The Connectivity Hypothesis: Foundations Of An Integral Science Of Quantum, Cosmos, Life, And Consciousness

The Connectivity Hypothesis This page intentionally left blank. The Connectivity Hypothesis Foundations of an Integral Science of Quantum, Cosmos, Life and Consciousness ERVIN LASZLO Foreword by Ralph H. Abraham STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2003 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address the State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207 Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Laszlo, Ervin, 1932– The connectivity hypothesis : foundations of an integral science of quantum, cosmos, life, and consciousness / Ervin Laszlo ; foreword by Ralph H. Abraham. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5785-0 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5786-9 (alk. paper) 1. Science—Philosophy. 2. Cosmology. I. Title. Q175 .L2854 2003 501—dc21 2002030480 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Foreword vii Introduction 1 PART 1 3 Coherence in Nature and Mind 1. Coherence in the Physical World 5 2. Coherence in the Living World 17 3. Coherence in the Sphere of Mind 27 4. Understanding Coherence: The Elements of an Explanation 39 PART 2 The Connectivity Hypothesis 49 5. Premises 51 6. Postulates 65 7. The Hypothesis 73 8. Coherence Explained: Testing the Power of the Hypothesis 79 9. The Advent of Integral Quantum Science 95 Postscript 103 The Metaphysics of Connectivity 103 Philosophical Implications 110 v vi Contents Appendix 1. General Relativity and the Physical Vacuum Reconsidering Einstein’s Equations in Relation to Connectivity Hypothesis 119 László Gazdag Appendix 2. Healing through the Ψ Field: Two Experiments 125 Maria Sági References 133 Index 143 Contents vii Foreword Pythagoras, ancient theologian and prophet, imagined a model for cosmos and consciousness based on number mysticism. But two thousand years would pass before his prophecy could be realized. Then in 1637, René Descartes and Pierre de Fermat independently connected algebra and geometry, an adequate basis for modern science. And very swiftly we had Galileo, Isaac Newton, Jean le Rond d’Alembert, Jean Baptiste Fourier, James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, and the field theories of mathematical physics—scalar, vector, tensor, spinor fields, and so on. The attempts to unify all the fields into a single mathematical model began with Einstein and are ongoing today. The current state of the art, known as the theory of the quantum vacuum field, attempts to model the wholeness and connectedness of the physical universe, from quantum to cosmos. Meanwhile, the methods and dreams of mathematical physics were applied to biology by Nicholas Rashevsky, and to psychology by Kurt Lewin, in the 1930s. More recently, hopes grow for a science of consciousness, and many capable scientists are e