The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism

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The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes, edited by Ken Wilber, Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala, 1982, ISBN 0-394-71237-4

The Tao of Physics was followed by other books of the same genre like The Hidden Connection, The Turning Point and The Web of Life in which Capra extended the argument of how Eastern mysticism and scientific findings of today relate, and how Eastern mysticism might also have the linguistic and philosophical tools required to undertake to some of the biggest scientific challenges remaining.

Fritjof Capra, in The Tao of Physics, seeks ... an integration of the mathematical world view of modern physics and the mystical visions of Buddha and Krishna. Where others have failed miserably in trying to unite these seemingly different world views, Capra, a high-energy theorist, has succeeded admirably. I strongly recommend the book to both layman and scientist." That's what I said before reading extensively in physics and cosmology and before watching so many charlatans and the honest but misguided people duped by them try to sell Woo-Woo in place of solid science. I wish I had not written the review above, but I'll let it stand as mute warning to be careful of lay interpretations of science. And a Medical Doctor like Dr. Robert Lanza or a New Age/Alternative Medicine guru like Depak Chopra is not a particle physicist. Their pronouncements on quantum mechanics are no more valid than mine would be if I suddenly set out to perform delicate surgery.

Leon Lederman (1993). The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?. New York: Bantam Doubleday. pp. 189–193. ISBN 0-385-31211-3. Victor N. Mansfield, a professor of physics and astronomy at Colgate University who wrote many papers and books of his own connecting physics to Buddhism and also to Jungian psychology, [4] complimented The Tao of Physics in Physics Today: [5] [6]

Woit, Peter (2006). Not Even Wrong – the Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-09275-6. DeLuca, like Capra, spent a somee time on comparing quantum physics with the Upanishads, but Capra also compared it to what Buddha had said about the nature of reality. While I could see what they both were talking about, I was not so sure that it could be applied in such a way because what the Buddha and the Upanishads had said were too vague to me. Leon M. Lederman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and current Director Emeritus of Fermilab, criticized both The Tao of Physics and Gary Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters in his 1993 book The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? [9]

He began with saying, “All things are temporary manifestations of God.” Then he mentioned the great physicist, Schodinger and Deepak Chopra’s book, Quantum Healing.

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Aaeserud, Finn (2015). "A Complementary Relationship: Niels Bohr and China*" (PDF). Berliner China-Hefte/Chinese History and Society. 46: 69–76 – via Niels Bohr Archive University of Copenhague. According to the preface of the first edition, reprinted in subsequent editions, Capra struggled to reconcile theoretical physics and Eastern mysticism and was at first "helped on my way by 'power plants'" or psychedelics, with the first experience "so overwhelming that I burst into tears, at the same time, not unlike Castaneda, pouring out my impressions to a piece of paper". (p.12, 4th ed.) Chopra had said that that the molecules that are in us today can be in a tree or another person tomorrow, and the molecules that were in the moon a month ago could be in us today. He stated that this is not figuratively but literally. But much of this was lost on me, but the idea of our molecules flowing in and out of our body was fascinating. Capra later discussed his ideas with Werner Heisenberg in 1972, as he mentioned in the following interview excerpt: A special edition of the “brilliant” best-selling classic on the paradoxes of modern physics and their relationship to concepts of Eastern mysticism ( New York Magazine)

I showed the manuscript to him chapter by chapter, briefly summarizing the content of each chapter and emphasizing especially the topics related to his own work. Heisenberg was most interested in the entire manuscript and very open to hearing my ideas. I told him that I saw two basic themes running through all the theories of modern physics, which were also the two basic themes of all mystical traditions-the fundamental interrelatedness and interdependence of all phenomena and the intrinsically dynamic nature of reality. Heisenberg agreed with me as far as physics was concerned and he also told me that he was well aware of the emphasis on interconnectedness in Eastern thought. However, he had been unaware of the dynamic aspect of the Eastern world view and was intrigued when I showed him with numerous examples from my manuscript that the principal Sanskrit terms used in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy- brahman, rta, lila, karma, samsara, etc.-had dynamic connotations. At the end of my rather long presentation of the manuscript Heisenberg said simply: "Basically, I am in complete agreement with you." I listened again to DeLuca’s lecture to see what I remembered, and to write this in my review as it say, this is why I love quantum physics, even though I don’t understand it. Capra reconnects this new paradigm to the theories of living and self-organizing systems that has emerged from cybernetics. Here he quotes Ilya Prigogine, Gregory Bateson, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela (p.372 of the 1991 edition).Starting with reasonable descriptions of quantum physics, he constructs elaborate extensions, totally bereft of the understanding of how carefully experiment and theory are woven together and how much blood, sweat, and tears go into each painful advance. An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism". Archived from the original on October 9, 2010 . Retrieved April 13, 2010.