The notion that ancient Hindu mysticism is just quantum physics wrapped in metaphysical garb seems to have originated with Fritjof Capra in his book The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (1975).
The book's first two parts are excellent expositions on ancient religions and modern physics. The third part, which tries to connect the two is an abysmal failure and about the purest poppycock this side of Bombay. Nevertheless, it has been this third part which has influenced numerous New Age energy medicine advocates to claim that quantum physics proves the reality of everything from chi and prana to ESP. The idea that there is such a connection is denied by most physicists but books like Capra's and Gary Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters : An Overview of the New Physics (1976) overshadow and are much more popular than more sensible books written by physicists. Chopra and other defenders of Ayurveda, following Capra and Zukav, are fond of claiming that modern physics has substantially validated ancient Hindu metaphysics. However, physicist Heinz R. Pagels, author of The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature vehemently rejects the notion that there is any significant connection between the discoveries of modern physicists and the metaphysical claims of Ayurveda. "No qualified physicist that I know would claim to find such a connection without knowingly committing fraud," says Dr. Pagels. The claim that the fields of modern physics have anything to do with the "field of consciousness" is false. The notion that what physicists call "the vacuum state" has anything to do with consciousness is nonsense. The claim that large numbers of people meditating helps reduce crime and war by creating a unified field of consciousness is foolishness of a high order. > > > >The presentation of the ideas of modern physics side by side, and apparently >supportive of, the ideas of the Maharishi about pure consciousness can only be >intended to deceive those who might not know any better. > > >Reading these materials authorized by the Maharishi causes me distress because >I am a man who values the truth. To see the beautiful and profound ideas of >modern physics, the labor of generations of scientists, so willfully perverted >provokes a feeling of compassion for those who might be taken in by these >distortions. I would like to be generous to the Maharishi and his movement >because it supports world peace and other high ideals. But none of these >ideals could possibly be realized within the framework of a philosophy that so >willfully distorts scientific truth (Pagels). From: http://www.skepdic.com/chopra.html Deepak Chopra - The Skeptic's Dictionary - Skepdic.com >From Abracadabra to Zombies | View All a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r View on www.skepdic.com Preview by Yahoo
