A spiritual manifesto that, despite its pretentions to scientific rigor, prefers postulation to careful argument.
An attempt to explain the workings of God and the human mind through the categories of modern physics.
Chaudhuri, a trained nuclear physician, fell into a coma for three weeks. In the midst of that experience, he heard the voice of God, inspiring some of the thoughts conveyed in this slim volume. He lists his primary objectives clearly from the start. He aims to explain the nature of God and the human mind in the language of physics, which largely means from the perspective of energy. God turns out to be beyond human perception precisely because he’s entirely composed of energy, but, Chaudhuri contends, we still have empirical confirmation of his existence by accessing his effects. Further, the author uses Einsteinian relativity in order to demonstrate that the human mind, also composed of energy, has a greater velocity than the energy of a physical atom. Since both God and the mind are made up of energy, prayer, properly understood as the transmission of electromagnetic energy, can close the distance between a person and God. Additionally, Chaudhuri provides what he calls an “atomic model” of the family, which, if properly understood, should promote familial harmony and reduce the occasion of divorce. There are other brief tangents. The author makes an argument for the divine significance of the number three and discusses the mental health of children. But the thematic thread that binds the work is the connection between God and people articulated in terms of this energy. Chaudhuri’s objectives are admirably grand, and he writes in simple prose, especially helpful given the theoretical abstruseness of the subject matter. The actual use of physics is more metaphorical than scientific, however, and is rife with unexamined assumptions. For example, what exactly does it mean to state that the “energy of mind is stronger than the energy of the physical atom because the velocity of mind is faster than the velocity of light, assuming the mind is the atom of consciousness”? Much of the book is similarly confusing, and the author seems uninterested in marshaling any substantive evidence for his claims.
A spiritual manifesto that, despite its pretentions to scientific rigor, prefers postulation to careful argument.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4917-7609-4
Page Count: 100
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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