Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense: An Inquiry into Science, Philosophy, and Perception

by Steve Hagen

In this wise and original book, science writer and Zen priest Steve Hagen helps us to perceive the world as it is, not merely as we conceive it to be. This revised and updated edition includes new scientific understandings and clarifications of some of the more complex ideas. “Read this it will change how you look at things.” – Nick Herbert, Ph.D., author of Quantum Reality

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Buddhism, Spirituality, Zen, Psychology

303 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2012

About the author

Stephen Tokan "Steve" Hagen, Rōshi, is the founder and former head teacher of the Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a Dharma heir of Dainin Katagiri-roshi. Additionally, he is the author of several books on Buddhism. Among them as of 2003, Buddhism Plain & Simple was one of the top five bestselling Buddhism books in the United States. In 2012, Hagen updated and revised How the World Can Be the Way It Is and published it as Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense—an Inquiry into Science, Philosophy, and Perception.

Reviews

[David Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would say that this is the best explanation of the Buddha's three marks of existence that I've ever read, except that Steve Hagen--who is a prominent Buddhist teacher, and whose other books are from that perspective--only mentions the Buddha in passing in this book, and doesn't mention him at all when discussing the three marks (impermanence, unsatisfactoriness (dukkha), and the abesence of a self). Nevertheless, by the time you reach that explanation, you find what he's saying almost undeniable. Hagen seems to be the one Buddhist teacher who understands contemporary science and math, and who can explain the Buddha's teaching in light of them. This is not an easy read, but I found it a brilliant and fascinating book, especially in its final three chapters. How the old Chinese Zen teachers understood the truths of modern physics hundreds of years ago I will never understand.

[Guillermo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provided a deep exposure to a way of thinking and viewing things that I had only come across superficially in the past. The philosophical aspect behind it left me with an uplifting way to look at things. Additionally, was a math major, and no one in college ever provided as neat a perspective of imaginary numbers as Hagan’s explanation.

[LUCAS H. GOLDING · Rating 5 out of 5]

The World makes sense, Our conceptions of it do not.

For anyone interested and fascinated by Paradox, especially related to human suffering and spirituality I can’t think of a better book. The patience the author, Steve Hagen has for his readers is astounding and quite frankly remarkable. He goes to such great lengths into why Paradox “seems” to exist, but wipes those concepts clean. This is an absolute must read, and actually has the power to make real change in one’s life by doing so. Cannot recommend this book enough.

[Nick Matropuhlus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this cover to cover during a weekend. It could certainly be trimmed in certain areas (especially in regards to his mathematical examples), but it remained a thoroughly engaging read throughout and helped clarify some Buddhist inspired philosophy that I’ve had trouble fully comprehending. I also liked that it delved so deeply into quantum mechanics, explaining not only it’s mystery, but its significance in how it can help us accurately view out own lives (and life itself).

[Maureen Weiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense: An Inquiry into Science, Philosophy, and Perception by Steve Hagen combines Zen Buddhist philosophy with quantum mechanics to explain why we find so many paradoxes in life. The short answer is because we humans use our minds to create stories, rules, explanations, etc. to explain what we perceive. We then use our language to convey these stories, rules, explanations, etc. to ourselves and each other. But, our stories, rules, and explanations never do, and never can, fully explain what we perceive, but we believe that they do.

As long as we don’t look too closely at reality, then our stories, rules, and explanations regarding reality don’t cause too much trouble, except when we come across other people who have different stories, rules, and explanations regarding reality. That’s usually when the wars start breaking out. And, of course, when we do look closely at reality, we find that we can’t actually grasp it; it recedes from us and our attempts to define it. On the other hand, when we look closely at our stories, rules, and explanations of reality, we notice that they are full of paradoxes. And, in our hubris, we assume the problem is with reality or with our perception of reality, instead of with our attempts to define reality. We tell ourselves and others, “Do not believe your eyes, believe commonsense!” As if commonsense were real.

If this makes no sense to you, join the club! Or, watch this YouTube video by Answers With Joe about the Double Slit Experience. https://youtu.be/spKlpexL_Hg?si=00Jqg...

[A.R. Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is exactly what I wanted to read, a philosophical inquiry into the nature of Reality, although I found it riddled with fundamental logical flaws. I don’t think that would upset the author. After all, his main theme is that “liberation lies in just seeing.” Hagen believes in Reality with a capital R as well as Truth, he just doesn’t believe in the existence of the self. More troubling than the illogic, however, is the sense that this writing is an awful lot of effort, full of a great many concepts, from a non-self who wants us to “be at ease with inconceivability.” At times, the use of science and mathematical examples seemed more designed to impress the reader with the truth of the interpretation than it was to attribute meaning to the concepts. I must admit however, as a retired mathematics teacher and believer in Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum” to be extremely intrigued by Hagen’s relating measurement of the quantum world to measurement of the macro world by perception and consciousness. Overall, a very, very, thought provoking book.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Food for the soul and conscious mind

[Zenon Mesić · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Francis Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

A meandering work which wanders across multiple topics. Didn't hold my interest. A narrower focus would have been more engaging.

[Mark Moebius · Rating 4 out of 5]

mostly good

Thought provoking and interesting read. Pretty good summary of how our minds are frequently wrong, influenced by our perception and biases.

[Andy Kurzweil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the book not unpleasant to read but not very inspiring either. For example, that a baby and adult can be both the same person and different persons, is, to my mind, not an insuperable metaphysical problem, as the author seems to think, but, a matter of context. Given that we are finite beings in an infinite universe, it is a wonder the world makes any sense at all and we should celebrate that. I have nothing against "just seeing" (bare awareness, mindfulness) but elevating it to the sole source of Truth (with a capital "T"), as the author seems to do, is, to my mind, no wiser than the same for conceptual thinking.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book that provides both narrative and explanations into the limits of philosophy and science.

The favorite portion of it, is that he gives a good shot at providing a down to earth explanation of Nagarjuna’s four refutations of theoretical production, which is one of the most central and difficult proofs in Buddhism.

[Majken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hagen is a good writer and does a good job explaining and questioning epistemological issues from a zen buddhist perspective. For someone who hasn't been studying epistemology before, this is a great book. If you're an advanced learner, this book might be too light.

[Jonn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book explaining Buddhist philosophy from a purely philosophical, scientific, non-Buddhist perspective.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading

[Egor Azanov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant recontextualization of Madhyamaka seeing through contemporary perspectives