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Zen Physics, The Science of Death, the Logic of Reincarnation
Acclaimed astrophysicist David Darling comes well-armed with both science and mysticism to provide a theory of consciousness and its final conclusion. His well -researched ideas on psychology, neuro-biology, quantum physics and a host of others meld with Zen mysticism to provide a step by step approach to what consciousness is, and what it is not. The urban myth of ‘who we are’ is peeled back to reveal a terrible-wonderful truth. We are a fragmented assortment of often biased memories held together by a selfish brain whose primary concern is its own immortality.So how does this amalgam of ‘I’ manage to create what is considered the highest life-form on earth? You start at conception, add some biology and evolutionary theory, and what emerges is an organism using its every meager power to construct its own unique reality. Or is it that unique? Are we truly disconnected from all those other ‘unique realities’ of the past, present and future? Darling launches into a frank discussion of consciousness. How each of our stories is pieced together from a constantly changing conglomerate of memories. It is these stories that make us who we are. If the memories are changed - we change. If they are erased then we are erased. Our consciousness lives and dies dependent on our memories.When the physical brain dies with the rest of the body what happens to ‘us’? Do not look here for comforting ideas of lounging in heaven with friends and family. Darling also does not support utter annihilation. Darling instead shows where mysticism may provide some insight for science. A well-grounded theory emerges of what happens when you can no longer observe scientifically those moments beyond our last breath. Darling provides a compelling answer for what lies beyond the end as we know it. Darling has acquired a profound insight into the process of death and the many misconceptions we have about it. He systematically walks you through the scientific process of death as well as other scientific phenomenon and lets you see for yourself that there isn't a huge mystery behind it all. Darling doesn't give you the answer to "the great question", but points you in the correct direction with style.Darling uses logic to explain how quantum physics may be bound with personality, but never pretends that Zen can be explained rationally. This collection of thoughts is extremely well-organized and well-written.David Darling's book explains quantum mechanics in a way anyone can understand. He also presents an intelligent thesis on the nature of life after death. His answer may not be what we wish to hear, but it makes sense. Author Bio - David Darling is the author of more than 40 titles including narrative science Megacatastrophes!, We Are Not Alone, Gravity’s Arc, Equations of Eternity, a New York Times Notable Book, and Deep Time. He is also the author of the bestseller–The Universal Book of From Abracadabra to Zeno’s Paradoxes. Darling’s other titles include The Universal Book of Astronomy, and The Complete Book of Spaceflight, as well as more than 30 children’s books. His articles and reviews have appeared in Astronomy, Omni, Penthouse, New Scientist, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among others.David Darling was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, on July 29, 1953, and grew up in the beautiful Peak District, close to Kinder Scout for those who know the area. He went to New Mills Grammar School and then on to Sheffield University, where he earned his B.Sc. in physics in 1974, and Manchester University, for my Ph.D. in astronomy in 1977.David Darling’s interests, apart from his work and family, include singing, song-writing, and playing guitar, walking, and travel.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 3, 2012
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About the author
David Darling
66 books31 followersThere is more than one author in the database with this name. Not all books on this profile may belong to the same person.
David Darling is a science writer and astronomer. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity, and the popular online resource The Worlds of David Darling. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.
David Darling is a science writer and astronomer. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity, and the popular online resource The Worlds of David Darling. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 20, 2019
Infectious ideas about consciousness and the illusion of death
In this exciting book David Darling makes a number of startling observations, most notably that it is our ego-sense or our "consciousness" that makes us afraid of death. On page 104 Darling writes, "the prime biological function of the self is to be afraid of death." This is an ancient idea straight from the Upanishads, incorporated in the Bhagavad Gita and found in Buddhism as well as in yogic theory and practice. It is also an important idea in evolutionary psychology where consciousness or the sense of the individual self is seen as a trick of the species mechanism to make us fear death (among other things).
Unlike the scientific purveyors of evolutionary psychology, Darling sees us surviving death in another consciousness, although he assures us we will not be aware of our previous consciousness(es). He sees consciousness as something we all share with my consciousness being no different than yours, and in fact, it is the same thing and so can easily be taken up. We are "reincarnated" in this special sense. Darling says, on p. 180, "It is not a case of you becoming one person and me becoming someone else in the traditional sense of transmigrating souls. We have to see that ‘being you' is just a general phenomenon. There is no actual, objective link that determines who you will become. You will not become anyone. There is just a continuously experienced condition of you-ness." In yoga this is maya, the veil of illusion that continuously shrouds our perception.
Another nice quote is on page 176: "What the brain really does is to sample extremely narrow aspects of reality through the senses and then subject these to further drastic and highly selective reinterpretation." (See Norretranders's The User Illusion (1991) for a similar expression.) Darling's point is that the brain, as William James said in his famous quote about "the doors of perception," restricts our ability to see the world objectively. We see the world only as our system needs to see it to survive. Or, to quote Darling, (p. 180) "The brain effectively pinches off a little bubble of introverted awareness and stores and manipulates information relevant exclusively to the survival needs of the individual so created." Our sense of ourselves as individuals is, as the yogis teach, a delusion foisted on us by the evolutionary mechanism to help us cope with living on this animal plane.
Here's another idea that relates to the subjectivity of our view: If a spaceship should fall into the sun, we would see it as "burning up." To another consciousness, it might be seen as getting "tremendously excited" or "wonderfully transformed" or to a third consciousness, even "securing a place in the sun" so that it might be launched into space when the sun explodes, reproducing and spreading out. The whole point is, our bias and our expectations create our view of what is happening—indeed our expectations create our universe.
Some years ago I was excited with the idea that my consciousness is eternal, that my ideas will never die even after the universe has grown cold, nor will the unique organization of my brain cells and the pattern of their connections ever die, since it is the information they contain that is really "alive." Theoretically, I could be reconstructed and return, perhaps in a hundred billion years. Of course, that suggests the question, would I want to? and begs the observation, So what? since it is natural to feel that my "consciousness" (a kind of ghost in the machine) would not survive the reconstruction.
Darling contends (p. 175) that "consciousness can never be divorced from matter" (and vice-versa) and that the universe and everything in it has both "an objective and a subjective nature." He adds, "‘Things' have no reality independent of their location in experience; they require the intimate involvement of mind to be given substance."
If we only experience consciousness when "alive," we could be dead for billions of years and alive for a few decades, on and off alternately, and we would only be aware of being alive. Sound familiar? In this sense we are immortal.
Although all this seems to be just playing with words and offering no solace to those in the thrall of the fear of death, it is not so. Regard the Gita, where it is written, we do not die. Our deaths, like our births and like our sense of self are very powerful illusions that only understanding can dispel. Darling's book is a very readable effort in that direction.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
In this exciting book David Darling makes a number of startling observations, most notably that it is our ego-sense or our "consciousness" that makes us afraid of death. On page 104 Darling writes, "the prime biological function of the self is to be afraid of death." This is an ancient idea straight from the Upanishads, incorporated in the Bhagavad Gita and found in Buddhism as well as in yogic theory and practice. It is also an important idea in evolutionary psychology where consciousness or the sense of the individual self is seen as a trick of the species mechanism to make us fear death (among other things).
Unlike the scientific purveyors of evolutionary psychology, Darling sees us surviving death in another consciousness, although he assures us we will not be aware of our previous consciousness(es). He sees consciousness as something we all share with my consciousness being no different than yours, and in fact, it is the same thing and so can easily be taken up. We are "reincarnated" in this special sense. Darling says, on p. 180, "It is not a case of you becoming one person and me becoming someone else in the traditional sense of transmigrating souls. We have to see that ‘being you' is just a general phenomenon. There is no actual, objective link that determines who you will become. You will not become anyone. There is just a continuously experienced condition of you-ness." In yoga this is maya, the veil of illusion that continuously shrouds our perception.
Another nice quote is on page 176: "What the brain really does is to sample extremely narrow aspects of reality through the senses and then subject these to further drastic and highly selective reinterpretation." (See Norretranders's The User Illusion (1991) for a similar expression.) Darling's point is that the brain, as William James said in his famous quote about "the doors of perception," restricts our ability to see the world objectively. We see the world only as our system needs to see it to survive. Or, to quote Darling, (p. 180) "The brain effectively pinches off a little bubble of introverted awareness and stores and manipulates information relevant exclusively to the survival needs of the individual so created." Our sense of ourselves as individuals is, as the yogis teach, a delusion foisted on us by the evolutionary mechanism to help us cope with living on this animal plane.
Here's another idea that relates to the subjectivity of our view: If a spaceship should fall into the sun, we would see it as "burning up." To another consciousness, it might be seen as getting "tremendously excited" or "wonderfully transformed" or to a third consciousness, even "securing a place in the sun" so that it might be launched into space when the sun explodes, reproducing and spreading out. The whole point is, our bias and our expectations create our view of what is happening—indeed our expectations create our universe.
Some years ago I was excited with the idea that my consciousness is eternal, that my ideas will never die even after the universe has grown cold, nor will the unique organization of my brain cells and the pattern of their connections ever die, since it is the information they contain that is really "alive." Theoretically, I could be reconstructed and return, perhaps in a hundred billion years. Of course, that suggests the question, would I want to? and begs the observation, So what? since it is natural to feel that my "consciousness" (a kind of ghost in the machine) would not survive the reconstruction.
Darling contends (p. 175) that "consciousness can never be divorced from matter" (and vice-versa) and that the universe and everything in it has both "an objective and a subjective nature." He adds, "‘Things' have no reality independent of their location in experience; they require the intimate involvement of mind to be given substance."
If we only experience consciousness when "alive," we could be dead for billions of years and alive for a few decades, on and off alternately, and we would only be aware of being alive. Sound familiar? In this sense we are immortal.
Although all this seems to be just playing with words and offering no solace to those in the thrall of the fear of death, it is not so. Regard the Gita, where it is written, we do not die. Our deaths, like our births and like our sense of self are very powerful illusions that only understanding can dispel. Darling's book is a very readable effort in that direction.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
August 30, 2019
Some really interesting points of view and arguments in this book
July 15, 2017
Nice book about death
This book provides both scientific evidence and philosophical justification to what happens when we die. I was expecting more development of the philosophical part and zen/Tao aspects of it.
This book provides both scientific evidence and philosophical justification to what happens when we die. I was expecting more development of the philosophical part and zen/Tao aspects of it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews