Customer Reviews

Choosing Reality, : A Buddhist View of Physics and the Mind

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

--This fascinating, well-written work deserves another five-star vote. The author explains several interesting problems when using a strictly scientific or philosophical viewpoint for understanding Reality and then shows how the principle of Conditioned Origination, developed in Buddhism, can offer a lucid alternative. Buddhism, a source of the most profound spiritual insight and personal value, can also be a means for understanding our world and a source of deep intellectual joy.
--Several authors (notably Varela and Kalupahana)have discussed the intersection of Buddhism and science but the author's credentials are unique. He has officially translated for the Dalai Lama at conferences on Science and Buddhism, which indicates His Holiness trusts the author.
--The author first addresses how certain limitations of scientific understanding make it an ultimately unreliable instrument for discovering ontological or ethical "truth." These limitations include the reasonableness of multiple hypotheses. Because they are inherent to scientific understanding, they will exist no matter how well we refine our methods, our math, or our measurements (indeed, many scientists, notably Richard Feynman, have acknowledged them). They preclude a unique and provable "Theory of Anything," much less a "Theory of Everything." Traditional philosophical and sociological viewpoints are similarly limited.
--The author then shows how Buddhism has developed an intellectually sound, attractive, and consistent viewpoint, especially in its analysis of Mind. Buddhism, instead of referring to an inherently existing external world or a set of measurements used by our mental or social structure, interprets empirical reality as Relationships between Events (rather than "things" or "ideas."). Because these relationships are causally conditioned and evolving, empirical existence is perpetually verbal and perpetually co-related. Buddhist insights, originally developed to end Suffering, can also help comprehend the world in which we live. They can also transform our lives if we add an ethical dimension -- including compassion, clarity, calmness, and unselfish joy. Buddhism also offers a sound and lucid alternative to the vacuity of modern and post-modern philosophy and social value theory.
--Given the beauty and value of Buddhist insights, at least some Buddhists should maintain a sound intellectual rigor and discipline, to avoid Buddhism's becoming a shallow dharma or some kind of vague New Age metaphysics. To be sure, the mystical experiences are said to be superlative, but Buddhism can defend itself quite well in the realm of the gross material world. The Buddha often gave a philosophically cogent defense of his world-view to inquirers, and any Buddhist seeking this cogent defense would benefit from this book.
--The author concludes Buddhism and science are complementary rather than opposed. They are partners in using ingenuity and freedom and in seeking truth. Buddhism, without a superb empirical insight like science, might have no hands; science, without a mindful set of principles like those proposed by Buddhism, might have no wisdom. Science gives a wonderful window into the empirical world in which we live, and Buddhism gives a wonderful world into the relational world in which we live. We should rejoice in both, and this book helped me do that.
--This book gave several insights extremely useful to my meditation practice, in addition to its value as a commentary on a world-view of Buddhism. I hope this review and this book will be useful to you.

I read this book years ago, and just today was telling a colleague how good it is. I'm writing this review because I felt a responsibility to counter the polemic of Donald Cooley ("A more honest title would be 'Rejecting Reality'"), which was the first review on the page. It appears that Cooley is threatened by some pearls of Buddhist philosophy that Wallace has to share, so much so that he wants to discourage from reading this book and forming your own judgements. But my point isn't to counter Cooley's ad hominem review with one of my own.

Rather, I want to stress that Wallace does not present his own philosophy, let alone his own "bizarre" philosophy, the impression Cooley gives. In fact, Wallace provides lucid presentations of philosophical insights gained from disciplined and rigorous dialectical reasoning methods, and even more disciplined and rigorous training of the mind to investigate - directly, not via philosophical analyses or the instrumental extensions of the senses essential to science - fundamental relationships between language, belief, and perception; epistemology and ontology, etc. As Wallace shows, the insights which emerge from this extremely rigorous Buddhist tradition in no way oppose the methods and insights of physics or Western science, though they do challenge some philosophical assumptions that have a grip on many of our minds and brains' operating systems.

So sure, check out the books Cooley suggests on 'critical realism,' which do sound quite good (I'll be getting some). But don't let his review persuade you to cheat yourself out of this cogent, rewarding and philosophically illuminating book.

As both a physicist and a buddhist, this was the book I've spent years looking for. I must admit that I was turned off by the scary guy on the cover, and my previous readings of assorted new-age fluff. Make no mistake however, this book is rock solid. Dashing to bits our untenable "assumptions" of exactly what reality is (for the concept of reality itself is an idea), we develop a clearer picture of exactly what it means to be human.
With a pertinent selection of quotes and ideas from the western world, Einstein, Poincare, Heisenberg, etc., we can clearly see how we have shaped our world from our worldview into what it has become. In the present age, we are the willing slaves of technology. Just as our cells don't know what we are doing, people spend their lives working to buy toys like cell phones and televisions, and have no idea how they work. Yet, because it is 'scientific', technological advancements are greatly praised and coveted. Meanwhile, intellectual, spiritual, and philosophical advancement is shunned as meaningless.
This book deftly points out taking such a stance reflects complete ignorance, since scientific investigation of the mind or the physical world provides no further understanding of reality, just a better "understanding" of our own ideas. Are we to say we are more advanced than our ancestors because we can relieve ourselves indoors, whereas our ancestors didn't care? Our social advancement, which can be seen as that most critical for our own species, has been left in the dust, in lieu of technological advancement--that all too often poisons us and our planet. How is this the rational course of action?
Although the first 9/10 of this book are right on track, I felt like the final portion, in its attempt to reach a resolution, a reconsciliation of western philosphy with Buddhist philosophy fell short. This may be the point. Wallace seems to want (or as the reader we want and assume that's where he's going) to pull us all out of the pit of buddhist emptiniess dug in the first 19 or so chapters. But, as Wallace points out, neither worldview is right, just 'more or less useful' in various contexts. There is no escape from our essential nature of emptiness and, like Descartes, by the end of the book the reader is left feeling like he can know nothing apart from his own 'existence'. But after having read the book, the reader of course realizes this is just an illusion, a particular spin on consciousness we decide to choose out of infinite number of possible interpretations, interpretations in turn all shaped by our cultures, mores, and environment, a.k.a 'reality'. Choosing Reality is a great book, and who knows how much you will gain by reading it.

Firstly, I must say that it is very difficult to summarize this book in any way. The complexity (and importance) of the material is such that there is no substitute for a direct, mindful read. However, if you are looking for a very worthwhile attempt at summarization, I suggest you read the review by ABC "bb" (I was persuaded to purchase by this review).

Many reviewers have commented that "Choosing Reality" is an "easy read". While I do agree to an extent, it seems necessary to note that these comments are true only in relation to other books of the same nature. Considering the complexity of the subject matter, yes, this book is an easy read. In comparison to most literature, however, this "easy read" statement is perhaps less plausable. My point is this: do not expect this book to be simple (firstly, because it isn't; secondly, because it shouldn't be). This is of double importance if the reader is of a traditional, Western mindset. The content of "Choosing Reality" (especially the latter chapters) takes time to fully absorb. In fact, this book was, for me, the anti-thesis of a 'quick read'. That said, I must say that I enjoyed every long minute of it.

Wallace does a wonderful job showing the flaws in scientific realism and instrumentalism, chronicaling the histories and the theories of each. He then thoroughly explains the comprimise, the middle way, the Buddhist way: a centrist view of reality. While the presentation of the centrist view was invaluable in its own right, the most enjoyable sections of the book came after this presentation. Wallace undertakes the very difficult task of using language to describe how the centrist view can be applied to our lives. Rather than just offering a theory, he describes how the centrist view deals with the mind, the nature of "physical reality", and the illusory "self". The author earnestly argues that the implications of the centrist view are real; implications that will certainly force you to re-evaluate the world you live in. The beauty of this book is that it caters to any audience. There is enough science to make it rational and reasonable; there is enough Buddhism to make it real and applicable. I consider this book of utmost importance to anyone interested in modern physics, Buddhism, the nature of reality, and/or the self.

Finally, I must note that as much as this book is a religious view of science, it is equally (albeit more subtly) a scientific view of religion. As perhaps Wallace's greatest triumph in this book, modern science and religion are shown to be infinintely complimentary, both ultimately striving to understand the same things: the nature of reality and our role in it. To this end, "Choosing Reality" is a must read.

Although science has provided us with a wealth of knowledge about the physical world, it has reduced life to an epiphenomenal by-product of complex configurations of chemicals, therefore formulating a new article of faith: all of reality boils down to matter and energy, subject to the mindless, immutable laws of nature. However, Wallace advocates that a science that fails to investigate the subjective mental events is unnatural, therefore may be misleading. His proposed instrument to overcome this barrier and enrich science is the use of refined introspection, let the mind probe the mind, cultivate states of awareness that themselves transcend language, concepts, and sensory experience.

The first half of the book concentrates on the latest development of physics and the diversity of opinions concerning the nature of physical reality. Wallace debates on "scientific realism" versus "instrumentalis" and the flaws of each one (the former is unfounded and the latter is impotent). With a clear narrative (and sometimes repetitive) the author discusses concepts such as transcendent realism, retroduction, reification, principle of unknowability, anthropics, among others. The second half is dedicated to the explanation of the "centrist view," a concept developed by Wallace and based on Buddhism. The centrist view might be called conceptual reality and it fundamentally challenges the realist ontological assumptions underlying virtually all of Western science.

The is great, great reading! Thought provoking to say the least! The concept that nothing can be found that exists in its own nature independent of our conceptual designation, is in itself a challenge. You may not agree, you may be skeptical, you might have questions and doubts, but one thing is for certain: you neurons will be put to work!

This is really two books, and the first part -- a review and analysis at a detailed and thorough level -- of the limits and uncertainties of what science knows and what it can know. I've always asked myself, how can we be so certain that stars are a certain distance away, or a red shift shifts so much, without making the huge assumption that time and space are uniform throughout the space in question? When popular physics areticles talk about new particles or string theory, are these observed phenomena, or just inferences from fancy schmancy math that may or may not have any correlation with reality? Wallace asks and addresses these questions and more in insightful, balanced and illuminating ways.

The second half of the book is less satisfying. Wallace discusses at length the Buddhist notion of emptiness of all things, which (although I follow Buddhism falteringly as a tool to peace of mind) I don't buy. I'm no more persuaded now than I was before.

This book is a great antidote for the pseudomysticism wherein works like "What the Bleep Do We Know?" oversimplify and link quantum physics to spirituality in a shallow, bumper sticker way. It also has a great, bonus discussion of "Meditation for Dummies".

Wallace is a truly fair, balanced and encyclopedically brilliant writer. He manifests the humility of a Buddhist monk, because anybody else this smart and well schooled would have ego oozing out every page and would be shoving pet theories down your throat.

I read a great deal in the field of the new science for application in the world of human systems. This book is the clearest and most straight forward I have read in a long time. And yet, it had ways of conceiving and thinking that were new to me. It is rare you can make a jump for very complex physics to a person's life, but that happened to me and I was underlining so much I had made the underlines irrelevant.

This book is fantastic. As an engineer, I understand the concept of a model. A model is only as good as the application it is used for. Unfortunately, I think some scientists and physicists, most teachers and all media have gotten the concept of the model confused with true reality. Just because a system that accurately describes the working of physical reality works well (using concepts such as atoms, molecules, electrons, and nuclei) does not mean that this is what reality actually is. Science and physics is a model of reality, not reality itself!
For those delving deep into meditation, for those looking for those deeply entrenched assumptions of science, mathematics and medicine this book is a must.

I read some where that Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti either wrote 555 sonatas or one sonata 555 times. I sort of feel that way about Alan Wallace's books and articles on Buddhism and science. This book was recommended by a friend with whom I discuss Buddhism and science, but when I read it I didn't find anything new from other Wallace books. This is sort of a left-handed compliment/complaint as his other books which I've read have been pretty good, albeit pretty much the same. Dr. Wallace seems to be one of those academics who early on had success with an idea and just keeps recycling it. Having said all this I'll add that Dr. Wallace is a good popular and technical writer and if you haven't read any of this other books on science and Buddhism, this is as good a way to go as any; but you can also end here.

This must be the clearest book yet on the relationship between science and Buddhism. The writer shows that the materialistic assumptions of science are untenable and lucidly explains some difficult Buddhist concepts.