SECBH%CUNYVM.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (06/15/91)
Several weeks ago I read "Choosing Reality", A Contemplative View
of Physics and the Mind, by B. Alan Wallace. I have never been
very good in the sciences or mathematics, and over the years have
worsened the problem by avoiding any exposure to either like a
cat running past a lawn sprinkler. However, this book fascinated
me despite the fact that a large portion of it is devoted to
discussing science, the scientific method and especially physics.
The author has been trained in physics and has also translated some
Buddhist works and was recently a translator for the Dalai Lama in
conferences he had in California and at Harvard with groups of
scientists.
I had really wanted to try to submit an article to SRE discussing the
ideas which the author considers, however I have been pressed for
time and also found that the proposed article was becoming a rather
massive condensation of the book due to my own lack of background
in the sciences.
The latest issue of "Wisdom Publications" (which is a supplement to
their book catalog and contains feature articles of Buddhist interest
as well) has an article by the author and an except from this book.
This had nudged me to make this posting.
A quote from Prof. William L. Ames, California Institute of Integral
Studies:
"Allan Wallace's _Choosing Reality_ is a clearly written, thought-
provoking exploration of the question. 'How can we know reality?'
He examines the question from the perspectives of both modern physics
and Buddhism. Along the way, he illuminates several important topics
in the philosophy of science. He also discussed the possibility of
integrating Buddhist contemplative techniques into Western science."
And a quote from the book itself:
"Moreover, if we reflect on the wide range of visual faculties of
fish, insects, birds, and mammals, for instance, its seems
exceedingly hard to believe that they all see the world in the same
way. What they see is created in part by the specific types of
visual organs that they have.
"Thus, after only a little reflection we may conclude that colors,
sounds, smells, tastes, and textures as we experience them are
not attributes of the objective world existing independent of
our sense faculties. Rather, they are events that occur in dependence
not only upon the attributes of the external world but also the
specific nature of our senses. In that sense, although they
apppear to be utterly 'out there' in the objects we perceive,
they do not so exist.
...
"In other words, what is the nature of the real world as it exists
independent of human perceptions? What is truly out there?"
I feel that this is a book which I will read more than once again,
and I would recommend to anyone interested in Buddhism. In many
ways, I think, the book looks at scientific methods and theory
from the viewpoint of the skandhas.
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Jack Carroll "I have discovered that all human evil comes from this,
<SECBH@CUNYVM> man's being unable to sit still in a room."
Pascal