Dr. Shantena Sabbadini – Life as Act of Creation

In his rich correspondence with C.G. Jung at some point Pauli makes the following remark: “Now in physics the essential aspect of uniqueness (for which there has never been a place in the physical laws of nature) has manifested itself in an unexpected place. This place is the observation itself, which is unique (or an act of creation, if you will).”

In this talk I will suggest that the ‘act of creation’ Pauli is speaking of is not limited to quantum observations, but is vastly more general, possibly characteristic of life itself. If that is the case, we find that there is no sharp boundary between life and what we call the ‘inanimate’: the difference is only a matter of degrees and all existence is to some extent ‘animated’.

SHANTENA AUGUSTO SABBADINI is a physicist, philosopher and a scholar of Chinese classics. As a physicist he worked at the University of Milan on the foundations of quantum physics and at the University of California on the first identification of a black hole. In the 1990s he has been scientific advisor of the Eranos Foundation, an East-West research center founded by C.G. Jung and Olga Froebe-Kapteyn in 1933. From 2017 to 2021 he was the Director of the Pari Center. He is the author of Pilgrimages to Emptiness. Rethinking Reality through Quantum Physics, Tao Te Ching: a guide to the interpretation of the foundational book of Taoism and The Original I Ching or Book of Changes: The Eranos I Ching Project.

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Date

Mon, 16 June 2025
Event has passed

Time

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Local Time

  • Timezone: America/New_York
  • Date: Mon, 16 June 2025
  • Time: 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Speaker

  • Shantena Augusto Sabbadini
    Shantena Augusto Sabbadini
    Theoretical Physicist

    Dr Shantena Augusto Sabbadini worked as a theoretical physicist at the University of Milan and at the University of California. In Milan he researched the foundations of quantum physics. In California he contributed to the first identification of a black hole. In the 1990s he was scientific consultant for the Eranos Foundation. In that context he studied Chinese classics and produced various translations and commentaries in Italian and English, including the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching, the Chuang Tzu and the Lieh Tzu. He is the director of the Pari Center.  His most recent books include ‘Pilgrimages to Emptiness: Rethinking Reality through Quantum Physics’, Pari Publishing, 2017, and ‘Buchi Neri’ (in Italian), Lindau, Turin, 2018. 

    See more here: The Quantum Revolution and the Soul of the World 

    And here: SAND Italy 2015 interview

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