What Is Reality?

Ervin Laszlo is celebrating his 85th birthday this year. Quite a few of his books, including his autobiography, have been reviewed on these pages, but for those who are unfamiliar with his life, he began as a concert pianist and then moved into evolution and systems theory in his 30s. He has been developing a series of important ideas over the last 50 years. The first book here is his latest publication describing the new map of cosmos and consciousness, the second a major analysis of the development of his ideas, and the third, by the same author, a more informal portrait and introduction to a universal man.

Taking the third book first, it falls into three parts: initially, Ervin on himself, then the author's own view and that of his wife, Carita, and younger son Alexander. It is clear that Ervin is a very private person who is hugely creative, productive and driven. This comes out in an amusing way when Carita used to ask Alexander to call Ervin to the table, which he did with some trepidation as he knew he was by definition disturbing his train of thought. Connecting with Nature and the world is very important for him while he reports that his greatest joys are intellectual pleasure, listening to music, tasting great food and driving elegant cars. He sees this as moving and developing, and his life as a whole as a form of being and becoming that has not been wasted. Gyorgyi re-visits many places that have meant a great deal to Ervin at different times of his life and participates in quite a number of recent significant events.

In addition, there is a comprehensive interview on the Akasha paradigm, which appears in both books. The last part conveys some vignettes of his everyday life, in which Carita is always a beautiful and supportive presence. Ervin keeps himself in good shape with morning exercises and stretches. He himself provides the inside story of the previous eight years in the final chapter, commenting on a fundamental change within himself from world-transformation to self-transformation, as one cannot change the world without changing oneself. His work has been a search for logos in terms of meaning and intelligence, but he has now come to the realisation that the fundamental answer is love: 'the deep, ineffable, numinous and undefinable feeling of being one.' Moreover, he has concluded that we are and remain part of the world through an evolutionary cycle of birth and rebirth – hence our responsibility to play a creative and constructive role in this process.

The Laszlo Chronicle gives readers a very clear insight into the development of Ervin's thought across a range of topics. It begins with the discovery and development of his systems philosophy and the influence of Whitehead, Von Bertalanffy, Bohm and Prigogine. This leads on to the application of the systems concept to world order and general evolution theory, not only as an idea but also in terms of realisation in the life of society. His work on a unified information field theory has gone through a number of phases, starting with the idea of the psi-field, moving through the fifth field to its more mature expression in the Akashic field and paradigm. The use of the word Macroshift arises within the context of bifurcations, tipping points (breakdown and breakthrough) and the evolution of worldviews from what he calls logos to holos, from separation to wholeness. Ervin's participation in the Club of Rome and his founding of the Club of Budapest have enabled him to become an expert on world transformation. The conclusion lays out the principal results of his philosophical work from systems theory to the study of consciousness and the theory of universal information field. This is the best introduction to Ervin's work for the general reader.

What is Reality? follows on from What is Consciousness? The direction of Ervin's thinking has been towards ever more integral models of reality and wholeness, conceptualised as the 'deep dimension' where everything is connected in a seamless, irreducible whole. The Akashic Holofield is the primordial ground of the universe, a concept very similar to the Universal Mind of Walter Russell, out of which everything unfolds and into which it re-folds - also parallel to the implicate and explicate orders of David Bohm. The basic reality is 'the intelligence that co-ordinates the clusters of vibrations that appear as object-like and mind-like phenomena. Ervin proposes an in-formed vibrational universe in which object-like clusters of waves vibrate at a high frequency in the spectrum and mind-like clusters at a lower frequency. Critically, the manifest entities of the universe are 'phenomenologically distinct but not ontologically separate.' (p. 14) We are one in the deep dimension. The world is not a giant mechanism but 'a unitary realm of in-formed clusters of vibration.' (p. 46)

The three parts of Ervin's contribution address cosmos, consciousness and existence. In discussing consciousness, Ervin takes full account of anomalies that cannot be explained by scientific materialism, proposing that 'the enduring essence of consciousness extends beyond the brain, transcending it and capable of existing independently of it.' (p. 39) This means that birth and death are both phase transitions in an out of different levels of existence. Moreover, 'the universe is entangled in all of its relationships and acts as ONE.' (p. 101) A manifestation of this oneness is the emphasis on increasing coherence. For Ervin, the logic of life is towards coherence and wholeness, through interconnection and interaction.

The book also contains further explorations of the new map, with a foreword by Deepak Chopra and an introduction by Stanislav Grof – the latter with his notion of holotropic, moving towards wholeness. Well-known authors contribute their reflections on the new map in physics, consciousness, the nature of existence, then wider horizons. Nitamo Montecucco gives a striking illustration of coherence in the brain, Jean Houston gives her take on the mystical path, Stephan Schwartz elaborates his own map in terms of a scientifically grounded consciousness-based reality, Chris Bache shares his insights from psychedelic communion, Alexander Laszlo reflects on syntony as evolutionary consonance, and, on the practical side, Kingsley Dennis gives guidance on conscious agency for planetary wholeness.

The final part returns to Ervin's own thinking on meaning. He explores purpose in Nature with respect to the coherence of physics and the evolution of complex coherent systems. The ultimate meaning cannot lie in the evolution of these systems as they will ultimately disappear. However, Ervin makes a good case for the meaning and purpose of the universe lying in the evolution of consciousness: 'we are here to evolve the consciousness of the cosmos by evolving our own consciousness. We can pursue this task throughout the cycle of our existence.' (p. 263) While on Earth we can tune into this deep oneness and express it in unconditional love. Ultimately, we can reach a state of resonance with the intelligence inherent in the ground state of the cosmos. In other words, we vibrate and manifest love and wisdom.

There is no doubt that Ervin is one of the great visionaries of our time. He has plumbed the depths of cosmology, physics, biology, systems theory, evolution and consciousness and come up with a coherent vision of reality and the purpose of existence to which we can all subscribe. His latest book does indeed provide a more than adequate map of reality that is consistent with our emerging planetary consciousness and ethic. Having understood this, it is critical to apply its implications to our current challenges and forge a holistic vision of our planetary future beyond existing polarities and power politics. The signs of breakdown are all too apparent, but green shoots are breaking through. We are in a massive phase transition as a species and it is critical that we hold this vision of wholeness through this transitional process. Ervin's life and work has been dedicated to this noble task.