August 2023 MBR The Philosophy Shelf

The Philosophy Shelf

A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and "God"
Bill Harvey
The Human Effectiveness Institute
https://www.humaneffectivenessinstitute.org
9780918538192, $8.95

https://www.humaneffectivenessinstitute.org/billharveyblog/a-theory-of-everything

Bill Harvey wrote this book mainly for physicists, but its considerations will attract general-interest audiences of non-scientists as well, as A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and "God" explores not only the 'why' of human effort and existence, but how these considerations can lead readers to "...have the intestinal forti-tude to stand up and do whatever it takes to overcome the new challenges facing civiliza-tion today."

Many books and essays have been written about the nature and purpose of life. Bill Harvey takes the next step in applying these inquiries about the "God" concept to expanded purposes in, and approaches to, living life: "The "inner life" tradition - pondering the ulti-mate questions, studying the self - has continued alongside every step forward we have made in science and technology."

From the history of the popular denial of a higher being among scientific circles to ideas of The One Self as a singularity whose presence is all-encompassing and changing, Harvey creates a thought-provoking dialogue that encourages scientists and readers alike to adopt bigger-picture perceptions of the universe's possibilities.

The breadth and scope of this inquiry is unprecedented. Its major value, aside from individual contemplation, will be to spark equally vivid and unusual discussions in professional circles where such talks typically bow to hard, observable science over ethereal suppositions. The result is more than a theory or a dialogue about possibilities in spirituality, reality, and methodology, but an exciting new way of considering consciousness, God, and universe perceptions that invites all manner of students, whether they be scientists or general readers, to suspend preset beliefs and training in favor of a wider-ranging approach to linking hunches and perceptions to the synchronicities life introduces that too often are discarded with pat rationalization.

There is nothing pat or categorically simple in this approach, which encourages self-experimentation and awakening a form of observation and discourse that may have remained in the backgrounds of many readers' lives. Ideally, A Theory of Everything including Consciousness and "God" will receive equally wide-ranging attention and attraction - from spiritual and scientific circles to book club readers and debaters who come from psychology and philosophy circles, and who seek works that don't just reflect the boundaries of human experience and possibility, but challenges them.

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