newton and others tore apart the organic fabric of the world and robbed humanity of its prescientific unity with the cosmos. In a repetitious and overly simplistic manner, Laszlo, philosopher and president of the international think tank the Club of Budapest, argues that science has now rediscovered a unified universe. (Laszlo points to his own discovery of the Akashic field, which imbues the universe with meaning and coherence.) According to Laszlo, all aspects of the cosmos are connected and integrated; this means that "not only my spouse and my dog but also particles and galaxies have consciousness." This integral vision of reality recalls the spiritual visions of a unified universe in Hinduism and Native American religions. Further, human morality involves a conscious decision to promote coherence with the universe. The final section of the book contains 12 congratulatory essays by writers as diverse as process theologian Ewert Cousins and biologist Jane Goodall. But Laszlo's romantic vision of the world fails to offer any insights not contained in The Dancing Wu Li Masters and other works.
