The Reflexive Universe : Evolution of Consciousness [Paperback]

Arthur M. Young (Author), A. M. Young (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1892160005 | ISBN-13: 978-1892160003 | Publication Date: August 1976 | Edition: Underlining

Integrating the findings of modern science with ancient wisdom, this seminal work offers a paradigm for resolving the schism between spirit and matter. Arthur Young's Theory of Process provides a model for the evolution of consciousness out of light (the quantum of action), offering hope for an age in search of value and meaning. This is a facsimile of the original 1976 Delacorte edition, with typographic corrections in the text and a new introduction by Huston Smith.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arthur Middleton Young (1905-1995) was the son of Eliza Coxe and the Philadelphia landscape painter Charles Morris Young. Born in Paris, he attended Haverford School and then earned a degree in mathematics from Princeton. Always intrigued by the challenges of invention, in 1929 he selected the development of the helicopter as his first career goal. For twelve years he worked alone, using small models to test his ideas, until Bell Aircraft Company invited him to build full-scale experimental helicopters of his design. On March 8, 1946, his "Bell Model 47" received the first commercial helicopter license ever issued. By this time, he was embarking on a more philosophical quest. After the shock of seeing nuclear weapons used in World War II, he decided that science was in need of a comprehensive paradigm or "unified theory" which would bring to light the moral and spiritual implications of new scientific knowledge, and help guide its use. To this end, he established the Foundation for the Study of Consciousness in 1952 in Philadelphia, sponsoring parapsychological research and publishing an interdisciplinary journal. In 1973, the Institute for the Study of Consciousness was founded in Berkeley, California. Here, he worked with his students, and hosted symposia until his death on May 30, 1995. Arthur Young's "theory of process" cosmology is presented in his seminal books, THE REFLEXIVE UNIVERSE and THE GEOMETRY OF MEANING, published by Delacorte Press in 1976. In 1984, his helicopter, the Bell 47D1, "an object whose delicate beauty is inseparable from its efficiency," was placed on exhibit as part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Science as usually interpreted does not provide for consciousness. Accordingly, there has arisen a conflict between science and religious thought, a conflict which is frequently dismissed because, it is said, science is not concerned with final issues. Such an interpretation of science has invaded other areas. This is particularly true of the social and human sciences, such as psychology. Here it is difficult to understand how we can have a valid science of man, if that science does not recognize final causes, since for man final causes are of the greatest significance. They are, in fact, the touchstone of his behavior. They inspire his works, his goals, his reponsibilities to his fellows.

"We have a situation in which science, modestly disclaiming any knowledge of the ultimate issues and sticking to its requirement of particles operated on by forces, has become the model. This model has in turn become the ideal of the psychologists who, dismissing all subtlety of the psyche as 'metaphysical,' create their image of man as a biological machine which can have no mind that is not brain, and no psyche that is not explicable as chemical activity, simply because, in their view, the laws of physics do not recognize any other fundamental ingredients on which to draw. This being so, we can no longer forgo an invasion of the inner sanctum of science to see if it is indeed true that the universe contains nothing but billiard balls (particles, drives, response mechanisms, etc.)." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Anodos Foundation; Underlining edition (August 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892160005
• ISBN-13: 978-1892160003
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An evolutionary vision for our times by a Zen cosmologist, November 1, 1999

By 

Ralph Metzner (Sonoma, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Reflexive Universe: Evolution of Consciousness (Paperback)

Arthur Young was one of the most original and penetrating minds of the 20th century, as well as being a gifted and provocative teacher, who had a major influence on my thinking. Primarily a cosmologist, interested in the big picture and the foundations of knowlege, he disciplined himself and tested his insights by spending 17 years on the design and invention of the vertical take-off helicopter. His wide-ranging explorations into the foundations of the natural sciences, as well as the great spiritual and esoteric traditions, led him to formulate an integrative evolutionary cosmology that will, I believe, turn out to have a lasting influence and value.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vast, Profound, Elegant, June 11, 2001

By 

Kenneth James Michael MacLean (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Reflexive Universe: Evolution of Consciousness (Paperback)

In this book, Young describes a "Theory of Process" which takes Spirit into matter and back out again. It is elegantly written, the prose is effortless and along the way he gives insights into the entire spectrum of science, philosophy and metaphysics. Young has been recognized as a genius on the level of Einstein, but I can tell you, Young's theory is far more coherent. You know how a genius can make a remark on a subject, just toss off a remark, that just opens your eyes because it is so succinctly phrased? This book is like that. I consider it to be a work of genius, highly recommended, if you are into the Big Picture.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In My Top 20 of Must Read Books, December 15, 1999

By 

Nathan (Tempe, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reflexive Universe: Evolution of Consciousness (Hardcover)

Its a shame there aren't more penetrating and expansive minds like Young's. He makes one of the best arguments for teleology in nature that I have read. The arguments between religious fundamentalists with their hopeless textual literalism and arrogant scientific materialists shouldn't keep the rest of us from seeing a reasonable and cohesive synthesis between the physical and metaphysical worlds.