Sunday, January 31, 2010
The most vehement criticism of Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol concerns the view of many reviewers that while the material about Freemasonry may be based on fact, the science is more akin to science fiction.
Katherine Solomon, one of the main characters, is a scientist particularly interested in 'mind over matter' - the power of thought.
The 'big idea' in Dan Brown's book is that science is only now providing evidence of what ancient traditions have traditionally espoused: that thought has a tangible power to affect the physical world.
I'm in a unique position to comment on this as I have extensively studied all the science Brown includes in his book, written two books on the subject and I facilitate these kinds of experiments with scientists in many academic centers around the world.
Although Solomon is solidly fiction, the vast majority of her work is based on solid fact.
In a sizable body of research exploring the nature of consciousness, carried on for more than 30 years in prestigious scientific institutions around the world - Princeton and Stanford Universities, the Universities of Arizona and California, and, in Europe, the Universities of Freiberg and Edinburgh -thoughts directed at targets in the laboratory have been shown capable of altering machines, cells and even complex organisms like human beings. This mind-over-matter power even seems to traverse time and space.
In my own web-based experiments, we involve thousands of participants in 90 countries around the world, sending thoughts to targets created in rigorous laboratory settings at the University of Arizona, Pennsylvania State University, University of California at Davis, and other prestigious universities in Europe.
These studies go well beyond spoonbending tricks. This central idea, that consciousness affects matter, lies at the very heart of an irreconcilable difference between the world view offered by classical physics - the science of the big, visible world - and that of quantum physics - the science of the world's most diminutive components. These discoveries offer convincing evidence that all matter in the universe exists in a web of connection and constant influence, which often overrides many of the laws of the universe that we used to believe held ultimate sovereignty.
Ideas about the power of thought are no longer the ruminations of a few eccentric individuals. They now underpin many well-accepted disciplines in every reach of life, from orthodox medicine to competitive sport.
Medical scientists often speak of the 'placebo effect' as an annoying impediment to the proof of the efficacy of a chemical agent. It is time that we understood and made full use of the power of the placebo. Repeatedly, the mind has proved to be a far more powerful healer than the greatest of breakthrough drugs.
Frontier science is the art of inquiring about the impossible. All of our major achievements in history have resulted from asking an outrageous question. What if stones fall from the sky? What if giant metal objects could overcome gravity? What if there is no end of the earth to sail off?
All of the discoveries about the power of thought and remote influence have similarly proceeded from asking a seemingly absurd question: what if our thoughts could affect the things around us?
True science always begins with an unpopular question, even if there is no prospect of an immediate answer - even if the answer threatens to overturn every last one of our cherished beliefs. The scientists engaged in consciousness research must constantly put forward unpopular questions about the nature of the mind and the extent of its reach.
Though they sound like outlandish questions, the most important part of scientific investigation is just the simple willingness to ask the question.
Mainstream science has grown ever more fundamentalist, dominated by a few highly vocal scientists who believe that our scientific story has largely been written. Nevertheless, a small body of resistance carries on in defiance of this restricted view. With every unorthodox question asked, with every unlikely answer, frontier scientists such as these remake our world. May they and their ilk light our way.
Lynne McTaggart, one of the preeminent spokespersons on consciousness and the new physics, is the award-winning journalist and author of five books, including the worldwide bestsellers The Field (Harper) and The Intention Experiment (Free Press). To find out more about her Intention Experiments and to participate in her global laboratory, just register on her website: http://www.theintentionexperiment.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lynne_McTaggart
Dan Brown has an excellent style of writing that would appeal to a lot of people, his writing opens your mind to the possibilities of: "what is the real truth?". I have enjoyed reading all of his books. Follow the trials and tribulations that Robert Langdon goes through in the books starting from ANGELS AND DEMONS, THE DA VINCI CODE, THE LOST SYMBOL, DIGITAL FORTRESS, DECEPTION POINT, but am looking forward to reading them. My only problem is there are so many books I want to read I don't know which books to pick up first. Here is a look at Dan Brown's Books.
