Restoring the Soul of the World: Our Living Bond with Nature's IntelligenceSimon and Schuster, 20 Kas 2014 - 320 sayfa Humanity’s creative role within the living pattern of nature • Explores important scientific discoveries that reveal the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature • Examines the idea of a living cosmos from its roots in the earliest cultures, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today • Reveals ways to reengage our creative partnership with nature and collaborate with nature’s intelligence For millennia the world was seen as a creative, interconnected web of life, constantly growing, developing, and restoring itself. But with the arrival of the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries, the world was viewed as a lifeless, clocklike mechanism, bound by the laws of classical physics. Intelligence was a trait ascribed solely to human beings, and thus humanity was viewed as superior to and separate from nature. Today new scientific discoveries are reviving the ancient philosophy of a living, interconnected cosmos, and humanity is learning from and collaborating with nature’s intelligence in new, life-enhancing ways, from ecological design to biomimicry. Drawing upon the most important scientific discoveries of recent times, David Fideler explores the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature and humanity’s place in the cosmic pattern. He examines the ancient vision of the living cosmos from its roots in the “world soul” of the Greeks and the alchemical tradition, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today. He explains how the mechanistic worldview led to humanity’s profound sense of alienation, for if the universe only functioned as a machine, there was no longer any room for genuine creativity or spontaneity. He shows how this isn’t the case and how, even at the molecular level, natural systems engage in self-organization, self-preservation, and creative problem solving, mirroring the ancient idea of a creative intelligence that exists deep within the heart of nature. Revealing new connections between science, religion, and culture, Fideler explores how to reengage our creative partnership with nature and new ways to collaborate with nature’s intelligence. |
İçindekiler
Beauty Desire and the Soul of the World | |
Life in the Cosmopolis | |
The Light of Nature and the Alchemical Imagination | |
The Lushness of Earth and the Spirit of the Desert | |
The Last Flowering | |
The Mirror of Nature | |
TAKING THE QUANTUM LEAP | |
LIFE IN THE GALACTIC | |
The Pattern Which Connects | |
LIFE AS KNOWING | |
THE FITNESS OF THE COSMIC ENVIRONMENT | |
RETURNING TO EARTH | |
Illustration Credits | |
THE DEATH OF NA TURE AND THE RISE OF ALIENATION | |
In the Name of Utility | |
THE EXCESS | |
Bibliography | |
About the Author | |
Sık kullanılan terimler ve kelime öbekleri
alchemical alchemists Alexandria ancient animated anthropic principle Aristotle beauty become billion Biomimicry body celestial Christian collaboration collective unconscious consciousness cosmic pattern Cosmology cosmopolis cosmos creative culture Descartes discovery divine Earth ecological design embodies emerge energy entire universe evolution evolutionary existence experience Ficino Figure Francis Bacon Freud Gaia galaxies Galileo garden Greek harmony heavens Hermetic Ibid idea imagination individual inner inspired intellect intelligence Janine Benyus John Todd Jung light living Earth living nature living organisms living universe Logos machine magic Marsilio Ficino mathematical matter mechanical philosophy medieval mind modern myth natural world nature's Newgrange Newton Paracelsus particles photon physics planet Plato Plotinus primordial principle psyche psychology quantum quoted rational reality relationship Renaissance Richard Tarnas rooted scientific self-organizing sense space spirit stars Stoics Stonehenge structure Theodore Roszak theory things tradition transformation Translated unconscious understanding unfolding vision vital World Soul wrote