David Fideler

Restoring the Soul of the World (eBook, ePUB)

Our Living Bond with Nature's Intelligence

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Humanity's creative role within the living pattern of nature • Explores important scientific discoveries that reveal the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature • Examines the idea of a living cosmos from its roots in the earliest cultures, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today • Reveals ways to reengage our creative partnership with nature and collaborate with nature's intelligence For millennia the world was seen as a creative, interconnected web of life, constantly growing, developing, and restoring itself. But with the arrival of the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries, the world was viewed as a lifeless, clocklike mechanism, bound by the laws of classical physics. Intelligence was a trait ascribed solely to human beings, and thus humanity was viewed as superior to and separate from nature. Today new scientific discoveries are reviving the ancient philosophy of a living, interconnected cosmos, and humanity is learning from and collaborating with nature's intelligence in new, life-enhancing ways, from ecological design to biomimicry. Drawing upon the most important scientific discoveries of recent times, David Fideler explores the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature and humanity's place in the cosmic pattern. He examines the ancient vision of the living cosmos from its roots in the "world soul" of the Greeks and the alchemical tradition, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today. He explains how the mechanistic worldview led to humanity's profound sense of alienation, for if the universe only functioned as a machine, there was no longer any room for genuine creativity or spontaneity. He shows how this isn't the case and how, even at the molecular level, natural systems engage in self-organization, self-preservation, and creative problem solving, mirroring the ancient idea of a creative intelligence that exists deep within the heart of nature. Revealing new connections between science, religion, and culture, Fideler explores how to reengage our creative partnership with nature and new ways to collaborate with nature's intelligence.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Simon + Schuster LLC
• Seitenzahl: 320
• Erscheinungstermin: 20. November 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781620553602
• Artikelnr.: 49160668

Autorenporträt

David Fideler holds a Ph.D. in philosophy and the history of science and cosmology. A recognized authority on the Pythagorean school, he is the editor of The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library; author of Jesus Christ, Sun of God; translator of Love's Alchemy; and editor of the humanities journal Alexandria.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
In Search of the Living Universe
Part I
Awakening to the Beauty of Nature
Humanity and the Cosmological Impulse
1 Starlight and Cosmovision
Awakening to the Universe
2 Beauty, Desire, and the Soul of the World
3 Life in the Cosmopolis
4 The Light of Nature and the Alchemical Imagination
5 The Lushness of Earth and the Spirit of the Desert
6 The Last Flowering
The Rediscovery of Soul in Renaissance Florence
Part II
The Death of Nature and the Rise of Alienation
7 The Mechanization of the World
8 In the Name of Utility
The Exploitation of Nature and the Decline of Pleasure
Part III
Anima Mundi
Rediscovering the Living Universe
9 Psyche Regained
10 The Mirror of Nature
Modern Cosmology and the Reanimation of the Universe
11 The Pattern Which Connects
Life and Mind in Nature
Part IV
A World with a Future
Cultivating Life in a Global Community
12 The Turning Point
Returning Home in the Space Age
13 The Alchemy of Engagement
Working in Collaboration with Nature
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author