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

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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.

Peter Woit (2006). Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law. Basic Books. pp.141–145. ISBN 978-0-465-09275-8. Capra later discussed his ideas with Werner Heisenberg in 1972, as he mentioned in the following interview excerpt: I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness.”Capra, Fritjof (1989). Howling with the Wolves. Werner Heisenberg, from "Uncommon wisdom: conversations with remarkable people". Toronto; New York: Bantam Books. http://www4.westminster.edu/staff/brennie/wisdoms/uncowisd.htm

Fritjof was a really interesting person, that is, what I knew about him, which wasn’t much since I was only his housekeeper. Cleaning homes was how I got through college. 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." An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism". Archived from the original on October 9, 2010 . Retrieved April 13, 2010. Replace ‘objective science’ with ‘epistemic science’, where the approach to decide what counts as knowledge adapts to the subject studied.Bohr adopted the yin yang symbol as part of his coat of arms when he was knighted in 1947, [2] it is claimed in the book that it was a result of orientalist influences. 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.)

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.In the afterword to the third edition (published in 1982, pp 360-368 of the 1991 edition) Capra offers six suggestions for a new paradigm in science. In a 2019 commemoration in honour of physicist Geoffrey Chew, one of bootstrap's "fathers", Capra replied to criticisms such as Woit's: However, it is not without its critics. Jeremy Bernstein, a professor of physics at the Stevens Institute of Technology, [7] chastised The Tao of Physics: [8] 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]

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. 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." 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. I also really liked what Schodinger said about Consciousness: “There is no framework where we find consciousness in the plural.” And this, to me, says what the Upanishads have said about the nature of reality, “All is one,” and this is what some who have meditated have experienced— The Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes, edited by Ken Wilber, Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala, 1982, ISBN 0-394-71237-4Don't look to Capra for a highly disciplined discourse on particle physics or the nature of cosmology. Nor is this book a deep exploration of Taoism or other Eastern Religious Philosophy. Rather, it is a fascinating mental adventure showing the ways the two schools of thought often developed in parallel and came to similar conclusions from very different beginning points. The author's own words in the epilogue sum it up nicely. "Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science, but man needs both." 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. 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. A striking feature of many of Capra's central arguments is the profound gulf between his premises and his conclusions, which would be simply laughable if it were not for the fact that so many people stand to be badly led astray. For instance, Capra leaps from Einstein's famous equation E=mc Replace the idea of knowledge as buildings based on foundations with an idea of knowledge as networks.