E-Book Overview
In the world of modern science, consciousness is reduced to a fading epiphenomenon, left over after the brain has been physically explained. It seems to arise when matter is suitably organized, but scientists and philosophers have been unable to explain why complex organization should produce anything beyond complex physical behavior. Yet consciousness won't go away. One possibility is that, instead of being produced by matter, consciousness is a separate element, added to physical systems. This can be modeled using the idea of a virtual reality, in which a human subject enters a computer-simulated world through a sensory interface. In this book, virtual reality is used as a metaphor for our situation as conscious beings. The basic theme is that what we can imagine doing in a virtual reality system may actually be happening in nature on a vastly greater scale. Nature may be like a computer simulation interfaced with conscious observer/participants. This groundbreaking book shows how conscious beings could interact with a physically realistic virtual world. It shows how paranormal phenomena can be reconciled in a natural way with the laws of physics, and it sheds light on paradoxes of time, on life beyond the body, and on cosmic and terrestrial evolution. In a sweeping synthesis, the ideas and data of modern science are used to illuminate the ancient theme of consciousness in a world of illusion.
E-Book Content
"Using the metaphor of "virtual reality," Richard Thompson weaves a tapes try of theory and research integrating body, mind, and spirit that can be under stood by scientists and laymen alike. A joy to read and ponder. " -Gary E . Schwartz, Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Surgery, Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Arizona, author of The Afterlife Experiments "Maya is an invitation to a big game hunt in which the big game is no less than the universe itself and the hunt does no harm to any creature. Instead this book generates an enhanced appreciation for the complexity, depth, and value of life. The author has a knack for adventure and guides us through the far reaches of science and even into fringe phenomena while helping us to stay oriented to the key question: is there something behind and prior to this great panorama of amazing effects that has priority over them? He has written a marvelously contemporary, courageous, and creative exploration of meta physical dualism that leads us toward a Ground Reality that makes possible the whole range of virtual realities from the most utilitarian and ordinary to the most bizarre and improbable. Richard L. Thompson keeps us interested right through Maya, from start to finish, and awakens the sense of wonder that the world's great classical philosophers recognized as the transforming experi ence in which religion and philosophy, indeed all wisdom, begins. " -Gene R . Thursby, Ph. D., Prof o f Religion, University o f Florida "Maya: The World As Virtual Reality is a wakeup call for all who are cur ious and wonder about where they have come from and what overall mean ing might be attached to their existence-the role of the "extended mind" and consciousness: its implications and consequences. In a brilliantly devel oped, highly original synthesis, Richard Thompson, a poly man, presents his virtual reality model in a plausible, highly readable, step-by-step, clearly thought-through form. Rather than merely skirting the fringes of paranor mal phenomena, he probes deeply and dares to incorporate the enigmatic and sometimes intoxicating foreign body known as psi data into the latest advances of physics, medicine, and other branches of science. Maya is a mind tweaking, titillating, transformative read . . . . For those who digest its mean ings, life will never be the same. " -Berthold Schwarz, M.D., psychiatrist and author of Psychic-Nexus THE WO