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Matter into Feeling: A New Alchemy of Science and Spirit
What's unique about being human? We experience feelings. Once again bridging the gap between spirituality and quantum physics, Fred Alan Wolf takes us on an exciting journey toward understanding where our feelings come from and how we can work with them to create more abundant and joyful lives. In his followup to Mind into Matter , Dr. Wolf guides us through the conflicts and resistances we feel as physical beingsthe everyday demands, addictions, successes, and failures we experienceand into an understanding that being "stuck" is only a phase, one from which we can escape once we understand the origin and role of human feeling.
200 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 3, 2008
I just loved this book. I like how it was written too -- the style. It's a combination of quantum physics, theology, new age spiritualism and jewish mysticism. You might think that's a really odd mixture. It's very thought provoking.
March 22, 2026
SPECULATIONS ON THE ‘SACRED TRANSMUTATION OF MIND INTO MATTER’
Fred Alan Wolf (born 1934) is an American theoretical physicist (and former physics professor at San Diego State University, from 1978 until his retirement in 1989) specializing in quantum physics and the relationship between physics and consciousness. He has helped popularize science on the Discovery Channel, and has produced a number of audio and video presentations.
He wrote in the introduction to this 2001 book, “In this speculative and imaginative book I attempt to go further than I have gone before by offering new ideas based on some ancient visions. The old alchemists… first brought forward the seeds of these ideas. Today the main form of these same ideas arises from quantum physics, neurobiology, and information theory. Such concepts deal with human beings, their minds and bodies, and their attempts to control, alter, and cope with their environments, whether those environments extend as far out as a distant galaxy or are as close as their own hearts and brains. The goal of modern scientists echoes that of the ancient alchemists.” (Pg. 2)
He continues, “In [this book] we will explore how the mind enters into the body at the cellular, molecular, and neural-molecular levels and become ensnared, almost… believing that it is the body… the alchemical lab appears very naturally in the world of our dreams and preconscious thoughts… Then, we will learn how to conduct experiments at the frontier of the real/imaginal realm. The outcomes of these experiments will result in new information and new transformational possibilities … And this will lead us into a new vision of life and time… And finally, we will complete our journey with a new vision of mind, body, spirit, and soul, and a new alchemical understanding of how the forces of purpose, creation and transformation within each of us, when used consciously, can enhance the meaningfulness of everyday life.
“In short, my goal with this book is to show that within your one mind and body lies a majestic story filled with drama, pathos, humor, intelligence, fantasy, and fact. It is not less than the story of the entire universe, particularly its own creation, transformation, and ultimate purpose… WITHOUT YOU there wouldn’t be a universe! And we shall see how this story called ‘you’ unfolds into a panorama of life, literally a YOU-niverse---our ultimate goal being to understand the sacred transmutation of mind into matter.” (Pg. 8-9)
He asks, “Could it be that in some way what we describe about the universe---how to exploit it to derive meaning from it, how we determine what it is, what it is doing---establishes the very universe we speak and write about?… The answers to these and other questions will come from a harmonizing of the relationship between the ‘in here’ world of information, meaning, and knowledge with the ‘out there’ world of matter, energy, and existence. This reconcilement is precisely what I mean by a ‘new alchemy.’” (Pg 30)
He observes, “Swami Yogananda in describing the various links between normal mental modifications and functions in the Sankhya and yoga systems, helps us understand this space-sensing mechanism… And the discarnate entity, Seth, in Jane Roberts’s ‘The Unknown Reality,’ describes the ego as specialized in expansions of space and its manipulations.” (Pf. 45-46)
He states, “I believe that all of our human feelings and emotions are noted in these simple physical properties of matter and energy transformation, and that human feelings can be explained by looking at the group properties of many electrons in the human body… Electrons can be imagined as ‘events with attributes,’ rather than objects with properties. The electron, in other words, is a construct of human thought. Since human thought is limited… none of us can know what an electron really is. I take this as a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the physical world: The physical world exists simply because mind cannot ever completely know it.” (Pg. 47)
He notes, “Life is mysterious. It consists of a continual sequence of fundamentally unpredictable creative actions. No one understands why anything is the way if appears to be. No one understands why anything ‘is’ at all… In order to break free, in order to have a new experience, a shamanic awakening, a new vision, we have to break free of the illusion that we are separate from anything else… This has been… the secret of creativity: breaking free of separation… We must tap into the imaginal realm to create a new story line. We must return to unity in order to separate again.” (Pg. 63)
He explains, “[Some] physicists say it doesn’t matter where or when the observer comes in, the act of observation by a knowing, conscious being ultimately causes the cloud to pop into a single drop … the ‘pop’ is a thorny knob in the side of physics. No one knows just how this sudden popping from the imaginal possible to the real takes place. There is nothing in quantum physics itself that predicts this occurrence… This complementarity principle says that the physical universe can never be known independently of the observer’s choices of what to observe.” (Pg. 72-73)
He asserts, “The overlap of parallel worlds … can be imagined to be the mind without subject-object distinction. It is the realm of pure subjectivity; the realm of consciousness without an object of consciousness. Here there are no jumps or pops. We have the world of all possibilities arising simultaneously and yet nothing is realized.” (Pg. 82)
He asks, “What unknown force pushes living molecules into their evolutionary future? Does this force connect us to God?… Is this why quantum uncertainty exists---because God uses human consciousness to co-create the universe?… Do we have any choices in this evolutionary game? Perhaps. If we make the seemingly ‘right’ choices, we sense no resistance… But, if we make the ‘wrong’ choices, we ultimately suffer… How can we uncover such an alchemical force---a ‘time-wind’ pushing living molecules into their evolutionary future?… Does God have anything to do or say about the actions we take? It seems apparent that some, perhaps gentle, force is guiding our hands and minds... Somehow, we need to understand not only the players in the game of life… but also the RULES themselves running those patterns. How do these rules arise?… Perhaps as the universe expands, these rules appear to come into being at the ‘edge’ of space… In this chapter we will explore this possibility, how such rules ppcould arise, where they come from, and why they must be present in addition to the seemingly random but deterministic causes dictated by natural selection. One could say that this is a chapter about the QUANTUM RULES of the alchemical game of life.” (Pg. 87-89)
He wonders, “But why would nature randomly produce, even just once, the right characteristic needed for future survival?… one could guess that nature produces all of the possible characteristics it can. But somehow I feel this is incorrect… One answer to this question states that the necessary information comes from the environment---not the environment laid down by the HISTORY of the species, the planet, or even the universe, but by the FUTURE of all of these. In other words, information flows TO THE PRESENT FROM THE FUTURE…” (Pg. 98-99)
He explains, “When quantum physicists determine the probability of an event, they calculate a number…. [that] arises from the multiplication of two mathematical functions called ‘quantum wave functions’---or, as I call them, ‘qwiffs.’ Quiffs are imagined to be real waves moving through space and time, However, they are not real waves; they are purely imaginal… We imagine qwiffs to exist everywhere in space and time… The dynamic laws governing time loops bring a story into being. In other words, when a time loop is created, the world we commonly and uncommonly experience as ‘out there’ arises both in our minds and in what we believe is objectively shared reality.” (Pg. 105)
He reports, “Einstein once said to the inventor of this parallel universes theory… Hugh Everett, that he couldn’t imagine how a mouse could change the world simply by observing it. Everett replied that it wasn’t the universe that was changed by the mouse, but the mouse that was changed by the universe. Instead of pursuing a single course through history, the mouse follows a number of tracks in parallel universes---each track splitting off into a new comparable history as the mouse goes about sniffing his way, searching for the cheese. And, as goes the mouse, so go you and I.” (Pg. 120)
He concludes, “in the view presented in this book, I have attempted to show that the very capacity to tune to a finer vibration of the soul and to arise to a cosmic understanding of one’s self defines something essential about us…. As the ancient alchemists did, I use… metaphors based on my understanding of how the physical world works… For example, the concepts of soul, matter, spirit, self, and consciousness can be defined by imagining two basic physical objects: one is a vibrating string… the other is a mirror… In my model, both are placed in the context of quantum theories. Spirit would be akin to the vibrations of the string… The reflection from the ends of time gives the soul consciousness in the same way that we become self-conscious when we gaze at our own mirror reflection. Consciousness or mind in general arises whenever a reflection in time occurs…. The reflection produces a conscious and cosmic soul… the one Soul that inhabits each and every being.” (Pg. 133-134) He adds, “The new alchemy gives us a new and ancient vision of mind, body, spirit, and soul, and a new understanding of how the forces … within each of us, when used consciously, can enhance the meaningfulness of everyday life.” (Pg. 139)
While his ‘new alchemy’ metaphor doesn’t exactly resonate with me, this book will appeal to readers who enjoy speculative science.
Fred Alan Wolf (born 1934) is an American theoretical physicist (and former physics professor at San Diego State University, from 1978 until his retirement in 1989) specializing in quantum physics and the relationship between physics and consciousness. He has helped popularize science on the Discovery Channel, and has produced a number of audio and video presentations.
He wrote in the introduction to this 2001 book, “In this speculative and imaginative book I attempt to go further than I have gone before by offering new ideas based on some ancient visions. The old alchemists… first brought forward the seeds of these ideas. Today the main form of these same ideas arises from quantum physics, neurobiology, and information theory. Such concepts deal with human beings, their minds and bodies, and their attempts to control, alter, and cope with their environments, whether those environments extend as far out as a distant galaxy or are as close as their own hearts and brains. The goal of modern scientists echoes that of the ancient alchemists.” (Pg. 2)
He continues, “In [this book] we will explore how the mind enters into the body at the cellular, molecular, and neural-molecular levels and become ensnared, almost… believing that it is the body… the alchemical lab appears very naturally in the world of our dreams and preconscious thoughts… Then, we will learn how to conduct experiments at the frontier of the real/imaginal realm. The outcomes of these experiments will result in new information and new transformational possibilities … And this will lead us into a new vision of life and time… And finally, we will complete our journey with a new vision of mind, body, spirit, and soul, and a new alchemical understanding of how the forces of purpose, creation and transformation within each of us, when used consciously, can enhance the meaningfulness of everyday life.
“In short, my goal with this book is to show that within your one mind and body lies a majestic story filled with drama, pathos, humor, intelligence, fantasy, and fact. It is not less than the story of the entire universe, particularly its own creation, transformation, and ultimate purpose… WITHOUT YOU there wouldn’t be a universe! And we shall see how this story called ‘you’ unfolds into a panorama of life, literally a YOU-niverse---our ultimate goal being to understand the sacred transmutation of mind into matter.” (Pg. 8-9)
He asks, “Could it be that in some way what we describe about the universe---how to exploit it to derive meaning from it, how we determine what it is, what it is doing---establishes the very universe we speak and write about?… The answers to these and other questions will come from a harmonizing of the relationship between the ‘in here’ world of information, meaning, and knowledge with the ‘out there’ world of matter, energy, and existence. This reconcilement is precisely what I mean by a ‘new alchemy.’” (Pg 30)
He observes, “Swami Yogananda in describing the various links between normal mental modifications and functions in the Sankhya and yoga systems, helps us understand this space-sensing mechanism… And the discarnate entity, Seth, in Jane Roberts’s ‘The Unknown Reality,’ describes the ego as specialized in expansions of space and its manipulations.” (Pf. 45-46)
He states, “I believe that all of our human feelings and emotions are noted in these simple physical properties of matter and energy transformation, and that human feelings can be explained by looking at the group properties of many electrons in the human body… Electrons can be imagined as ‘events with attributes,’ rather than objects with properties. The electron, in other words, is a construct of human thought. Since human thought is limited… none of us can know what an electron really is. I take this as a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of the physical world: The physical world exists simply because mind cannot ever completely know it.” (Pg. 47)
He notes, “Life is mysterious. It consists of a continual sequence of fundamentally unpredictable creative actions. No one understands why anything is the way if appears to be. No one understands why anything ‘is’ at all… In order to break free, in order to have a new experience, a shamanic awakening, a new vision, we have to break free of the illusion that we are separate from anything else… This has been… the secret of creativity: breaking free of separation… We must tap into the imaginal realm to create a new story line. We must return to unity in order to separate again.” (Pg. 63)
He explains, “[Some] physicists say it doesn’t matter where or when the observer comes in, the act of observation by a knowing, conscious being ultimately causes the cloud to pop into a single drop … the ‘pop’ is a thorny knob in the side of physics. No one knows just how this sudden popping from the imaginal possible to the real takes place. There is nothing in quantum physics itself that predicts this occurrence… This complementarity principle says that the physical universe can never be known independently of the observer’s choices of what to observe.” (Pg. 72-73)
He asserts, “The overlap of parallel worlds … can be imagined to be the mind without subject-object distinction. It is the realm of pure subjectivity; the realm of consciousness without an object of consciousness. Here there are no jumps or pops. We have the world of all possibilities arising simultaneously and yet nothing is realized.” (Pg. 82)
He asks, “What unknown force pushes living molecules into their evolutionary future? Does this force connect us to God?… Is this why quantum uncertainty exists---because God uses human consciousness to co-create the universe?… Do we have any choices in this evolutionary game? Perhaps. If we make the seemingly ‘right’ choices, we sense no resistance… But, if we make the ‘wrong’ choices, we ultimately suffer… How can we uncover such an alchemical force---a ‘time-wind’ pushing living molecules into their evolutionary future?… Does God have anything to do or say about the actions we take? It seems apparent that some, perhaps gentle, force is guiding our hands and minds... Somehow, we need to understand not only the players in the game of life… but also the RULES themselves running those patterns. How do these rules arise?… Perhaps as the universe expands, these rules appear to come into being at the ‘edge’ of space… In this chapter we will explore this possibility, how such rules ppcould arise, where they come from, and why they must be present in addition to the seemingly random but deterministic causes dictated by natural selection. One could say that this is a chapter about the QUANTUM RULES of the alchemical game of life.” (Pg. 87-89)
He wonders, “But why would nature randomly produce, even just once, the right characteristic needed for future survival?… one could guess that nature produces all of the possible characteristics it can. But somehow I feel this is incorrect… One answer to this question states that the necessary information comes from the environment---not the environment laid down by the HISTORY of the species, the planet, or even the universe, but by the FUTURE of all of these. In other words, information flows TO THE PRESENT FROM THE FUTURE…” (Pg. 98-99)
He explains, “When quantum physicists determine the probability of an event, they calculate a number…. [that] arises from the multiplication of two mathematical functions called ‘quantum wave functions’---or, as I call them, ‘qwiffs.’ Quiffs are imagined to be real waves moving through space and time, However, they are not real waves; they are purely imaginal… We imagine qwiffs to exist everywhere in space and time… The dynamic laws governing time loops bring a story into being. In other words, when a time loop is created, the world we commonly and uncommonly experience as ‘out there’ arises both in our minds and in what we believe is objectively shared reality.” (Pg. 105)
He reports, “Einstein once said to the inventor of this parallel universes theory… Hugh Everett, that he couldn’t imagine how a mouse could change the world simply by observing it. Everett replied that it wasn’t the universe that was changed by the mouse, but the mouse that was changed by the universe. Instead of pursuing a single course through history, the mouse follows a number of tracks in parallel universes---each track splitting off into a new comparable history as the mouse goes about sniffing his way, searching for the cheese. And, as goes the mouse, so go you and I.” (Pg. 120)
He concludes, “in the view presented in this book, I have attempted to show that the very capacity to tune to a finer vibration of the soul and to arise to a cosmic understanding of one’s self defines something essential about us…. As the ancient alchemists did, I use… metaphors based on my understanding of how the physical world works… For example, the concepts of soul, matter, spirit, self, and consciousness can be defined by imagining two basic physical objects: one is a vibrating string… the other is a mirror… In my model, both are placed in the context of quantum theories. Spirit would be akin to the vibrations of the string… The reflection from the ends of time gives the soul consciousness in the same way that we become self-conscious when we gaze at our own mirror reflection. Consciousness or mind in general arises whenever a reflection in time occurs…. The reflection produces a conscious and cosmic soul… the one Soul that inhabits each and every being.” (Pg. 133-134) He adds, “The new alchemy gives us a new and ancient vision of mind, body, spirit, and soul, and a new understanding of how the forces … within each of us, when used consciously, can enhance the meaningfulness of everyday life.” (Pg. 139)
While his ‘new alchemy’ metaphor doesn’t exactly resonate with me, this book will appeal to readers who enjoy speculative science.
April 9, 2018
An interesting and controversial mix of quantum mechanics, psychology and spirituality. The subtle meaning of this book, can be better understood by reading other Ramtha books and budist texts.
July 24, 2020
Good.
I've read the book several times. I was able to understand it more this time having read other books similar to it.
I've read the book several times. I was able to understand it more this time having read other books similar to it.
Read
July 20, 2025Read when I was a spritely young teen. I just randomly remembered that. :)
January 26, 2012
This book is not at all what I expected -- more metaphysics than physics. I gave up on it at one point because it was just so "out there" -- and I'm an "out there" kind of person, which tells you how very far out this one goes.
Nothing tires me out more than speculation presented as "science" or spirituality. In order to gain my interest, you have to start with something familiar and explain it in a new way. Too many books seem to assume that if you're writing about spirituality, you can just create something out of whole cloth, but any good science-fiction writer can do that. If you want me to take your view as "reality," let alone real, you have to show me how what you're telling me arose from some observation in the real world. YOu cannot just present ideas as fait accompli and assume I'll say, "I like that and therefore I believe that." Liking something does not make it a fact.
In all fairness, I haven't finished reading it yet, and I may change my review once I'm done, but for now, let's say, I'm still waiting for the book to make its case.
Nothing tires me out more than speculation presented as "science" or spirituality. In order to gain my interest, you have to start with something familiar and explain it in a new way. Too many books seem to assume that if you're writing about spirituality, you can just create something out of whole cloth, but any good science-fiction writer can do that. If you want me to take your view as "reality," let alone real, you have to show me how what you're telling me arose from some observation in the real world. YOu cannot just present ideas as fait accompli and assume I'll say, "I like that and therefore I believe that." Liking something does not make it a fact.
In all fairness, I haven't finished reading it yet, and I may change my review once I'm done, but for now, let's say, I'm still waiting for the book to make its case.
September 27, 2014
Wolf is on my list of top five writers on the topic of spirituality and science. He writes to my own spiritual experience; if it weren't for my introduction to the world of quantum mechanics, I doubt I would be having one at all. It's rare to see a scientist "come out of the closet" as being highly spiritual, and, in Wolf's case, even mystical - although it is less uncommon in the world of quantum physics, where possibilities are unlimited.
In this book, as in most of Wolf's books, he is able to present quantum theory in a manner that is understandable to the layperson. In the end - and this is what I love about quantum physics: there is no final answer, because one theory builds on another and another - you reach a point where you must just act on faith, based upon your own human experience and intuition.
In this book, as in most of Wolf's books, he is able to present quantum theory in a manner that is understandable to the layperson. In the end - and this is what I love about quantum physics: there is no final answer, because one theory builds on another and another - you reach a point where you must just act on faith, based upon your own human experience and intuition.
January 25, 2016
I read this as a follow-on to one of Wolf's earlier books, The Spiritual Universe. As with the latter book it seemed to me that Wolf did not effectively make the transition from a scientific perspective of reality to a spiritual or metaphysical perpspective of reality, or adequately demonstrate a relationship between them. I was ultimately also left confused about the time loop and how the future determines the present, but I think that that confusion is grounded more in my difficulty in thinking in non-Newtonian ways.
Nevertheless, I think the book is an interesting read, and I hope that when I revisit it in a few months, I'll pick up on matters that simply escaped me during my first reading.
Nevertheless, I think the book is an interesting read, and I hope that when I revisit it in a few months, I'll pick up on matters that simply escaped me during my first reading.
March 21, 2013
I love Fred Wolf's books. I've been a fan of his since seeing him in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know?. His explorations into the crossover between quantum physics and spirituality--like in his book about the physics of shamanism (The Eagle's Quest) are great brain-expanders. I've learned so much hard science from him, just because he's such a great story-teller while he's at it. Mind Into Matter was another great read! It's my third time reading it, and each time I grasp something new.
Great work, Dr. Wolf. Please write more and more and more.
Great work, Dr. Wolf. Please write more and more and more.
March 31, 2010
While I really enjoyed reading Fred Alan Wolf's "Taking the Quantum Leap", I found this one harder to grasp. I did manage to take home a few concepts from it, but other parts seemed like they would need more study to really understand what he was getting at. Since it was a library loan, I really didn't have enough time to get in and "study" the material. Still, the bits I grasped were informative, and I wouldn't say it was a wasted read.
December 28, 2014
If you ever wanted to read in depth about how matter & feeling are tied together this book is it. It is not a book you read rather a book you study. This is his philosophy albeit out there still has much to recommend it to those that are interested in an indepth study. I have read back front notes in margins plus study groups it takes time and other minds to put it all together.
January 22, 2009
Didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would-- didn't dig the correlation between Hebrew letters and the concepts of quantum physics. Won't toss it, may read it again at some later date, after learning more on the topic, to see if I have a eureka moment with it.
August 1, 2010
Another great work on the notion of particle physics and how we create our own reality. I had some trouble grasping all the ideas -- but the overall notion of how we affect our lives by how we think rang true.
September 17, 2012
Read before reading "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle, and understood some. Read again after reading "The Power of Now" ... understood much!
October 31, 2013
His mind is simply fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews