Gandhi has edited this collection with an intellectual precision and literary flair that makes it an exciting adventure. The book presents a selection of eighteen carefully edited essays by a celebrated list of contributors. Included are George Wald, Nobel Laureate and Harvard Biologist, Karan Singh, Indian Religious leader, Member of Parliament, psychologist, and educator, Fritj of Capra, scientist and author of the Tao of Physics, and M. A. Sinaceur of UNESCO.
The book provides the most comprehensive and critical collection of essays on the possibilities for the evolutionary shaping of human consciousness available today. It touches upon the major ambivalent theme of our times, the choice between suicide and an increased level of consciousness. The crisis of man and civilization, at every level, is too real to be ignored. Looking in depth, it is traceable to a crisis of consciousness. This is a subject deep and dark, but full of promises.
The present fluid situation in the world is partly the result of our inability to achieve a balanced development between the unique scientific and technological breakthrough of the twentieth century and the growth of human consciousness. Consequently, the human species has been brought to the verge of self-destruction, and it is now an open question as to whether or not man will be able to survive his own technological ingenuity. In such a situation, nothing is more important than our search for viable alternatives for the human race to live in global harmony, with norms of its own, based on a holistic and evolutionary world view. It is only through actualizing the total potentiality of the human mind and enlarging our areas of awareness that we will be able to contain our societal and psychological conflicts which threaten to explode as we move towards the twenty-first century.
Table of Contents
The Contributors
Preface
1. Life and Mind in the Universe
George Wald
2. Biological Foundations of Human Evolution and Consciousness
B. R. Sheshachar
3. Two Sides of the Brain
R.M. Varma
4. The Phenomenology of Mind and Consciousness
J. S. Neki
5. The Psychology of Consciousness: An Empirical Study
Davendra Singh
6. The Evolution of the Mind: Projections into the Future
E. C. G. Sudershan
7. The Science and Knowing of Higher Consciousness
Ravi Ravindra
8. Order and Openness
Robert Artigiani
9. Consciousness and the Idea of Progress
Joel Colton
10. The Present Quantum Shift in Consciousness and Society
Alastair M. Taylor
11. Education and Transformation of Human Consciousness:
A Future Possibility
Kishore Gandhi
12. UNESCO: Adventuring in Evolution of Consciousness
M.A. Sinaceur
13. Consciousness and Culture
Sisirkumar Ghose
14. Toward Culture and Consciousness Symbiosis: A Contemporary
Challenge
Prem Kirpal
15. The Future of Consciousness
Karan Singh
16. Communicative Consciousness with Built-In Control
Arymurthy
17. Atom and Self
D. S. Kothari
18. The Turning Point
Fritjof Capra
KISHORE GANDHI is a well known Indian journalist, BBC television broadcaster, professor and author.
