War of the Worldviews: Science vs Spirituality [Hardcover]

This is a great book which I believe to be very important. It is interesting and readable, and I highly recommend it. It is a discussion from two contrary viewpoints about some of the basic questions of existence, as how the universe and life as we know it came about and what we are as living beings. It gives an overview of the current scientific view on these questions, and at the same time presents an alternative spiritual view. The two participants of the debate are Deepak Chopra, whose viewpoint is considered spiritual, and Leonard Mlodinow, whose position is that of common objective science. Their disagreements and different approaches to the basic questions of existence really made me think deeply on them, and that is what I believe is the real value of the book.

In earlier history, mans view of life was very much dominated by religion. In the latter decades, a more materialistic and atheistic scientific position has gained ground. It is based on actual observations and measurements of animate and inanimate physical objects, such as cells and structures of living organisms. Contrary to religion, it is considered by its proponents to be a purely rational approach to reality, as it is based on observable facts and not on religious dogmas.

The question is, however, if the materialistic science that Leonard and many other prominent scientists represent actually is as rational as they claim it to be. For instance, if I interpret Leonard correctly, it is a common view among scientists that creation could have sprung from a state of nothingness, and thus that life could have sprung from non-life, that intelligence, purpose and the laws of nature could have sprung from non-intelligence and that consciousness could have sprung from non-consciousness? But is this really logical?

Chopra argues that consciousness is the basis of creation. That it constitutes an eternal transcendental reality that is imbued with an organizing, creative intelligence that manifests, sustains and coordinates the innumerable factors that coincide to make our life possible. Leonard, however, refutes this on the grounds that it is not proven. Though, he seems less particular about offering evidence for some of his own views. He argues keenly for the viewpoint that mind and consciousness only are products of the physical brain, and that the brain is only created and governed by physical laws. Yet, he admits that the science he represents doesn't know what consciousness is, doesn't know what the actual connection between the physical brain and the mind is and doesn't know where the physical laws come from. So how can one believe such a theory to be based on anything more than speculation and guesswork? Yet, it is a view that seems to have become dominant in our modern society and in academia.

Modern science has a very strong authority in our western society. When you ask people why, they will probably point to all the achievements of modern technology, like cars, telephones, space rockets etc. But I think it is a very different thing to understand parts of nature, and to utilize some of its laws, than to understand the wholeness of it.

If one should accept the view that the inner being of man is only a product of a physical brain, it has quite dramatic implications. First of all, there would be no room for any free will. Secondly, all the people of the past that have been considered truly wise, like Jesus, Buddha, Socrates, Plato etc. must all be reconsidered to have been totally deluded. Thirdly, life would not have any deeper meaning or higher purpose, and what we do in this life and how we behave would have no consequence for ourselves as soon as our soulless physical body ceases to function. However, if Chopra's view of consciousness being the fundamental reality should be right, would it at all be possible to prove it? And how can we possibly understand and describe it?

The problem with pure consciousness from a scientific point of view is that it is not an observable object, as it by nature is totally abstract. It doesn't have a form or a color. It can't be observed in a microscope or by the help of an x-ray. It can't be measured or weighed and can't be dissected. So how shall a science that is based on observation and measurement of physical objects relate to such a concept? Well, as it seems obvious from the discourse in the book, it doesn't relate to it at all. Rather, they strive to exclude all elements of subjectivity and achieve some kind of pure objectivity. But is this really possible? For how can we escape the reality of consciousness?

Everything we experience, we experience in consciousness. Everything we observe, we observe in consciousness. Everything we think and understand, takes place in consciousness. How can we even possibly confirm if there exists a reality outside or independent of consciousness? Accordingly, the idea of pure objectivity seems illusory. One person measures gravity in China, another in California. By the common language of mathematics, they are able to give the same description of their observations - the same mathematical equation. This is what modern science call objectivity, but it is still based on subjectivity.

Furthermore, how can we take for granted that the senses deliver the truth of reality? When we go to a cinema, we can see people walking about, people riding on horses, trees and mountains etc. For an ignorant person, it would all be considered real - real people and real sceneries - for a knowable person, however, it is just shadows on a silver screen. How is it possible to know if something like this is not applicable to the physical reality of the universe? That the physical reality that we think is out there, that we think exists independently from an observer, only exists in consciousness?

Because of the abstract nature of consciousness, I believe Chopra's task to explain his position is much more difficult than what it is for Leonard. It is probably more difficult to understand the abstract nature of consciousness than to relate to and understand observable physical objects, even if they can be very complex and minute. Leonard insists that serious science can only be based on what can be proven. But what if it simply is not possible to prove an independent transcendental reality of consciousness the way he demands it to be done, even if it should be the truth? This is one of the great dilemmas raised by the book, and which poses one of the important, delightful and meaningful intellectual challenges it gives to the reader.

In Plato's Allegory of the cave human beings live confined and restricted in a subterranean cave which has a mouth open at one end to the light outside. The human occupants of this cave have been there since childhood and are shackled in such a way that there heads are immobile, with there gaze constantly fixed on the back of the cave, opposite the opening, upon which are projected shadows. Knowing no different, the constrained humans take the shadows on the cave wall to be reality. Some of the cave dwellers, being of a scientific disposition, spend their whole lives studying the movement of the shadows, recognising regularities and patterns, speculating as to their origins. Some shadows exhibit such regularity that laws of shadow behaviour are developed. So hypnotised by the shadow play are these cave dwellers that they little suspect the reason for there being any shadows at all is due to the light - that non of them have ever directly seen - coming from the mouth of the cave.

This scenario pretty much sums up the theme of this book. Deepak Chopra considers materialistic science to be engaged in the study of shadows. At the same time he feels science is ignoring, and indeed hostile to, the very thing that gives the shadows any reality at all, the light i.e. consciousness or spirit (both words are used interchangeably by Deepak as pointers to THAT which is itself formless and empty but which gives rise to all forms and potential).

Leonard Mlidinow argues that, without good reason to think otherwise, we must confine our interests, our studies, our investigations and inquiries to the shadows (the material world), limiting our hopes, dreams and desires to the shadow world. It is a naïve and vain hope to think there is anything else. Besides, the shadows are infinitely fascinating, varied and awe inspiring and offer the prospect of beguiling us for many years to come. By contrast, Deepak argues, to limit our gaze to the shadows is to limit the potential for greater discovery.

The book is essentially about knowledge, the different ways of knowing, and how we can be certain that our claims to knowledge are true. Leonard comes from the perspective of radical empiricism in which only that which is amenable to the senses (and their extensions), and that which can be measured, quantified, predicted and verified through third person confirmation, can be considered a legitimate truth claim. Deepak considers that science, technology and the media have conspired to produce a view of the world that is profoundly materialistic and competitive and which claims exclusive rights to being "right". Deepak argues that the scientific worldview is missing an essential ingredient i.e. spirit. However, Deepak is at pains to distance his version of spirituality from religion. He writes: "Organised religion may have discredited itself, but spirituality has suffered no such defeat." He then contrasts organised religions with the "profound views of life" propounded by spiritual teachers such as the Buddha, Jesus and Lao-tzu who pointed to a "transcendent domain", beyond the reach of the five senses, "mysterious, unseen" but which could be known by diving deep into one's own awareness, to the source of both the inner and outer reality.

Thus, in essence, Deepak's spiritual perspective is one in which he equates spirituality with consciousness. Deepak believes that "consciousness" is the ordering, creative and intelligent principle at the heart of reality, without which there would be no reality at all (the light at the mouth of the cave). "We need to go back to the source of religion. That source isn't God. It's consciousness". Deepak breaks down his spiritual perspective into three parts:

1. There is an unseen reality that is the source of all visible things.
2. This unseen reality is knowable through our own awareness.
3. Intelligence, creativity, and organising power are embedded in the cosmos.

Deepak argues for a worldview in which consciousness and the material universe are seen as two aspects of an indivisible whole. He writes: "Reality is reality. There is only one and it is permanent. This means that at some point the inner and outer must meet; we won't have to choose between them". This desire to unite science and spirituality through a grand synthesis is at the heart of Deepak's philosophy. The main obstacles to this synthesis, in Deepak's view, are religion and materialism. Most religions (mainly the monotheistic western religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity) posit an extra-cosmic God who "tinkers" with reality as and when it suits Him, judges, condemns or loves you (depending on what mood He's in) and is completely "other" and unknowable, revealed to us solely through "sacred" texts which must be believed unquestioningly if one is to achieve salvation. Such a view of the world, Deepak argues, is rightly shunned by all reasonable and thinking individuals. Similarly, he argues, the "superstition of materialism", the belief that only the world revealed to us via our five senses is real, is hostile to the "inner journey". Deepak perceives science as aiding and abetting this materialistic worldview as it reduces the universe to a closed physical system of purely physical cause and effect, ungoverned by anything other than blind purposeless laws of nature. The question for Deepak is fundamentally: "What is reality? Is it the result of natural laws rigorously operating through cause and effect, or is it something else?"

Leonard writes: "We would all like to be immortal. We'd like to believe that good triumphs over evil, that a greater power watches over us, that we are part of something bigger, that we have been put here for a reason. We'd like to believe that our lives have an intrinsic meaning." Leonard recognises these as legitimate human concerns. He views the answers that religion provides as mankind's earliest attempt to address these concerns within the limits of incomplete knowledge. "Today science can answer many of the most fundamental questions of existence. Science's answers spring from observation and experiment rather than from human bias or desire. Science offers answers in harmony with nature as it is, rather than nature as we'd like it to be." In terms of inspiring awe and wonderment as well as addressing questions of ultimate concern Leonard believes science, despite its limitations, to be the "triumph of humanity" and of our "capacity to understand". He resents Deepak's implication that scientific explanations are "sterile and reductive". He goes on: "Scientists are often guided by their intuition and subjective feelings but they recognise the need for another step: verification." He then loosely outlines the "scientific method" with its emphasis on observation and experimentation; and, while acknowledging the part spirituality has to play "regarding human aspirations and the meaning of our lives", he highlights the lack of verifiable evidence as being the main reason religion and spirituality are excluded from scientific consideration; or, more to the point, religious and spiritual doctrine make "pronouncements about the physical universe that contradict what we actually observe to be true." So Leonard's view is that the knowledge claims of science are open to verification, refutation and testing and as such we have every right to place our confidence in science as opposed to religion/spirituality when it comes to our understanding of the world and our place in it.

As much as I enjoyed the exchanges between Leonard and Deepak, and as much as I commend Leonard for engaging in communication with someone I'm sure many of his colleagues would run a mile from, I found the book on the whole disappointing (hence the three stars). Essential to a debate such as this is the necessity of defining terms explicitly and to the satisfaction of both parties. The problem with this book is that terms are so sloppily defined (if at all) and so ambiguously employed, that both Deepak and Leonard spend a great deal of their time talking passed each other. Deepak uses terms such as "spirit", "consciousness", "mind" etc so loosely and vaguely as to render them meaningless at times, while Leonard, though more diligent in his effort to define terms, is similarly guilty of obfuscation (this is to be expected from someone who co-authored "The Grand Design" with Stephen Hawkin in which it is claimed, Nietzschian like, "philosophy is dead". It was premature of Leonard to bury philosophy because philosophy, at the very least, is the art of conceptual clarification). In fairness to Deepak, terms such as spirit, consciousness and mind are notoriously slippery and science has yet to agree on a working definition of consciousness. Notwithstanding, I feel Deepak could have made a greater effort to be more precise in his definition of these terms, if for no other reason than, by not doing so, Leonard had all the ammunition he needed to dismiss many of Deepak's arguments on the grounds of ill-defined terminology. Leonard, too, would have aided the reader had he more specifically defined what he meant by "science". To make claims about a "scientific worldview" already obfuscates because science is not philosophy, it is a method of inquiring into the physical world (methodological naturalism). Science should be philosophically neutral. To talk of a "scientific worldview" in the manner in which Leonard does is to conflate science (the study of the physical world) with the philosophy of physical naturalism (which states that the physical world is all there is). If, however, Leonard means something more by the term "science", then he should have made it clear in what sense he was using the term.

The level of argument was also unsatisfactory. One example will suffice. Read more ›

Physicist Leonard Mlodinow versus new age mysterian Deepak Chopra. I well remember their first meeting at a debate I saw on the web where Mlodinow was pulled out of the audience to explain a thing or two to Chopra about his career long misuse of Quantum Mechanics to justify his pet theories about consciousness. It seems they struck up a friendship and decided to write this book together. Wonder's will never cease.

The text proceeds through a number topics including the nature of space, time, matter, energy, biology and of course Chopra's favorite topic; consciousness. There's the six primary manifestations of reality covered for you in one book! Each author alternates between putting forth their view on a subject and giving a rebuttal which is fair as far as it goes. I was impressed by Mlodinow's command of the current scientific thinking on these important subjects which is based on observation, experiment, rigorous peer review, falsifiability and sheer human ingenuity. Chopra's views on these subjects seem to be based on well... whatever he happens to pull out of his nether regions on any particular day. For example he displays, in this worthy tome, the strange predilection shown by many otherwise intelligent people to willfully misunderstand biological evolution by cumulative non-random natural selection. Go figure.

Overall a very good book that should reaffirm one's trust in the scientific method to provide an accurate picture of the true nature of the many realities we sentient beings encounter and endure. While also displaying the utter bankruptcy of mysticism, spirituality and 'other ways of knowing' (what does that even mean!) to help improve the lot of humanity. In addition, to my mind, those much to be lauded bastions of the intersubjective domain, the arts and humanities, would be more allied with Mlodinow's position regarding what science has contributed to human culture and distance themselves from Chopra's cynical incantations to transcend to a hypothetical unseen realm, diffuse and exiguous as the cosmic microwave background radiation, in escape from that most detested of ontological things to would be mystics: the wonderful, diverse, endlessly creative, self-organizing and enchanting material cosmos that we all are exploring together.