What do you think?
Rate this book
Godhead: The Brain's Big Bang
This book sets out to draw together psychology, science and mysticism into the same river of human experience. In doing so it throws new light on questions that mankind has pondered for centuries. The authors take us on an exciting investigative voyage that produces clear reasons for why those who think human life is essentially meaningless are wrong. En route, through the lens of evolution, cultural history, poetry, psychology and a plethora of new scientific insights, they not only throw fresh light on ancient mysteries, the origin of creativity, hypnosis, spirituality, religion and indoctrination but also meet head-on the central questions at the heart of science today. Science and mysticism are essential aspects of human functioning, they say, and both are linked with why we are so uniquely prone to mental illness and understanding this is a part of effective self-development. These are some of the key questions they explore (and answer). Why is it that we are capable of creating societies that foster the highest pinnacles of extraordinary individual and collective creative achievement, yet so often let our cultures degenerate to the nadir of inhumanity and bestiality? Where is the 'nothing' that existed before 'something' first appeared? Where did the quantum information come from that made our vast universe and all forms of life possible? What is consciousness? How could consciousness arise from inanimate matter? Can the claims about the nature of reality made by mystics throughout the ages be reconciled with our best scientific insights? What is mysticism for? What does 'enlightenment' mean exactly? Can our individual consciousness survive death? Are 'God' and 'Godhead' useful terms? Is there a future for our species? What is 'destiny'? And how should one prepare oneself to meet it?
Hardcover
First published July 7, 2011
4 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 5, 2018
I discovered this book for $2.00 on a sale shelf at Pasadena Central Library, CA. I pushed the book in and out, as I do when one calls to me, and then I bought it. It blew the lid off my head (i say this whenever I really discover an important book.) It is profound; fuses physics and spirituality; gives credence to the idea of civilization spurting forward when a divine being enters the physical realm. It is almost like at the time of entrance of change, all the atoms on earth are revitalized. They mention different religions, and to my delight included www.bahai.org, and I have been a member of this Faith for 52 years. My take is oneness belief in all of the faiths, and past generations; with each new Divine Luminary comes societal and individual change, and the civilization advances.
Spiritual teachings are always the same, but with oncoming civilizations capacity of audience changes; social changes must occur, but there is a divine unity with previous Messengers, Prophets, Avatars, and Divine Luminaries. My personal feeling is when this happens, a new level of consciousness gradually emerges and creativity expands. Along with this new consciousness I read about autism and bipolar conditions. I had not realized autism has been around a long time. i small fact that I noticed was when autism is up, bipolar is down.
The writers are two Irish scholars, and the book is written in accessible, intelligent language. I have a friend who is a wonderful scholar and speaker, but low on pesos so to speak; I bought the book for him. IT IS OUT OF PRINT! I found one for $25, and felt it worth the price indeed. He says it's the best book he's ever read.
My speaking of my belief system is not to intrude upon any reader's belief but to show that this book so resonated with the Teachings I humbly try to follow and have done for 52 years. There is much more to this book than my simple review. A few weeks ago I sent out a four page book report, just spilled onto the pages, and I sent this out to about 30 of my friends.
Spiritual teachings are always the same, but with oncoming civilizations capacity of audience changes; social changes must occur, but there is a divine unity with previous Messengers, Prophets, Avatars, and Divine Luminaries. My personal feeling is when this happens, a new level of consciousness gradually emerges and creativity expands. Along with this new consciousness I read about autism and bipolar conditions. I had not realized autism has been around a long time. i small fact that I noticed was when autism is up, bipolar is down.
The writers are two Irish scholars, and the book is written in accessible, intelligent language. I have a friend who is a wonderful scholar and speaker, but low on pesos so to speak; I bought the book for him. IT IS OUT OF PRINT! I found one for $25, and felt it worth the price indeed. He says it's the best book he's ever read.
My speaking of my belief system is not to intrude upon any reader's belief but to show that this book so resonated with the Teachings I humbly try to follow and have done for 52 years. There is much more to this book than my simple review. A few weeks ago I sent out a four page book report, just spilled onto the pages, and I sent this out to about 30 of my friends.
July 28, 2012
This is a book I cannot comment on.
However, I can comment on others reactions to it.
Some will view it as sheer bunkum; some will see it as food for thought; and others yet again will see it as Manna from Heaven.
And there are those who will view it as expressing a formulation for the current age, to appeal to those imbibed in the religion of science.
However, I can comment on others reactions to it.
Some will view it as sheer bunkum; some will see it as food for thought; and others yet again will see it as Manna from Heaven.
And there are those who will view it as expressing a formulation for the current age, to appeal to those imbibed in the religion of science.
December 12, 2014
A magnificent tour de force from the Human Givens' duo, Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell. Having been on their training courses I am in awe of the depth of their research and the breadth and scope of this book. It explains the evolutionary and biological reason for so much of human behaviour and finishes off with a theory of how the universe is unfolding as we develop as individuals...a theory of co creation which is literally mindblowing. It includes many spiritual traditions as well as psychologies and is a fascinating read for anyone interested in Life the Universe and Everything! A thoroughly good read.
December 25, 2016
COPYCAT OF NEOPLATONISM?
'A Theory of Everything' that encompasses every essential aspect of human existence and puts it in a coherent theoretical framework. It took me a month to read the book, reading a few pages pages and then having to put the book the book dowh to ponder on its meaning. They have a clear theory but I don't agree with their main thesis: that the universe continuously oscillates between wave and energy, possibility and actuality. The vast matter that we experience and the feeling of a certain continuity of the self is seen as an illusion. They compare it with a film which creates the illusion of duration while existing of different pictures succeeding each other. Their argument for this didn't convince me, the universe, our world and our sense of self is too stable to be explained this way, by which I don't mean to say that they are substances that endure for eternity, or at least untill death. That was a first thesis that made me frown a little bit.
They try to explain everything using three entities: pure awareness/Godhead, energy/universe and the Observing Self. Grounding their hypothesis on the famous double slit experiment, they propose that an conscious entity is necessary to keep the universe in existence. I would put my money on the Godhead but they propose that human beings as Observing Selves collpase the wave function and create matter. This hypothesis seems to me highly improbable although that is exactly how some Sufi thinkers think about the world, as creation of some special individuals called mystics, they keep the universe functioning. The author's speak of an ascending and a descending arc in our relationship to the One (Godhead): we can get closer to the One and attain a state of blissfulness or we can drive ourselves away from the Godhead and descend into darkness. This reminds me very much of neoplatonism where the One emanates the world of ideas, the soul and the material world in a descending level of perfection. The material world is the most removed from the 'Sun' and that makes evil possible. I don't understand why the authors never mention the neoplatonists such as Plotinus or Proclus, their model is more coherent as a theory of everything and their model of a continuously oscillating universe from Pure Consciousness to the material universe through the mediation of special human beings called mystics.
I didn't understand the connection between the first part of the book that handles psychosis and autism and their following elaboration on cosmology, and the role REM played in both parts, I will read the book again to see if I can see what they were trying to achieve as a whole. But all by all a very thought provoking book and the closest anyone has come to a theory of everything. I would absolutely recommend this book for the reader, though a certain amount of patience is needed to finish this tome of almost 450 pages.
The best parts of the book are the ones where they use sufism to explain their theory, it shows that the mystical current of the Islam can still make a great contribution to our knowledge of the world, as it has done in the Middle Ages.
Ps. The authors use a lot of quotes from poets and mystics without putting them into their historical context, all references to Meister Eckhart were ad random, erroneous and only served to make make their point. This is problematic from an academic point of view, but they had to quote Eckhart because he made the word 'Godhead' famous, the word was actually coined by Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite but this is not mentionned in the text. Most of the time, they talk about 'the' mystics or mystical tradition without differentiating, which is a little bit annoying for readers who are familiar with the original sources.
'A Theory of Everything' that encompasses every essential aspect of human existence and puts it in a coherent theoretical framework. It took me a month to read the book, reading a few pages pages and then having to put the book the book dowh to ponder on its meaning. They have a clear theory but I don't agree with their main thesis: that the universe continuously oscillates between wave and energy, possibility and actuality. The vast matter that we experience and the feeling of a certain continuity of the self is seen as an illusion. They compare it with a film which creates the illusion of duration while existing of different pictures succeeding each other. Their argument for this didn't convince me, the universe, our world and our sense of self is too stable to be explained this way, by which I don't mean to say that they are substances that endure for eternity, or at least untill death. That was a first thesis that made me frown a little bit.
They try to explain everything using three entities: pure awareness/Godhead, energy/universe and the Observing Self. Grounding their hypothesis on the famous double slit experiment, they propose that an conscious entity is necessary to keep the universe in existence. I would put my money on the Godhead but they propose that human beings as Observing Selves collpase the wave function and create matter. This hypothesis seems to me highly improbable although that is exactly how some Sufi thinkers think about the world, as creation of some special individuals called mystics, they keep the universe functioning. The author's speak of an ascending and a descending arc in our relationship to the One (Godhead): we can get closer to the One and attain a state of blissfulness or we can drive ourselves away from the Godhead and descend into darkness. This reminds me very much of neoplatonism where the One emanates the world of ideas, the soul and the material world in a descending level of perfection. The material world is the most removed from the 'Sun' and that makes evil possible. I don't understand why the authors never mention the neoplatonists such as Plotinus or Proclus, their model is more coherent as a theory of everything and their model of a continuously oscillating universe from Pure Consciousness to the material universe through the mediation of special human beings called mystics.
I didn't understand the connection between the first part of the book that handles psychosis and autism and their following elaboration on cosmology, and the role REM played in both parts, I will read the book again to see if I can see what they were trying to achieve as a whole. But all by all a very thought provoking book and the closest anyone has come to a theory of everything. I would absolutely recommend this book for the reader, though a certain amount of patience is needed to finish this tome of almost 450 pages.
The best parts of the book are the ones where they use sufism to explain their theory, it shows that the mystical current of the Islam can still make a great contribution to our knowledge of the world, as it has done in the Middle Ages.
Ps. The authors use a lot of quotes from poets and mystics without putting them into their historical context, all references to Meister Eckhart were ad random, erroneous and only served to make make their point. This is problematic from an academic point of view, but they had to quote Eckhart because he made the word 'Godhead' famous, the word was actually coined by Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite but this is not mentionned in the text. Most of the time, they talk about 'the' mystics or mystical tradition without differentiating, which is a little bit annoying for readers who are familiar with the original sources.
June 30, 2014
New thoughts and ideas abound to get a grip on. Many of them demands real effort to grasp and the more mystical ones I still haven´t understood. Godhead is enriching and a book to return to. It is a challenge and it is well worth the trouble.
The authors’ intention is to show that mysticism and science are compatible and not opposites.
”We are participators in bringing into being not only the near and here but the far away and long ago” John Archibald Wheeler 1911-2008, American physicist
”The Universe could only come into existence if someone observed it” Martin Rees, cosmologist and president of the Royal Society.
That is SO mystical. Without our consciousness,no creation…… Not bad for a residual product or epiphenomena as the reductionist scientists say our consciousness is.
The authors think that science has not succeeded to give us a deeper understanding of reality just because it won’t address humanities eternal question: what is the meaning of life? This question should be taken seriously and our time demands answers that are compatible with our best science. The religions that traditionally has been the providers of meaning has in many instances been overrun by time and we need something to take their place, something that can unite an increasingly mobile and cooperating world. A science that includes, as a central factor, our consciousness and our eternal questions, could take over their role
Another theme in Godhead that is also taken up in another book by the authors, Human Givens, is the imbalance in our brains and that we are in the mess we are in, ecologically and psychologically, as a result of this imbalance. Most of us are ignorant about this problem and how much more common it is, than we think. We have no idea where the leaders that we elect, or leaders for big companies, are on the autistic or psychotic spectra.
Information about this is vital for us as a species, as wrong leaders can do immensely harm as we know. The increased pressure on us will hopefully lead to a new evolutionary development, a conscious such, which stabilizes our psyches. Interestingly, it seems like there has been knowledge about this earlier in history.
Do read the other books by the authors about psychology. They are revolutionary in their simple and common sense approach.
The authors’ intention is to show that mysticism and science are compatible and not opposites.
”We are participators in bringing into being not only the near and here but the far away and long ago” John Archibald Wheeler 1911-2008, American physicist
”The Universe could only come into existence if someone observed it” Martin Rees, cosmologist and president of the Royal Society.
That is SO mystical. Without our consciousness,no creation…… Not bad for a residual product or epiphenomena as the reductionist scientists say our consciousness is.
The authors think that science has not succeeded to give us a deeper understanding of reality just because it won’t address humanities eternal question: what is the meaning of life? This question should be taken seriously and our time demands answers that are compatible with our best science. The religions that traditionally has been the providers of meaning has in many instances been overrun by time and we need something to take their place, something that can unite an increasingly mobile and cooperating world. A science that includes, as a central factor, our consciousness and our eternal questions, could take over their role
Another theme in Godhead that is also taken up in another book by the authors, Human Givens, is the imbalance in our brains and that we are in the mess we are in, ecologically and psychologically, as a result of this imbalance. Most of us are ignorant about this problem and how much more common it is, than we think. We have no idea where the leaders that we elect, or leaders for big companies, are on the autistic or psychotic spectra.
Information about this is vital for us as a species, as wrong leaders can do immensely harm as we know. The increased pressure on us will hopefully lead to a new evolutionary development, a conscious such, which stabilizes our psyches. Interestingly, it seems like there has been knowledge about this earlier in history.
Do read the other books by the authors about psychology. They are revolutionary in their simple and common sense approach.
December 1, 2015
This book is very heavy going, it lost me at times and some of the theories are so far out there that they're hard to take seriously. Even so, I felt it was well worth reading and I got a lot from it.
The first half is primarily about their theory that autism and psychosis are actually the same problem just affecting different hemispheres of the brain. This section was tough at times but mostly I got it and thought the theory made a lot of sense.
The second half was a different proposition altogether. Dark matter, relatons, eternally oscillating universe, the I AM and much more. Every time I thought it couldn't baffle me any more something else would crop up. Saying that, I thought it was a very interesting concept. The problem was that a massive theory that encompasses the entire universe and all time is just too much for the brain to comprehend.
They use a lot of evidence all the way through from psychological studies, historical analogies, religious comparisons, scientific experiments and physics anomalies.
It was a bit repetitive at times but I believe this may have been intentional as repetition is the best way to embed knowledge.
If you have the time, patience and imagination I think it's worth braving this book.
The first half is primarily about their theory that autism and psychosis are actually the same problem just affecting different hemispheres of the brain. This section was tough at times but mostly I got it and thought the theory made a lot of sense.
The second half was a different proposition altogether. Dark matter, relatons, eternally oscillating universe, the I AM and much more. Every time I thought it couldn't baffle me any more something else would crop up. Saying that, I thought it was a very interesting concept. The problem was that a massive theory that encompasses the entire universe and all time is just too much for the brain to comprehend.
They use a lot of evidence all the way through from psychological studies, historical analogies, religious comparisons, scientific experiments and physics anomalies.
It was a bit repetitive at times but I believe this may have been intentional as repetition is the best way to embed knowledge.
If you have the time, patience and imagination I think it's worth braving this book.
July 26, 2020
This book, and only one other ( Big Brain: The Origins and Future of Human Intelligence), are the only two I've ever encountered that grasped the significance of a human brain change in the spurt of human consciousness about 20,000 years ago that led to the emergence of large scale human civilization about 10,000 years ago. This was a primary driver for the A3 brain concept described in my book Collapse 2020, that provides the foundation for the explosive technical breakthroughs that followed. The main author of Godhead was Dr. Ivan Tyrrell. I lost touch with him after he had significant medical problems in January 2014. Joe Griffin, who led the publishing effort, did not feel knowledgeable enough about the science to continue Ivan's work. These books are important to my effort because they provide validation for my discoveries.
November 22, 2021
An extraordinary book, the best "theory of everything" I've ever come across.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews