Customer Reviews

The Spiritual Universe: One Physicist's Vision of Spirit, Soul, Matter, and Self

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This engaging book describes how there is actually only one soul... and how the illusion that many souls seem to exist came about. Wolf sets out to show how the self is fundamentally an illusion, "arising as a reflection of the soul in matter much as a clear lake at midnight reflects the moon." Wolf begins this book with descriptions of Aristotlian and Platonic Soul Physics... and then continues the quest for knowledge of the soul through ancient Egypt and ancient Chaldea, and onward through more modern history. Wolf shares his vision of the soul as a process rather than some "thing" measurable in terms of mechanical materiality -- drawing from Qabalistic, Buddhist, and Christian wisdom as well as a thorough understanding of physics to redefine spirit, soul, matter and self. I found this entire book to be deeply thought-provoking, with Wolf's characteristic playful humor entertaining me throughout. I especially enjoyed the section of THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE that described the importance of secret knowledge, and why it is sacred -- thereby showing us the physics of faith.

I have all (I hope) of Fred Alan Wolf's books. You need to have some background in his thinking in order to truly appreciate the mind-expanding aspect of this book. He is a theoretical Physicist who has found a home in matters of Spiritual Awareness. This book helps a non-rocket scientist type, like me, to get my head around matters of atomic structure, quarks, quantum physics and the like and then to relate them to matters of spirit. The connection is presented in a serious, yet comprehensible manner. I know that a great birthday present would be to listen to a lecture from the author.

As a minister who has been researching spirituality and science for many years, I am pleased to say that FA Wolf has almost hit the nail on the head. His knowledge of physics is unmatched and his reviews of spirituality are complete. I stated almost hit the nail only because he tries to do the impossible, as a scientist, and prove the existence of the soul. This can not be done in any type of lab or experiment since the observer influences the outcome of that which is observed, as was constantly stated throughout his book. The theories he cites are almost mind boggling for the average reader and thinker, but well worth the effort to grasp a better understanding of who we are.

Quite a spread in the ratings, eh? Since I am currently in the process of slowly digesting this mind-bending book, it is apparent to me exactly who amongst the reviewers above simply didn't understand what they had read. The book would earn five stars were in not that I feel Dr. Wolf frequently fails to explain his concepts adequately and in the most lucid manner. I therefore find myself re-reading sentences and even pages frequently and thoroughly and stretching my intellect to the limit to grasp the proper insights. Highly recommended.

Fred Alan Wolf has brought his far out ideas down to earth again for the general audience. The Spiritual Universe is a worthwhile read showing a good comparison to historical spiritual mysticism and physics. The connections between the soul and quantum phenomena are a bit simplistic and must be taken by faith. Yet, the implications of his are ideas are staggering.

This is a great book combining metaphysics and quantum physics! This book would deserve five stars but Dr. Wolf did not provide sufficient examples to explain difficult concepts. I do not mind re-read sentances or even pages to have a deeper understanding of the concepts and this book opened my eyes to the spiritual universe.

After reading Cynthia Larsen's review, I was very intruiged and went and gave this book a good look. What intruiged me about Cynthia's review was her report that the book has the notion that the individual soul is an illusion, that there really is only one universal soul we all participate in. I've felt this way for decades, which drew me to looking more closely into the book.

But about chapter 4, Fred Wolf reveals a fatal flaw in his fundamental premise, which is that the universe expands for billions of billions of years and then begins to contract. Fred claims that his entire argument is based on this assumption. Well, when he made it, it had as good a chance as the the opposite idea that the universe would go on expanding forever. In a footnote to the second edition, he mentions that this fundamental premise has been questioned by recent theories but that the jury was still out. Unfortunately, it no longer is. The most recent and very compelling evidence is that the universe some billions of years ago passed into a phase of ever increasing accelerated expansion. Those are the observed facts. The theory behind it is wrapped up in the idea of dark energy, a (probably) constant anti-gravitational force that has existed since the big bang and will continue forever, gradually causing the entire universe to evaporate into nothingness.

So much for Tipler's notion of the eventual contraction of the universe "squeezing" it back into infinitely rich life in the distant future. Wolf seems to depend a lot on Tipler's ideas along this line.

However, if we taken an even larger view that encompasses our particular universe, there is now the notion that the universe is only one of an infinite number of others that always have existed and always will exit. Within that context, the notion of their being only one soul of which each of us is but a dim reflection still has life. Perhaps Wolf will come out with a new book and salvage his original insight of the "one soul" that will not depend on a scientific theory that has been falsified.

And indeed the notion that there is only one soul is more of an insight than a belief or speculation. The challenge of explaining this insight is twofold. First, explaining what it means. This first part is very important and would thoroughly explain the difference between an insight and a speculation and why this is the former and not the latter. Second, rationalizing it in terms of the latest scientific theory, to show that it is not contradicted by the facts that we know about the way the universe actually is. This of course is what Wolf tried to do. The problem is he based it on a scientific theory which has now been falsified. Time to go back to the drawing board.

When I first received this book, I couldn't put it down. Even though a lot of it seemed to be going over my head, I knew it was resonating with me inwardly. I love the way Fred Alan Wolfe brought his own spirituality into the book mingled with his scientific mind. His vision of the Soul as a Universal Soul was an eye-opener for me. Seeing the Spirit as vibrations of energy with the Soul as a reflection of those vibrations in time was amazing! To read that the self is only an illusion arising from these reflections of Soul in matter.... leaves so much to ponder. I felt drawn to the Soul in a way I'd never felt before with this book. I felt the love and caring of the Soul even though it is a reflection of Spirit...falling from the heavenly realm to see the self and then dream or remember to return to that heavenly realm...WOW!!! I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to 'come out of the box' of conventional teaching and dare to broaden the vastness of their existence.

I found this book very difficult to read. The subject matter is part of the problem, but the author kept saying he would come back to this or that at a later time which tended to get me a bit lost. I also never was real clear in any specific way about the connections between quantum physics and the spiritual world.

I was disappointed in this book. After reading most of Dr. Wolf's other works, I found this one wondering and burdensome. Although writing about a proof of the human soul is no lite matter, I would like to have seen a more imagineable work. I didn't need the copious amount of historical thought about the soul...I wanted to know more "straight forward" what Fred thought about the topic. Not being a phsicist or educated in deep theoretical thinking, I wasn't able to grasp a lot of the concepts presented (trouble I haven't had with Dr. Wolf's other works).

I admire anyone who would tackle this task, but I didn't find the work one of his better efforts.