Looking-Glass Universe – The Emerging Science of Wholeness

This pioneering book was published 40 years ago, and features the work of four honorary members of the Network – David Bohm, Ilya Prigogine, Karl Pribram and Rupert Sheldrake. There is a new preface by John Briggs reflecting on that time and on the emerging metaphor of dynamic wholeness, shifting from the still dominant view of separation and fragmentation. It proposed the Looking Glass science of the title, suggesting a breakdown of science’s objective presupposition of a world totally independent of consciousness. In the appendix material, Jonathan Allday suggest that the language in most scientific fields ‘remains stubbornly reductionist, weighted towards data points and point particles, a universe made of parts that are amputated from their whole.’ However, he also adds that today’s scientific thinking is more systemic, dynamic, and complex. Further, he suggests, ‘if we shift perspective slightly, a more organic, responsive, and hospitable cosmos comes dramatically into view.’

The first chapter sketches the larger context of modern science, and is followed by detailed exposition and discussion of the main scientists mentioned above. There is still a resistance to prioritising processes over states and things, as Iain McGilchrist also argues. In the last 30 pages, Jonathan provides detailed discussion in the form of notes to specific sections and points, bringing the reader up-to-date with current thinking and reactions to the original ideas as well as specific thinkers such as Harold Saxton Burr and Erich Jantsch. He also notes that there have been new developments such as the scientific study of meditation and the therapeutic use of psychedelics that have been largely stripped of their mystical or ontological overtones. Perhaps most importantly, there is an emerging post materialist and evidence-based science of consciousness.