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The Privileged Planet - How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery

1 stars (Elevation of the ego to a new level) - The proponents of this Intelligent Design worldview based book and some reviewers here see this book as a breath of fresh air to put purpose back into a directionless, material based culture. The first premise that evolution,Copernicus and science has taken away our purpose in life is not valid to me. Science has only enhanced our understanding of life and it's task is not to provide a purpose in our lives because like religion that is a subjective experience. Science explains how things work and does not presume to answer why we are here. I think that the philosophy of this book and other ID dogma does the opposite of restoring a purposeful based view of life. It only adds to the self-absorbed pathological sickness that infests many individuals in the American culture...the sense of being special, divinely ordained to be the center of the world and a gross sense of entitlement. Everything then was created just for us. Believers are superior to athesist and agnostics,Christians are superior to non-Christians, Americans are superior to other cultures and now the ego even goes out further... the earth was designed and placed so humans(specifically Judeo-Christians) could appear,evolve and be the priviledged observers of the cosmos and discover the creator. That is obscene, absurd and ludicrous to propose such a thing in a universe with literally billions of galaxies and 15 billion light years across. In the midst of all that space, how likely is it that the lifeforms on one tiny orbital body would have the "truth" nailed down in their corner. Is it some grand purpose that stellar objects go super-nova and explode perhaps wiping out billions of life forms that may be in the vicinity. Or how about that some galaxies are on crash courses that will cause future destruction. Is it purposeful that the sun will one day go cold and all life on this planet will cease to exist. Or what about asteroids that have and ma...
Regnery Publishing Inc :: Science & General :: Solar systems :: Science&Mathematics :: Science :: Religion & Science :: Planets :: Philosophy & Social Aspects :: General :: Earth :: Discoveries :: The Privileged Planet - How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery

 

The Universe in a Single Atom - The Convergence of Science and Spirituality

5 stars (A Wonderful Convergence) - There are many wonders to be explored in the parallels between Buddhism and scientific inquiry into the nature of reality, life and consciousness. As you read this book, your thoughts ride a rocket of insight into the contentious and often disappointing debate between scientific theory and spirituality that seems to be paralyzing our society today. And yet the text never flaunts a particular conceit or takes on the aggressive, often brutal nature of the debate. While the parallels explored are startling and inspiring, most wonderful of all is the critical mind, engaging personality and boundless curiousity of the Dalai Lama himself, as these qualities radiate from the text. Reflecting on his theme, the Dalai Lama illuminates at least a view if not a way through the contention and confusion. He writes: "There is more to human existence and to reality itself than current science can ever give us access to.... By the same token, spirituality must be tempered by the insights and discoveries of science. If as spiritual practitioners we ignore the discoveries of science, our practice is also impoverished, as this mind-set can lead to fundamentalism." It is truly revealing that a man at the heart of a very traditional spiritual philosophy and practice can shed the burden of dogmatic thought for an open dialogue and the exciting and affirming human capacity to seek truth. Between science and spirituality, between the knowable and the unknowable, the critical thinking and spiritual insight of the Dalai Lama inspires the belief that open minds and open dialogue are not beyond either our scientific thought or our spiritual belief. This book is one of the most spiritual testaments while coincidentally being a highly accessible exploration of great scientific advances and current research. It is a book I will return to again and again. 5 stars (Science is not contra Religion and vice versa) - It is so nice to see religious leaders ...
Morgan Road Books :: Religion And Science :: Religion - World Religions :: Religion & Science :: Religion :: Buddhism and science :: Buddhism - Tibetan :: Buddhism :: Bstan-dzin-rgya-mt :: The Universe in a Single Atom - The Convergence of Science and Spirituality