Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos

Ervin Laszlo

Back in the Halcyon days of my youth, one of my favorite groups was The Procol Harem. They produced a song, “In held ‘twas I”, that was quite an epic. In one stanza they related the story of a pilgrim who went to see the Dalai Lama. The Pilgrim had to work and wait for 7 years before he got his audience. Given his audience, the pilgrim said “Tell me father, what is the meaning of life?” After a pregnant pause the Lama giggled and responded “Life is like a bean stock, isn’t it?”

I always thought that was a very “cool” song and that the Lama’s answer was about as close to the Truth as one could get. Thirty years later, having spent a fair amount of time searching for answers I am not sure there is a better answer.

Ervin Laszlo, in his most excellent book, Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos: The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality, does as good a job as I have ever seen of asking all the important and of delivering wonderful pointers so that readers may have the best data developed by science and/or spiritual sources to confront and consider virtually all of the very important questions that mankind and individuals have pondered. All of the following, and more, are explored:

• What is the nature of the birth and death of our universe?
• How did life as we know come to planet earth, and what is its future in the cosmos?
• What is the nature of human consciousness—is it merely a product of the functioning of the brain or can it have an existence beyond the brain.
• How widespread is consciousness in the Cosmos?
Is there a cosmic basis for right and wrong, and good and evil?
• Is it possible our consciousness survives our body—what is the evidence for immortality and/or reincarnation?

If none of the above questions interest you, this is not a book for you. On the other hand, if you are interested in the cosmic questions, the Existential questions, than I can not recommend this book highly enough.

It is very well-written.It is short and to the point.It is easy to read and totally understandable, no matter what your educational or scientific background may be.

I will not attempt to synthesize the knowledge or comment on the author’s conclusions. Suffice it to say, that the title says it all. This book is, in my opinion truly a treasure. As an incredible added bonus, Part 3 of this book consists of short essays by brilliant scientists and commentators who comment on the information and conclusions in the book. Each brings a unique angle of approach, coming from his or her area of expertise.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I make this book a 10.

Review by Len Oppenheim