THE PATTERN OF THE WORLD

A methodical attempt to elucidate the holistic nature of our world and its processes.

During a course on child psychology, Pope, a practitioner of spiritual exercises taught by the Subud movement, experienced a waking vision of a grand, unified pattern of the universe, spiraling toward perfection. The author has since accumulated evidence of the truth of this vision, gleaned from sources throughout her life and studies. Here she attempts to illustrate her grand unification theory–as she calls it, “a cosmology fit for Gaia”–borrowing from the British scientist James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis, a conception of the planet and all of its parts as a single organism. She lays out her book on the fourfold structure of an ancient Sufi cosmology: “Zat: Introduction and Conception,” “Sifat: Development,” “Asma: The Synthesis–Identity” and “Af’al: Outcomes–a better world?” This fourfold pattern is treated throughout book and can be seen, she maintains, in the simple, yet universally applicable underlying pattern of the universe and of our lives. As an anthropologist, Pope identifies isomorphic or similar features in the many theories, conception and cosmologies of the universe, drawing from diverse cultures and religions and striving, in her urge toward a new, holistic cosmology, to bridge the gap between the physical and mental, the Eastern and Western, the ancient and modern. The author also refers often to recent developments in the mathematical and physical sciences, like Chaos theory and the quest for a grand unification theory, that seem to call into doubt previously accepted dogma, suggesting that disparate elements may be more connected than formerly thought. The book’s biggest weakness lies in its attempts to bridge disciplines despite Pope openly admitting that she lacks knowledge in these fields. Its strengths lie in her consistent clarity of language and accessibility, and her use of concrete, day-to-day experience as a basis for her examples. Whether one accepts the premise, the book is a thorough survey of cosmologies which is earnestly focused on illuminating their similarities and unifying structures.

A clear, self-aware summation of a philosophical and intellectual quest for holistic awareness.