Book Review: Science Set Free, by Rupert Sheldrake
Great book. Mr Sheldrake has an unparalleled ability to present difficult ideas simply. What he actually does is mix simple statements with complex statements in a way that if you missed the fuller more detailed presentation you generally need not worry because he will say the same idea very soon in a very simple way or illustrate the idea with a simple example from everyday life.
For years I have thought about the ideas in this book. And where I might have said things differently in some areas, I was struck by how similar his thoughts are to mine. (So obviously he must be on to something !)
In case you are not up on the importance of your answer to the question of materialism, I can tell you, your answer is very important. Do you think that the universe consists only of dead matter and unconscious physical laws? Do you think your thoughts are only some strange by-product of electric charges zooming about between your neurons? Do you think there is such a thing as a 'formal cause' or 'final cause' and not only the blind 'efficient causes' you learned in physics class?
In my experience, where you come down on these sorts of questions is just as important as where you come down on moral questions. We have all met people who have a substantially different moral compass than ourselves. It is jarring. You realize that this person sees things very differently than you, is capable of doing things you would never do. You realize that although you two are breathing the same air and living in the same country that you two somehow live in very different worlds. The same gulf exists between myself and someone who is a pure materialist. I cannot place myself in their shoes and experience their thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.
These sorts of issues might bore you. But the whole course of human history is governed by how those in power think about these questions - just as surely as lives are affected by the religious and financial convictions of those in power. Mr Sheldrake comes back to this many times, and always makes his case very clearly: the question of materialism has huge effects on our lives, what is funded, what is fought for, what we do ourselves medically, etc.
When wrong ideas take over bad things happen. I don't think we can ever understand, really understand, how for hundreds of years people in Europe were burning witches. To think there can be witches, must be witches, many of them young women, and that we must kill them as painfully as possible both to protect ourselves and as the only hope for their immortal souls, how can we really understand this? Yet it is an example of a way of thinking, a wrong way of thinking having terrible consequences. The same is the case with radical materialism. It is a wrong way of thinking. And it is having terrible effects on people. So thank you Mr Sheldrake for such a lucid book exposing the faults in radical materialism - here's me hoping your book has a good effect.
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