Product Description: In The Spiritual Universe, Fred Alan Wolf brings the most modern perspective of quantum physics to the most ancient questions of religion and philosophy. Taking the reader on a fascinating tour of both Western and Eastern thought, Wolf explains the differing view of the soul in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and St. Thomas--the ancient Egyptian's belief in the nine forms of the soul, the Qabalistic idea of the soul acting in secret to bring spiritual order to a chaotic universe of matter and energy, and the Buddhist vision of a "nonsoul." Wolf also mounts a defense of the soul against its modern critics who see it as nothing more than the physical body.
A Spiritual Universe When I first received this book, I couldn't put it down. Even though a lot of it seemed to be going over my head, I knew it was resonating with me inwardly. I love the way Fred Alan Wolfe brought his own spirituality into the book mingled with his scientific mind. His vision of the Soul as a Universal Soul was an eye-opener for me. Seeing the Spirit as vibrations of energy with the Soul as a reflection of those vibrations in time was amazing! To read that the self is only an illusion arising from these reflections of Soul in matter.... leaves so much to ponder. I felt drawn to the Soul in a way I'd never felt before with this book. I felt the love and caring of the Soul even though it is a reflection of Spirit...falling from the heavenly realm to see the self and then dream or remember to return to that heavenly realm...WOW!!! I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to 'come out of the box' of conventional teaching and dare to broaden the vastness of their existence.
Wolf Among others are Setting the Stage for Spiritual Transformation Even if the way this book is written is a bit rough around the edges, the point booms out ferociously loud and eminently clear.
Esoteric scientists and modern alchemists of the soul - like Wolf - are fostering and nurturing the growing spiritual movement and war on the modern and sometimes arrogant scientific mentality. This book among others of its kind (The Tao of Physics, The Invisible Landscape, The Holographic Universe) set the stage for this movement.
Wolf comes up with fresh arguments for the existence of a single soul and single mind using technical jargon, wit, analogy, and metaphor that is sometimes confusing, but all the time intelligent. As a physicist he gives logic and science its due credit, but realizes its limitation in dealing with matters of the heart and spirit. He explains his ideas but bounces of other peoples work, from the likes of: Carlos Suarez, Frank Tipler, The Quabala, Plato, Aristotle, and the ancient prephilosophic Egyptians, a tale is woven about how the soul pushes itself into matter and being.
Wolf uses logic and the A, B, C, to D reductionist elements of science but maintains a big heart and open mind while exploring his ideas. Everyone wants to reduce the spirit, but the soul-talk and other soulful ideas are presented as metaphors and stories to illuminate their paradoxical and oftentimes irrational nature. Thus is the nature of the soul, nonbeing, spirit, quantum spirituality, and so on. These things cannot be objectified, so logic has no say in the matter, but as humans, we can try as so long as we stay mindful of our limitations. We cannot and should not expect to know everything about reality through science or pure reason, because the heart forbids it.
The idea that we are spiritual creatures - to some extent - runs rampant in these works, and is the overarching theme starting to surface in counter-academic and counter-cultural squares everywhere. I highly recommend any students of consciousness, spirituality, and religion to pick this up and swallow its content as soon as possible.
Difficult I found this book very difficult to read. The subject matter is part of the problem, but the author kept saying he would come back to this or that at a later time which tended to get me a bit lost. I also never was real clear in any specific way about the connections between quantum physics and the spiritual world.
Wolf does it again Fred Alan Wolf has brought his far out ideas down to earth again for the general audience. The Spiritual Universe is a worthwhile read showing a good comparison to historical spiritual mysticism and physics. The connections between the soul and quantum phenomena are a bit simplistic and must be taken by faith. Yet, the implications of his are ideas are staggering.
Please be cautious... If you are curious about quantum physics, read books by Werner Heisenberg or Max Born or David Bohm. I you are curious about relativity, read books by Albert Einstein or Max Born or Hans Reichenbach or Wolfgang Pauli. Read books by Richard Feynman. A great source for these is the Dover books catalog.
Learn about these topics from the masters. These "pop-physics" books have a certain appeal, but be careful about speculations and the combination of science with spirituality. It can be entertaining to read these books, but keep a healthy skepticism.
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