Science and the Akashic Field by Ervin Laszlo

One of my favorite books is an out-of-print children's book of cosmology. It says that in the beginning there was a force, spirit, or vibration that yawned and decided to create a universe. Once it had done so, it disappeared, because it was now contained within everything in the universe, including you and me. Ervin Laszo is one of several scientist-philosophers writing books that are essentially saying the same thing. Science and the Akashic Field (subtitled An Integral Theory of Everything) refers to a stillness in which nothing exists and yet the potential for everything is there. An explosion (the Big Bang) releases energy that forms itself into patterns, each pulsating ripple connected to every other ripple and replicating in miniature the totality. "The cosmic proto-consciousness that endowed the primeval plenum with its universe-creative potentials becomes a fully articulated cosmic consciousness -- it becomes, and thenceforth eternally is, THE SELF-REALIZED MIND OF GOD." [His full caps.]

I believe this is a good theory although I'm not sure the use of the word "akashic" (Indian for "ether" or all-pervasive space) is really necessary. I think it is pretty much the same as what physicists refer to as the quantum vacuum or in-formation. By suggesting that the universe is really the mind of God, Laszlo seems to be subscribing to the theory that the universe and everything in it is made of consciousness. This is a popular theory, but one he suggests is condemned to remain hypothetical.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Everyone at book club agreed that Hamid's novel is an absolute work of genius. It is the story of a Pakistani who leaves his country at age 18 to attend Princeton where he excelled in his studies and went on to become a highly competent appraiser of businesses. He struggles with a difficult personal life and with his identity as a Pakistani in America around the time of 9/11.

It's the way the story is told that sucks you in and builds tension. The protagonist is in a cafe in Lahore telling an American the story of his life. His is the only voice we hear. The American's remarks go unrecorded and we have only the responses to them given by the Pakistani narrator. It is evident that the American is uneasy and the reader begins to imagine that he is there to do the Pakistani harm. Or is it the other way around?