The author of this book, who is a medical doctor and also a biochemist, draws heavily on the modern Complexity theory to show that reductionist approaches will not help to understand our worldly phenomena like creation, order, God and religion. Systems, especially complex systems, manifest emergent properties that exceed the sum total of the individual constituents that make up the whole. The author hypothesises that the God phenomenon is real and is an inevitable, emergent property of the universe that cannot be pinned down to any individual constituent and this is the reason why God will never be seen. He argues that God-like properties can be observed in a number of physical, social and biological complex systems and makes a bold assertion that these properties have been given a name – GOD – at the universal level. This is a ground-breaking view of God radically different from any other.
Profoundly important thoughts on Existence-Nonexistence polarity, Manifested/ un-manifested states of matter are discussed both from astrophysical and eastern philosophical points of view.
The author sees the religion as a social order-generating tool that evolved in the last few thousand years. A strong scientific defence has been put forward for the theory that religion has more to do with sociology than theology. He has also shown how the quest for social order generation has led to speciation of religions into numerous sub-sects, as well as the appearance of non-religious law enforcement bodies, in the ecological niche of morals and order.
The author succeeds remarkably in his attempt to find answers to the fascinating questions about the timing, purpose and location of origin of the very first organised religion, something not attempted by any other author on the topic of religion and God. Why did the first organised religion appear only about 5000 years ago in the Indus Valley though proto-humans have been evolving for over 7 million years since they split from Chimpanzees in the evolutionary tree in Africa? Why was the Near East the ‘Cradle of Religions’? The author has explored the time of onset of organized religions and has provided a convincing geographical, chronological and biological reason for it. The author argues that religion was a social adaptation to the needs of the expanding human society much like agriculture, political structures, and perhaps the wheel and writing.
The author also has unearthed some fascinating evidence unravelling the molecular and anatomical basis for the religiosity of man and argues forcefully and scientifically that religions were unavoidable in the evolution of human society and that there is no way man could have survived this tremendous social growth but for religions as a massive group identifier. The book lists a number of genetic and neuro-anatomic changes in the evolving human brain that underpinned spiritual growth and religiosity of man.
More excitement is found in a chapter that delves into a possible molecular and electrical basis for spiritual experiences and the possibility of spiritualistic experience being hard-wired in the brain is discussed.
The debate on creationism and evolution is given a novel twist by the author who argues neither of these models is adequate to explain the origin of life. The author puts forward irrefutable arguments for a model that accommodates both creationistic and evolutionistic theories on origin of life making the recent controversies on this topic irrelevant!
Eastern philosophical thoughts are viewed from our modern scientific vantage point and an amazing degree of consonance between Advaita vedanta philosophy and the recent Complexity theory is shown by the author. The Samkya philosophy of India, which says the effect is pre-existent in the cause, is explored for its striking resemblance to the evolutionary theory and also for its applicability to modern cosmological ideas on creation, order and the cosmic unity.
By Dr. Rajkumar MD FRCPath
Profoundly important thoughts on Existence-Nonexistence polarity, Manifested/ un-manifested states of matter are discussed both from astrophysical and eastern philosophical points of view.
The author sees the religion as a social order-generating tool that evolved in the last few thousand years. A strong scientific defence has been put forward for the theory that religion has more to do with sociology than theology. He has also shown how the quest for social order generation has led to speciation of religions into numerous sub-sects, as well as the appearance of non-religious law enforcement bodies, in the ecological niche of morals and order.
The author succeeds remarkably in his attempt to find answers to the fascinating questions about the timing, purpose and location of origin of the very first organised religion, something not attempted by any other author on the topic of religion and God. Why did the first organised religion appear only about 5000 years ago in the Indus Valley though proto-humans have been evolving for over 7 million years since they split from Chimpanzees in the evolutionary tree in Africa? Why was the Near East the ‘Cradle of Religions’? The author has explored the time of onset of organized religions and has provided a convincing geographical, chronological and biological reason for it. The author argues that religion was a social adaptation to the needs of the expanding human society much like agriculture, political structures, and perhaps the wheel and writing.
The author also has unearthed some fascinating evidence unravelling the molecular and anatomical basis for the religiosity of man and argues forcefully and scientifically that religions were unavoidable in the evolution of human society and that there is no way man could have survived this tremendous social growth but for religions as a massive group identifier. The book lists a number of genetic and neuro-anatomic changes in the evolving human brain that underpinned spiritual growth and religiosity of man.
More excitement is found in a chapter that delves into a possible molecular and electrical basis for spiritual experiences and the possibility of spiritualistic experience being hard-wired in the brain is discussed.
The debate on creationism and evolution is given a novel twist by the author who argues neither of these models is adequate to explain the origin of life. The author puts forward irrefutable arguments for a model that accommodates both creationistic and evolutionistic theories on origin of life making the recent controversies on this topic irrelevant!
Eastern philosophical thoughts are viewed from our modern scientific vantage point and an amazing degree of consonance between Advaita vedanta philosophy and the recent Complexity theory is shown by the author. The Samkya philosophy of India, which says the effect is pre-existent in the cause, is explored for its striking resemblance to the evolutionary theory and also for its applicability to modern cosmological ideas on creation, order and the cosmic unity.
By Dr. Rajkumar MD FRCPath
