In Search of Divine Reality: Science As a Source of Inspiration

Rating:
Summary: An inspired argument for a scientifically based spirituality
Review: An excellent and well-written discussion of how quantum physics makes it possible to conceive of a new notion of spirituality that is consistent with available scientific data, yet provides meaning and a moral basis for our lives. The author has a deep understanding of both physics and metaphysics, reserves the technical aspects of his argument for appendices, and provides a multitude of informative references. The book possesses a conciseness and clarity uncommon in literature of this sort, and reflects the author's passion for the subject. A truly worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for the layperson
Review: In addition to its thought-provoking philosophy, "In Search of Divine Reality" is also an excellent introduction to the basics of quantum mechanics. Dr. Schafer explains these usually intimidating concepts in a way that most laypeople will have no difficulty understanding. If you are one of those people who has been scared of the "hard sciences" since high school, this is the book for you. It's bound to get anyone as excited as a kid with a new chemistry set.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for the layperson
Review: In addition to its thought-provoking philosophy, "In Search of Divine Reality" is also an excellent introduction to the basics of quantum mechanics. Dr. Schafer explains these usually intimidating concepts in a way that most laypeople will have no difficulty understanding. If you are one of those people who has been scared of the "hard sciences" since high school, this is the book for you. It's bound to get anyone as excited as a kid with a new chemistry set.

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Summary: Science and Religion have finally been reunited!
Review: In Search of Divine Reality is the best book I've read in a long time. This book will blow your mind. In relatively simple language, Dr. Schafer explains how quantum physics allows for the existence of a "god" or higher being. Since the world does not function according to Newton's Laws at the atomic level, there is no longer any mathematical certainty. As stated in the Heisenburg Principle, it is impossible to know both the time and the place of a given electron in an atom. Dr. Schafer also explains how it appears as though the world functions as a mind, and supports such an audacious claim with a lot of mathematical and scientific evidence. Once you realize that only your mind is real and that all the building blocks of matter and non-material, your world will never be the same.

Rating:
Summary: Quantum Mechanics offers a new base for spirituality.
Review: Lothar Schafer: In Search of Divine Reality

KEYWORDS: SCIENCE AND RELIGION; QUANTUM MECHANICS AND SPIRITUALITY

In the context of Encounters of Science and Religion, "In Search of Divine Reality" proposes that the traditional conflict between the two disciplines is mainly one involving classical,Newtonian Science and many of its most pressing issues have been solved by the discovery of Quantum Mechanics. In Classical Physics, there is no room for the spiritual and for God. In the World of Quantum Mechanics, the foundations of physical reality have revealed all the aspects of a transcendent reality; with non-material entities at the basis of material things; with components of ordinary things that are not as real as the things that they make; with instantaneous, long-distance (non-local) influences pervading the universe; and with elementary entities that have mind-like properties. Thus, in the same way in which dead atoms can form living organisms and stupid molecules can form intelligent brains, the metaphysical can engender the physical. Without the employment of advanced mathematics, the book uses the phenomena of Quantum Reality to provide a clear and generally understandable description of the concepts of Quantum Mechanics and its consequences for our views of human nature. In the words of Prof. Quentin Smith, Department of Philosophy, Western Michigan University, Author (with W. L. Craig) of "Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology": "Schafer's book is an integrative approach to Modern Science and Religion that aims to show how some traditional religious and philosophical notions can be understood or redefined in terms of modern science. The scientific explanations are reliable and the scientific interpretations of religious ideas are interesting and should be taken seriously and respectfully by even the most sober-minded adherents of the scientific world-view. Rather than science being opposed or or subordinated to religion, religious views are refashioned in terms of currently accepted scientific theories. Most of the arguments of the book are based on conclusions drawn from the phenomena of quantum reality and it is one of the clearest introductory explanations of quantum mechanics on the market. Schafer's book is written in a lively and accessible style that will appeal to the general reader. I really enjoyed reading this book."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lothar Schafer is Distinguished Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Arkansas. His research interests include topics in Computational Chemistry and Molecular Structural Studies by Electron Diffraction.

Rating:
Summary: Best discussion yet on the relation between mind and mattter
Review: Schafer's book is by far the best I have read on the relationship between mind and matter. He makes a convincing case that matter arises from the mind and not the other way around as classical physics and neo-Darwinism insist. The key to understanding how matter arises from the mind is the wave/particle duality. Schafer shows how it takes an act of observation to collapse a ghostly wave of probabilities into a specific bit of real matter. His chapter on the wave/particle dualty is superb, again the best I have read.. Schafer, in my opinion, does a far better job than E.O. Wilson, in his recent book Consilience, of unifying human knowledge within the framework of science. The difference is that Schafer uses Quantum Physics while Wilson hardly mentions it, and stays largely with the old mechansitic and materialistic world view of Newtonian or classical physics.

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