Breakthrough Books
THE WAY OF THE EXPLORER: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey through the Material and Mystical Worlds by Edgar Mitchell with Dwight Williams ($24.95 from Putnam). One of only twelve men to walk on the surface of the moon, Mitchell, a rancher's son from New Mexico, piloted the lunar module on the Apollo 14 mission. But it is a second extraordinary experience that lies at the heart of this book. As Mitchell journeyed home, the panorama of Earth, the black void and the stars outside the window of his capsule provoked a sense of universal connectedness that sent him on a twenty-five-year philosophical foray. With the help of freelance writer Williams, Mitchell has produced a rich work -- a recap of a fascinating 20th century life that flows easily into a deeper discussion of meaning and mystery in the universe. Raised only blocks from the laboratory of rocket scientist Robert Goddard, Mitchell decided in early adolescence to devote his life to flight. The quest took him to Carnegie-Mellon University, MIT (a doctorate in aeronautics) and ultimately the Navy, where he enjoyed a front-row view of the early years of space exploration. Since childhood Mitchell had been gripped by a belief that "something extraordinary was just around the corner." In the manned mission to the moon he saw the fulfillment of that intuition. After participating in the Apollo 13 rescue effort in 1970, Mitchell got his own chance early the next year. His account of traversing the moon's barren face with Alan Shepard is alone worth the price of admission, but it was the homeward epiphany that altered the course of his life. (See excerpt.) To be sure, Mitchell already had an interest in probing the limits of the scientific paradigm, and in fact he performed a crude but significant psychic experiment while on the journey. Back on Earth, however, he felt a new hunger to explore religious experience and the nature of consciousness. Mitchell later came to classify his experience under the Hindu heading of savikalpa samadhi -- a recognition of the unity of things while still perceiving them as separate. At about the same time, first-hand observations of paranormal phenomena began to convince him that the current scientific picture was incomplete. As an organizer and witness to landmark experiments with Uri Geller, Mitchell dismisses the suggestion that Geller faked his "overwhelming" feats on technical and practical grounds. Not least persuasive, Mitchell reports, was his later discovery that he himself, as well as countless children he encountered, could also learn to bend spoons. Seeking a systematic outlet for his curiosity, Mitchell left NASA to found the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1972. He describes a nearly miraculous sheen that hung over the early days of the organization. For example, one day a woman stopped by the organization's offices, spent an hour or two with Mitchell, then casually handed him a contribution check -- for $25,000. Such gestures helped fund seminal work by Carl Simonton, Elmer Green and others. Mitchell notes the struggle to keep the organization from becoming a "church" of any particular viewpoint as it moved to the forefront of consciousness research. In 1982, differences over research directions led to his ouster as IONS chairman. He returned to the board of directors a few years later. As the years passed, his quest to balance science and religion led him to contemplate the larger significance of paired elements -- male and female, wave and particle, mind and matter, yin and yang. The idea eventually evolved into the "dyadic" model of the universe he now presents, in which information and energy receive equal billing. In its simplest form, the model maintains that these two fundamental attributes of nature are and have always been coupled in the universe. Both emerge from a "zero-point field" outside space and time. Locality co-exists with non-locality. Aspects of non-locality in turn underlie many puzzling phenomena -- out-of-body experiences, ESP, multiple personality, even our sense of having lived past lives. Time is real, the future is undetermined and the past exists as information requiring interpretation. "Energy, we know, is the foundation of all matter; information is the foundation of knowing. Both were present at the moment of creation. It is likely that just as energy produced the physical structure that we recognize as waves and particles, the seeds of consciousness were also present to produce awareness and intentionality." Such a conceptualization may seem outlandish, Mitchell admits. "However, after several years of reflection it seems more reasonable than proposing a universe created by accident or one created by an eternal, preexisting omnipotent deity. "It also seems more reasonable than a universe in which the laws of physics were codified and stored a priori, with no explanation as to how nature "knows" how to obey physical laws, or a Platonic universe where beauty and perfect form preexisted, or a many-worlds complex of universes that divide when we change our minds." In fact, "The universe knows nothing of mathematics. It is simply a universe of process -- a process we are attempting to know." Like a number of other recent authors, Mitchell sees signs of a global mind change in the offing. He suggests that our voyage of self-discovery will renew our interest in space exploration. And when human adventurers finally stand upon Mars, he predicts they will feel, as he felt, the palpable beauty, intricacy and intelligence of the cosmos. On the strength of its rare perspective, The Way of the Explorer should go far to bridge the two worlds in which its author has made his home.
KINDS OF MINDS: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness by Daniel C. Dennett ($20 from Basic Books). What is the nature of mind? When does a human embryo become sentient? How are human and animal minds different? Can a man ever know what a woman's mind is like, or vice versa? These and other questions intrigue Dennett, a philosopher and director of the Cognitive Sciences Center at Tufts University. Well known for his acerbic wit and impatience with non-material approaches, he draws heavily on neuro-biology and evolutionary theory in this short, fairly technical work. Dennett's subtitle could imply a slight waning of his theoretical confidence: His 1991 book was entitled Consciousness Explained. Indeed, he concludes Kinds of Minds humbly, noting that "as a book by a philosopher, it ends not with the answers, but, I hope, with better versions of the questions themselves."
In TRACKS IN THE WILDERNESS OF DREAMING: Exploring Interior Landscape Through Practical Dreamwork by Robert Bosnak ($21.95 from Delacorte Press), a prominent Jungian analyst offers an articulate, almost poetic window on our nocturnal inner life. Bosnak, author of A Little Course in Dreams, uses a visit to an aboriginal spirit doctor in the Australian outback as the fulcrum of the book. Rightly understood, dreams can be both useful and significant. Bosnak maintains. He augments analysis of his own remarkable "dream cycle" with pragmatic suggestions for exploration and interpretation.
The above books are reviewed by Eric Ferguson
The books below are reviewed by June Rouse For decades, renowned philosopher Thich Nhat Hanh has been revered by such scholars of humanity as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other devotees of the teachings of Christ and the Buddha. The bestselling Living Buddha, Living Christ is perhaps Nhat Hanh's most widely read book, an acclaimed guide to the deep spiritual link between Christianity and Buddhism. A gift-sized little gem is BE STILL AND KNOW: Reflections from Living Buddha, Living Christ, a spinoff of contemplations and meditations. Every page holds a brief and moving excerpt, seeds for thought and inspiration. ($8, published by Riverhead Books.)
The vast and lonely beauty of the plains and forests of northern Minnesota, the hardy lives and cultures of those who live there, have been captured by Kent Nerburn in essays that enter the mind like poetic photographs. A HAUNTING REVERENCE: Meditations on a Northern Land can stay alive in your heart long after you've finished it. Nerburn, author of the acclaimed Letters to My Son and Neither Wolf nor Dog, writes with passion about the seasons of the land he knows so well. ($18, New World Library.)
In a tale made to order for this time of awakening and change, THE SUPERMARKET by Mickaël Taddeo explores the idea of a parallel universe through two similar but very different characters, one in Los Angeles, the other on a planet on the other side of a black hole. Simultaneous levels of meaning in the meeting of the harried screenwriter at the mercy of those who profit from his talents, and his alter ego whose concerns center in a reality that takes the uses of energy for granted, work marvelously. Experiences of the varied characters are bound to give you some long thoughts about the nature of consciousness and reality. From the simple, well-crafted story to the yeoman job of varied typography to the arresting cover art, The Supermarket may well remind you that you can still find in yourself the flights of imagination that transformed and delighted you before you "grew up." ($13.95, A-1 Publishing. Order from your bookdealer or call 1-800-444-2524, extension 19, to order by credit card, check or Money Order.) |