The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit [Hardcover]

Joseph Chilton Pearce (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 2002

Uses the insights and research of a new wave of biologists and neurologists to explore how we can transcend our current cultural and societal crises.

• Explains new biological understanding of the human organism having five brains, the fifth of which is located in the heart.

• Explains that transcendence of our current modes of behavior, thinking, and believing require the dynamic interaction of our fourth and fifth brains (intellect and intelligence).

• Explores the idea of Jesus, Buddha, and other historical great beings as models of nature's possibility and our ability to achieve transcendence.

• How is it that we as humans seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Buddha, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet cannot seem to reach the same state?

In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can transcend our current evolutionary capacities and limitations. This latest research identifies our five neural centers--or brains--and establishes that our fourth and most recently developed brain is located in the head while the fifth is located in the heart. It is the dynamic interaction of this head brain (intellect) and heart brain (intelligence), of biology and spirit, that allows transcendence from one evolutionary place to the next--we are, quite literally, made to transcend. Conversely, it is the breakdown of this interaction through the effects of cultural dictates surrounding us from the time we are children that keeps us where we are, mired in the current crises of violence among people and between people and the planet.

But Pearce reminds us that we are not stuck for good. Transcendence is our biological imperative, a state we have been moving toward for millennia.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is a masterpiece of science and spirit, love over law, and the stunning biological truth of the capacity for transcendence that the universe has placed within us. Here, in brilliant and incisive words, is the foundation for a new mind and a new world.” (Jean Houston, author of A Passion for the Possible and Jump Time)

"The Biology of Transcendence will transform your worldview and change forever your understanding of our past, present, and future. Riveting, insightful, and penetrating, Pearce has laid out one of the most startling and powerful visions of our future. . . . You won't be able to put this book down, and when you've read it, you won't be able to stop talking about it with everybody you know." (Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight)

"I've spent over thirty years pioneering wellness programs, always trying to grasp why it is such a struggle for people to attain and maintain the well-being that is their birthright. In the last decade I finally came to appreciate what Pearce discovered long ago: that the heart and key to wellness lies in how we nurture our young--enabling them to thrive, rather than merely survive." (John W. Travis, M.D., M.P.H., author of Simply Well and Wellness Workbook)

"Joseph Chilton Pearce has profoundly altered my view of religion and culture and has left me with both the understanding and the tools to go beyond limitations to the joy of love and all its possibilities." (Carla Hannaford, Ph.D., author of Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head and Awakening the Child Heart)

". . . an engaging blend of scientific research and personal accounts of altered states, [this book] outlines the anatomy of levels of consciousness." (Fran Shaw, Parabola, Fall, 2003)

"Rarely does a single book encompass such far reaching vistas and disturbing revelations as The Biology of Transcendence." (Robert Simmons, The Metaphysical Guide to Tucson Gem & Mineral Shows 2004)

"Revolutionary significance for anyone...seeking clues on how to develop the magnificent but frustrated potential that is our birthright." (Charles Eisenstein, Progressive Health, Summer 2004)

"...a survey of spiritual transcendence so linked to science that it earns a place of respect in the spheres of science, health, and metaphysics." (The Midwest Book Review)

"This book must be read by anyone wanting a better future for the world." (Dr. Roger Taylor, Caduceus, April 2007)

From the Back Cover

NEW SCIENCE / PHILOSOPHY

“The Biology of Transcendence will transform your worldview and change forever your understanding of our past, present, and future. Riveting, insightful, and penetrating, Pearce has laid out one of the most startling and powerful visions of our future. . . . You won’t be able to put this book down, and when you’ve read it, you won’t be able to stop talking about it with everybody you know.”
--Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

“This is a masterpiece of science and spirit, love over law, and the stunning biological truth of the capacity for transcendence that the universe has placed within us. Here, in brilliant and incisive words, is the foundation for a new mind and a new world.”
--Jean Houston, author of A Passion for the Possible and Jump Time: Shaping Your Future in a World of Radical Change

Why do we seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet not seem to reach the same state?

In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can go beyond the limitations and constraints of our current capacities of body and mind--how we can transcend. Recent research in the neurosciences and neurocardiology identifies the four neural centers of our brain and indicates that a fifth such center is located in the heart. This research reveals that the evolutionary structure of our brain and its dynamic interactions with our heart are designed by nature to reach beyond our current evolutionary capacities. We are quite literally, made to transcend.

Pearce explores how this biological imperative drives our life into ever-greater realms of being--even as the cultural imperative of social conformity and behavior counters this genetic heritage, blocks our transcendent capacities, and breeds violence in all its forms. The conflict between religion and spirit is an important part of this struggle. But each of us may overthrow these cultural imperatives to reach “unconflicted behavior,” wherein heart and mind-brain resonate in synchronicity, opening us to levels of possibility beyond the ordinary.

JOSEPH CHILTON PEARCE is the author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Magical Child, and Evolution’s End. For the past twenty-five years, he has taught about the changing needs of children and the development of human society. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Park Street Press; 2nd ptg edition (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892819901
• ISBN-13: 978-0892819904
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 82 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Synthesis of a Lifelong Spiritual Seeker May 15, 2002

By David J. Spillane

Format:Hardcover

It is not often that lifelong spiritual seekers are ever open to new possibilities rather than being content to believe that they have arrived and/or becoming gurus. Likewise most spiritual seekers are inimical to scientific research and knowledge. However, Joseph Chilton Pearce does not fit that bill. Here in this remarkably comprehensive synthesis he demonstrates that even as he nears 80 years of age he is still seeking, still exploring, and still being the humble visionary that he has been for almost 50 years. (He started writing his first book, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, in the late 1950s). In this brilliant book he points out the pitfalls of how we raise, educate and enculturate our children and more often than not short circuit their fullest possible development. Similarly, he presents methods of overcoming those errors and of moving ourselves into an ever-present spiritual mode of perception and behavior. Do we dare? Let's hope so!

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite Book May 2, 2002

By Ernest Cooley

Format:Hardcover

Have you ever had the feeling that you were missing something, that something big was supposed to happen but didn't? Have you ever been in love and literally felt it in your heart? Would you like to overcome your fear reaction and use your highest powers to deal with stressful situations? Would you like to know how we can stop the damage to our children's minds? These things and many more are explained. This book is a roadmap for immediately re-starting human evolution. It bridges biology and meta-physics. If you aren't familiar with Pearce, be forewarned, he will rock your world. Even if you are familiar, you may want to buy an extra copy for a literate friend because you will NEED to talk to somebody about this book. You may not want to give up your copy. I'm re-reading mine and will be indefinitely. In my opinion, this is Pearce's best, a fine distillation of remarkable experiences and work.

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A book written with the clarity of someone who understands deeply the unrealized birthright of humanity August 4, 2005

By Brant

Format:Hardcover

This is an excellent and important book - a must read for those who have noticed the incongruence immanent in our culture, and are concerned about well being of the planet and themselves.

I was raised an evangelical Christian and realized in my late teens that there was a deep disconnect between what Jesus said and how some Christians behaved. They didn't suspend judgment as Jesus said, "Judge not", but condemned and punished those that didn't fit the prescribed norms of the community. The response I got when I addressed that issue was, "We are all sinners: we were born sinners and we need Jesus in our lives to save us from sin. This is what everyone must do if they don't want to go to hell."

It was a steady diet of fear, fear and more fear. Someone handed me a small brochure this morning that asked me on the front cover, "Where will you spend Eternity?" It goes on, "1. You have sinned against God. 2. God is a holy, sin-hating God. 3. God's holy nature demands that all sin must be punished. 4, Though God hates sin and has to punish it, He loves you so much that He came down to earth and received the punishment that you as a sinner deserved when He suffered and died on the cross." There is more but I've quoted you enough to get the drift of my early enculturation.

Chilton Pierce contrasts the Paul oriented culture of Christianity, as we know it, the church that espouses damnation, guilt and fear, and Jesus as the Model of the transformed life. Chilton says, "Christianity turned Jesus from our evolutionary model into the greatest tool of culture. Converted into the Christ, Jesus became the Mediator.... No longer the model of higher development, the one who draws toward him through lifting us up, Jesus as the Christ became a go-between, mediating between the wrath of that same old tyrant Jehovah and the same old sinful, victimized, and helpless human". He says elsewhere, "The Christian accusation of sin is part of the very fabric of our culture, and the more subtle its presence, the more powerful its effect." "By their fruits you will know them" is the one observation no power system can tolerate, above all the institution of Christianity."

Chilton speaks with the clarity of someone who understands deeply the unrealized birthright of humanity, built into our brain, which he beautifully and concisely describes. He created for me a scientific basis for spiritual truth describing the natural development cycle of the quadrants of the brain as an evolution into transcendence.

After teaching 36 years at the college level, a persistent trend has become obvious to my colleagues and me: the ever-diminishing capacity of our students over the years to do assignments. While I have been very consistent with my core content, students are proving to be less and less capable on average. Much conversation and debate about this perceived problem in its many forms (I was recently told that over 30 percent of our students have a clinically diagnosed psychological or learning disorder) has consumed many hours of our academic lives. Until this book I had no clue as to "real" causes behind the student's diagnosed disorders. With the breadth and insight Mr. Pierce brings to the dialogue, I now have a more substantial understanding of the issues we face. What I once saw as the possibility of transcendence for everyone became far more real when I realized that it is built right into the "hardware", the brain. The "software", enculturation, is at the root of our unrealized potential.

Before you can get somewhere you have to know where you are. This book provides a very accurate description of where we are and where we can possibly get to as a society. I'd like to recommend Ariel and Shya Kane's books, "Working on Your Self Doesn't Work" and "Working On Your Relationship Doesn't Work" as compliments to Mr. Pierce's work. You will find that what they offer works as a catalyst for "transformation" as they put it. What Chilton describes as our present state and possible transcendent state are the meat and potatoes of the Kanes' work. They support those who are willing to take a look at their lives and their enculturation. By simply observing behavior, without shame or judgment, lives transform. I have found their books a great resource for living a transcendent life. I have found that working with them in New York and spending time with them their workshops has been the best thing I've done for myself in the 67 years I've been on this planet. "By their fruits you will know them." can be applied to the Kanes who walk their talk. They are the real thing!

Thank you Chilton for an excellent book. Read more ›

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for People Interested in Consciousness January 21, 2003

By Charles O. Bubar

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Reviewed by Elliot A. Ryan and Charles O. Bubar

Many books have one or a handful of fundamental concepts. This book has dozens, woven together in a powerful fabric to provide intelligent clothing for a new paradigm of transcendence. A major argument of this book is that transcendence, the ability to go beyond limitation and restraint, is our biological birthright, built into us genetically, and blocked by enculturation. It is an inspired and heretical work as all great truths are heretical in the context of the culture that encounters them.

Depending on your cultural and religious background, it will be either joyful or somewhat disturbing to read. Nevertheless, for those who deeply understand its profound implications, The Biology of Transcendence can be a blueprint for a new paradigm in child development.

In this powerful work, Pearce draws on research from a wide range of the physical, social, biological, and medical sciences. His bibliography contains over 100 sources from Frederick Leboyer on birth and bonding to Paul MacLean on the brain, Jean Piaget on development, John and Beatrice Lacey on the heart, the Holy Bible on religion, David Bohm and Rupert Sheldrake on science, and Rudolph Steiner on spirituality.

Joseph Chilton Pearce reveals the biological and neurological underpinnings that help us discover the underlying principles of our own deepest nature.

This is a book which can be productively read numerous times, each time grasping more of the interrelationships among the fundamental concepts and understanding their implications for our own lives and those of our children.

This book deserves to be a best seller, yet even as the Bible is a best seller, the Bible is often not read by those who own it - or if read, may be fundamentally misunderstood.... In the same way that the Bible is a profound affirmation of spiritual possibility and an indictment of "the world", The Biology of Transcendence is an affirmation of our transcendent birthright and an indictment of cultures which oppose this birthright.

An important goal of culture is to inhibit destructive impulses and behaviors. Unfortunately, culture can result in a failure in nurturing and a consequent failure in the brain development of the child's prefrontal cortex - the brain system which, when developed and integrated, internally inhibits the same destructive impulses and behaviors in children and adults which culture has failed to externally control.

Pearce offers evidence of the growing failure in nurturing of children in the United States and the increase in destructive impulses and behavior. By the end of the 20th Century, 6000 American children and teens were being killed annually by their peers. Further, suicide has become the third highest cause of death by youth between ages 5 and 17, with suicide attempts in this age group occurring on the average every 78 seconds.

Pearce shares many of the transcendent experiences of his own life of 83 years, which provided his powerful personal motivation to understand the true nature and source of these experiences and the framework of child development principles which can open this potential to our children.

In explanation of "unconflicted behavior" he describes two such instances from his own life that occurred due to his discovery in his early 20s of how "to bypass my body's most ancient instincts of self-preservation, which resulted in a temporary absence of all fear and subsequent abandonment of all caution. This enabled me, at particular times, to accomplish things that would have been considered impossible under the ordinary conditions of the world," (1) such as sleep and operate a check-proofing machine at the same time plus take customary coffee breaks and (2) climb a sheer cliff straight up from the ocean with an overhang at the top. His implicit trust in the force of unconflicted behavior operated the check-proofing machine and propelled his body up through an avalanche of dust and debris. Unconflicted behavior allows no space for doubt.

Pearce sees these fundamental concepts as part of the process of building lifeboats to ferry humankind out of a growing chaos and into a new realm of transcendent possibility. These concepts provide affirmation of the innate intelligence of mothers who possess strength and self-confidence, who are deeply spiritual in a personal sense, who exhibit freedom, and who exude inner security, confidence, and the intelligence of the heart. For fathers, their most important role is to provide mothers with a safe space, free from fear during pregnancy, childbirth, and their son's or daughter's early childhood years, so that the child's safe space is never in question. After the first three years, the father provides the model for bridging between the nest and the world. Read more ›