Jim Marion is the founder and Director of the Institute for Spiritual Awareness in Washington, D.C. and one of the founding members of Ken Wilber’s Institute for Integral Spirituality. He is also a public policy lawyer and his book The Death of the Mythic God; The Rise of Evolutionary Spirituality ties levels of spiritual consciousness to contemporary world politics.
The thesis of this book is that people are evolving in spiritual consciousness both individually and within the human race as a whole. They are moving away from the old concept of God as a being who created everything but who is separate and distinct from his creation. They are moving toward a concept of God as the underlying consciousness (Source, Force, Energy, Whatever) of which the Universe and everything in it is made. It's all God.
Marion, who once studied to become a Catholic priest, has great respect for Christianity and all other religions. However, he believes that Christianity strayed from the teachings of Jesus as the early church grew in size and began to hammer out its formal beliefs. "Jesus taught that we are responsible for our own sins and our own salvation. It is not his responsibility but ours. Jesus did not die to save us from sin. That was a theological interpretation added later by others, and one that directly contradicts what Jesus himself taught." (p. 59)
This is a terrific book -- and short (167 pages). I read it in a couple of evenings.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The Hidden Face of God by Gerald Schroeder
In The Hidden Face of God Israeli physicist Gerald Schroeder pulls together quantum mechanics, neuroscience, and Bible study to conclude that mind, as exhibited by the ability to make choices, is inherent in every atom of the Universe.
The book shows the place where physics and metaphysics meet and greet (if not merge). In Schroeder's thesis the basic stuff of the Universe is information: "But when we look below the surface, we discover a world made of a mix of identical particles that are actually waves and then realize that the waves are massless expressions of information. Physics has exposed the metaphysical basis of existence." (p. 173)
Schroeder stops short of saying that the Creator and the Created are one thing, but he does seem to support the basic underlying unity of everything in the Universe -- call it God or a force or what-have-you.
One thing that I didn't like was the author's tendency to gush over how wonderfully complex the human body and brain are. To me this is anthropocentric thinking -- he assumes that human beings are smart enough to assess the complexities of reality. I can't help wondering if the perceived complexity is just a reflection of the limitations of our little animal brains.
The book shows the place where physics and metaphysics meet and greet (if not merge). In Schroeder's thesis the basic stuff of the Universe is information: "But when we look below the surface, we discover a world made of a mix of identical particles that are actually waves and then realize that the waves are massless expressions of information. Physics has exposed the metaphysical basis of existence." (p. 173)
Schroeder stops short of saying that the Creator and the Created are one thing, but he does seem to support the basic underlying unity of everything in the Universe -- call it God or a force or what-have-you.
One thing that I didn't like was the author's tendency to gush over how wonderfully complex the human body and brain are. To me this is anthropocentric thinking -- he assumes that human beings are smart enough to assess the complexities of reality. I can't help wondering if the perceived complexity is just a reflection of the limitations of our little animal brains.
Friday, November 30, 2007
The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin
String theory has dominated physics for more than twenty years. There are actually thousands of string theories, but they all have limitations and none has provided the world with the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) that we all anxiously await.
This fact has been troubling a theoretical physicist named Lee Smolin and he has written a very thorough and readable book about it called The Trouble with Physics. (Houghton Mifflin, 2007.) His conclusion: "There needs to be an honest evaluation of the wisdom of sticking to a research program that has failed after decades to find grounding in either experimental results or precise mathematical formulation."
In 1968 a young Italian physicist named Gabriele Veneziano came up with a formula describing the probabilities for two particles to scatter from each other at different angles. By 1970 some physicists were able to express the data in terms of a physical picture in which particles could be seen not as points but as stringlike things existing only in a single dimension. They stretched when gaining energy; they contracted when giving it off; and they vibrated.
String theory in its various permutations became a hot topic in academic physics from around the mid-1980s, but by the end of the 1990s it had been suggested that all the conjectured and constructed string theories might be unified in a deeper (and mysterious) theory called M-theory.
According to Lee Smolin, the trouble with physics is not only that string theory may be wrong, but that its popularity has squelched innovative thinkers who wanted to take other directions within the field of physics. It became very hard for a physicist who was not interested in string theory to get a job. The academic and research communities simply did not provide jobs or grant money for physicists who disbelieved string theory or who wanted to pursue other avenues of research.
Wading through the actual physics in Smolin's book is a bit of a chore, but his critique of academia is clear and convincing. His overall tone is positive and upbeat in spite of the profuse apologies he keeps making to his colleagues in string theory. He ends with suggestions as to how to move the study of physics forward in ways that are more intellectually diverse than they have been in the era of string theory.
This fact has been troubling a theoretical physicist named Lee Smolin and he has written a very thorough and readable book about it called The Trouble with Physics. (Houghton Mifflin, 2007.) His conclusion: "There needs to be an honest evaluation of the wisdom of sticking to a research program that has failed after decades to find grounding in either experimental results or precise mathematical formulation."
In 1968 a young Italian physicist named Gabriele Veneziano came up with a formula describing the probabilities for two particles to scatter from each other at different angles. By 1970 some physicists were able to express the data in terms of a physical picture in which particles could be seen not as points but as stringlike things existing only in a single dimension. They stretched when gaining energy; they contracted when giving it off; and they vibrated.
String theory in its various permutations became a hot topic in academic physics from around the mid-1980s, but by the end of the 1990s it had been suggested that all the conjectured and constructed string theories might be unified in a deeper (and mysterious) theory called M-theory.
According to Lee Smolin, the trouble with physics is not only that string theory may be wrong, but that its popularity has squelched innovative thinkers who wanted to take other directions within the field of physics. It became very hard for a physicist who was not interested in string theory to get a job. The academic and research communities simply did not provide jobs or grant money for physicists who disbelieved string theory or who wanted to pursue other avenues of research.
Wading through the actual physics in Smolin's book is a bit of a chore, but his critique of academia is clear and convincing. His overall tone is positive and upbeat in spite of the profuse apologies he keeps making to his colleagues in string theory. He ends with suggestions as to how to move the study of physics forward in ways that are more intellectually diverse than they have been in the era of string theory.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Cosmic Consciousness by Richard Maurice Bucke
In 1901 a physician named Richard Maurice Bucke published a book that attempts to analyse and classify the mystical experience of connecting to the divine. He refers to this experience as "Cosmic Consciousness" and uses the term as the title of his book. Known as a classic in the study of human consciousness, the book is in some ways quaintly out-of-date (occasionally pure hogwash.) However, it makes a good effort to capture in words an ineffable experience that is far beyond anything that can be understood or expressed with our limited human capabilities.
Bucke looks at 47 cases of what he calls cosmic consciousness, including those of Buddha, Jesus, St. Paul, Plotinus, Mohammed, Dante, Blake, Balzac, Moses, Socrates, Pascal, Spinoza, Swedenborg, Emerson, Tennyson, and Thoreau. His favorite seems to be Walt Whitman (whom he knew personally) and he makes many references to "Leaves of Grass." There are also examples of unknown people born in his own era and usually identified only by initials. These cases are told in the words of the person who lived through the experience.
Most of us are familiar with the stories of Moses and the burning bush, the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus after his Baptism, and St. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. In various ways, lesser known people have tapped into divine consciousness and Bucke seeks out the common denominators among them. He concludes that they are people who are serious and of good moral character.
"...there comes to the person an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Like a flash there is presented to his consciousness a clear conception ... of the meaning and drift of the universe.... he sees and knows that the cosmos, which to the [common] mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far otherwise -- is in very truth a living presence."
The person sees that all life is eternal, that the universe is alive and works for the good of everyone, that the universe is God and its essence is love, that the happiness of every individual is in the long run absolutely certain. The distinction between good and evil falls away and the newly enlightened person sees that all is good in some cosmic way that is not yet available to simple human understanding.
Bucke goes further by postulating that people who have experienced this consciousness are the forerunners of an evolutionary change in the human race. Like the author of The Celestine Prophecy, he thinks we are evolving spiritually and future generations will be more easily in touch with the nature of the divine.Maurice Bucke
Bucke looks at 47 cases of what he calls cosmic consciousness, including those of Buddha, Jesus, St. Paul, Plotinus, Mohammed, Dante, Blake, Balzac, Moses, Socrates, Pascal, Spinoza, Swedenborg, Emerson, Tennyson, and Thoreau. His favorite seems to be Walt Whitman (whom he knew personally) and he makes many references to "Leaves of Grass." There are also examples of unknown people born in his own era and usually identified only by initials. These cases are told in the words of the person who lived through the experience.
Most of us are familiar with the stories of Moses and the burning bush, the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus after his Baptism, and St. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. In various ways, lesser known people have tapped into divine consciousness and Bucke seeks out the common denominators among them. He concludes that they are people who are serious and of good moral character.
"...there comes to the person an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Like a flash there is presented to his consciousness a clear conception ... of the meaning and drift of the universe.... he sees and knows that the cosmos, which to the [common] mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far otherwise -- is in very truth a living presence."
The person sees that all life is eternal, that the universe is alive and works for the good of everyone, that the universe is God and its essence is love, that the happiness of every individual is in the long run absolutely certain. The distinction between good and evil falls away and the newly enlightened person sees that all is good in some cosmic way that is not yet available to simple human understanding.
Bucke goes further by postulating that people who have experienced this consciousness are the forerunners of an evolutionary change in the human race. Like the author of The Celestine Prophecy, he thinks we are evolving spiritually and future generations will be more easily in touch with the nature of the divine.Maurice Bucke
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Field; The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe by Lynne McTaggart
For a while I abandoned serious reading to lull myself with a few escapist novels. Through it all, however, I kept reading a book by Lynne McTaggart called The Field; The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe.
Note the word "Force" which puts one in mind of "May the Force be with you." Even though we've laughed at this "Star Wars" futuristic prayer, I believe it exactly captures the nature of the Universe which in my personal theology is the same thing as God.
McTaggart is an investigative reporter who is careful with her facts and her physics and who assiduously footnotes all assertions. Luckily these footnotes are compiled at the back of the book so that those of us who are trusting can just ignore them.
Quantum mechanics has demonstrated that there is no such thing as a vacuum or nothingness. In subatomic terms even empty space is a hive of activity. Elementary particles pop into and out of existence exchanging energy with each other and providing a vast energy source "sitting there unobtrusively in the background of the empty space around us." It is referred to as the Zero Point Field, and through it we humans and all matter are connected to each other and all parts of the cosmos.
But here's the real news: There is no such thing as matter; there is only energy. As McTaggart puts it, "Everything in your world, anything you hold in your hand, no matter how dense, how heavy, how large, on its most fundamental level boils down to a collection of electric charges interacting with a background sea of electromagnetic and other energetic fields -- a kind of electromagnetic drag force. As they would write later, mass was not equivalent to energy; mass was energy. Or even more fundamentally, there is no mass. There is only charge."
McTaggart goes on to explain what this means in terms of your body -- it's made of light. "If living things boil down to charged particles interacting with a field and sending out and receiving quantum information, where do we end and the rest of the world begin? Where is consciousness -- encased inside our bodies or out there in The Field? Indeed, there is no more 'out there' if we and the rest of the world are so intrinsically interconnected."
But some of the most fascinating stuff is at the end of this very readable book. There are serious scientists who have tried to tap into the energy of the Zero Point Field and put it to use. These scientists are employed at places like Stanford and Princeton and have sometimes had the CIA looking over their shoulders trying to keep up with the Soviets who were exploring the same phenomena.
It is amazing to me that all this has not yet seeped into popular thinking. We cling to our belief that we are separate beings while deep in the bowels of academia scientists are pointing to a whole new understanding of who and what we are.
Note the word "Force" which puts one in mind of "May the Force be with you." Even though we've laughed at this "Star Wars" futuristic prayer, I believe it exactly captures the nature of the Universe which in my personal theology is the same thing as God.
McTaggart is an investigative reporter who is careful with her facts and her physics and who assiduously footnotes all assertions. Luckily these footnotes are compiled at the back of the book so that those of us who are trusting can just ignore them.
Quantum mechanics has demonstrated that there is no such thing as a vacuum or nothingness. In subatomic terms even empty space is a hive of activity. Elementary particles pop into and out of existence exchanging energy with each other and providing a vast energy source "sitting there unobtrusively in the background of the empty space around us." It is referred to as the Zero Point Field, and through it we humans and all matter are connected to each other and all parts of the cosmos.
But here's the real news: There is no such thing as matter; there is only energy. As McTaggart puts it, "Everything in your world, anything you hold in your hand, no matter how dense, how heavy, how large, on its most fundamental level boils down to a collection of electric charges interacting with a background sea of electromagnetic and other energetic fields -- a kind of electromagnetic drag force. As they would write later, mass was not equivalent to energy; mass was energy. Or even more fundamentally, there is no mass. There is only charge."
McTaggart goes on to explain what this means in terms of your body -- it's made of light. "If living things boil down to charged particles interacting with a field and sending out and receiving quantum information, where do we end and the rest of the world begin? Where is consciousness -- encased inside our bodies or out there in The Field? Indeed, there is no more 'out there' if we and the rest of the world are so intrinsically interconnected."
But some of the most fascinating stuff is at the end of this very readable book. There are serious scientists who have tried to tap into the energy of the Zero Point Field and put it to use. These scientists are employed at places like Stanford and Princeton and have sometimes had the CIA looking over their shoulders trying to keep up with the Soviets who were exploring the same phenomena.
It is amazing to me that all this has not yet seeped into popular thinking. We cling to our belief that we are separate beings while deep in the bowels of academia scientists are pointing to a whole new understanding of who and what we are.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
This week I finished reading three books: When Fear Falls Away by Jan Frazier, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and A New Earth; Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose also by Eckhart Tolle. They all had the same message: the source of joy, love, and fulfillment lies inside you in the space that is usually covered by ego — mind, emotions, and identification with aspects of the outer world.
A New Earth was the basis of our most recent Wednesday morning class at Unity. We spent a lot of time discussing “ego” and what Tolle calls the “pain-body” and we reached a consensus that ego is a necessary thing which all humans develop in order to be able to deal with the world. It is not quite as all-bad as Tolle seems to say; his term “pain-body” incorporates the more negative aspects of the ego, what in the American vernacular is referred to as “baggage.”
Tolle’s description of ego and our class’s concurrent discussion of it made us all very aware of how we are unconsciously manipulated by our egos. The ego rushes to defend itself from challenges to the opinions, values, and priorities it has latched onto. Because these things make up our sense of identity, a challenge to them is a challenge to our identity, our very sense of self. It is quite natural to fear dissolution of self. And it takes a good deal of enlightenment not to feel threatened by challenges to those opinions that lie close to our hearts.
When who-you-are becomes too tied up in defense mechanisms, ingrained attitudes, or external situations (job, possessions, hobbies, relationships, causes, etc.), you forget to look for that quiet place inside you where mind and emotions dissolve and you can begin to touch base with simple Being.
It’s that quiet place of Being that Tolle suggests is the divine part of us all. If we can bring it to the fore, we find our true selves there and we are as close to universal divinity as we can get. At that most profound level, we cannot in any way be threatened or challenged or diminished or hurt — and certainly not destroyed. It is also the level at which we begin to experience joy in simple Being and that is our purpose in life: simply to be who we are.
From that place of inner peace and joy, you cannot help but send out love to the world around you. And it is not that you lose your ability to participate in the world — to speak out, to help others, to do the daily necessary activities of life. It is just that your mind and body become tools to support those activities while your sense of self is centered in the divine.
Tolle is not formulaic about how to achieve this. He suggests observing your mind and emotions and identifying ego activity. Meditating, clearing the mind of thought or paying close attention to your breathing might help to move you to more awareness of your inner self. For most of us awareness comes about as we try to open up to it.
However, some people (“rare beings” according to Tolle) experience this connection in a more sudden and unexpected way. Serendipitously, I came across a book which is an example of that sudden awakening. Jan Frazier calls her memoir When Fear Falls Away, but she says that it was much more than simple loss of fearfulness. She found a joy beyond words and an ability to let go of fear and anxiety that was entirely new to her and changed her whole experience of life.
Even though I am very different from Jan Frazier, I was grateful to have found her book while reading Tolle, because it was a first person account of everything Tolle was talking about. The only thing I really balked at in When Fear Falls Away was the author’s devotion to a guru. “Learn from everybody, worship nobody” is my personal philosophy — or as one of my Unity classmates said, “You’re nobody’s groupie.”
One issue that both Tolle and Frazier touch upon is that of feeling too detached from life. In the faith and happiness I’ve developed in the last few years, I have sometimes felt that I might be getting too detached. It’s an acceptance of things as they are, a feeling that “this, too, shall pass.” Also, if you believe that ultimately there is no such thing as good and evil, if it’s all just part of a benign universe experiencing itself, if death simply reunites you with universal consciousness, then there really is no reason to take things of this world too much to heart.
Some defenders of more conventional religious beliefs might criticize this understanding of God as taking away motivation for behaving well. Personally, I believe that it is just common sense to follow the rules of civilized living. You don’t have to threaten me with “hell” to get me to refrain from killing my neighbor; I’m quite happy to agree that if he doesn’t kill me, I won’t kill him.
A New Earth was the basis of our most recent Wednesday morning class at Unity. We spent a lot of time discussing “ego” and what Tolle calls the “pain-body” and we reached a consensus that ego is a necessary thing which all humans develop in order to be able to deal with the world. It is not quite as all-bad as Tolle seems to say; his term “pain-body” incorporates the more negative aspects of the ego, what in the American vernacular is referred to as “baggage.”
Tolle’s description of ego and our class’s concurrent discussion of it made us all very aware of how we are unconsciously manipulated by our egos. The ego rushes to defend itself from challenges to the opinions, values, and priorities it has latched onto. Because these things make up our sense of identity, a challenge to them is a challenge to our identity, our very sense of self. It is quite natural to fear dissolution of self. And it takes a good deal of enlightenment not to feel threatened by challenges to those opinions that lie close to our hearts.
When who-you-are becomes too tied up in defense mechanisms, ingrained attitudes, or external situations (job, possessions, hobbies, relationships, causes, etc.), you forget to look for that quiet place inside you where mind and emotions dissolve and you can begin to touch base with simple Being.
It’s that quiet place of Being that Tolle suggests is the divine part of us all. If we can bring it to the fore, we find our true selves there and we are as close to universal divinity as we can get. At that most profound level, we cannot in any way be threatened or challenged or diminished or hurt — and certainly not destroyed. It is also the level at which we begin to experience joy in simple Being and that is our purpose in life: simply to be who we are.
From that place of inner peace and joy, you cannot help but send out love to the world around you. And it is not that you lose your ability to participate in the world — to speak out, to help others, to do the daily necessary activities of life. It is just that your mind and body become tools to support those activities while your sense of self is centered in the divine.
Tolle is not formulaic about how to achieve this. He suggests observing your mind and emotions and identifying ego activity. Meditating, clearing the mind of thought or paying close attention to your breathing might help to move you to more awareness of your inner self. For most of us awareness comes about as we try to open up to it.
However, some people (“rare beings” according to Tolle) experience this connection in a more sudden and unexpected way. Serendipitously, I came across a book which is an example of that sudden awakening. Jan Frazier calls her memoir When Fear Falls Away, but she says that it was much more than simple loss of fearfulness. She found a joy beyond words and an ability to let go of fear and anxiety that was entirely new to her and changed her whole experience of life.
Even though I am very different from Jan Frazier, I was grateful to have found her book while reading Tolle, because it was a first person account of everything Tolle was talking about. The only thing I really balked at in When Fear Falls Away was the author’s devotion to a guru. “Learn from everybody, worship nobody” is my personal philosophy — or as one of my Unity classmates said, “You’re nobody’s groupie.”
One issue that both Tolle and Frazier touch upon is that of feeling too detached from life. In the faith and happiness I’ve developed in the last few years, I have sometimes felt that I might be getting too detached. It’s an acceptance of things as they are, a feeling that “this, too, shall pass.” Also, if you believe that ultimately there is no such thing as good and evil, if it’s all just part of a benign universe experiencing itself, if death simply reunites you with universal consciousness, then there really is no reason to take things of this world too much to heart.
Some defenders of more conventional religious beliefs might criticize this understanding of God as taking away motivation for behaving well. Personally, I believe that it is just common sense to follow the rules of civilized living. You don’t have to threaten me with “hell” to get me to refrain from killing my neighbor; I’m quite happy to agree that if he doesn’t kill me, I won’t kill him.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Zero; The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife
At last I think I've found the answer to my question, "Is there any such thing as nothing?" Here is how Charles Seife puts it in his book "Zero; The Biography of a Dangerous Idea:"
"A zero in quantum mechanics means that the entire universe -- including the vacuum -- is filled with an infinite amount of energy: the zero-point energy. This, in turn, leads to the most bizarre zero in the universe: the phantom force of nothing."
And
"The vacuum is never truly empty. Instead, it is seething with these virtual particles; at every point in space, an infinite number are happily popping up and disappearing."
While I am a long way from understanding the math and physics of this, I believe it points to the idea that all of space is filled with a force that can manifest as particles. I call this force God, but you may call it "stuff" or anything else. The point is simply that you can't get away from existence.
"A zero in quantum mechanics means that the entire universe -- including the vacuum -- is filled with an infinite amount of energy: the zero-point energy. This, in turn, leads to the most bizarre zero in the universe: the phantom force of nothing."
And
"The vacuum is never truly empty. Instead, it is seething with these virtual particles; at every point in space, an infinite number are happily popping up and disappearing."
While I am a long way from understanding the math and physics of this, I believe it points to the idea that all of space is filled with a force that can manifest as particles. I call this force God, but you may call it "stuff" or anything else. The point is simply that you can't get away from existence.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
I am trying to rush-read Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now because tomorrow I start a class on a later book of his called A New Earth; Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. Well, it's just impossible to rush-read Tolle. Everything he writes reverberates with cosmic significance and you have to stop and ask yourself "Is this true? Do I believe this?" and you work to fit it in with your own thoughts and emotions and experience.
In one paragraph on page 99 he has what could be a statement of my own faith:
"Everything that exists has Being, has God-essence, has some degree of consciousness. Even a stone has rudimentary consciousness; otherwise, it would not be, and its atoms and molecules would disperse. Everything is alive. The sun, the earth, plants, animals, humans -- all are expressions of consciousness in varying degrees, consciousness manifesting as form."
And then, wham! bang! on the next page he hits you over the head with this: "In present-day humans, consciousness is completely identified with its disguise."
By "disguise" I think he means the separate physical form in which God-consciousness is expressing itself. We humans see ourselves as separate entities rather than what we really are which is drops of God-consciousness in the greater ocean of God.
In one paragraph on page 99 he has what could be a statement of my own faith:
"Everything that exists has Being, has God-essence, has some degree of consciousness. Even a stone has rudimentary consciousness; otherwise, it would not be, and its atoms and molecules would disperse. Everything is alive. The sun, the earth, plants, animals, humans -- all are expressions of consciousness in varying degrees, consciousness manifesting as form."
And then, wham! bang! on the next page he hits you over the head with this: "In present-day humans, consciousness is completely identified with its disguise."
By "disguise" I think he means the separate physical form in which God-consciousness is expressing itself. We humans see ourselves as separate entities rather than what we really are which is drops of God-consciousness in the greater ocean of God.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
The Echo Maker by Richard Powers
Neurological sciences are flourishing and the results have been creeping into our literature. First there was its popularization by Oliver Sacks in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Then there was a substantial chunk of it in Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. Ian McEwan puts you in the head of a fictional neurosurgeon in Saturday. And now Richard Powers really digs deep in his novel called The Echo Maker.
I hadn't recognized Richard Powers' name when I bought The Echo Maker based on its description in a listing of National Book Award finalists. When it arrived, I realized that I'd read a previous work of his entitled The Gold Bug Variations, a heavy-duty novel that attempts to connect the elements of DNA to music (I'm still very confused about this book, so don't ask.)
In The Echo Maker Powers depicts Capgras syndrome in a young man who suffers exteme head trauma in an automobile accident. Capgras is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a close family member or spouse, has been replaced by an identical looking impostor. Powers uses this condition to set up tension between the accident victim and his only living relative, a sister who arrives on the scene hoping to take care of him.
I fell in love with this book relishing it until about two-thirds of the way through. Then the author started getting a little too artsy for my taste with long unintelligible paragraphs pedanticly mixing science, philosophy, and intuition. Since Powers was a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (those genius grants), I will kindly assume that he was simply writing over my head -- although the words "failure to communicate" come to mind.
I hadn't recognized Richard Powers' name when I bought The Echo Maker based on its description in a listing of National Book Award finalists. When it arrived, I realized that I'd read a previous work of his entitled The Gold Bug Variations, a heavy-duty novel that attempts to connect the elements of DNA to music (I'm still very confused about this book, so don't ask.)
In The Echo Maker Powers depicts Capgras syndrome in a young man who suffers exteme head trauma in an automobile accident. Capgras is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a close family member or spouse, has been replaced by an identical looking impostor. Powers uses this condition to set up tension between the accident victim and his only living relative, a sister who arrives on the scene hoping to take care of him.
I fell in love with this book relishing it until about two-thirds of the way through. Then the author started getting a little too artsy for my taste with long unintelligible paragraphs pedanticly mixing science, philosophy, and intuition. Since Powers was a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (those genius grants), I will kindly assume that he was simply writing over my head -- although the words "failure to communicate" come to mind.
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