The Spiritual Universe

Book excerpt: From a National Book Award winner, “methodical and clear . . . provides physics-phobics a wide bridge to understanding some often arcane material” (Booklist). Why do we believe in the soul? Does it actually exist? If so, what is it? Does it differ from the self? Does it survive the body after death? In The Spiritual Universe, Fred Alan Wolf brings the most modern perspective of quantum physics to the most ancient questions of religion and philosophy. Taking the reader on a fascinating tour of both Western and Eastern thought, Wolf explains the differing view of the soul in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and St. Thomas, the ancient Egyptian’s belief in the nine forms of the soul, the Qabalistic idea of the soul acting in secret to bring spiritual order to a chaotic universe of matter and energy, and the Buddhist vision of a “nonsoul.” Wolf then mounts a defense of the soul against its modern critics who see it as nothing more than the physical body. “One of the few pathfinders who have discovered the versatility and potency of the new quantum paradigm based on consciousness.” —Amit Goswami, Professor of Physics and author of The Self-Aware Universe “The questions are exhilarating and the conclusions are properly mysterious and profoundly inconclusive . . . you’ll love the spirited journey.” —Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life “Wolf is a new Thales for a new physics of the soul; his book will blow your mind and quicken your spirit.” —Michael Grosso, Ph.D., author of The Millennium Myth and Frontiers of the Soul