Preface
Introduction: The Paradox of Consciousness
Part I
Crisis: Our Cosmology Story
1 Openings: A Place for Meaning
2 Breakthrough: A New Cosmology Story
3 Narratives: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter
Part II
Options : Clashing Worldviews
4 Meanings: Language, Energy, and Consciousness
5 Knots: The Problems of Consciousness
6 Panpsychism: A Long Lineage of Mind-in-Matter
Part III
Solution: Postmodern Promise
7 Resolution: Whitehead’s Postmodern Cosmology
8 Panexperientialism: Consciousness All the Way Down?
9 Integrating Worldviews: Past Matter, Present Mind
10 Conclusion: Stories Matter, Matter Stories
Epilogue: Conceiving the “Inconceivable”?
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Christian de Quincey is a professor of philosophy and consciousness studies at John F. Kennedy University, dean of consciousness studies at the University of Philosophical Research, founder of The Wisdom Academy and an international speaker on consciousness, cosmology and spirituality. He is the author of Radical Knowing, Consciousness from Zombies to Angels. He lives in California.
“One of the most important books on consciousness and cosmology to
appear in decades. Anyone interested in questions about soul and
nature, about the relationship between consciousness and the world
of matter, about meaning in the universe, needs to read it.”
*Brian Swimme, Ph.D., cosmologist, coauthor of The Universe Story,
and author of The Universe Is a Gr*
“Christian de Quincey is a thoughtful and well-informed writer
whose articles in the Noetic Sciences Review and elsewhere
represent some of the best writing in this field. Radical Nature
provides a comprehensive overview to modern debates about the
nature of consciousness. It will appeal to thoughtful readers.”
*Rupert Sheldrake, Ph.D., author of Morphic Resonance*
“Radical Nature exposes the biggest con job in the history of human
thought--that matter and nature are dead, mindless, unfeeling, and
disconnected from ourselves. De Quincey gives us an image that is
as hopeful and fulfilling as the old view was empty and depressing.
Never have we needed such a view as now.”
*Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Beyond the Body and
Reinventing Medicine*
“Radical Nature is a unique book that gets right down to the
essence of the challenges facing any science of consciousness.
Essential reading for anyone interested in consciousness
studies.”
*Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain and From Science to
God*
“Christian de Quincey illuminates a cosmological sense of
consciousness with this accessible, pioneering work. His writing
sparkles and the ideas sing.”
*Charlene Spretnak, author of States of Grace*
“Radical Nature is a powerful corrective to the prevalent dualisms
encoded in our culture and consciousness. De Quincey articulates
another way of knowing and appreciating the world that rearranges
our universe in quite remarkable ways. These well-researched and
thought-provoking explorations are a philosophical road map for
bridging the gap between spirit and matter.”
*Suzi Gablik, author of Conversations before the End of Time*
“Christian de Quincey is that rare thing: someone equally at home
in analytical philosophy and in the spirit of the New Age. No one
knows better how to criticize the materialist position from the
inside. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Radical Nature. If anything
can shake the current scientific complacency about the mindlessness
of matter, this will.”
*Nicholas Humphrey, Ph.D., author of A History of the Mind and
Leaps of Faith*
“Aboriginal peoples of the world (wherever they’re still found
intact) know that consciousness goes ‘all the way down.’ They
perceive this as directly and as intuitively as we perceive the
humor in a joke. For this reason, it’s not really something we can
‘discover’ any more than we ‘discovered’ America. Nonetheless, for
us latecomers (for whom the concept is a stranger), Christian de
Quincey has provided a delightfully accessible foundation for its
rediscovery.”
*Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael*
“A brilliant and much-needed book. De Quincey has produced a deep
work that is both intellectually satisfying and spiritually
reunitive.”
*Joseph Prabhu, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, California State
University*
“Radical Nature is a serious, philosophical-scientific treatise
that addresses the greatest philosophical issue of all times and
throws light on it. The concept of matter as inert and ‘dead’ was
indeed an exception in the long history of intellectual thought,
but it came to be equated with self-evident truth in the modern
mind. De Quincey shows that this is an aberration--that the
universe is far more complex, vital, and ‘interesting’ than
standard materialistic science envisages. It is time to return to
the concept that there is consciousness in nature, as de Quincey
says, ‘all the way down.’ The rediscovery of this perennial insight
lends both fresh meaning to our individual existence and a fresh
impetus to changing our attitude to nature from exploitation to
participation.”
*Ervin Laszlo, Ph.D., author of WorldShift 2012 and Science and the
Akashic Field*
“A breakthrough in understanding humanity’s place in the community
of beings. De Quincey brings together a depth of philosophical
expertise with a compassionate understanding of our history. He
charts a worldview that is fully in accord with the latest
scientific discoveries of the role of mind in the cosmos.”
*Chris Clarke, theoretical physicist, University of
Southampton*
“Radical Nature is thoughtful and filled with facts that clearly
refute materialism and the modern scientific outlook on life. He
[Christian de Quincey] deftly outlines the paradox of
consciousness, including its conceptions in history back to the
ancient Greeks.”
*Lesley Crossingham, New Dawn Magazine, May 2011*
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