Customer Reviews

A Guide for the Perplexed

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I read this book about 10 years ago and I still read it again and again. The author widens our perspective on science and point to the fact that 3/4 of reality can not be investigated by conventional scientific methods. I am a scientist and I read thousands of scientific reports and also report some myself. When I read this book I instantly felt that the author was absolutely right about the limitations of conventional science. Thus, his book changed my whole perspective of science and I started to investigate the "other areas". I have never regretted that. This book is beautifully written. It is one of my 3-4 favourite books which I very often take out from the bookshelf to read in silent mornings when the family is asleep. I recommend this as a first read of my favourite books. It is particularly important reading for scientists.

Do you wonder whether humanity has the correct view of itself? Do you think that we need a radically different worldview? Do you think we need to awaken from our spiritual sloth? Are you interested to read the last words from a brilliant mind and unorthodox thinker to a muddled world - a world perplexed by the problems of its own making? This book by the author of "Small is Beautiful" received good reviews, such as "The most exciting philosophical book for ages" and in fact the author starts off with philosophical maps. At school he had been given a map of life and knowledge - how to get into the job market and make money basically - but without any of the markings which he considered to be of the utmost importance for the conduct of his life; he was perplexed until he realized that his perceptions were probably sound and it was the map that was not only incomplete but also basically unsound. He felt like he had been given a map of New York and told to find his way in Chicago. In due course, he came to the conclusion that the traditional map makers - those in authority, our teachers, our leaders - know nothing about what really matters in life and that they were quite unqualified for the task. From that moment he started to think for himself and piece together his own map of what is important that he should know and of how he should live his life. He found that with the ever more rigorous application of the scientific method the last remnants of ancient wisdom had been discarded in the name of objectivity. He decided to construct his own map based on four universal truths - the world; man and his equipment to meet the world; man's way of learning about the world; and what it means to live in the world.

Schumacher found that traditional wisdom handed down to us through the centuries distinguished between "higher" and "lower" things and levels of being but that this had been rejected because they were not subject to quantitative measurement. Thus the traditional map did not address the question "What am I to do with my life?" Without the qualitative concepts of higher and lower it was impossible to even think of guidelines for living that lead beyond individual or collective utilitarianism and selfishness. Without these qualitative concepts it is not possible to find out where everything has its proper legitimate place because nothing can be understood unless its level of being is fully taken into account. Many things are true at a low level of being but become absurd at a higher level and vice versa.

The author then moved on to reflect on levels of being and that his task was to look at the world and see it whole - what our ancestors referred to the great "Chain of Being", beginning with the Divine. The great majority of mankind, throughout its known history, until very recently, has been convinced that the Chain of Being extends upwards beyond man. What is more, they considered this belief to be the most profound of all truths. A person fixed in the philosophy of materialistic scientism, denying the reality of the "invisibles" and confining his attention solely to what can be counted, measured and weighed lives in a very poor world - so poor in fact that he will experience it as a meaningless wasteland unfit for human habitation. It is self-awareness, constituting the difference between animal and man, that is a power of unlimited potential, a power that not only makes man human but gives him the possibility, even the need, to become superhuman. To be properly human you must go beyond the merely human. It is as though a book of great wisdom is given to a dog and to different people. To the dog, the book is nothing more than a colored object. To an illiterate it may be no more than pretty pictures; to a young and undeveloped mind it may be no more than words and sentences; to the superficial reader the book may be just a good story; but to the wise the book may unlock the secrets of the universe. This is what Schumacher meant by self-awareness, of higher and lower. Man is capable of bringing the whole of the universe into his experience but what he will actually grasp depends on each persons Level of Being. The "higher" the person, the greater and richer is his or her world. Life is a magnificent symphony that only the higher can appreciate.

The author goes on to imagine a perfect being who is always and invariably exercising his power of self-awareness - his power of freedom - to the fullest degree, unmoved by any necessity. This would be a Divine Being, an almighty sovereign power, a perfect unity, where "higher" also means and implies "more inner", "more interior", "deeper", "more intimate" and where "lower" means and implies "more outer", "more external", "shallower", "less intimate".

If you have concluded that the philosophical map given to you when young did not equip you well for living in this world; if you have a gut feeling that moving beyond the "lower" and seeking the "higher" is what we are here in this world to do; if you feel that you have been concerned only with the measurable and have been missing out on the invisibles; if you feel that you have settled for an impoverished view of reality; if you have been struggling to make your own philosophical map because you were given a map that was inadequate or misleading; then this book by one of the wise men of the last century is a very good place to start.

This is a profound piece of writing, well worth a mere ten dollars. Schumacher, even though he was a high ranking economist in the British government for over 30 years, understood that numbers and other forms of quantifiable (observable) knowledge were phantoms of true knowledge. This book, in a very dense and deep, yet perfectly rational and understantable way, describes the failure of modern societies (and people) to reconcile themselves with their past and their place in creation. Your life has a meaning and a purpose beyond your physiological composition and the consumption of material goods. Read this book to find out why.

This book is a superb exposition of the deep flaws in the scientific method which has influenced everyone's lives and the scoiety we live in so profoundly. The logic of Decartes in particular is shown to be seriously fragmented, and moreover at odds with science's latest efforts to understand whole systems, like ecology, or the weather, or even economics. As a matter of fact, man is a whole system so in Schumacher's view Cartesian logic is also flawed in it's approach to life, conciousness and self-awareness, the very properties that bring great breakthroughs in science.

The reason why this book is so revolutionary in my opinion is because, along with the author's previous book, Small is Beautiful, it states the case for drastically reworking the whole of human society.

The modern-day confusion of life, which seems to state that the only reason for existence is to be a consumer within a global capitalist state, raises many problems of self-importance, what is the individual's worth or role in such an scenario? Of course God can't exist in such a scheme because Science can't reduce religion to analysable parts. Human evolution must be an accident because Science can't derive the formula to create life artificially....

This not to say that Schumacher is claiming that the Christian God did all this and he can prove it, he merely suggests that science in itself cannot decide the truth of these things, certainly not if it is based only on objective logic.

Schumacher does address these questions in a quasi-religous sense, but also makes the important point that logic or reasoning without intuition or self-knowledge is worthless, because your reason will declare your own self worthless, or some sort of random accident.
What seems like an attempt to trash science is in fact more like a caution to be careful, and the introduction of Levels of Existence or Being are in fact an attempt to classify scientifically those phenomena that are so often ignored by traditional science.
What Schumacher takes on is a mighty task, essentially a blueprint for a new approach to science, and within that framework new paradigms for economics and religion. Despite a few flaws, he still succeeds in creating a visionary foundation.

This is the best book I've ever read about why we are on this earth, the true meaning of religion, its meaning in each of our lives - if we choose to have faith - and how it is so easily and increasingly lost in modern times, where over-rationalisation and the worship of only 'measurable' scientific thinking counts for anything (especially of course money).

A small and utterly profound book that needs to be read with care and not in a rush in order to capture its full and true meaning.

I will treasure this book and 'replenish' myself by dipping into it if I need to, although its truths do stay with me and are not easy to forget once taken on board.

O! for a muse of fire... Way back in the 70's I remember being introduced to the writings of E.F. Schumacher through The Mother Earth News... I was intrigued by Small is Beautiful, but I was completely and absolutely blown away with A Guide for the Perplexed. For me, this book was a life-altering experience. Who am I? Where am I from? What does it all mean? Like other human beings, I had questions; "and I was left in a state of total perplexity". Schumacher provided the answer. Not to everything, of course, he was "a finger pointing at the moon"; but you can be assured that the finger is pointing in the right direction. Since that time I have persued a liberal education, and my tastes run to Shakespeare, Dante and Marcus Aurelius,but the Guide remains a touchstone, as it were, to the bare bones of what liberal education is about. The Great Truths that Schumacher expounds are just that, and speak universally to all men. While the attack on Science appears dated now, the overall structure is sound. If you, yourself, have achieved some measure of liberal education, by all means give this book to your less well off friends. Few books of the 20th century can match it.

Today, our culture is awash with advice. Psychiatrists, diet regimes, book reviews ... there's too much information for us to handle.

So how can I put this without sounding smug, superior, patronising ?

This is the only book that I would beg somebody to read. Enough said.

(his other books are astonishing too !)

A guide for the perplexed is a "philosophical guidemap" by the author of "Small is Beautiful". He develops some beautiful and perceptive ideas in the book, which is worth reading just for the quotes alone.

The basic thrust of the book is that throughout the history of humanity, there were considered to be "different levels of being", with increasing levels of awareness and consciousness, and that only relatively recently has the progress of science been so successful that consideration of our "inner" nature and being has been displaced.

Schumachers book is highly pertinent and relevant and every bit as useful and brilliant as his "Small is Beautiful". It is however a book about man, his purpose and meaning in life, and the role (if any) of spirit. At various times Schumacher was a Buddhist and a Christian and his quotations cover a wide spectrum of sources and views from both eastern and western philosophies.

If you were raised in Europe or the USA during the last fifty years, then you know the drill. The entire universe and everything in it sprang out of nowhere with no sense, meaning, or purpose. Human beings are a bunch of hairless, upright-walking monkeys with a major ego problem. Because primitve people were ignorant, fearful, and just plain stupid, they invented religion to explain things that they couldn't understand. Today, of course, everybody knows that there is no God, no soul, no life after death, and nothing supernatural of any kind. Our wise and fully secular leaders know everything, and we should listen only to them.

Well, E. F. Schumacher doesn't quite agree with this viewpoint. He has an different theory to propose, and he lays it out with perfect logic, careful references, and outstanding prose. His title, "A Guide for the Perplexed", is a actually a gross understatement. He is describing the world as it truly is.

Schumacher begins with a necessary point. Our society pounds us with certain prejudices right from the beginning. It does not educate us about the alternatives, or even let us know that alternatives exist. Hence the first step to wisdom is to step back and "see the world whole". In other words, we must be willing to investigate and question everything, even things that are taken for granted at the present time. Before we begin to study, we must ask the question: what should we study?

Because we are humans, we must study humans. Because we perceive the world around us, we must study our own perceptions, how they work and how they often fail to work. Because there is a world around us, we must study that world. And because we must live within the world, we must investigate how we do so.

From that starting point, Schumacher takes us on a beginner's course in being human. He begins with the levels of being. In our age it is fashionable to say that livings things are merely chemical, that humans are merely animals, and so forth. But no matter how much we say it, no one really believes it. Everybody is aware of the differences between animals and humans. We have capabilities that no animal has any trace of. We can study ourselves, apply ourselves, improve ourselves, and create a better world for ourselves. Hence humans are at a higher level than animals.

The levels of being also show us that humans have a purpose. Our goal in life to become the highest beings that we can, by pursuit of wisdom, unity, love, and self-awareness. To do this, we need the four fields of knowledge, which are the meat of Schumacher's book. He delves into each field, carefully explaining what it is, why it's important, and how a person can explore it. Schumacher makes his case with an bookcase full of references to both modern science and ancient philosophy. He then wraps up with a chapter about how to apply our wisdom to the world around us.

"A Guide for the Perplexed" is among the greatest books of our age, because it is of our age yet not of our age. Schumacher understands the world we live in now, but also the larger world that we have always lived in. Schumacher's only mistake was an insistence on keeping things short. At 140 pages, he is forced to zoom past vitally important points in a few sentences. This is probably why he called it a "Guide"; those who understand the book will have a lifetime to explore the riches that Schumacher introduces here.

"A Guide for the Perplexed" will not convince everyone. Those who have chosen to view their fellow creatures with scorn and their world with derision will convince themselves that it is worthless. But for those who have an open mind and are willing to explore intellectually, this book could be the starting point of something grand. Do you feel a deep-seated need that your current world can't satisfy? Do you suspect that our wise masters in government, business, and academia are not quite as smart as they claim to be? Have you felt called to something more than making money and worldy praise? Or you distressed by what you see around you: greed, intellectual dishonesty, cruelty, and the crude exploitation of nature, art, and human sexuality? Have you wondered whether something more is out there? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I have three words for you: READ THIS BOOK. It might be a turning point in your life. It certainly was in mine.

I recently read a book titled "How to Think about Weird Things" which basically states, that the mode of logic proposed by Descartes, is the supreme instrument to discover the nature of reality, and remains the best tool that any responsible person can use to guide its life. Indeed, the methodology adopted by its authors to present their arguments is superb, and their demise of meditation, exploration of feelings, emotions and intuition to discover the nature of reality is quite convincing. Nevertheless, it left me anguished, since from their conclusions, the reader could infer that man is just an evolutionary accident and as such he is just subjected to a series of mechanical laws, without any interest or regard for the world of ethics and values. Therefore, the meaning of life is something which can be dictated according to its rational needs. In other words that meaning does not respond to an "adaequatio" to a higher plane of reality. On the contrary, meaning is something artificially adopted by people and societies if it is convenient. Luckily, I found this book by Mr. Schumacher, who with even higher elegance and spotless reasoning explains why reason is not the only tool that could lead us in the right direction if we decide to find what is Truth. I certainly leave to the author to explain his point of view. However, I will allow myself to quote a small paragraph of his book which for me is a very good guide of what is it about.

"Experimentation is a valid and legitimate method of study only when it dos not destroy the object under investigation. Inanimate matter cannot be destroyed, it can only be transformed. Life, consciousness, and self awareness, on the other hand, are damaged very easily and almost invariably destroyed when the element of freedom inherent in this three powers is assumed to be non-existent. It is not simply the complexity at the higher Levels of Being which invalidates the use of the experimental method, but much more important, the fact that causality which rules supreme at the level of inanimate matter, is at the higher levels places, in a subservient position; it ceases to rule and is, instead, employed by the higher powers for purposes unknown at the levels of physics and chemistry".