Customer Reviews

The Self-Aware Universe

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've recently returned from a journey to the rain country of western Oregon where I discovered "monistic idealism." It's about to become a philosophy of choice in the consciousness revolution.

I gathered this intelligence at the Eugene home of Amit Goswami, Professor of Physics at the Institute of Theoretical Studies at the University of Oregon. I arranged this special interview because of Goswami's new book, The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World. (Tarcher/Putnam). I wanted to meet the person who authored such a book and to make sure I was correctly understanding its many profundities.

At first glance, the book appears to be one of those "new science" books that have become so popular. It does describe quite well the basic experiments of quantum physics, the ones that produce such paradoxes as the dual identity (wave and particle) of electrons and their ability to communicate at a distance with each other instantaneously (non-locality). But rather than simply leaving us with a "Gee, whiz, isn't this incredible?" impression that the real world isn't as we assumed, Goswami boldly, yet very thoughtfully, introduces us to monistic idealism and suggests we accept it as a foundation for a new, and quite compelling, worldview.

Monistic idealism is the academically correct name given to a philosophical position that once was considered pre-scientific. It existed before the advent of what philosophers today label as materialistic dualism,. or what we might call the current official scientific world view. Materialistic dualism is the assumption that physical matter is the primary reality and that mind is separate from, but dependent upon, matter. In this view, mind is a secondary phenomena, or, to use the favored term, is an "epiphenomenon," meaning that it is some kind of separate, extra stuff that bubbles harmlessly out of brains. Monistic idealism, however, turns things around. In this position (dating back to Plato in the West, to Hinduism and Buddhism in the East), there is but one mind and it is the primary reality. Matter is an expression of mind, not separate from mind, but mind manifested materially. The worldview expressed in Edgar Cayce's psychic readings is a perfect example of monistic idealism. Cayce's formula, "Spirit is the Life, Mind is the Builder, the Material is the Result," for example, gives consciousness a very creative role in manifesting the material world.

Goswami's book basically says, "Look, if you'll adopt the viewpoint of monistic idealism, then everything--the paradoxes of quantum physics, the puzzle of individual consciousnesss and free will, the enigma of psychic abilities, the universals in spiritual teachings--everything falls into place!" His book is a journey of creative thinking, providing the most credible and complete tour of the worldview we call "The New Paradigm" that I've yet read.

One of the early warning signs of this new paradigm, which Goswami refers to as the "consciousness revolution," was Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: The observer affects the observed. The scientist looks into the microscope at nature to find nature responding to the observation. How did nature know there was a scientist looking? It takes an electron, it turns out, to know an electron. When the scientist flashes a light on atomic structures, the photons of light disrupt the atoms observed. This simplistic explanation, however, is misleading because it hides the greater truth. Goswami points out that we habitually use materialism to assume that there is a fixed material reality--independent of the observer--one that is simply rebuffed by our gaze. Reality is not fixed, however, and that is where the observing consciousness makes a difference. There is literally a quantum leap of creativity that comes into play as the observer, searching for the material electron "thing" within the etheric electronic wave activity, forces the many possibilities into a single, manifested actuality by the very act of observation The quantum leap is, according to Goswami, like an act of grace--creative, unpredictable, synchronistic and "non-local" (psychic). In talking with him, I realized that it took a quantum leap in my own imagination to fully digest all the implications of monistic idealism. It was easy to understand the ethical implication that we each have to take responsibility for our choices. Goswami emphasizes that it make a difference which ideals we live by, because they determine which potentialities in the unmanifest, quantum mind will materialize through the channel of our individual lives.

Individuality, by the way, especially in the context of a universal consciousness, becomes an intriguing question. Edgar Cayce once had a dream envisioning the mind as being like a single star with spokes radiating out to form individually functioning conscious minds. This model expresses exactly the transcendent, unitary mind assumed by monistic idealism. The spokes even anticipate Goswami's formulation as to how and why the unitary mind creates the impression of separate individual minds.

Why, if consciousness is truly unitive and singular, do we have the experience of separate minds? The brain, according to Goswami, is a measuring instrument. It collapses the non-local (a.k.a., infinite and eternal) quantum mind into concreteness and specificity as manifested through individual experience. Our individual "minds" are necessary to "realize" (make real) the material world. We are co-creators of reality, yet created ourselves to help reality become aware of itself. Goswami refers to the theory of "

Most books that explore the intersection between science and spirituality seem to be written by non-scientists who explain some basic scientific principles and then extrapolate wildly to support their spiritual viewpoint.

Goswami, a physics professor, approaches it from the other direction. He carefully lays out a scientific theory - essentially that matter is a phenomina of consciousness rather than vice versa.

In the process he navigates through various topics in physics, mathematics, religion, and philosophy in order to provide the necessary components for us to get a grip on his theory of "monistic idealism" which he proposes as an alternative to the current "material realism" (matter is all that is real) which pervades scientific thought today.

I don't want to imply that I'm stupid, but the only fault I found with the book was that much of his jargon and scientific references went right over my head - so I came away with a good understanding of his theory, but also with the impression that much of it's depth and subtlties were lost on me.

I'm not sure how this book was received by the author's peers (if at all) but he impressed me as a "blow-the-lid-off-the-subject" type of scientist who is willing to ruffle feathers and push beyond the traditional limitations of his field to integrate various disciplines in a search for a truth that doesn't just look right on paper but also jives with human experience and the soul.

Well worth reading.

Amit Goswami invites us to suppose, for a moment, that our universe is self-aware. Next, let's imagine how this very consciousness of the universe creates the physical world around us. Goswami further asserts that we are all part of THE SELF-AWARE UNIVERSE, and shows us how to lift the veil of material monism that tends to obstruct our ability to peer into the cosmic mind.

Goswami utilizes findings from recent experiments in quantum physics to provide ample evidence of his assertion that old assumptions based on material monism are out-dated and no longer valid. Goswami points out that: we live in a non-local universe, where everything is interconnected to everything else at the most fundamental level; we cannot hope to observe anything without affecting what we are observing; we can only predict the outcome of events in probabilities (not certainties); and there is something much more to this universe than just the matter and energy we can measure.

With a brilliant mind and warm heart, Goswami guides the reader on a wonderful journey. We discover objects that exist in two places at once, effects that precede their causes, the implications of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment, and the fascinating world of paradoxes and tangled hierarchies.

At the end of this journey, we find ourselves wondering who we truly are. Goswami writes, "the self of our self-reference is due to a tangled hierarchy, but our consciousness is the consciousness of our Being that is beyond the subject-object split. There is no other source of consciousness in the universe. The self of self-reference and the consciousness of the original consciousness, together, make what we call self-consciousness."

I highly recommend this enchanting book!

It has been said that philosophers never answer any questions, they simply pose them. Amit Goswami does both. Armed with a keen understanding of philosophy and an academic background in theoretical sciences, Goswami is able to both succinctly state the essence of a problem and logically hypothesize an answer, while fending off the criticisms offered by others in his field.

Goswami tackles what I consider the most important question of our time: What are the implications of quantum physics for our everyday reality? Numerous attempts have been made to make sense of the oddities and paradoxes of quantum physics, and there have been as many as a dozen proposals to explain these paradoxes. Among the propositions have been Bohr's Copenhagen Interpretation, Everett's many-worlds interpretation, and what some have called the most naive explanation--Consciousness Created Reality. The advocates of this Idealist philosophy, which includes John Von Neumann, Eugene Wigner, Fred Alan Wolf, and the author of this book, unashamedly insist that objects such as the moon don't exist until they are observed.

Goswami doesn't reject other interpretations of reality outright, but rather, he incorporates, and clarifies some of the best points into his strong anthropocentric philosophy of Monist Idealism, which posits that the universe exists in a transcendental domain of potentiality, and it is we, the observer, who collapse this potential into the corporal world.

The fact that observers have not been here during a majority of the universe's existence is no problem for Goswami, as he explains that a myriad of universes have existed in a transcendental realm outside of space/time, and an observation "now" can go "back-in-time" to create the universe we know today. Stange as it might seem the notion that a choice in the present can affect past events is strongly demonstrated in Wheeler-style delayed choice experiments.

One of the thorny issues that always crops up with Consciousness Created Reality is the division that seems to exist between the observer and the observed. Why do we feel separate from what we observe, and why is there a sense of a mind/body duality? Goswami contends that the brain/mind is a measuring device with both classical and quantum components. We remain largely unaware of the creative choice that our subconsious mind makes when it exercises a collapse. The choices we make are very creative when we are young, but as we become more conditioned the choices are skewed toward predictable patterns. It is these conditioned patterns and our memories of past choices that give us the sense of our separate "selves"--our individual egos.

Having read "The Conscious Universe" and "The Unconscious Universe" I was a bit leery about picking up yet another book with a similar title. I was glad that I did. "The Self-Aware Universe" is one of those landmark publications that can change ones entire view of reality.

For me, "Consciousness Created Reality" has always been the most romantically satisfying explanation of the paradoxes of quantum experiments. Goswanmi has made it the most scientifically satisfying as well.

This review submitted by David Kreiter, Author of: "Quantum Reality: A New Philosophical Perspective".

The book starts with a brief and incomplete introduction to quantum mechanics. It assumes you have no previous knowledge of the subject but I have to admit that, having prior knowledge of quantum mechanics, I found Goswami's introduction some what deficient. He conceals many interpretations of quantum mechanics and only speaks of the one interpretation that makes his thesis plausible - which undermines the strength of his argument.
He then goes on to explain the different hypotheses of material realism and also briefly explains the different theories of mind. One weakness in Goswami's book is his irritating usage of bed time stories to explain difficult concepts. I am sure he could have done that, as hundreds have done before him, without resorting to such distractions. I found the part where he talked about the 'quantum and classical selves' a very interesting and fresh notion. Understanding it definetly creates a place for a new conceptualisation of the relationship of consciousness to our brain/mind. The final chapter is basicly an exposition of goswami's own beliefs which he tries to convince us are the plausible conclusions of his thesis. I was left smiling and somewhat peacful but utterly not convinced. To me, it seems Goswami, following on the mood of his book, made a huge but irrational 'quantum leap'.

There is not much I can add to the extremely thorough reviews already written, but I wanted to add my five stars to this remarkable integration of science, consciousness and spirituality. Although Goswami is hardly the first to attempt to link physics and spirituality, he goes beyond mere analogy and includes more science than some of the other efforts. I found the book thought-provoking and highly readable, with one caveat: the introductory chapters (first 20 pages or so) were a little tedious. Once he gets into the meat of the book, it's a fun read.

The discovery of quantum physics as a science began a century ago and yet is still held at arms length by the majority of scientists despite the fact that many of the concepts are now utilized in modern technology.

The reasons for this are that quantum physics is viewed from the mind set of classical physics, otherwise termed material realism.

In this fascinating and broad minded book, Amit Goswami discusses the world view of material realism. He then provides a beautifully clear explanation of the main points and implications of quantum physics and the nature of reality. He states that consciousness and not matter is primary and describes his new paradigm of monistic idealism.

The old paradigm of material realism claims that reality is outside of us and is governed by the laws of classical physics. It sees objects as solid and independent from or how we observe them. This is a universal view of causality and determinism where humans are essentially mechanistic, emotionally driven carbon units. Life is predestined and free will is an illusion with consciousness merely a phenomenon of matter.
The science of this world relies on empirical evidence gathered by strong objectivity and meaning is derived through reductionist techniques. From this stance there is no real consideration of the perception of the observer determining the reality they experience.

Quantum physics has essentially demolished material realism through overwhelming evidence. However, Amit Goswami asks "why does it not speak for itself?" The problem is that quantum physics is observed and interpreted from the small window of classical physics and that is why it appears to be paradoxical and strange. There is a huge urge to make it fit the predictability of classical physics.

Fully embracing quantum physics means that we accept that the observer affects that which is observed. This also implies accepting that everything exists as superpositions of waves of probabilities until observed, that the universe is non local and that we are not separate from our environment.

Amit Goswami also reflects on the current non-compatibility of science and spirituality and suggests that accepting the full implications of quantum physics into our lives would dispense with the need to have such divisions and disparities.

To take these concepts further I'd recommend "A Beginner's Guide to Creating Personal Reality" by Ramtha.

This book is not for the casual reader, it's not an easy read (found myself frequently referring to the glossary and also rereading several sentences & even paragraphs to ensure I grasped all of it), it's intense, it's not so much as the way the book is written but it's the nature of the topic itself, it's complex (the book covers wide ranging topics ...Physics, Quantum Physics, Mysticism, Religion, Spirituality, Mind-Body Connection, Philosophy, Psychology...Etc.) nevertheless, Goswami has done a commendable job explaining some difficult concepts and putting forward his argument that our consciousness creates the material world. The book is delightful in the sense that every so often Goswami comes up with a neat little tale or a story or a quote or fable or a startling observation to illustrate his point.

I liked Part 1, where the concepts from old classical physics (some of the concepts felt very familiar but not the terminology for them ...Strong objectivity, Causal determinism, Locality, Material monism, Epiphenomenalism) are discussed and compared with quantum physics topics such as the Wave-Particle Duality, Quantum Jump, Quantum action-at-a-distance, Non-locality...Etc (there are several books that discuss quantum world but this is the only one that I have read that will discuss quantum physics keeping old physics as a backdrop). Part 1 leads (via The Philosophy of Monistic Idealism: this is what the book is about) into Part 2.

I liked Part 3, titled "Self-Reference: How the One Becomes Many", specifically the chapters about the Mind-Body problem and the search for the Quantum Mind (brain-mind has both classical and quantum components).

Part 4, titled "The Re-Enchantment of the Person" (although very informative and well researched) feels less focused; there are so many tangents to so many different ideas & topics, it feels diffused and deviated yet some how complete at the same time.

This is definitely worth reading, I recommend this book

Goswami merges science and spirituality like no other. You don't need to possess a scientific mind to follow most of his argument. The universe is indeed self-aware and Goswami proves that fact, merging east and west in way that makes perfect sense.

Really good books always challenge you, and the response to the challenge can be quite varied.

Some people respond with a wary eye but an open mind.

Others don't care.

Still others enthusiastically embrace any challenge and work with it to see where they get to in the end.

Then there are the people who just as enthusiastically resist any open challenge to an established, "gut" idea. These people respond irrationally, with fear and excessive caution. Many of the reviews of this book fall into the latter category.

Yes, Goswami's interpretation of quantum mechanics has been disputed. What this has to do with anything is rather irrelevent. To the gentleman who named Polkinghorne by name, Polkinghorne's interpretation of physics has been challenged numerous times as well. There is no one interpretation physicists agree on. Look at the results and you can even see that not all of them agree the Earth exists!

Further, this gentleman points out that the reformulation of Descartes' Cogito argument could well be "God chooses, therefore I am". How silly this is supposed to be a criticism. Anyone who understands the book knows that Goswami is talking about a transcendent mind, not a personal one. He IS talking about God.

It is true that Goswami does not hold up every so-called "paranormal" event as evidence of his idealist philosophy. Again, this is irrelevent. Science always progresses this way--a new model appears and allows us to explain something we previously though impossible, but it does not logically follow that everything we thought impossible is now explainable by the model, now does it?

I was ready to blast Goswami's point about the OBE (Out-of-body-experience) because I read the Amazon.com review that declares Goswami debunks the OBE because it suggests dualism (which it does not, at least necessarily). This is not at all what Goswami does--what he says in the book is that the appearance that the mind has escaped the body is false, but the event is not. Goswami basically points out that if all that exists is (fundamentally) mind, then the OBE is merely a "shift of perception" if you will in the universal Mind. If I sit across from my friend, there is no difference between perceiving my body through her mind or through my own, because our minds are really the same since both derive from and reside within the transcendent mind--it is the assumption that they are not which leads to the mistaken belief the mind has somehow "left" the body.

Goswami makes a fine argument for demolishing material realism. It's not that hard, to be honest, because you have to be a blockhead to be a materialist (pun intended). Goswami's monistic idealism is certainly not the only possible scientific viewpoint (there are dozens of contenders) but so far this is the only view that bridges a gap between science and religion so well.