Ervin Laszlo

I consider myself a rather down-to-earth, rational man who likes to rely on facts and verified information, preferably scientifically substantiated. Esoteric views are lost on me, although I am sensitive to religions as languages or instruments for dealing with parts of reality that you cannot grasp with a purely rational or scientific approach. So, this book poses a bit of a problem for me.
The chapters, written by Ervin Laszlo himself, initially appealed to me, at least in part. His show more "vibration theory" contains elements that elucidate a number of problems that still puzzle classical science (such as: what came before the Big Bang? , or the contradictory phenomena in quantum physics). And his view on consciousness allows for a more holistic approach, in line with systems thinking, chaos theory and the thinking of Gregory Bateson. All very abstract, I agree, but certainly intriguing and stimulating further reflection. But the moment Laszlo started writing about the deep dimension of reality, about cosmic consciousness, and linked all this to phenomena such as “near death experiences, out-of-body experiences, instrumental transcommunication”, etc., I had to swallow. That's where my sceptical self immediately surfaced.
This book also contains about 15 contributions from others, all "experts" I had never heard of, who praise the views of Laszlo extensively, adding their own thoughts in line with his theory. What they have in common is that they almost all advocate a paradigm shift (away from classical science, of course), in the line of Laszlo. A large part of these contributions are interesting additions and deepenings. But it strikes me that the majority of these experts very firmly put forward their own theories, whereas Laszlo himself is much more careful and prudent. And with a number of contributions that go on the esoteric tour, I dropped out completely, especially with those that advocate the intake of psychedelics in order to gain a more correct access to reality. And frankly, I also find the recurring claim that numerous borderland experiences (such as near death and others) have now been scientifically verified, not very convincing.
I don't know, maybe I'm too skeptical. Still, I don't want to just sweep everything off the table as nonsense. I am all too aware of the limits and one-sidedness of classical science, but it seems to me that there is still a very long way to go to that new paradigm that Laszlo and others are now so self-evidently proposing. show less

Humanists will love this book and feel like it presents "the answer" to the problems faced by the global community. Persons of faith will note the total dependence on human effort and design and the belief in the perfectibility of humanity (through evolution of consciousness) and probably dismiss it outright. While there are some good points made, it presumes a faith in humanity that I do not share since I firmly believe in the sin nature and the necessity for God alone to overcome the sin show more nature through Christ's redemptive actions. Also - judging from the fact that I am the first reviewer and this book isn't being read, the need for a critical mass of humanity to adopt their suggestions seems highly unlikely. show less

Humanists will love this book and feel like it presents "the answer" to the problems faced by the global community. Persons of faith will note the total dependence on human effort and design and the belief in the perfectibility of humanity (through evolution of consciousness) and probably dismiss it outright. While there are some good points made, it presumes a faith in humanity that I do not share since I firmly believe in the sin nature and the necessity for God alone to overcome the sin show more nature through Christ's redemptive actions. show less

Whew. Mind sufficiently blown.

The essence of this book is that our conscious/consciousness survives beyond our physical state. That our conscious/consciousness doesn't end when our brains cease to function. (death) Our brains house our thoughts, awareness, our presence in the here and now. (i.e. local) Using a few examples of near death experiences, (NDEs) and other intriguing/mystifying matters, many contributors take these examples of people whose conscious/consciousness "survived" after show more they were clinically dead, and came back to share what they experienced. These incidents are scrubbed up against scientific studies to explore the phenomena and what it means.

The essence is our mind, (conscious/consciousness) survives beyond our "local" state (human body/brain) to a "non-local" existence. Through various input from other scientists, theorists, and philosophers, this is a scientific rationale that in many ways replicates what all religions teach, that we will all become one with a supreme being (God, Allah, The One, i.e., whichever way your beliefs direct you) and explains the age old question of "why are we here?"
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