I just finished reading Beyond Biocentrism by Lanza & Berman. I guess I should have known where it was going given the recommendation by Deepak Chopra.
I was a bit surprised when I compared the definition of
biocentrism to the content of the book.
Biocentrism is defined as “an ethical perspective holding that all life
deserves equal moral consideration or has equal moral standing.” That concept does not emerge as primary in
this book. Lanza (who seems to be the main
author) discusses current physics in general and quantum theory in particular,
as only being able to be understood through a biocentric viewpoint. Never mind the fact that many physicists
believe the one thing that you can understand about quantum theory is that it
can’t be understood.
Some thoughts on the book:
In the second chapter Lanza states: “By the time the Old Testament books were
penned…a key point was a stationary Earth ruled by a single, easily upset God. The rabbis of the time showed no inclination
to question this prevailing worldview.
They duly filled the pages of Genesis and Deuteronomy with the
flat-earth, glued-in-place mindset of their time… Figuring out how nature operated was on
nobody’s to-do list. Indeed, the things
that provoke our curiosity today—the nature of life and time and consciousness and
the working of the brain—all would have seemed alien to early civilizations.”
I beg to differ!
Skipping over my discomfort with an “easily upset God,” let’s go to the
flat-earth notion. Having read through
the Bible in its entirety multiple times, I have never seen the flat earth
notion. Job, which is believed to
predate Genesis, refers to the earth as being suspended over nothing. Chapter 26 also refers to the horizon on the
face of the waters, which obviously could be observed to be curved.
I have to assume Lanza has never read the book of Job because
it is full of deep philosophical questions.
What is the origin of pain, suffering and evil? Why would an Almighty God pay any attention
to us? What is the purpose for our
existence? In chapters 38-41 of Job, the
Lord asks Job a series of questions which touch on many of life’s
mysteries. I, of course, believe that
the Bible is inspired and God-breathed, so man would not necessarily have come
up with these questions by himself, but he is certainly presented with
them. Keep in mind that the book of Job
is believed to be the oldest book of the Bible.
If it was not God-inspired, humans were already pondering the
imponderables.
Lanza also states that the ancients (i.e. authors of the Old
Testament) “may have been onto something” as they frequently mention “light”
which is a “central character in Reality’s puzzle.” He equates light and energy in this
passage. I am astounded that any scientist
can dismiss the fact that Genesis begins with the statement “Let there be light.” How could the uninformed ancients possibly
have known that the first created thing had to be energy? Of course, a Creator could have known that
light and the energy it represents was the way to begin. It appears that Lanza dismisses this as a
lucky guess.
The book spends quite a bit of time on the idea that “time”
doesn’t really exist except as a creation of our own minds in order to function
in life. “There are places in the
universe where only a single second of events pass while a millions years’
worth of activities simultaneously elapses here on Earth.” II Peter 3:8 seems to indicate that God lives
outside of time stating that “with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and
a thousand years are like a day.”
Genesis 1 states that God created the sun and moon to “serve as signs to
mark seasons and days and years.” In
other words, He made them for the benefit of human beings to be able to keep
track of time. He doesn’t need
them. Timelessness is nothing new.
Several false statements are made regarding the beliefs of
creationists and proponents of intelligent design, but then Lanza states “Give
them this. When they complain that the
creation of the eye’s architecture cannot be explained by natural selection,
and some scientists respond by summarily dismissing them, it is the latter who
are guilty of sloppy reasoning.” He correctly
takes evolutionists to task, although not for the same reasons I would as a
believer in an intelligent Creator.
Quite a bit of time is spent on the idea of consciousness and
the fact that no one has an adequate explanation for how it “evolved” or came
into being. We all have it, but science
can’t explain where it came from. I
believe that when God said “let us make man in our image,” he was not talking
about physical form, but about consciousness of self, the ability to be
creative, and the ability to make choices.
Consciousness is one of God’s gifts.
Having also recently read an article on Artificial Intelligence, I very
much doubt that a computer will ever gain self-awareness, even if it can
recognize itself in a mirror.
The book clearly states that “randomness is not a tenable
hypothesis” for the finely tuned cosmos that allows for the existence of the
earth and life on it. But, just the time
one thinks Lanza may be arguing for the existence of an intelligent Creator, we
learn that by some mystical means we have created all this ourselves. We are “one” with everything that surrounds
us. We “create” things by observing
them. This ties in with quantum theory
where photons and electrons are waves until they are observed and then
materialize as particles which can be measured and their location determined.
Co-author Berman takes his turn to describe a life-altering experience
in which he realized his oneness with everything and felt over-whelming
peace. The eastern vs the western mind
is discussed. The eastern mind can
simultaneously hold seemingly conflicting thoughts….such as light is both a
wave and a particle. But, this can be
applied to all areas. It seems we need
to abandon our notion that time and space are “real.” They are only constructs of our mind.
About this place in the book, I wrote in the margin “flirting
with schizophrenia?” Then I came upon “Don’t
trouble yourself with endless questions about God, existence, destiny and all
the rest. Instead find out who is the
person who wants to know such things. A
person who made such self-inquiries with all sincerity and good effort
ultimately could find no one home. He or
she would discover that there is no separate individual self, only a stream of
thoughts….one would clearly see that the “self” was either nothing at all …or
the entire cosmos.” Sounds suspiciously
like, we are encouraged to become our own “god.”
The very next chapter after I had decided this requires being
out of touch with “reality,” he points out that in order to function in the
world “we have appointments to keep. We
live in a society based on a shared notion of time and have to act accordingly
if we’re not to be locked away in a psychiatric ward.” Indeed!
The book actually says a lot that is correct. In the concluding chapter: “Science’s ever-growing twentieth-century
assumption of a dumb, random universe, in which life arose by chance, had the
secondary effect of isolating the human psyche from the cosmos….This together
with the growing abandonment of religion, probably led to a sense that in a cosmos
ruled by accidents…we humans need to exploit the environment and grab what we
can.”
He sees biocentrism as the solution to man’s current dilemma. I see the solution as a return to belief in a
God who defines both justice and mercy, and who controls human history. I am confident God understands dark matter,
dark energy and quantum theory. I am
perfectly in agreement with scientists trying to gain additional knowledge
about these areas. Since God Himself
defines Truth, anyone honestly searching for Truth will come face to face with
God.
Lanza and Berman have found much truth, but they have not
employed Occam’s Razor: the theory that
the simplest explanation is usually the best.
They have constructed a whole theory of biocentrism "entangled" with quantum theory instead of the much
simpler explanation that there actually is a God.
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