Great research depends mostly on the questions that uncover new and original viewpoints of a subject. In the case of “Nature’s Hidden Force” the scientists involved could only be called the “odd couple”. Beth grew up on a farm, riding horseback in the Rocky Mountains and developed a profound curiosity about nature’s mysteries. Beth’s remarkable career includes 6 years as an educator, a state legislator, Cabinet Secretary for Governors in two states, entrepreneur, business owner, and author.
George is an urban product, having lived in a number of major cities on several continents with his home base in New Orleans. His “Auntie Mame” mother, conservationist, champion hunter and published author and poet infected George with an obsession about the practice and meaning of creativity. The combination of their very diverse backgrounds generated unique queries that exposed startling new questions and unexpected new answers.
George Land’s first book was “Grow or Die: the Unifying Principle of Transformation” Published by Random House. It was selected by Random House as its nominee for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award and also selected as a “Book of the Month Club”. It revealed a common pattern of growth and change that happened throughout nature, including humans. Dr. Margaret Mead, well known anthropologist and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom commented on the book: “I have read your manuscript very carefully and I find it a magnificent synthesis and one that deals with the question of cultural change in evolutionary terms more effectively than any other synthesis I have seen.”
In 1985 George joined Dr. Beth Jarman’s firm, Leadership 2000. Beth and George began a collaboration of creativity practice and research that resulted in another breakthrough book. Published by Harper, it uncovered the natural change patterns of organizations, “Breakpoint and Beyond”. The National columnist and Author Harvey McKay, author of Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive said of Breakpoint: “This is one of the most intelligent, thought provoking and genuinely original books I’ve read this or any other year. I can’t recommend Jarman and Land’s book enough to my friends and associates. This is one of those books that should be on every leader’s bookshelf.”
For the last quarter century Jarman and Land have been helping individuals and organizations tap into their inborn imagination and creativity.
Amazingly, the authors have found that by integrating new findings in science, now supported with their broad experimental verification, what turns up is a new and basic natural law, a "Creative Force" that continually brings new, different and creative phenomena into being. It completely overturns and reverses the traditional law of entropy and the idea that the world is descending into disorder and chaos.
Dr. P. David Wilkinson, Senior Pastor of St. Francis in the Foothills, United Methodist Church in Tucson, Arizona says, “I have been a minister for 47 years. I have been a student of The Mysteries for most of my 72 year life, and I have been a novice learner of particle physics for the past twenty years. As a life-time student I have consistently been aware that there must be “something” that pulls together the ancient mystery traditions, the inspiration of religious thought, and the recent discoveries of quantum physics. That “something” is addressed in this book by George Land and Beth Jarman.”
“What so many have failed to do, they have done through their breakthrough discovery that uncovers a natural law and the force that pulls all of creation forward into ever more conscious and more complex expressions of becoming. I have read dozens of books that attempt to embrace science and religion. None of them have revealed what George and Beth found; a force that connects all of creation. This is “must reading” for every student of religion, every seminarian, no matter what faith tradition, and every student of life.”
“Land and Jarman show how “Creative Connecting” provides the link between chaos and order, making entropy not a source of despair but rather the necessary precursor to all that is beautiful in the universe...particularly relevant and timely ...”
– Kirkus Reviews
BOOK REVIEW
NATURE'S HIDDEN FORCE
BY George Land
Scientist Land and educator Jarman (co-authors Breakpoint and Beyond, Mastering the Future—Today, 1993) examine the more disturbing implications of the law of entropy.
Entropy, second in the laws of thermodynamics, may invite feelings of existential angst when applied to all aspects of life. “All processes in the universe manifest a tendency toward decay and disintegration, with a net increase in what is called the entropy, or state of randomness or disorder, of the system,” the authors write. In other words, they say, “the whole lot of the universe is designed to break down and fall apart.” A chance encounter with a morose former seminarian in an Irish pub introduced the authors to this rather bleak concept, and their efforts to make sense of it resulted in this work. Land and Jarman begin by thoroughly defining entropy in the words of top-notch scientists, which should be recognizable and understandable to even the least scientifically educated. They then move on to the introduction of syntropy, a term attributedto Albert Szent-Gyorgyi that relates to a re-ordering of the universe—“becoming more ordered, more interdependently connected with the environment.” Finally, Land and Jarman show how “Creative Connecting” provides the link between chaos and order, making entropy not a source of despair but rather the necessary precursor to all that is beautiful in the universe. While Land and Jarman fulfill their promise of presenting their theories in an approachable manner, they include too many explanations of entropy. Their pointed comments on how “our inborn capability for creativity”is suppressed rather than nurtured through the American educational system seem particularly relevant and timely due to the current debate over the Common Core curriculum. Despite the authors’ best intentions and deft writing, their work still may not appeal to general readers, although the tone of the second half approximates a self-help book: “We can successfully overcome the great, often thought to be insurmountable, challenges of our modern world. Creativity, resources and will are all we need.”
A coherent treatise on entropy, syntropy and the creative connection that shows how the universe’s disorder ultimately leads to order and personal completion.
Publisher: Humanist Press
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
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