The Grand Delusion: What We Know But Don't Believe

by Steve Hagen

This is a fun, unique book that goes deep into the great mysteries of knowing—something like Lawrence Krauss's A Universe From Nothing (Atria) meets Sam Harris's Waking Up (S&S) (Both S&S bestsellers). Or: Sam Harris and Stephen Hawking meet Socrates.

Robert Pirsig wrote of Steve Hagen’s first book, Why the World Doesn’t Seem to Make Sense, “For those who are certain that objectivity and intellect are the ground floor of all knowledge, this can be a valuable trip to the sub-basement.”

Now, in The Grand Delusion, Hagen drills deeper, into the most basic assumptions, strengths, and limitations of religion and belief, philosophy and inquiry, science and technology. In doing so, he shines new light on the question Why is there Something rather than Nothing?—and shines this light from an entirely unexpected (and largely unexplored) direction.

Using a provocative mix of examples from physics, philosophy, religion, myth, neuroscience, and mathematics—and a clever conversational exploration between Hagen and his interlocutor, “ANYONE”—this book also offers a fresh perspective on other questions that science, philosophy, and religion have long grappled with. Such topics include:

- What does it mean to exist?
- What is consciousness?
- What is reality?
- What is the nature of truth?

Layer by layer, Hagen examines the questions we ask, the way we ask them, the assumptions and beliefs we hold dear, and the ways in which we separate ourselves from the very answers we seek. In the process, he draws on sources that include Huang Po, Richard Feynman, Sir Arthur Eddington, Hui-Neng, Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Dennett, Joseph Campbell, Dogen, Emily Dickinson, Nagarjuna, Ikkyu, William I. McLaughlin, Sam Harris, and Henry David Thoreau.

Ultimately, this book reveals how all of these fundamental questions—and many, many more—stem from a single error, a single unwarranted belief, a single Grand Delusion.

The Grand Delusion helps readers move past this delusion into insight that can settle these age-old and seemingly intractable questions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spirituality, Buddhism

328 pages, Paperback

Published July 28, 2020

About the author

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

Reviews

[Andrea Polidori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another great book from Steve Hagen

I am a fan of Steve's work and have read all of his other books. He has a unique way to explain difficult (yet simple) ideas that are not immediate to the western mind in a way that is intuitive and easy to relate and understand (although, he will probably be the first to tell you that there is nothing to understand). I am a scientist by training and buddhist (-ish) by heart and I feel at home when reading Steve's work. I could go on and on describing why you should purchase this gem, but further opinions, ideas and concepts would only take away from its core message. I'd rather go sit and meditate for a bit. Stay present my friend! ....and thanks Steve.

[Warren Tutwiler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great comedic writing about nothing in particular. The author goes to great lengths to prove that he isn't proving anything, fighting strawmen all the way. And of course he cannot be refuted, as he regularly points out that he is superior (or awakened or enlightened) and anyone who disagrees is naive, ignorant, and delusional. His solution to all the "apparent" problems he brings up is essentially to claim that they don't exist: all is illusion, thus so are the problems. Obviously, this is not a solution at all. He helpfully supplies a glossary, which in necessary to be repeatedly referred to, since he has chosen to use common words such as Truth and Knowledge to mean something not related to those words at all. Of course, he doesn't see this as problematic, because he also regularly states that what he is describing cannot be put into words, so why not abuse the language? He denies at least one rule of logic, yet attempts to utilize logic throughout the book, albeit with much inconsistency. I do agree with some of his points, but I feel that he has not only arrived at the wrong conclusion, but also that his conclusion is, essentially, useless. Upon finishing the book, my feeling is that, were what he says true, "so what?"

[M Spiering · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed and learnt a lot from this book. I've read Hagen's "Why the World Doesn't Seem to Make Sense" a couple of times in recent weeks and found that the "The Grand Delusion" is a very complementary and more compact extension of the former work. The author's approach has been what I've really been looking for nearly a lifetime of studying and working in the sciences, dabbling in philosophy, and practicing meditation--an exploration of world and experience from an angle that includes scientific, philosophical, and contemplative traditions.

The latter angle is alluded to often but touched upon directly on briefly--this is not a book about how to meditate, but it points to contemplative practice as a way to have an experience of/with Reality (with a capital "R," as defined by the author as experience that's inexpressible in conceptual language) that's immediate and direct, without an overlay of thoughts and concepts. As with any books, this one has plenty of words and concepts. But most of them are in service of nudging the reader to let go of concepts, ideas, and beliefs of independently existing, "substantial" things in the world "out there" (ranging from tangible objects, to imagined entities, to numbers and their mathematical manipulation).

The book is fairly short but covers a wide range of topics. This includes how our propensity to quickly form conceptual ideas and beliefs about the world often leads us into paradox and confusion. This process gets us into a lot of trouble and misunderstandings, especially when we lose sight of the fact that the conceptual fragmentation into "this" and "that," while useful for everyday activities or developing (transient) scientific models of the world, cannot provide an accurate picture of how experience unfolds.

We get ourselves into even more trouble--both for ourselves and those around use--when we try to reduce confusion by the same means we generated it in the first place--by producing more ideas and beliefs rather than just observing the arising and passing of sense impressions and the mind's responses to them. Of note, the book doesn't ask the reader to stop thinking but instead points out the inevitable limitation of that strategy when contemplating deeper questions that have to do with the nature of reality, life and death, and consciousness.

A very insightful and carefully argued book--I thank the author for this wonderful work. May it be of benefit to many readers.

[Eduardo Candeias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

A small step forward for the spirituality seekers. Easy to read, easy to understand, a great buy as an introduction to Zen.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an easy read and I really enjoyed that it was in a Socratic dialog style. I found the questions that Hagen posed thought provoking and the appendices were very interesting.

But I did not enjoy this book as much as the other books I have read by Steve Hagen (Buddhism Plain and Simple, Meditation Now or Never). I don't think the answers Hagen gave to the interlocutor were very helpful. He redefines a lot of terms and uses the same terms in different ways throughout the book too which became cumbersome. His representation of other religions bothered me too. It seemed as if he was reacting to popular understandings of other religions rather than academic. It might be the case that I just need to reread it though...

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

And maybe part of the delusion is to take life advice from a circus clown, no matter how zen he is rated.

[Luciana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Euphoric! Ecstasy!