One Cosmos under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind and Spirit [Paperback]

Robert Godwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2004

One Cosmos under God is an extraordinary book that takes the reader on an intellectual and spiritual journey through the whole of creation. It dares to venture where language cannot go, into the “mind of God” prior to the creation, through to the “mind of the saint” who transcends the culturally conditioned ego, escapes history, and merges with the divine mind. This book is intended to be both serious and entertaining, like an intellectual amusement park ride through the whole of creation. It operates under the premise that if God exists, He has a very sophisticated sense of humor, and the book makes many important points in an ironic or punning way, including in the opening “creation story” and the closing “Cosmobliteration” of language into mystical oneness.>

Editorial Reviews

Review

With creative exuberance and analytic precision.... a soaring tribute to the intellectual and spiritual heights a human being can reach by stretching to take in the whole 14-billion year trajectory of the cosmos.   --What is Enlightenment?

[A]ttempts nothing less than to reenvision the entire story of creation, both scientifically and spiritually, and audaciously and stunningly presents... what a new cosmic narrative could be. --EnlighteNext magazine

[An] amazing journey through the evolution of the cosmos.... This is 21st-century spirituality.... in which science and spirit are not in conflict.  This book has the power to deepen and change one's view of the inner journey.  --American Vedantist

“It is as if this sly author infiltrated the motherboard of God’s computer and, with ecstatic voyeuristic glee, gazed upon the master plan for creation. This work is a daring, daunting, juggling act of so many disciplines that it should be a lofty sequel to DaVinci’s Code. The footnotes alone are worth the read….The context is extraordinary. There is union after union of eastern and western thought in terms of cosmology, religion, philosophy, psychoanalysis, biology, and lots more.” —James S. Grotstein, Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine, author of Who is the Dreamer Who Dreams the Dream?

“A stimulating, literate, and highly enjoyable investigation of the most important philosophic issue of our time: how the life of the mind relates to the life of the universe.” —Richard Smoley, author of Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition and former editor of Gnosis

From the Author

One Cosmos Under God is the fruit of a lifetime of thought attempting to synthesize material from a number of diverse domains, including cosmology, theoretical biology, quantum physics, developmental psychoanalysis, attachment theory, anthropology, history, mysticism and theology, into a coherent, self-consistent, non-reductionistic whole.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 315 pages
• Publisher: Paragon House (November 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557788367
• ISBN-13: 978-1557788368
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,073 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clinical psychologist Robert Godwin is an extreme seeker and off-road spiritual aspirant who has spent no less than one lifetime in search of the damn key to the world enigma. A high school graduate at just seventeen and a-half, Dr. Godwin attended business school until the vagaries of academic probation and expulsion led him to pursue other missed opportunities. Capitalizing on a natural ability to simultaneously enjoy movies while lowering his expectations, Godwin eventually earned a film degree in just four terms (Ford/Carter and parts of Nixon/Reagan). Initially denied admission to graduate school because of "inadequate" "academic" "preparation" (their words), Holy Happenstance intervened in the nick of timelessness, and Dr. Godwin went on to obtain two advanced degrees in psychology without allowing it to interfere with his education or with ongoing spiritual research conducted in his suburban liberatoreum. Lengthy periods there of higher bewilderment and intense non-doodling resulted in important advances in egobliteration, karmannihilation, and general pslackology. At the same time, Dr. Godwin spent many years searching and researching for his book, only to conclude that it did not exist, and that if he ever wanted to read it, he would have to write it himself. Having now read it a number of times, he is happy to share that burden with a wider audience of fertile eggheads interested in peering behind the annoying veil that separates them from ultimate reality. Your smileage may vary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Winner In Many Fields!, January 30, 2005

By 

John A. Speyrer (Opelousas, Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Cosmos under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind and Spirit (Paperback)

The author, a clinical psychologist, has a great writing style and a talented way with words. Not only does he use words insightfully but he also invents them. Godwin believes that there is no reason to dispose of the spirit just because you're a strong believer in scientific methodology. For that reason you will not find science and spirit being incompatible in "One Cosmos under God." He starts with the big bang which created all matter in the universe, then talks about the sticky and difficult problem of life arising from dead matter. I feel he really hits his stride in the section entitled, Psychogensis and loved his telling the story of how we became human and how babies continue to become human. (P. S. It's the same incredible way) Needless to say, this was my favorite part of his book. From there he ties in history, transcendence, religion, the problem of evil and more.
"One Cosmos under God," contains over 500 footnotes and has an extensive bibliography. The one theme which runs throughout this book is "origins" as Godwin delves deeply into understanding and patiently explaing how everything came to be. His use of the concept of "mind parasites" to explain the origins of our individual personalities was brilliant. After a concept is explained, Dr. Godwin does not leave it at that but then explains it over and still once again. But he is such a good wordsmith that you might find yourself rereading a page just to enjoy his writing style. " One Cosmos under God "was not the easiest book I've read but I plan to keep it around as a reference manual. It surely was one of the most genuine learning experiences I've had.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual psychology and much more, December 11, 2005

By 

Bryan D. Hopkins - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Cosmos under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind and Spirit (Paperback)

Since Godwin in this book has written a unified theory of everything from the perspective of a spiritual psychologist, the inevitable comparison will be to Ken Wilber, but in a lot of ways Godwin's book is more accessible than Wilber's brilliant and invaluable work. The book starts as a kind of fundamental apologetics, arguing in the first two "Books" from contemporary physics and biology for the presence of spirit. "Book Three" deals with the development of mind in the race and in the growing child, and this to me is one of the more interesting sections of the entire book as here Godwin explains the "mind parasites" that sabotage human happiness and evolution toward spirit, detailing also how and why these mind parasites arise. "Book Four" deals with spirit. Here Godwin develops an "unsaturated" language for talking about spiritual experience and reality inspired by W. R. Bion's similar language for psychoanalysis. Another of Book Four's highlights is Godwin's ten commandments for "Extreme Seekers."

In a way, the tone of Godwin's work is as important as its content, because the book was able to add new passion to my own spiritual practice, but at the same time that Godwin communicates his own passion and seriousness, he also projects a high humor and lightness not always found in spiritual literature.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, January 17, 2006

By 

R. Mardis (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Cosmos under God: The Unification of Matter, Life, Mind and Spirit (Paperback)

Dr. Godwin has made a remarkable effort here. I recommend this book highly. It will make you think. I just finished it yesterday and am still digesting it's rich bounty of enabling and masterful theory. This book does not instruct as much as it provides for further education and introspection. Dr. Godwin described writing this book... a book he searched for but could not find... so he wrote the book he longed for..himself. I am personally grateful I found this book and that he took the effort and time to write it.