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Mysticism and the New Physics
Nowhere is the “paradigm shift”—the radical change of perspective that is sweeping the Western world—advancing so rapidly as in physics. Mystics and “idealists” have always propounded the idea that the world is an illusion. Now quantum physics is putting forward theories that reinforce this belief.
Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions and prejudices, always intrudes, even in the most scientific of experiments, making true objectivity impossible to achieve.
The new physicists state that reality is a combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocal, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This “omnijective view” of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.
Until recently, the empirical approach of physicists such as Newton has taught us that the world exists with or without human consciousness to observe it. But we can never be totally objective about reality. The human mind, with all its preconceived notions and prejudices, always intrudes, even in the most scientific of experiments, making true objectivity impossible to achieve.
The new physicists state that reality is a combination of the laws of the physical world, quantifiable and unequivocal, and the subjective viewpoint of the observer. This “omnijective view” of the universe challenges all our most deeply held scientific beliefs and could radically change the way we view reality in the future. As our constructs are amended to this shift in approach, we can anticipate monumental changes in Western thought.
185 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
About the author
Michael Talbot
58 books319 followersMichael Talbot was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1953. As a young man, he moved to New York City, where he pursued a career as a freelance writer, publishing articles in Omni, The Village Voice, and others, often exploring the confluence between science and the spiritual.
Talbot published his first novel, The Delicate Dependency: A Novel of the Vampire Life as an Avon paperback original in 1982; though never reprinted, it is regarded a classic of the genre, frequently appearing on lists of the best vampire novels ever written, and secondhand copies have long been expensive and hard to find. His other horror titles, both cult classics, are The Bog (1986) and Night Things (1988).
But despite the popularity of his fiction among horror fans, it was for his nonfiction that Talbot was best known, much of it focusing on new age concepts, mysticism, and the paranormal. Arguably his most famous and most significant is The Holographic Universe (1991), which examines the increasingly accepted theory that the entire universe is a hologram; the book remains in print and highly discussed today.
Michael Talbot died of leukemia in 1992 at age 38.
Talbot published his first novel, The Delicate Dependency: A Novel of the Vampire Life as an Avon paperback original in 1982; though never reprinted, it is regarded a classic of the genre, frequently appearing on lists of the best vampire novels ever written, and secondhand copies have long been expensive and hard to find. His other horror titles, both cult classics, are The Bog (1986) and Night Things (1988).
But despite the popularity of his fiction among horror fans, it was for his nonfiction that Talbot was best known, much of it focusing on new age concepts, mysticism, and the paranormal. Arguably his most famous and most significant is The Holographic Universe (1991), which examines the increasingly accepted theory that the entire universe is a hologram; the book remains in print and highly discussed today.
Michael Talbot died of leukemia in 1992 at age 38.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 25, 2012
مایکل تالبوت- نویسنده کتاب- از جمله چهره های مطرح موج جدید پژوهش های ماورایی است. وجه ممیزه موج جدید با جریانات قبلی مسائل ماورایی، دارا بودن روحیه علمی و اطلاع از آخرین فرضیات علم و توانایی تلفیق آنهاست. شکافی که مسائل بنیادی فیزیک کوانتوم در سطح سخت علم کلاسیک ایجاد کرد، روز به روز عمیق تر می شود، چنان که امروزه کمتر دانشمند مطرحی را می توان یافت که بر جزمیت علم پوزیتیویستی به مانند سابق تکیه کند.
تالبوت این کتاب را در اوایل ورود خود به قلم زنی در این حوزه ها نگاشته و شاید از این روی، لحن تندتر، بی پرواتر و در نتیجه غیر دقیق تری نسبت به اثر مهم دیگرش، یعنی «جهان هولوگرافیک» داشته باشد. به شخصه کتاب دومی را ترجیح می دهم و برایش وزن و اعتباری بیشتری قائلم. با این حال کتاب عرفان فیزیک جدید، برای آشنایی با شخصیت و نظرات نویسنده و تطور این نظرات در خلال سالیان، مفید است.
نویسنده کوشیده تا برای مسائلی نظیر ذهن خوانی، تناسخ، علوم خفیه و هر چیز دیگری که سابقاً خرافه تلقی می شد، دلائلی علمی اقامه کرده و از هم همهمتر توجیه نماید.
ترجمه کتاب نیز روان و قابل فهم است، گو اینکه دارا بودن برخی اطلاعات قبلی درباره بعضی مباحث، ، امکان استفاده از کتاب را بیشتر می کند.
تالبوت این کتاب را در اوایل ورود خود به قلم زنی در این حوزه ها نگاشته و شاید از این روی، لحن تندتر، بی پرواتر و در نتیجه غیر دقیق تری نسبت به اثر مهم دیگرش، یعنی «جهان هولوگرافیک» داشته باشد. به شخصه کتاب دومی را ترجیح می دهم و برایش وزن و اعتباری بیشتری قائلم. با این حال کتاب عرفان فیزیک جدید، برای آشنایی با شخصیت و نظرات نویسنده و تطور این نظرات در خلال سالیان، مفید است.
نویسنده کوشیده تا برای مسائلی نظیر ذهن خوانی، تناسخ، علوم خفیه و هر چیز دیگری که سابقاً خرافه تلقی می شد، دلائلی علمی اقامه کرده و از هم همهمتر توجیه نماید.
ترجمه کتاب نیز روان و قابل فهم است، گو اینکه دارا بودن برخی اطلاعات قبلی درباره بعضی مباحث، ، امکان استفاده از کتاب را بیشتر می کند.
August 24, 2011
We lost a fine science writer when Michael Talbot died so young. He had the ability to discuss the abstract and unusual not just as intellectual topics but as relational issues, suggesting their implications for life on earth. The new physics implies many unusual and startling possibilities for the human species,and it addresses the quantum physics such that the lay reader can hang right with him. Talbot's talent is his excellent capacity for synthesis, interspersing science, philosophy, metaphysics and mysticism in a manner that fills the reader with awe.
November 15, 2021
Can’t vouch for the scientific integrity of the book, but it’s an interesting read if only for the philosophy of it. Even the concepts that were way above my head were engaging enough to hold my interest. I’d recommend the Dancing Wu-Li Masters before this if you’re just getting into the topic though.
February 3, 2025
enjoyed the clear, concise explanations of some of the quantum theory. less interested in the new agey mysticism stuff. too much like listening to someone who ripped a bong and thought saying things like "what if all was one and one was none and nothing was everything" adds up to having a personality. basically if you've seen Lucy with Morgan Freeman and ScarJo you've got the gist of what Talbot thinks is cool about pairing quantum physics with those people who can walk on coals without crying about it.
personally, the ways in which certain western philosophical traditions prefaced some of what quantum theory tells us about "objective reality" is more interesting to me, particularly those which also influenced marxism and dialectical materialism. i got an uneasy nihilistic sense from some of the eastern traditions Talbot talks about, as opposed to the collective liberation tradition that i think still matters to people who need healthcare and adequate housing even if whatever they're doing at CERN tells us its all a bit of an illusion. but maybe I was skimming to quickly.
personally, the ways in which certain western philosophical traditions prefaced some of what quantum theory tells us about "objective reality" is more interesting to me, particularly those which also influenced marxism and dialectical materialism. i got an uneasy nihilistic sense from some of the eastern traditions Talbot talks about, as opposed to the collective liberation tradition that i think still matters to people who need healthcare and adequate housing even if whatever they're doing at CERN tells us its all a bit of an illusion. but maybe I was skimming to quickly.
March 11, 2026
ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING OF THE ‘NEW SCIENCE’ BOOKS TO COME FROM THE ‘NEW AGE’ MOVEMENT
Michael Coleman Talbot (1953-1992) was an American author of several books (such as ‘The Holographic Universe,’ 'Beyond the Quantum,’ etc., as well as novels) [He was also considered "a role model for gay intellectuals." He died of lymphocytic leukemia.]
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1980 book, “In my work ‘A Mile to Midsummer’ I examined collective visionary phenomenon from UFOs to appearances of the Virgin, and reached a similar conclusion. We HAVE dreamed our world. Our concepts of time and space, the very structure of the universe, are more intimately related to the problems and phenomenon of consciousness than we have seriously expected. In ‘Midsummer’ I suggested that there is no strict division between subjective and objective reality; consciousness and the physical universe are connected by some fundamental physical mechanism. The relationship between mind and reality is not subjective or objective, but ‘omnijective.’ An omnijective concept of the universe is by no means news. Over two thousand years ago the Hindu Tantric tradition postulated a similar philosophy. According to Tantra, reality is illusion, or maya. The major error we commit in not perceiving this maya, say the Tantras, is that we perceive ourselves as separate from our environment. The Tantras are very explicit on this point. The observer and objective reality are one.” (Pg. 1-2)
He states, “The most astounding transformation of world view that the new physics has undertaken is this---the recognition that consciousness does play a role in the so-called physical universe. Since the time of Newton, physics has always tried to maintain a strictly empirical approach… It doesn’t matter which physicist or which mind makes the observation. It’s the ‘same’ universe and that’s what counts. But the new physics … of quantum theory---the branch of physics which deals with very small ‘quantities’ of matter and energy---has found IT DOES MATTER… The outcome of any particular experiment no longer seems to depend upon the ‘laws’ of the physical world, but also upon the consciousness of the observer.” (Pg. 4)
He continues, “The recognition of the role of consciousness in the processes of the physical universe is a radical departure from classical physics. But it is what the mystics have been telling us all along. This, then, is the guiding topic of this book---to point out the confluence of mysticism and the new physics; to offer a perspective of the universe under which this new and subsuming structure; and to point out the radical, even awesome, implications of such a perspective.” (Pg. 4-5)
He explains, “neurophysicist Karl H. Pribram hypothesizes a holographic model of consciousness... As Pribram suggests, ‘Holograms are the “catalysts of thought.” Though they remain unchanged, then enter into and facilitate the thought process.’ There are universes inside our heads---universes superimposed upon universes. A passage from the Upanishads illustrates the point beautifully: ‘When one goes to sleep, he takes along the material of this all-containing world, himself tears it apart, himself builds it up… There are no blisses there, no pleasures, no delights. But he projects himself blisses, pleasures, delights… For he is a creator.’” (Pg. 55-56)
He suggests, “A holographic view of consciousness (and, indeed, a holographic view of the entire universe) is, perhaps, the closest physics can come to mysticism without the two losing their identities. One is reminded of the metaphor of Indra’s net mentioned in the ‘Avatamsaka Sutra’ in which the universe is viewed as a sort of cosmic network of interpenetrating things and events.” (Pg. 59)
He observes, “The existence of an ‘elsewhere’ region beyond the light cone and beyond space-time has long been suggested by mystics. Now it is being suggested by physicists. This has awesome implications for our view of the shape of time.” (Pg. 97)
He proposes, “We can find a clue to our puzzle in Carlos Castaneda’s ‘Journey to Ixtlan.’ Castaneda is an anthropology student chosen by don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian sorcerer, to be his apprentice.” (Pg. 131) [However, I would strongly suggest that those interested in Castaneda read ‘Castaneda’s Journey’ and ‘The Don Juan Papers’ by Richard de Mille, and ‘A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda’ by his former wife, Margaret Runyan Castaneda.]
He points out, “the new physics is offering us a scientific basis for religion. This is something new in the history of Western civilization, and its impact will certainly be felt in every aspect of our lives. But a word of caution: the religion offered by the new physics is not a religion of values or absolute principles. It offers us no strict delineations of heavens or hells. It is a religion based on the psychology of human consciousness---indeed, on the psychology of the entire universe as a conscious force acting upon itself. In this new religion we will not find the rules of the game so long sought after by philosophers and theologians. What we will find is a glimpse into ourselves, a bit of cosmic hide-and-seek in which we realize that no rules as such can be found. We make the rules. We play the game.” (Pg. 161)
He states, “The convergence of mysticism and the new physics has brought us to the gateway of our HUMANNESS. Beyond lies something that is literally beyond our language… This is the secret. Each time the kaleidoscope turns over in our head we see a universe, new and unexpected. We travel through the worlds in search for something that forever lies within us... the eternal delight of the game player. Our evolution has not come to an end. It is not an absurd round, but an adventure in consciousness. The Great Bliss continuously arises. If we simply realize our ability to experience, the thousand-petaled lotus will unfold before our eyes.” (Pg. 176-177)
He summarizes, “There are two interesting points to be learned from the convergence of mysticism and the new physics. The first is that the ultimate nature of reality transcends language. Time and again the paradoxes meet in the new physics reveal this. The complementarity of waves/particles, the ‘yes and no’ logic of the quantum principle, the beyond real and unreal nature of the interpenetrating universes---all transcend the limited dualities of our language. That is because language is based upon discrimination.” (Pg. 179)
This book was/is a ‘classic’ in the ‘Bantam New Age’ line of books, as was/is his ‘The Holographic Universe.’
Michael Coleman Talbot (1953-1992) was an American author of several books (such as ‘The Holographic Universe,’ 'Beyond the Quantum,’ etc., as well as novels) [He was also considered "a role model for gay intellectuals." He died of lymphocytic leukemia.]
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1980 book, “In my work ‘A Mile to Midsummer’ I examined collective visionary phenomenon from UFOs to appearances of the Virgin, and reached a similar conclusion. We HAVE dreamed our world. Our concepts of time and space, the very structure of the universe, are more intimately related to the problems and phenomenon of consciousness than we have seriously expected. In ‘Midsummer’ I suggested that there is no strict division between subjective and objective reality; consciousness and the physical universe are connected by some fundamental physical mechanism. The relationship between mind and reality is not subjective or objective, but ‘omnijective.’ An omnijective concept of the universe is by no means news. Over two thousand years ago the Hindu Tantric tradition postulated a similar philosophy. According to Tantra, reality is illusion, or maya. The major error we commit in not perceiving this maya, say the Tantras, is that we perceive ourselves as separate from our environment. The Tantras are very explicit on this point. The observer and objective reality are one.” (Pg. 1-2)
He states, “The most astounding transformation of world view that the new physics has undertaken is this---the recognition that consciousness does play a role in the so-called physical universe. Since the time of Newton, physics has always tried to maintain a strictly empirical approach… It doesn’t matter which physicist or which mind makes the observation. It’s the ‘same’ universe and that’s what counts. But the new physics … of quantum theory---the branch of physics which deals with very small ‘quantities’ of matter and energy---has found IT DOES MATTER… The outcome of any particular experiment no longer seems to depend upon the ‘laws’ of the physical world, but also upon the consciousness of the observer.” (Pg. 4)
He continues, “The recognition of the role of consciousness in the processes of the physical universe is a radical departure from classical physics. But it is what the mystics have been telling us all along. This, then, is the guiding topic of this book---to point out the confluence of mysticism and the new physics; to offer a perspective of the universe under which this new and subsuming structure; and to point out the radical, even awesome, implications of such a perspective.” (Pg. 4-5)
He explains, “neurophysicist Karl H. Pribram hypothesizes a holographic model of consciousness... As Pribram suggests, ‘Holograms are the “catalysts of thought.” Though they remain unchanged, then enter into and facilitate the thought process.’ There are universes inside our heads---universes superimposed upon universes. A passage from the Upanishads illustrates the point beautifully: ‘When one goes to sleep, he takes along the material of this all-containing world, himself tears it apart, himself builds it up… There are no blisses there, no pleasures, no delights. But he projects himself blisses, pleasures, delights… For he is a creator.’” (Pg. 55-56)
He suggests, “A holographic view of consciousness (and, indeed, a holographic view of the entire universe) is, perhaps, the closest physics can come to mysticism without the two losing their identities. One is reminded of the metaphor of Indra’s net mentioned in the ‘Avatamsaka Sutra’ in which the universe is viewed as a sort of cosmic network of interpenetrating things and events.” (Pg. 59)
He observes, “The existence of an ‘elsewhere’ region beyond the light cone and beyond space-time has long been suggested by mystics. Now it is being suggested by physicists. This has awesome implications for our view of the shape of time.” (Pg. 97)
He proposes, “We can find a clue to our puzzle in Carlos Castaneda’s ‘Journey to Ixtlan.’ Castaneda is an anthropology student chosen by don Juan Matus, a Yaqui Indian sorcerer, to be his apprentice.” (Pg. 131) [However, I would strongly suggest that those interested in Castaneda read ‘Castaneda’s Journey’ and ‘The Don Juan Papers’ by Richard de Mille, and ‘A Magical Journey with Carlos Castaneda’ by his former wife, Margaret Runyan Castaneda.]
He points out, “the new physics is offering us a scientific basis for religion. This is something new in the history of Western civilization, and its impact will certainly be felt in every aspect of our lives. But a word of caution: the religion offered by the new physics is not a religion of values or absolute principles. It offers us no strict delineations of heavens or hells. It is a religion based on the psychology of human consciousness---indeed, on the psychology of the entire universe as a conscious force acting upon itself. In this new religion we will not find the rules of the game so long sought after by philosophers and theologians. What we will find is a glimpse into ourselves, a bit of cosmic hide-and-seek in which we realize that no rules as such can be found. We make the rules. We play the game.” (Pg. 161)
He states, “The convergence of mysticism and the new physics has brought us to the gateway of our HUMANNESS. Beyond lies something that is literally beyond our language… This is the secret. Each time the kaleidoscope turns over in our head we see a universe, new and unexpected. We travel through the worlds in search for something that forever lies within us... the eternal delight of the game player. Our evolution has not come to an end. It is not an absurd round, but an adventure in consciousness. The Great Bliss continuously arises. If we simply realize our ability to experience, the thousand-petaled lotus will unfold before our eyes.” (Pg. 176-177)
He summarizes, “There are two interesting points to be learned from the convergence of mysticism and the new physics. The first is that the ultimate nature of reality transcends language. Time and again the paradoxes meet in the new physics reveal this. The complementarity of waves/particles, the ‘yes and no’ logic of the quantum principle, the beyond real and unreal nature of the interpenetrating universes---all transcend the limited dualities of our language. That is because language is based upon discrimination.” (Pg. 179)
This book was/is a ‘classic’ in the ‘Bantam New Age’ line of books, as was/is his ‘The Holographic Universe.’
July 10, 2018
I'm just not into science and physics. And I'm actually giving up reading these scientific physics related books even though they are linked with mysticism (in case of this book).
I do love the parts when Michael puts the connections from the physics point of view to the mystic part. Alas, it's not my type of book hence I'm giving it 3 stars.
I do love the parts when Michael puts the connections from the physics point of view to the mystic part. Alas, it's not my type of book hence I'm giving it 3 stars.
January 26, 2023
Amazing!
I loved how convincing it was and how sweet and exact talbot had explained everything.
Made me love Mysticism.
I loved how convincing it was and how sweet and exact talbot had explained everything.
Made me love Mysticism.
August 29, 2026
I have a weakness for books willing to ask enormous questions, and Mysticism and the New Physics asks one of the biggest: why do some of the strangest implications of modern physics sound so eerily familiar to people who have spent time studying mysticism?
Michael Talbot published this book in 1980, and reading it now feels like encountering the laboratory in which many of the ideas he would later develop in The Holographic Universe were first being assembled. Quantum uncertainty, the observer, wave-particle duality, holographic models of consciousness, space-time, many worlds, interconnectedness, and the relationship between consciousness and physical reality all become opportunities for Talbot to place modern physics into conversation with mystical experience.
I find that conversation endlessly fascinating, even when I think Talbot occasionally pushes the parallels farther than the science allows.
The most important idea here for me is the destabilization of ordinary reality. Human perception evolved to help an organism navigate its environment, and the world presented to consciousness is extraordinarily convincing. Objects appear solid. Time seems to move inexorably from past through present into future. Things occupy definite locations. The distinction between observer and observed feels obvious. The individual self seems to occupy a particular body looking outward upon an independently existing world.
Then physics begins describing reality at scales inaccessible to ordinary perception, and that intuitive universe becomes considerably stranger.
Mysticism approaches the problem from the opposite direction. Instead of instruments aimed outward, mystical traditions developed practices aimed inward: meditation, contemplation, trance, sensory restriction, ritual, prayer, ecstatic techniques, and deliberate alterations of consciousness. Again and again, mystics report that ordinary distinctions between self and world, subject and object, multiplicity and unity can dissolve or radically transform.
The similarity is tantalizing.
But similarity is where I think we need to remain careful. A mystical experience of unity isn't quantum entanglement, and wave-particle duality doesn't prove a particular metaphysical tradition correct. Physics describes physical phenomena mathematically and experimentally. Mysticism describes transformations in consciousness and claims about ultimate reality derived from experience. When metaphors migrate too freely between those domains, beautiful analogies can quietly become claims that neither side has actually demonstrated.
I don't think that caution ruins Talbot's project. It makes the project more interesting.
Psychology gives us another indispensable layer that I wish discussions of quantum mysticism incorporated more often. The reality we consciously experience is already constructed through perception. Attention selects. Memory reconstructs. Expectation influences interpretation. The nervous system converts physical stimuli into an experienced world of color, sound, texture, depth, continuity, and meaning. Our experienced reality is therefore inseparable from the biological and psychological processes through which we encounter it.
That doesn't mean physical reality is simply created by thought. It means the relationship between reality-as-it-is and reality-as-experienced is already philosophically complicated before we invoke a single mystical proposition.
Altered states make that complication impossible to ignore. Meditation can transform the experienced boundary of the self. Psychedelic states can radically alter time, space, identity, and meaning. Dreams construct convincing environments without ordinary sensory input. Mystical states can produce an overwhelming experience of unity in which the distinction between observer and observed seems to disappear.
Neuroscience can investigate the brain states accompanying these experiences. Psychology can study their phenomenology and consequences. Neither discipline automatically settles the metaphysical question of whether the experiences reveal something true about reality beyond the brain.
That remaining question is exactly where Talbot interests me.
I was particularly drawn to the holographic ideas that appear here and later become central to his work. The possibility that information could be distributed in ways that challenge our ordinary intuitions about location gives Talbot a conceptual bridge between physics, consciousness, and mystical ideas of wholeness. Again, I regard this more comfortably as a provocative model than an established explanation of consciousness. But it is a remarkably fertile model to think with.
It also inevitably leads toward parapsychology.
Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis all become conceptually difficult because our ordinary model assumes isolated minds inhabiting separate bodies in a locally organized universe. If psi phenomena are genuine, some aspect of that picture is incomplete. Perhaps the problem concerns consciousness. Perhaps it concerns information. Perhaps our intuitions about space and time are inadequate. Perhaps something considerably stranger is happening.
Physics doesn't currently give us permission to simply announce the answer, but it certainly gives us reasons to be humble about assuming reality must conform to human intuition.
That humility is where science and mysticism genuinely meet for me.
Both, at their best, can produce encounters with the inadequacy of ordinary language and common sense. A physicist reaches mathematical structures that cannot be faithfully translated into everyday imagery. A mystic reaches experiences described as ineffable because ordinary subject-object language no longer seems adequate. Those are different paths and different kinds of knowledge, yet both can reveal how provincial our normal picture of reality may be.
Magick lives somewhere in this conversation as well. Magical traditions have long assumed that mind and cosmos participate in relationships invisible to ordinary perception. Correspondence, divination, sympathetic action, altered states, and mystical union all challenge a worldview in which consciousness is merely a passive spectator trapped inside the skull.
I don't need quantum mechanics to prove those traditions correct. I would actually prefer that occultists stop asking physics to provide instant scientific validation for metaphysical claims. Magick becomes much more intellectually interesting when we allow physics, psychology, neuroscience, parapsychology, and mystical experience to contribute different pieces without pretending they are saying exactly the same thing.
Talbot occasionally crosses that boundary more enthusiastically than I would. Some of the physics is also inevitably dated because this book belongs to a particular moment in the history of popular quantum speculation. But I can forgive a great deal when a writer makes me think this much.
What survives beautifully is Talbot's curiosity.
What if consciousness is more fundamental than our prevailing models assume? What if the division between observer and universe is less absolute than it appears? What if mystical states tell us something important about the architecture of human consciousness? What if some of their metaphysical intuitions eventually find unexpected correspondences with our scientific understanding of reality? And what if psi phenomena represent another piece of the same unfinished puzzle?
I don't think Mysticism and the New Physics answers those questions.
I think it does something I value more: it makes them difficult to stop asking.
For a book written more than forty years ago, that's an impressive achievement. Some of Talbot's bridges between physics and mysticism need stronger guardrails than he gives them, but I would still rather cautiously walk across those bridges than pretend the territories on either side have nothing to say to one another.
Michael Talbot published this book in 1980, and reading it now feels like encountering the laboratory in which many of the ideas he would later develop in The Holographic Universe were first being assembled. Quantum uncertainty, the observer, wave-particle duality, holographic models of consciousness, space-time, many worlds, interconnectedness, and the relationship between consciousness and physical reality all become opportunities for Talbot to place modern physics into conversation with mystical experience.
I find that conversation endlessly fascinating, even when I think Talbot occasionally pushes the parallels farther than the science allows.
The most important idea here for me is the destabilization of ordinary reality. Human perception evolved to help an organism navigate its environment, and the world presented to consciousness is extraordinarily convincing. Objects appear solid. Time seems to move inexorably from past through present into future. Things occupy definite locations. The distinction between observer and observed feels obvious. The individual self seems to occupy a particular body looking outward upon an independently existing world.
Then physics begins describing reality at scales inaccessible to ordinary perception, and that intuitive universe becomes considerably stranger.
Mysticism approaches the problem from the opposite direction. Instead of instruments aimed outward, mystical traditions developed practices aimed inward: meditation, contemplation, trance, sensory restriction, ritual, prayer, ecstatic techniques, and deliberate alterations of consciousness. Again and again, mystics report that ordinary distinctions between self and world, subject and object, multiplicity and unity can dissolve or radically transform.
The similarity is tantalizing.
But similarity is where I think we need to remain careful. A mystical experience of unity isn't quantum entanglement, and wave-particle duality doesn't prove a particular metaphysical tradition correct. Physics describes physical phenomena mathematically and experimentally. Mysticism describes transformations in consciousness and claims about ultimate reality derived from experience. When metaphors migrate too freely between those domains, beautiful analogies can quietly become claims that neither side has actually demonstrated.
I don't think that caution ruins Talbot's project. It makes the project more interesting.
Psychology gives us another indispensable layer that I wish discussions of quantum mysticism incorporated more often. The reality we consciously experience is already constructed through perception. Attention selects. Memory reconstructs. Expectation influences interpretation. The nervous system converts physical stimuli into an experienced world of color, sound, texture, depth, continuity, and meaning. Our experienced reality is therefore inseparable from the biological and psychological processes through which we encounter it.
That doesn't mean physical reality is simply created by thought. It means the relationship between reality-as-it-is and reality-as-experienced is already philosophically complicated before we invoke a single mystical proposition.
Altered states make that complication impossible to ignore. Meditation can transform the experienced boundary of the self. Psychedelic states can radically alter time, space, identity, and meaning. Dreams construct convincing environments without ordinary sensory input. Mystical states can produce an overwhelming experience of unity in which the distinction between observer and observed seems to disappear.
Neuroscience can investigate the brain states accompanying these experiences. Psychology can study their phenomenology and consequences. Neither discipline automatically settles the metaphysical question of whether the experiences reveal something true about reality beyond the brain.
That remaining question is exactly where Talbot interests me.
I was particularly drawn to the holographic ideas that appear here and later become central to his work. The possibility that information could be distributed in ways that challenge our ordinary intuitions about location gives Talbot a conceptual bridge between physics, consciousness, and mystical ideas of wholeness. Again, I regard this more comfortably as a provocative model than an established explanation of consciousness. But it is a remarkably fertile model to think with.
It also inevitably leads toward parapsychology.
Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis all become conceptually difficult because our ordinary model assumes isolated minds inhabiting separate bodies in a locally organized universe. If psi phenomena are genuine, some aspect of that picture is incomplete. Perhaps the problem concerns consciousness. Perhaps it concerns information. Perhaps our intuitions about space and time are inadequate. Perhaps something considerably stranger is happening.
Physics doesn't currently give us permission to simply announce the answer, but it certainly gives us reasons to be humble about assuming reality must conform to human intuition.
That humility is where science and mysticism genuinely meet for me.
Both, at their best, can produce encounters with the inadequacy of ordinary language and common sense. A physicist reaches mathematical structures that cannot be faithfully translated into everyday imagery. A mystic reaches experiences described as ineffable because ordinary subject-object language no longer seems adequate. Those are different paths and different kinds of knowledge, yet both can reveal how provincial our normal picture of reality may be.
Magick lives somewhere in this conversation as well. Magical traditions have long assumed that mind and cosmos participate in relationships invisible to ordinary perception. Correspondence, divination, sympathetic action, altered states, and mystical union all challenge a worldview in which consciousness is merely a passive spectator trapped inside the skull.
I don't need quantum mechanics to prove those traditions correct. I would actually prefer that occultists stop asking physics to provide instant scientific validation for metaphysical claims. Magick becomes much more intellectually interesting when we allow physics, psychology, neuroscience, parapsychology, and mystical experience to contribute different pieces without pretending they are saying exactly the same thing.
Talbot occasionally crosses that boundary more enthusiastically than I would. Some of the physics is also inevitably dated because this book belongs to a particular moment in the history of popular quantum speculation. But I can forgive a great deal when a writer makes me think this much.
What survives beautifully is Talbot's curiosity.
What if consciousness is more fundamental than our prevailing models assume? What if the division between observer and universe is less absolute than it appears? What if mystical states tell us something important about the architecture of human consciousness? What if some of their metaphysical intuitions eventually find unexpected correspondences with our scientific understanding of reality? And what if psi phenomena represent another piece of the same unfinished puzzle?
I don't think Mysticism and the New Physics answers those questions.
I think it does something I value more: it makes them difficult to stop asking.
For a book written more than forty years ago, that's an impressive achievement. Some of Talbot's bridges between physics and mysticism need stronger guardrails than he gives them, but I would still rather cautiously walk across those bridges than pretend the territories on either side have nothing to say to one another.
October 31, 2014
this is a very poor attempt at synthesizing "quantum physics" and "mysticism." talbot fails to even show the most basic understanding of either quantum physics or mysticism, making many elementary errors obvious to a student of either. he cites books that he clearly has no idea what they're actually saying, taking a sentence or two out of context to demonstrate whatever insane point he is attempting to make. one example that comes to mind, he cites david bohm's pilot wave theory of one wave connecting the universe in one paragraph, the next he talks about hugh everett's many worlds interpretation, and then he'll say that everything in reality is a dream, despite the obvious fact that both bohm and everett's theories are _realist_ theories, designed explicitly to avoid nonrealism. similarly he fails to demonstrate that he understands anything at all about mysticism, which to him is the most wishy-washy new age mangling of what is mainly supposed to be buddhism and hinduism but fails really to be anything but nonsense. christian mysticism is mentioned only in the weirdest and most obtuse way that demonstrates that he has an even worse understanding of catholicism than he does even the eastern religions. this book is worthless to everyone. if you are at all interested in either mysticism, the new physics or the combination of both there are much better books in all them. in fact pretty much any book will have more valuable things to say than this. as a student of physics and religion this book is honestly offensive to me that this was even sold, i sincerely hope no one is misled by this, and most certainly hope nobody ever buys this book again.
July 4, 2008
Many years ago I read that it may be possible that what we understand as the world may be an illusion. Michael Talbot's book shows how quantum physics is putting forward theories that reinforce this belief. This will cause monumental changes in Western thought. Very refreshing...
Currently Reading
January 4, 2011Slightly over my head reading that connects current developments in quantum physics with the rituals and ways of the mystics from ancient times.
August 21, 2011
Another good Michael Talbot read - see my review of The Holographic Universe
July 10, 2012
Glad I read this.
August 14, 2022
Me encantó, el estilo de Michael Tabolt, su estilo de escritura es muy ameno, parece una conversación que elabora un dialogo de diversas citas bibliograficas, comenta los pensamientos de pensadores y cientificos de la epoca, y expone los hallazgos de temas complejos con palabras simples, compreensibles y con una bibliografia solida si es de interes leer mas al respecto.
Este libro ha sido una lectura gratificante, usualmente, pienso que cuando leemos algo nuevo, necesitamos obtener contexto sobre las intenciones, deseos, creencias y esperanzas del autores. Así mismo, tampoco podemos tomar de primera intencia todas las ideas como nuestras, debemos interpretar, analizar y compreender el autor. Leer el material algunas veces facilita la compreensión, reflexionar, pensar, meditar y desarrollar nuestro propio proceso de conciencia para tomar ideas y buenos conocimientos y otros interrogativos y compararlos con nuestro conocimiento y luego podremos aprovechar este tipo de libros.
En pocas palabras si pudiera describir el libro, es material de introducción sin embargo no tan introductorio, desarrolla de forma excelente la comparación del pensamiento místico y religioso que existe por milenios, y las interpretaciones de esa epoca sobre estudios y pruebas de laboratorio como teoria sobre la fisica moderna, posiblemente no seria recomendado para una pauta academica en el buen sentido que un estudiante desera palabras más complejas, detalles más laboriosos sobre los conceptos y pensamiento teorico, sin embargo, no deja de ser una lectura recomendada para un estudiante observar como temas complejos se pueden escribir con tanta soltura y agilidad que cautive el lector como si fuera una conversación de 1 a 1.
La versión que leí era la versión revisada publicada en los años 90's, es grandioso leer las palabras finales del autor por su revisión del libro en los años 90's, es grandioso notar como él se describia como un joven entusiasta, creyente que la fisica iba abordar temas mucho más rapido, sin embargo, no lo fue en ese entonces, aún así un creyente que de alguna forma en el futuro la ciencia y la fisica continuará describiendo de mejor forma la realidad de la materia y de que forma nuestra mente es participante del proceso de crear y observar.
Frases interesantes.
Este libro ha sido una lectura gratificante, usualmente, pienso que cuando leemos algo nuevo, necesitamos obtener contexto sobre las intenciones, deseos, creencias y esperanzas del autores. Así mismo, tampoco podemos tomar de primera intencia todas las ideas como nuestras, debemos interpretar, analizar y compreender el autor. Leer el material algunas veces facilita la compreensión, reflexionar, pensar, meditar y desarrollar nuestro propio proceso de conciencia para tomar ideas y buenos conocimientos y otros interrogativos y compararlos con nuestro conocimiento y luego podremos aprovechar este tipo de libros.
En pocas palabras si pudiera describir el libro, es material de introducción sin embargo no tan introductorio, desarrolla de forma excelente la comparación del pensamiento místico y religioso que existe por milenios, y las interpretaciones de esa epoca sobre estudios y pruebas de laboratorio como teoria sobre la fisica moderna, posiblemente no seria recomendado para una pauta academica en el buen sentido que un estudiante desera palabras más complejas, detalles más laboriosos sobre los conceptos y pensamiento teorico, sin embargo, no deja de ser una lectura recomendada para un estudiante observar como temas complejos se pueden escribir con tanta soltura y agilidad que cautive el lector como si fuera una conversación de 1 a 1.
La versión que leí era la versión revisada publicada en los años 90's, es grandioso leer las palabras finales del autor por su revisión del libro en los años 90's, es grandioso notar como él se describia como un joven entusiasta, creyente que la fisica iba abordar temas mucho más rapido, sin embargo, no lo fue en ese entonces, aún así un creyente que de alguna forma en el futuro la ciencia y la fisica continuará describiendo de mejor forma la realidad de la materia y de que forma nuestra mente es participante del proceso de crear y observar.
Frases interesantes.
"Let us admit what all idealists admit — the hallucinatory nature of the world. Let us do what no idealist has done -let us search for unrealities that confirm that nature. I believe we shall find them in the antinomies of Kant and in the dialectic of Zeno ... << The greatest wizard (Novalis writes memorably) would be the one who bewitched himself to the point of accepting his own phantasmagorias as autonomous apparitions. Wouldn't that be our case. >> I surmise it is so. We (that indivisible divinity that operates in us) have dreamed the world. We have dreamed it as enduring, mysterious, visible, omnipresent in space and stable in time; but we have consented to tenuous and eternal intervals of illogicalness in its architecture that we might know it is false." - Jorge Luis Borges, Other Inquisitions
“We are not born into the world. We are born into something that we make into the world.”
June 2, 2012
Michel Talbot seakan mengajak kita bertamasya ke wilayah mistik kuno, lebih tepatnya kearifan kuno, dan fisika baru, kemudian mempersilahkan kepada kita untuk menjumput persamaan-persamaan yang ada diantara wilayah tersebut. Apakah ada “sesuatu” yang memang bisa dijumput dari dua wilayah yang sekilas bertolak belakang itu? Kalau “ada” dimana letak titik pertemuan tersebut?
Membicarakan mistis tentunya tidak lepas dari hal-hal yang di luar nalar manusia. Mistis lebih cepat merebak di kalangan masyarakat dibandingkan dengan dunia ilmiah. Hal ini tidak lepas, kemunculan mistis memang lebih dahulu dibandingkan dengan cara berpikir ilmiah. Bahkan, keberadaan mistis sampai hari ini pun masih tetap eksis, dan digandurngi masyarakat dalam hal tertentu.
Fisika, baik lama maupun baru, merupakan metoda ilmiah. Kelahirannya didasarkan dari serangkain percobaan-percobaan yang mengikuti aturan ketat sehingga dihasilkan kesimpulan yang bisa diterima nalar. Fisika kini telah melanda kehidupan kita, meski tergolong baru namun kehadiran sungguh berasa dalam kebudayaan manusia. Teknologi juga menjadi roda yang turut melajukan perputaran kemajuan fisika dalam kehidupan ini.
Kemajuan-kemajuan fisika tidak hanya sebatas dapat dipandang mata, tetapi juga dunia subatomik yang notabenenya tidak bisa dilihat dengan mata telanjang. Kemajuan ini tentunya semakin melempangkan derap laju sains fisika untuk merambah lebih jauh ke dalam permasalahan-permasalahan yang mungkin selama ini diyakini tidak mungkin terjamah.
Fisika dalam balutan sejarah memang selalu mengundang pro dan kontra bagi banyak kalangan, khususnya agamawan yang lebih dulu bertengger sebagai komando perjalanan manusia. Sebut saja, Galileo yang menyatakan bahwa bumi bukanlah pusat tata surya, sebaliknya mataharilah sebagai pusat tata surya kita. Implikasi transformasi geosentri ke heliosentris menyebabkan Galileo harus berhadapan dengan kalangan agamawan.
Melihat dua wilayah yang mempunyai cara kerja yang berbeda bagaimana mungkin kita akan menemukan titik temu? Apakah yang menggerakkan Michel Talbot begitu yakin bahwa antara fisika baru dengan mistisme mempunyai titik singgung?
Berawal dari Werner Heisenberg yang mengemukakan Prinsip Ketidakpastiannya yang terkenal dan mengawali sebeuh perdebatan filosofis di antara para fisikawan kuantum yang masih belum juga terputuskan. Menurut Heisenberg bahwa pengamat mengubah apa yang diamati karena tindakan pengamatannya itu. sekilas pandangan Heisenberg menyinggung tentang maya, salah satu ketidak-logisan arsitektur yang dibicarakan Borges.
Menurut fisika baru, ruang-waktu dan pengamat tidak terpisahkan. Ketiganya saling mempengaruhi satu sama lainnya. Tidak ada waktu yang absolut. Tidak ada pembagian yang tegas antara realitas subjektif dan realitas objektif; kesadaran dan alam fisik dihubungkan oleh sesuatu mekanisme fisik yang fundamental. Hubungan antara pikiran dan realitas ini tidak bersifat subjektif atau objektif; tetapi “omnijektif” (hlm. 2)
Konsep omnijektif sudah lama bergulir dalam tradisi Tantra Hindu yang mempostulasikan filsafat yang serupa. Menurut tantra, realitas adalah ilusi atau maya. Kesalahan pokok kita yang tidak memahami maya ini, kata Tantra, adalah bahwa kita memahami diri kita sebagai bagian terpisah dari lingkungan. Tantra sangat eksplisit dalam menegaskan pandangan ini. Pengamat (observer) dan realitas objektif adalah satu.
Halaman awal, bagian satu dan dua, pembaca mungkin terasa bosan untuk mencerna pemaparan Talbot. Wajar jika itu terjadi, sebab di awal-awal Talbot masih membahas tentang fisika barunya, membahas sejarahnya meski ada sedikit persinggungan dengan mistisme tetapi itu tidak terlalu kental. Baru di bagian tiga Talbot menyinggung lebih dalam kesamaan konsep fisika baru dengan mistisme.
Seperti masalah materi, sains Barat mencoba memahami materi dengan membagi-bagi dalam blok-blok bangunan dasar. Namun, permasalahannya bagaimana caranya memahami blok-blok tersebut. Max Planck, mengatakan bahwa cahaya itu bercatu dan berisikan paket-paket energi kecil yang disebut kuanta. Persamaan Enstein, E=MC2, menyiratkan bahwa materi merupakan energi yang terperangkap. Tampaknya bahan primordial alam semesta adalah gelombang/pertikel-pertikel dan kuanta tersebut. gelombang dan partikel, dua jenis entitas yang saling bertentangan dan komplementaritas yang menempati blok-blok dalama katergori analog dengan kucing Scrodinger.
Teori konsep materi tersebut setidaknya serupa dengan konsep-konsep Tantra Hindu tentang nada dan bindu. Jika diterjemahkan secara kasar, nada berarti gerakan atau vibrasi. Nada adalah gerakan yang pertama kali diciptakan Brahma dalam kesadaran kosmis. Bindu berarti sebuah titik. Menurut Tantra, ketika materi dianggap terpisah dari kesadaran, materi ini bisa dianggap terbuat dari banyak bindu, dan objek-objek fisik tampak membesar dalam ruang.
Kemanakah alam semesta ini ketika runtuh? Menurut tradisi Tantra, alam semesta ini ditarik ke dalam Sakti yang menciptakannya. Alam semesta ini runtuh menjadi apa yang sekarang dikenal sebagai Siva bindu, sebuah titi matematis tanpa besar. Siva bindu mirip sekali dengan lubang hitam makrofisik.
Masih banyak lagi yang coba dicari titik temu antara mistis yang sering terjadi di tengah-tengah masyarakat yang kemudian mencoba dijelaskan dengan fisika baru. Seperti kejadian yang menyangkut kehidupan para yogi yang mampu mengiringkan baju basah di puncak Himalaya dan berjalan dibara api. Semuanya dikupas dengan menarik, meski dengan bahasa fisika yang mungkin saja susah untuk dipahami.
Jika sains adalah kekuatan paling handal untuk mengungkap kebenaran dan agama sebagai kekuatan tunggal untuk mencipta makna, maka dengan bahasa yang agak berbeda agama merupakan biokomputer. Agama adalah seperangkat metaprogram, seperangkat simbol yang memungkinkan biokomputer secara struktural berkomunikasi dengan tingkat-tingkat yang lebih rendah dalam sistem syaraf yang mengendalikan pembuat realitas.
Nah, mungkin suatu saat ada ilmuwan yang bisa menjelaskan klenik-klenik yang ada di Indonesia, biar ada cakrawala baru soal ilmu-ilmu yang lebih dahulu bercongkol di tanah air itu. Suatu saat ada perubahan cara pandang tentang santet, misalnya, bahwa ilmu itu bisa dikaitkan dengan ilmu kedokteran seperti pemasangan pen pada korban patah tulang. Kalau ini yang terjadi, mungkin hidup ini lebih asyik.
Membicarakan mistis tentunya tidak lepas dari hal-hal yang di luar nalar manusia. Mistis lebih cepat merebak di kalangan masyarakat dibandingkan dengan dunia ilmiah. Hal ini tidak lepas, kemunculan mistis memang lebih dahulu dibandingkan dengan cara berpikir ilmiah. Bahkan, keberadaan mistis sampai hari ini pun masih tetap eksis, dan digandurngi masyarakat dalam hal tertentu.
Fisika, baik lama maupun baru, merupakan metoda ilmiah. Kelahirannya didasarkan dari serangkain percobaan-percobaan yang mengikuti aturan ketat sehingga dihasilkan kesimpulan yang bisa diterima nalar. Fisika kini telah melanda kehidupan kita, meski tergolong baru namun kehadiran sungguh berasa dalam kebudayaan manusia. Teknologi juga menjadi roda yang turut melajukan perputaran kemajuan fisika dalam kehidupan ini.
Kemajuan-kemajuan fisika tidak hanya sebatas dapat dipandang mata, tetapi juga dunia subatomik yang notabenenya tidak bisa dilihat dengan mata telanjang. Kemajuan ini tentunya semakin melempangkan derap laju sains fisika untuk merambah lebih jauh ke dalam permasalahan-permasalahan yang mungkin selama ini diyakini tidak mungkin terjamah.
Fisika dalam balutan sejarah memang selalu mengundang pro dan kontra bagi banyak kalangan, khususnya agamawan yang lebih dulu bertengger sebagai komando perjalanan manusia. Sebut saja, Galileo yang menyatakan bahwa bumi bukanlah pusat tata surya, sebaliknya mataharilah sebagai pusat tata surya kita. Implikasi transformasi geosentri ke heliosentris menyebabkan Galileo harus berhadapan dengan kalangan agamawan.
Melihat dua wilayah yang mempunyai cara kerja yang berbeda bagaimana mungkin kita akan menemukan titik temu? Apakah yang menggerakkan Michel Talbot begitu yakin bahwa antara fisika baru dengan mistisme mempunyai titik singgung?
Berawal dari Werner Heisenberg yang mengemukakan Prinsip Ketidakpastiannya yang terkenal dan mengawali sebeuh perdebatan filosofis di antara para fisikawan kuantum yang masih belum juga terputuskan. Menurut Heisenberg bahwa pengamat mengubah apa yang diamati karena tindakan pengamatannya itu. sekilas pandangan Heisenberg menyinggung tentang maya, salah satu ketidak-logisan arsitektur yang dibicarakan Borges.
Menurut fisika baru, ruang-waktu dan pengamat tidak terpisahkan. Ketiganya saling mempengaruhi satu sama lainnya. Tidak ada waktu yang absolut. Tidak ada pembagian yang tegas antara realitas subjektif dan realitas objektif; kesadaran dan alam fisik dihubungkan oleh sesuatu mekanisme fisik yang fundamental. Hubungan antara pikiran dan realitas ini tidak bersifat subjektif atau objektif; tetapi “omnijektif” (hlm. 2)
Konsep omnijektif sudah lama bergulir dalam tradisi Tantra Hindu yang mempostulasikan filsafat yang serupa. Menurut tantra, realitas adalah ilusi atau maya. Kesalahan pokok kita yang tidak memahami maya ini, kata Tantra, adalah bahwa kita memahami diri kita sebagai bagian terpisah dari lingkungan. Tantra sangat eksplisit dalam menegaskan pandangan ini. Pengamat (observer) dan realitas objektif adalah satu.
Halaman awal, bagian satu dan dua, pembaca mungkin terasa bosan untuk mencerna pemaparan Talbot. Wajar jika itu terjadi, sebab di awal-awal Talbot masih membahas tentang fisika barunya, membahas sejarahnya meski ada sedikit persinggungan dengan mistisme tetapi itu tidak terlalu kental. Baru di bagian tiga Talbot menyinggung lebih dalam kesamaan konsep fisika baru dengan mistisme.
Seperti masalah materi, sains Barat mencoba memahami materi dengan membagi-bagi dalam blok-blok bangunan dasar. Namun, permasalahannya bagaimana caranya memahami blok-blok tersebut. Max Planck, mengatakan bahwa cahaya itu bercatu dan berisikan paket-paket energi kecil yang disebut kuanta. Persamaan Enstein, E=MC2, menyiratkan bahwa materi merupakan energi yang terperangkap. Tampaknya bahan primordial alam semesta adalah gelombang/pertikel-pertikel dan kuanta tersebut. gelombang dan partikel, dua jenis entitas yang saling bertentangan dan komplementaritas yang menempati blok-blok dalama katergori analog dengan kucing Scrodinger.
Teori konsep materi tersebut setidaknya serupa dengan konsep-konsep Tantra Hindu tentang nada dan bindu. Jika diterjemahkan secara kasar, nada berarti gerakan atau vibrasi. Nada adalah gerakan yang pertama kali diciptakan Brahma dalam kesadaran kosmis. Bindu berarti sebuah titik. Menurut Tantra, ketika materi dianggap terpisah dari kesadaran, materi ini bisa dianggap terbuat dari banyak bindu, dan objek-objek fisik tampak membesar dalam ruang.
Kemanakah alam semesta ini ketika runtuh? Menurut tradisi Tantra, alam semesta ini ditarik ke dalam Sakti yang menciptakannya. Alam semesta ini runtuh menjadi apa yang sekarang dikenal sebagai Siva bindu, sebuah titi matematis tanpa besar. Siva bindu mirip sekali dengan lubang hitam makrofisik.
Masih banyak lagi yang coba dicari titik temu antara mistis yang sering terjadi di tengah-tengah masyarakat yang kemudian mencoba dijelaskan dengan fisika baru. Seperti kejadian yang menyangkut kehidupan para yogi yang mampu mengiringkan baju basah di puncak Himalaya dan berjalan dibara api. Semuanya dikupas dengan menarik, meski dengan bahasa fisika yang mungkin saja susah untuk dipahami.
Jika sains adalah kekuatan paling handal untuk mengungkap kebenaran dan agama sebagai kekuatan tunggal untuk mencipta makna, maka dengan bahasa yang agak berbeda agama merupakan biokomputer. Agama adalah seperangkat metaprogram, seperangkat simbol yang memungkinkan biokomputer secara struktural berkomunikasi dengan tingkat-tingkat yang lebih rendah dalam sistem syaraf yang mengendalikan pembuat realitas.
Nah, mungkin suatu saat ada ilmuwan yang bisa menjelaskan klenik-klenik yang ada di Indonesia, biar ada cakrawala baru soal ilmu-ilmu yang lebih dahulu bercongkol di tanah air itu. Suatu saat ada perubahan cara pandang tentang santet, misalnya, bahwa ilmu itu bisa dikaitkan dengan ilmu kedokteran seperti pemasangan pen pada korban patah tulang. Kalau ini yang terjadi, mungkin hidup ini lebih asyik.
January 1, 2024
I can't recommend Michaels Talbot's books enough. They are mind shattering, and when you recover from what he says, you get to put yourself back together exactly the way you want to, instead of relying on your indoctrination to make you who you are. Best of all, to the modern man, because he communicates using science as his background, he is more believable to the reader, since we believe in science.
June 30, 2019
Fascinante. Habla de las bases de la física cuántica, de como la ciencia se abre a "nuevos" paradigmas que los místicos llevan hablando desde hace milenios. El concepto de realidad se derrumba ante la idea de que nuestro sistema nervioso central es un "ordenador" que codifica datos otorgando significados. El universo es un holograma del que todos y todo forma parte. ¡Quiero leer más!
April 7, 2025
I mean...yeah? But also, no...? It's hard to write a "review" for this other say that an argument *could* be made that certain aspects from some religious traditions, mystical traditions, and/or esoteric groups' beliefs/doctrines *could* resemble "new physics", but hey? I'm not an occultist or a physicist!
February 5, 2022
I've read this book so many times my little paperback is falling apart, so I'm reticent to read it again. I love it because it delves into physics in a way that makes it understandable to me (I've never been fond of math) and also looks at the connections between spirituality and science.
April 9, 2025
After reading the Tao of Physics and Dancing Wu Li Masters this book nicely rounded out my physics education and helped me understand just where science and eastern philosophy converge. The keys to the universe are in these subjects. I can't wait to go deeper.
June 4, 2019
Es un libro inspirador e interesante, pero con mucha especulación. Sin ser una experta en el tema, encontré algunas falacias e interpretaciones incorrectas de hechos estudios científicos y a partir de ahí el libro perdió credibilidad.
June 24, 2024
Como le he dado mala nota, me siento obligado a justificarme.
Empecé este libro pensando que en él se compararían ciertos elementos filosóficos en la física moderna con algunas tradiciones místicas (algo que Feyerabend habría disfrutado seguro). Esta es la impresión que se transmite desde el principio, al menos. Pero luego se toman las metáforas usuales de la física moderna (que si el gato, los agujeros negros macroscópicos o los taquiones) y se distorsionan sin justificación (suficientemente clara) para corresponder, no como analogías sino como esencialmente idénticas, a ideas del misticismo tibetano e hindú. Vamos, que a partir de cierto punto el libro va cuesta abajo sin frenos - desde mi punto de vista.
Le doy dos estrellas y no una porque está bien escrito y los pasajes sobre misticismo son muy interesantes. Me queda un capítulo o así, pero supongo que volveré en cierto momento a acabarlo. Ahora mismo busco otra cosa.
Empecé este libro pensando que en él se compararían ciertos elementos filosóficos en la física moderna con algunas tradiciones místicas (algo que Feyerabend habría disfrutado seguro). Esta es la impresión que se transmite desde el principio, al menos. Pero luego se toman las metáforas usuales de la física moderna (que si el gato, los agujeros negros macroscópicos o los taquiones) y se distorsionan sin justificación (suficientemente clara) para corresponder, no como analogías sino como esencialmente idénticas, a ideas del misticismo tibetano e hindú. Vamos, que a partir de cierto punto el libro va cuesta abajo sin frenos - desde mi punto de vista.
Le doy dos estrellas y no una porque está bien escrito y los pasajes sobre misticismo son muy interesantes. Me queda un capítulo o así, pero supongo que volveré en cierto momento a acabarlo. Ahora mismo busco otra cosa.
January 23, 2014
I really did think that Tablot explained the realtionship between the physical plain and non physical very well. It seemed very easy to follow for anyone with basic physics knowledge. Overall, a very in depth look at Quantum Physics, that I found very intresting.
April 15, 2013
the holographic universe is better than this book,if u want read th abou michael talbot
June 17, 2015
As expected Talbot does a wonderful job of uniting the logic with the intuitive. There is no doubt that he had an excellent clarity of thought and it is unfortunate that he is no longer with us.
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May 24, 2016not observe me!
February 14, 2021
دری وری خرافاتی
July 10, 2018
I love the clarity of Michael Talbot's writing. In this book he demonstrates the similarity of quantum physics to ancient Eastern philosophy. We in the West are just beginning to discover what has been seen in the East for centuries. Since I am involved with the invisible in my profession, I wanted a science of the physical with which to help explain psychic energy in my book and articles. Michael Talbot's writing is almost poetical. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how our universe works. I've read this book twice over the years and will probably read it again.
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