Customer Reviews

Punk Science: Inside the Mind of God

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This book will become your bible (burden?) of proof to the links between religion, mysticism, and science. It breaks down in everyday language the basics of quantum physics and readily sites its sources at the end of every chapter. The very words 'quantum physics' frightens most people as it conjures up thoughts of long, theoretical mathematic equations. You'll find none of that here, only a direct conversational tone, some modern culture wit and easily digestable facts about recent scientific discoveries and how they correlate with the contents of sacred texts and hidden knowledge. The author ties it all together exceedingly well and I can't imagine how anyone could read this book and not come away with a new level of thinking and perspective on the world around and within themselves. Highly reccommended.

The sysnthesis of science and religion really contributes to opening the mind up to the aspects of nature that cannot be felt or seen. This book helps shake up the classical scientific linear model that is engrained in the Western mind and open our eyes to the unconscious and esoteric widsom of the world. This book help start me on a path of orienting my thoughts more my heart and less with my brain and trying to pay attention to the ineffable aspects of life. If you are a science minded person but trying to get your arms around God.... read it!

Manjir Samanta-Laughton's "Punk Science" is worth five stars. I recommend her book because of its groundbreaking insights, and this is despite of the book's significant weaknesses that I will also point out.

Samanta-Laughton (page 13) writes: "The frontiers of science are revealing that the universe behaves as the mystics have told us all along." That I agree with this remarkable observation explains why I am willing to forgive the weaknesses of "Punk Science". Samanta-Laughton tells us that it is consciousness that has been omitted from a scientific world-view that sees the world only as material interactions. She (page 24) writes that, "science has led us full circle: by eliminating all discussion of consciousness, it has found that consciousness is inevitable in our universe and is inherent in all." Consciousness is hard-wired into the fabric of space-time!

Samanta-Laughton (page 38) writes: "Not only do reductionist biologists have difficulty explaining the self-organizing nature of the cell, they have also failed to find satisfactory answers to how life first began. This fact is not apparent from the public image of science, which gives the impression that we know how life began and can continue with cloning sheep." And while referring to Bruce Lipton's work and others, she (page 59) writes: "We used to think of ourselves as victims of our inherited genes and the luck of the draw. Now we are realizing that we can learn to manage our beliefs and perceptions and therefore our own biology." Perception has found an essential ingredient in our biology, and it is the perception horizon that connects directly with consciousness (as we will see).

Samanta-Laughton (page 64) writes - "Every atom, molecule, bacteria and cell is inherently intelligent. The information deep within every subatomic particle shapes life: form embryos to evolution. It is consciousness itself that undergoes evolution and this is reflected in the increasing complexity of species. The information of the form already exists and what we call physical matter follows suit." Her reference to "form" will be a big point, as the topic will eventually turn to a mirror image aspect of our one universe (the provider of form), a topic that will emerge from physics and take us into cosmology. Samanta-Laughton (page 84) refers to Rupert Sheldrake's "morphic resonance," a conception closely related to form.

Samanta-Laughton describes new views of the quantum vacuum (QV), and she treats David Bohm's "holographic universe," and including Karl Pribram's vision of brain function. She (page 109) writes: "Having searched for the exact location of memory in the brain and not found it, does memory exists in the QV?"

Samanta-Laughton (page 111) writes: "Most people have had the experience of thinking hard about a problem, putting the problem aside for some time only to find the answer appears suddenly when the mind is focused elsewhere. It is at these moments of least effort that we seem to find the most inspiration and the solution appears. This could be when we are able to access the QV more effectively. All the information we need is present in the QV, yet we need to relax in order to access it more deeply."

Samanta-Laughton (chapter 8) reads much into string theory (ST), including superstring theory and M-theory. She goes from "the music of the hyperspace" to "the cosmic symphony". Presumably string theory is needed to reconnect to innate vibrations that are discovered in the physiological studies of Valerie Hunt and Keith Wakelam (chapter 9). Samanta-Laughton notes that ST is incomplete, as no reference is made to consciousness. Nevertheless, it seems that Samanta-Laughton has given to ST an early endorsement (including higher dimensional space), and I don't really see that "Punk Science" depends on ST. Samanta-Laughton (page 141) ask: "If we find that there is a correlation between the behavior of the electromagnetic field and a person's thought and feelings, is this proof that our inherent vibrations, our superstrings, are related to consciousness?" Well, the answer is NO! In my view, ST has not proven itself to be empirical science. Otherwise, Hunt and Wakelam have noted real vibrations that imply a curious gradation in human consciousness. Samanta-Laughton (page 142) writes: "As a person makes progress with their inner development, this is reflected in their inherent frequencies. We exist as frequencies of consciousness that changes as we change our minds."

The remainder of "Punk Science" pertains to the "The Black Hole Principle" (BHP); I am of the opinion that this principle should be considered very closely, as it makes good sense. To summarize Samanta-Laughton in my words, the BHP says that black holes (points of singularities in our universe and are concealed by a perception horizon) are connected to higher dimensions where infinite light finds itself engaged with both creation and annihilation. I don't think one can point to the "higher dimensions" that are implied by an abstract ST. Rather, higher dimensions signify a transcendental realm, and this is all that can be said in my view. Chapters 12 and 13 are the best chapters in the book, and there is much dependence of William Tiller's work. In short, we have one world with two aspect: there is the c region limited to travel below the speed of light; and there is the c**2 region for higher speeds. The c**2 region is the mirror image of the c region. The c**2 region unfolds in reverse time, it is the feminine aspect of creation. The c region is the masculine aspect of creation. Between the two is the higher dimensional realm where infinite light makes it passage, but I prefer to call this the transcendental. An electron (matter) seen through c-region eyes turns into a positron (anti-matter) when viewed through the eyes of the c**2 region. But as the positron moves backward through time from an open future, the particle is also transformed into a wave-form to bring out the feminine that gives its support to the masculine.

Samanta-Laughton provides much new evidence to support here view, coming from cosmology and showing the discovery of light and particle emission from black holes and other celestial bodies. The BHP principle is applied not just to black holes, but to other bodies that are less than black holes: neutron stars; suns, planets, people, electrons. And she takes the BHP and applies it to singularities that are found in our every day understanding of things (e.g., storms), from chapter 14 to the end of the book. I will criticize Samanta-Laughton for painting with too broad of a brush making it look like so many vortex-like spirals are the result of the BHP. I have no doubt that the BHP is active somewhere, but such activity might also provide support for a more conventional vortex that emerges from mere classical dynamics.

Smanata-Laughton has changed black holes into agents of creation. She (page 237) writes: "We can modify our black hole picture in the following way. Light travels from infinity and spirals toward our perception horizon. As it does, it also reaches the mirror universe in the c**2 region, just out of our perception. Not only can we find aspects of this concept in mainstream science, it also fits actual observation."

Smanata-Laughton (page 280) seems to think free choice is an illusion: "The parallel worlds are actually the infinite choices that are presented to our infinite selves. They occur in mathematics, but not in the reality that exists in space and time. Within our reality, our lives are predetermined; there is no parallel `you' making another choice. This also means that the choices we make are always the `right' ones because our infinite selves have already chosen them. " But Smanata-Laughton forgets that for our freewill to be real it only means that our ONE infinite self is free. And if we make the `right' choice, the bad karma will come hunting for us. The feminine aspect provides route-invariance for all our `right' choices, and this is far from determinism. Eventually we make our way to our infinite self that is free of karma.

In her last chapter, Smanata-Laughton takes the BHP to George W. Bush, Michael Moore, and the Elliot Wave theory of stock investing. Forgive me if I am unable to see the connection.

Disclosure: My agenda is declared in my profile.

This book will take you leaping and bounding through many of the latest findings in quantum physics. Woven throughout are references to ancient spiritual descriptions of cosmology from the Tao, Gnostic Gospels, and yogic chakra system, illustrating the congruence between those teachings with what we think we know about the nature of creation. The author's insight into the missing link between today's science and spirituality draws these elements together in a new and thought-provoking way.

Not being a scientist, I can recommend this work to any layperson interested in a generalized overview of quantum physics, spiritual teachings, energetic healing and the integration amongst them. The author, a medical doctor, is obviously sincere, humble and curious in her seeking for answers and reconcilation between reductionist science, new science, and spirituality. In presenting her research and findings in an easy-to-read book, she proposes, and supplies evidence for, a new model of the universe's creation, a model different from creationism, big bang theory, and new age beliefs. With her ample bibliography, a reader can easily pursue more study of this relevant and eternal question.

A very inspiring book with tons of new insights that will take you to infinity and beyond. Warm and fun to read.

Because science can explain that an event happened in space/time down to the most infinitesimal starting point, it assumes it has explained why this occurrence took place. In Punk Science, Dr. Samanta-Laughton attempts to address a host of "Big Questions" which, up till now, have been mere paradoxes. In particular she posits that scientists use the act of observation in their studies but do not address how humans are able to observe at all.

At CERN in France, the 17-mile in circumference hadron collider, has been completed. It will attempt to uncover what types of energy/particles were responsible for the Big Bang and its immediate expansion into our known universe.

However, if this underground machine produces even more infinitely small particles with no mass, the question will still linger: why did the Big Bang happen at all and how is it possible that humans are capable of observing the collider's results?

In Punk Science, Doctor Samanta-Laughton provides an extremely persuasive argument for why things are the way they are: the universe, the world, living creatures, human beings, human thought, and the great mystery of the One--God.

Early in Punk Science, Manjir explains why consciousness lies outside the human brain. In our ordinary everyday experience, we observe reality--chairs, cars, people, stars--as stable real objects in space, so much so, that we can measure them in four separate dimensions: length, width, height, and permanence through time. Liquids and gases we measure by volume and/or weight, but we know they are real.

However, under a microscope, every one of these so called real objects is made of molecules which in turn are composed of tiny atoms. The atoms are built from smaller subatomic "thingies" which scientists have broken into even smaller particles. The CERN monster mentioned above is supposed to find the ultimate, infinitely small particles.

But here's the rub. These small particles are not particles at all. Left alone, they are merely strings of probable energy with enormous spaces existing between them. When measured, they only appear as particles without mass.

This is to say that when our brains make a conscious effort to locate them, the particles appear to exist because we stop their energetic movement. Unstopped, they are non-existent. In this sense, it is our act of consciousness that brings possible matter into existence. Thomistic/Scholastic philosophers during Medieval times may have been correct with their directive that things exist either in potentia or in actu (as possible beings or as real things).

Furthermore, the human brain is made of matter. The logical conclusion of this entire argument is this: our consciousness gives human brains, chairs, cars, people, stars, liquids and gases their reality. Thus, consciousness must be an inherent quality of everything that exists. It does not reside in the brain. According to Punk Science, "consciousness is the soul of the universe."

Further on in her book, Manjir discusses the process which brought about life within the universe in the first place. Once again, reductionist biology claims that when conditions were ripe, given enough time and with the proper positive mutation, the very first cell(s) evolved in a primordial soup.

This she does not dispute, but she fervently adds that the molecules of the very first cell and those that followed, surely grouped themselves into plants, animals, and humans, organized by a principle outside the cells themselves--a consciousness--an intelligent awareness which pervades the entire universe. "It is consciousness itself that undergoes evolution and this is reflected in the increasing complexity of species."

Finally, Punk Science explains that current theory about stars imploding throughout the universe is rapidly changing. Traditionally, these disintegrating stars were thought to be destructive events where stellar debris was sucked inward forming a singularity--a black hole in space from which nothing could escape, not even light.

Manjir is one of the scientists ready to reverse black hole thinking. A black hole is not a destructive event but an infinite source of creative light which comes from the formless center of the black hole singularity. Ultimately, this transcendent light cannot be seen nor measured because it normally is beyond our conscious ability to measure it.

Yet Manjir would admit that legitimite mystics, psychics, prophets, and healers can often sense this light energy beyond the "Perception Horizon." It is the light of the spirit world traveling infinitely faster than normal light rays/particles(photons). Punk Science explains that it is within this realm that a theory-of-everything, which eluded Einstein, might finally be explained but certainly not understood.

For those readers fascinated by--or like this reviewer, obsessed with--thoughts about where the universe came from, where it is going, and how we arrived within it, Punk Science is the read for you. The book weaves together diverse scientific theories, faulting some and positing others. Best of all, it offers a new model for the universe that is both satisfying and inspirational.

At times, I found Manjir's ideas and implications hard to follow, but that was probably due to my own ignorance of high level physics and my inability to leap the same logical gaps as she. The simple diagrams in the book certainly helped me in these cases.

Like the BHP (Black Hole Principle) Manjir refers to, Punk Science is a trip spiraling from the seemingly infinite cosmos, downward into the tiniest of particles/wave strings which exist only because we are conscious of them. It is a fun read that will rattle your perception of existence and provide you with thoughtful meditation for a long, long time.

Incidentally, it is this reviewer's opinion that, in many ways, Dr. Samanta-Laughton might view the CERN supercollider as a waste of time and money that could be more humanely spent helping her and other medical doctors heal their patients.

Other thoughtful books:

1 The Courage to Be

2 In the Foothills of Medicine: A Young Doctor's Journey from the Inner City of Chicago to the Mountains of Nepal

3 God Theory, The: Universes, Zero-Point Fields, and What's Behind It All

4 Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy

firstly, i am not a scientist but i do read lots of science materials. So science is one of my key interest. Especially on how things work. I bought this book thinking that it might have some insights into how things are different and how it might be created with "God's conscience" in mind (as the title implied). However, further reading into this book reveals that the author is trying to throw lots of smoke without substance. It made me feel very empty without much knowledge but with more questions.

One of the key questions i have is, did the author did sufficient research to question the answers that she already had in mind? or did she assume only God knows?