THE VISIONARY WINDOW

Some readers will already be familiar with Amit's earlier book, The Self-Aware Universe, which set out an idealist version of physics based on the primacy of consciousness. Here he takes his analysis further by positing a reconciliation of science and spirituality on the same basis. As Deepak Chopra points out in his foreword, every spiritual tradition has declared its belief in downward causation: 'first came unity, or all-pervading consciousness, which separated itself into an inner world and its outer picture'. Since the 17th century science has been attempting to construct a monism of matter, whereby consciousness can be described as an epiphenomenon, but, as Mary Midgley points out, this view eventually collapses owing to an inherent self-contradiction. So has Amit Goswami succeeded in this book? I think he has, but it does involve an inversion of our current scientific thinking in what he calls 'quantum yoga', signifying the 'integration of the quantum message into a comprehensive new worldview that unites science and spirituality in a personally meaningful way'. This does not simply mean a new worldview, but also a path of spiritual transformation.

Much turns on the definition of consciousness. Following Eastern traditions, Amit defines consciousness as 'both inside and outside the material, space-time reality. As transcendent – outside – it is pure consciousness, unmanifest. Immanent – inside – it appears split as self and the world, subject and object; but the split, the separateness, is epiphenomenal, brought forth by a mysterious force called maya in the Hindu tradition.' (p.9) His thesis is that the introduction of consciousness as the ground of being (transcendent and self-referent) can settle the paradoxes of the quantum debate (p.16). This entails what Willis Harman called 'a science within consciousness' rather than the present consciousness within science; also that the resolution of the ontological debate between science and religion can be achieved via an esoteric ontology – consciousness (turiya) as the ground of being. The crucial distinction to understand here (p.48) is that between 'consciousness (God, the ground of being, the whole) and awareness (a subject-object split, implying an individual sentient being)'. Awareness is required to collapse possibility waves moving about in the brain but this leads to the paradox that this same awareness implies the subject-object split! So 'how can such a split – itself a manifestation of awareness – arise without prior collapse?' Now here is the really neat move – Amit's answer is 'through dependent co-arising' – the subject (quantum self) that 'chooses and causes the collapse co-arises dependently with the objects of awareness'. And the nature of the quantum self (as opposed to the isolated ego) is entangled by definition. So one understands the necessity of both the transcendence and immanence of consciousness for the paradox to be resolved. And indeed the Isa Upanishad warns against dwelling exclusively on either immanence or transcendence.

The book is divided into three parts: The Quantum Leap, The New Cosmology, and Creativity in Science and Spirituality. In the first part there is a particularly good – and comprehensive – analysis of the shortcomings of materialist ontology, not dissimilar to Rupert Sheldrake's views in The Presence of the Past. He deals with causal determinism, continuity, locality, strong objectivity, material monism and reductionism, and epiphenomenalism. All this is obligatory reading for philosophers of science. In addressing the question of whether we create our own reality, Amit begins from the Vedantic 'Tat Tvam Asi' – you are that, and proceeds via self-referentiality and 'the tale of the two selves', the separate ego of limited choice and the entangled quantum self. The key is that these are one, not two, but the spiritual path involves a shift of emphasis and perspective which brings in creativity and transformation – addressed in the third part of the book. The first part finishes with an excellent chapter on quantum questions and answers gleaned from Amit's lecturing experience.

We come now to cosmology. Amit espouses the Strong Anthropic Principle, commenting that 'the universe is a play of consciousness, and manifest self-reference is the opening curtain on this play.' (p.91) He gives an interesting definition of Gaia in this sense as the consciousness in a role of self-referentially choosing the self-organisation that we call life on earth. He then moves on to evolution and a critique of the explanatory scope of neo-Darwinist natural selection, which he thinks should be confined to the sustaining of existing species rather than the evolution of new ones. His argument here could have been made more sophisticated with greater reference to the Gaia hypothesis and the work of Brian Goodwin and others. Amit then moves on to the mind-brain relationship and the role of what he calls the vital body, which is further analysed when he comes to mind-body medicine. For him mind emerges at a certain level of complexity because it was already potential. In addition to an oscillatory model of the cosmos, Amit brings out the principle of reincarnation, referring to the work of Ian Stevenson and others. When he comes to the NDE, however, I find myself disagreeing with some of his analysis. He thinks that spiritual figures and close relatives seen are only archetypal images. This may be true for beings of light, but does not seem to me to apply to the precise experience of communicating with deceased close relatives. Nor are NDEs experienced as dreams, even though the imagery may be similar. In addition, there is considerable doubt about whether the experience of light is, as Amit claims, a physiological phenomenon as argued by Susan Blackmore. Physical light and spiritual light may be on a continuum in consciousness but I do not believe that the second can be reduced to the first. If Amit had read more extensively in the survival literature he might modify some of the views he expresses here. This section ends with another good question and answer section on cosmological questions with some interesting comparisons between Sri Aurobindo and Plotinus. Conventional science is seen as a limiting case of a larger and more creative idealist science.

The broad framework of Part Three is science as outwardly-directed creativity and religion as inwardly-directed creativity. The latter involves the discovery of deeper and deeper levels beyond our ego. We have to jump beyond conditioned thought to insight. And since this insight gives rise to joy, we become happier and even more creative in the unfolding process – being, consciousness, bliss. This esoteric process is a process of transformation, which Amit discusses at length in this section. He presents different paths – knowledge, meditation, devotion, action, then the nature of ethics and the dynamics of the spiritual journey. He does not neglect the vital body level, health and the harmony between various different levels. He explains pranayama as a slowing of breath analagous to the slowing of thought in meditation. This leads to an exposition of the yoga of becoming whole, which addresses all levels in an appropriate manner – in the most comprehensive way I know. A reflection on liberation leads to the penultimate chapter entitled 'A Quantum Physicist's Guide to Enlightenment', where he uses the dialogue format again to outline five stages of spiritual development. Readers will recognise elements of their own experience here: the role of books, workshops, techniques, obstacles and diversions on the path, some nuggets of advice. He finishes with a plea to supplement the three 'Rs' with the three 'I's' of insight, intuition and inspiration in our education system. This is a brilliant book that sets out a challenging agenda and which deserves to be widely read and discussed. I am convinced that Amit is on the right track, but his ideas need to reach out into academic circles if they are to bear more fruit and have a wider cultural impact. There is no doubt that they are timely, indeed pioneering, and a significant point of departure for a new science within consciousness.