WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD--COSMOS

A book that probes great philosophical issues and offers intriguing, if dubious, answers.

Humans have long been curious about life’s mysteries–why so many suffer, our purpose on earth and how a feeling or thought that has importance one day can shift as fast as the tides. One has to admire the audacity in promising answers that philosophers, scientists and theologians (as well as the average man or woman) have been unable to produce, particularly when the author doesn’t state his educational credentials or affiliation. Indeed, this book might offer hope to those who fear that asking deep questions about life’s meaning requires a lofty pedigree. In fact, Socrates had no sanction from the Athenian state or its academies. However, Morrey lacks Socrates’ greatest characteristic–humility. The book has not one but four alternate titles (Where Only Angels Tread, The Perceptual Conspiracy, Beyond Science and Religion and Politics), suggesting an odd bout of indecision from a man who otherwise appears to know everything. Not only does he discourse on the true nature of God, ESP, the collective unconscious, dreams and what he calls “no-mindedness,” he offers advice for those who wish to “upgrade” their reality. If only readers could download this vast knowledge into their veiled minds, then they could move beyond the shackles of education and the boundaries of the senses. While the word is still out on a computer’s capacity to mimic, or surpass, the human mind’s learning process, it’s hard to swallow a philosophy that reduces life’s greatest struggles to technical jargon like brain “upgrades.” Certainly there is much to applaud in seeking difficult answers and questioning norms, but claiming to have found solutions with such certainty implies either harmless ignorance or harmful desire. Is the author a mere seeker like the rest of us, or is he soliciting yet another offbeat cult to bandage the pain of living?

Offers answers to all of life’s big questions, but may leave readers skeptical.