The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak Chopra
Of all the books I own, this slim volume has been the most formative in my life. Laid on my pillow one crucial night, its wisdom provided both beacon and lifeline.
Later, I distilled its seven chapters into a computer-generated poster for my bulletin board. Within that poster's oval border rotate the "laws" and my paraphrasing of their essence. For example: "Pure Potentiality"--Take time to be silent. Commune with nature. Practice non-judgment. "Detachment"--Allow yourself and others to be as they are. Don't force solutions. Accept uncertainty as the path to freedom. [I made an appliquéd tapestry depicting this one.] Remain open to an infinity of choices. And so on.
These are but sample touchstones. The guidebook itself is the precious gem. For full understanding, read and reread the charismatic words of Dr. Deepak Chopra, who, better than anyone, has popularized and made accessible to the Western mind the timeless wisdom of India.
All of Deepak's writings are worth your time, attention, and money. But if you must buy only ONE Chopra book, let it be this one.
The Tree of Knowledge by Humberto R. Maturana, Ph.D. and Francisco J. Varela, Ph.D.
Together, we make a world.
This book, a foundation piece of "New Thought," is required reading for college courses at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and at California's Humboldt State University. Its reputation is well-deserved. Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, two Chilean scientists, lucidly establish HOW we know WHAT we know, as they engage the reader in a series of perceptual experiments designed to present the case for each entity's absolute right to its own "reality."
According to Maturana and Varela, an individual's "reality" is constructed from his or her (or its) perceptions, and these perceptions are interactive with the environment. The authors use the graphic analogy of a raindrop which falls on the mountainside and, as it courses downward, both affects and is affected by the slope down which it rolls. That raindrop's experience is its incontrovertible truth, though rain falling on an opposite slope finds quite a different path. Thus, our "reality" is interactive. Moreover, our reality is mutually constructed. Our commonly agreed-upon view of reality is in fact a shared set of assumptions/perceptions. You and I see what we see because we have agreed that this is what is "out there." Together, we bring forth the world we experience as objective reality.
The implications of this idea are profound. We cannot afford to scorn another's views, for they are just as valid as our own, and without them our greater "reality" is incomplete.
This compelling book will challenge your assumptions about science and philosophy. But if you stay open to these ideas, you will not see the world, nor your fellow beings, in the same limited way again. And you will more deeply appreciate your own part in bringing forth the dream.
Biology Revisioned by Willis W. Harman, Elisabet Sahtouris
"As above, so below"...as never before.
In this remarkable book, two great biologists hold a speculative conversation about the true nature of "life, the universe, and everything," and you get to eavesdrop. Your world view will never be the same.
Following in the tradition of James Lovelock [The Ages of Gaia] and Lyn Margulis [Microcosmos], the late Willis Harman and protege Elizabet Sahtouris here take Gaia Theory (the notion that our planet is a superorganism not merely hosting life, but in itself alive) to its next logical extension. Gaia, this duo speculates, is conscious. Indeed, they postulate that not only is Gaia conscious, but every level of life is conscious. From the atomic components of each cell in your body to the unimaginable vast Body of which Gaia herself is only one cell, all...All...ALL is conscious.
The adage, "As above, so below" has never had more compelling meaning.
Harman and Sahtouris base their logical groundwork on a concept of all being organized into holons (identity units) which are part of a larger holarchy (complex of identity units). Holons, say these two, take their purpose from the holarchy in which they are embedded, and take their ability from the holons which are embedded within them. Thus, your liver exists to serve your body, and draws its capacities from the health of its individual cells.
Take this concept outward to Gaia--nay, to the penultimate Cosmos--and you may find, as I do, profound spiritual implications. You will also understand why these two respected scientists had to present this book as a speculative conversation. Pushing the outer edges of current thought, challenging academia's entrenched mindset, is professionally risky. But Sahtouris has no less a motive than the saving of the planet. She holds that only by understanding what We are, can we save Ourselves from physical destruction.
With the greatest of delight, I recommend this book to your consciousness.
Also recommended:
A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science (A Voyage From 1 to 10) by Michael S. Schneider
The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems by Fritjof Capra, author of The Tao of Physics
Seth Speaks: The Eternal Validity of the Soul by Jane Roberts
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