From the cutting edge of science and living spirituality: a guide to understanding our identity and purpose in the world

• Outlines the new understanding of matter and mind coming to light at the cutting edge of physics and consciousness research

• Explains how we can evolve consciously, become connected with each other, and flourish on this planet

• Includes contributions from Maria Sagi, Kingsley L. Dennis, Emanuel Kuntzelman, Dawna Jones, Shamik Desai, Garry Jacobs, and John R. Audette

For the outdated mainstream paradigm the world is a giant mechanism functioning in accordance with known and knowable laws and regularities. The new paradigm emerging in science offers a different concept: The world is an interconnected, coherent whole, and it is informed by a cosmic intelligence. This is not a finite, mechanistic-material world. It is a consciousness-infused whole-system world. We are conscious beings who emerge and co-evolve as complex, cosmic-intelligence in-formed vibrations in the Akashic Field of the universe.

Ervin Laszlo and his collaborators from the forefront of science, cosmology, and spirituality show how the re-discovery of who we are and why we are here integrates seamlessly with the wisdom traditions as well as with the new emerging worldview in the sciences, revealing a way forward for humanity on this planet. They explain how we have reached a point of critical incoherence and tell us that to save ourselves, our environment, and society, we need a critical mass of people to consciously evolve a new thinking. Offering a guidepost to orient this evolution, Laszlo examines the nature of consciousness in the universe, showing how our bodies and minds act as transmitters of consciousness from the intelligence of the cosmos and how understanding science’s new concept of the world enables us to re-discover our identity and our purpose in our world.

With bold vision and forward thinking, Laszlo and his contributors Maria Sagi, Kingsley L. Dennis, Emanuel Kuntzelman, Dawna Jones, Shamik Desai, Garry Jacobs, and John R. Audette outline the new idea of the world and of ourselves in the world. They help us discover how we can overcome these divisive times and blossom into a new era of peace, coherence, connection, and global wellbeing.

Ervin Laszlo is a philosopher and systems scientist. Twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, he has published more than 75 books and over 400 articles and research papers. The subject of the one-hour PBS special Life of a Modern-Day Genius, Laszlo is the founder and president of the international think tank the Club of Budapest and of the prestigious Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research. He lives in Tuscany.

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE

PART ONE

Perennial Questions and the New Answers

1 Who Are We?
A NEW CONCEPT OF THE WORLD
A NEW CONCEPT OF CONSCIOUSNESS
AN IN-FORMED WORLD

2 Why Are We Here?
INDICATIONS OF PURPOSE IN THE DIRECTION OF EVOLUTION

3 New Answers
WHO WE ARE
WHY WE ARE HERE

PART TWO

The Meaning of the New Answers for Our Life and Times

4 The New Answers Re-Enchant Our Worldview
Kingsley L. Dennis

5 The New Answers and the Power of Purpose
Emanuel Kuntzelman

6 The New Answers and the Goals of Contemporary Social Change Maria Sagi

7 The New Answers and the Purpose of Business
Dawna Jones

8 The New Answers and the Wisdom Traditions
Shamik Desai

9 The New Answers--A Meaning for This Life and the Next
John R. Audette

10 The New Answers and the Challenge: Reconciling Science and Spirituality with Life
Garry Jacobs

Afterword by James O’Dea

Biographical Notes on the Author and Contributors

Books by Ervin Laszlo: A Selected Bibliography

Index