Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death
Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death book cover

Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death

Paperback – May 2, 2017

by
Price
$14.95
Format
Paperback
Pages
224
Publisher
BenBella Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1944648657
Dimensions
6.06 x 0.58 x 9 inches
Weight
9.6 ounces

Description

"Lanza and Berman employ cutting edge science to rediscover ancient truths about life and death and reconceptualize our very notions of reality and consciousness. Beyond Biocentrism is an enlightening and fascinating journey that will forever alter your understanding of your own existence." —Deepak Chopra "This intriguing and provocative book will challenge some of what you know and push you into rethinking your view of science—all the while entertaining you with a fast-paced, exhilarating narrative journey." —David J. Eicher, editor in chief, Astronomy Magazine " Beyond Biocentrism is a joyride through the history of science and cutting-edge physics, all with a very serious purpose: to find the long-overlooked connection between the conscious self and the universe around us." —Corey S. Powell, former editor-in-chief, Discover magazine "[ Beyond Biocentrism ] offers a neurobiological point of view to help answer questions about the world around us. Lanza and Berman make the journey towards a better understanding of the role of consciousness and perception. . . . A fun read." —Kwang-Soo Kim, professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, and director, Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, McLean Hospital "Lanza and Berman's latest statement of their theory of ‘biocentrism' changes the way we think about age-old religious questions such as the origin of the universe and human immortality. Based on cutting edge work in physics and biology and explained with exceptional clarity, Beyond Biocentrism is a must-read for anyone interested in science and religion." —Ronald M. Green, professor emeritus for the study of ethics and human values, and former chairman of the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College "Will machines ever achieve consciousness? Are plants aware? Is death an illusion? These are some of the big questions tackled in Beyond Biocentrism , which serves up a new, biology-based theory of everything that is as delightful to read as it is fascinating. Tremendously clear and lovely writing—a huge achievement." —Pamela Weintraub, psychology & health editor for Aeon Magazine , former Executive Editor of Discover Magazine and former editor in chief of OMNI Magazine Praise for Biocentrism : "An extraordinary mind. . . . Having interviewed some of the most brilliant minds in the scientific world, I found Dr. Robert Lanza's insights into the nature of consciousness original and exciting. His theory of biocentrism is consistent with the most ancient traditions of the world which say that consciousness conceives, governs, and becomes a physical world. It is the ground of our Being in which both subjective and objective reality come into existence." —Deepak Chopra "This is a brave new book. Instead of placing life as an accidental byproduct, the authors place life at the apex of universal existence and purpose. It is a very thrilling and disturbing read. While the proposals made in Biocentrism seem radical and counter-intuitive at first, a bit of reflection will soon make the images clearer and place us on the pathway to a better and more commonsensical mindset." —Michael Gooch, author of Wingtips with Spurs "Both interesting and worth the effort of reading it . . . From the way [Lanza] chooses to present his arguments, it's clear he has a solid grasp of esoteric disciplines . . . His style is conversational . . . And his sense of wonder . . . is as infectious as it is delightful." —Midwest Book Review Robert Lanza, MD is one of the most respected scientists in the world—a U.S. News & World Report cover story called him a "genius" and "renegade thinker," even likening him to Einstein. Lanza is head of Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine, Ocata Chief Scientific Officer, and adjunct professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He was recognized by Time magazine in 2014 on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World." Prospect magazine named him one of the Top 50 "World Thinkers" in 2015. He is credited with several hundred publications and inventions, and over thirty scientific books, including the definitive references in the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine. A former Fulbright Scholar, he studied with polio pioneer Jonas Salk and Nobel Laureates Gerald Edelman and Rodney Porter. He also worked closely (and coauthored a series of papers) with noted Harvard psychologist B. F. Skinner and heart transplant pioneer Christiaan Barnard. Dr. Lanza received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was both a University Scholar and Benjamin Franklin Scholar. Lanza was part of the team that cloned the world's first human embryo, as well as the first to successfully generate stem cells from adults using somatic-cell nuclear transfer (therapeutic cloning). In 2001 he was also the first to clone an endangered species, and recently published the first-ever report of pluripotent stem cell use in humans. Bob Berman is the longtime science editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac , and contributing editor of Astronomy magazine, formerly with Discover from 1989 to 2006. He produces and narrates the weekly Strange Universe segment on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, heard in eight states, and has been a guest on such TV shows as Late Night with David Letterman . He taught physics and astronomy at New York's Marymount College in the 1990s, and is the author of eight popular books. His newest is Zoom: How Everything Moves (2014, Little Brown).

Features & Highlights

  • Biocentrism
  • shocked the world with a radical rethinking of the nature of reality.
  • But that was just the beginning.
  • In
  • Beyond Biocentrism
  • , acclaimed biologist Robert Lanza, one of
  • TIME Magazine's
  • "100 Most Influential People in 2014," and leading astronomer Bob Berman, take the reader on an intellectual thrill-ride as they re-examine everything we thought we knew about life, death, the universe, and the nature of reality itself.The first step is acknowledging that our existing model of reality is looking increasingly creaky in the face of recent scientific discoveries. Science tells us with some precision that the universe is 26.8 percent dark matter, 68.3 percent dark energy, and only 4.9 percent ordinary matter, but must confess that it doesn't really know what dark matter is and knows even less about dark energy. Science is increasingly pointing toward an infinite universe but has no ability to explain what that really means. Concepts such as time, space, and even causality are increasingly being demonstrated as meaningless.All of science is based on information passing through our consciousness but science hasn't the foggiest idea what consciousness is, and it can't explain the linkage between subatomic states and observation by conscious observers. Science describes life as a random occurrence in a dead universe but has no real understanding of how life began or why the universe appears to be exquisitely designed for the emergence of life.The biocentrism theory isn't a rejection of science. Quite the opposite. Biocentrism challenges us to fully accept the implications of the latest scientific findings in fields ranging from plant biology and cosmology to quantum entanglement and consciousness.By listening to what the science is telling us, it becomes increasingly clear that life and consciousness are fundamental to any true understanding of the universe. This forces a fundamental rethinking of everything we thought we knew about life, death, and our place in the universe.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
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Most Helpful Reviews

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Even Better than the First!

Never have I read a scientist’s work that is so comprehensive, understandable, relatable, and practical as Lanza’s. Biocentrism is not an esoteric, far-out-there concept. It makes complete common sense. In fact, this follow-up to his first book is even better. The first changed my life, the second—this book—altered it permanently. I want to go running down the street spreading the good news and obvious realities found in this book. We do have purpose, there is no chance, we can rely on our intuitions, we do create reality, consciousness is not going to be found in the brain, we will live on after earthly life, what we see and hear is created in the mind, and we are safe. I just want to meet Lanza and shake his hand—thank him profusely for pointing out the obvious and becoming willing to be crucified by reduction materialists and other scientists who refuse to acknowledge consciousness for what it is.
83 people found this helpful
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Review of : Beyond Biocentrism

Beyond Biocentrism provides strong support for consciousness being the fundamental originator for all that is, and this paradigm relies heavily on the principles of quantum mechanics (QM) as its underlying framework. It argues that space and time are nothing more than tools of the human mind used to make sense of a universe full of blurry QM probability waves.There is no "out there". All possibilities exist in superposition as probabilistic-wave functions until an observer collapses these wave functions. This phenomenon has been verified by many experiments over the last century by credible scientists across the globe This is not New Age stuff.

This book also explains how and why everything is connected to everything else through a concept called entanglement (and non-locality), which allows for instant (faster than light) communications between two objects even if they are located on opposite sides of the galaxy. Once again consciousness mandates that "all is one" and there is no such thing as distance or space.

This book discusses and connects consciousness with other phenomenon such as death (it's not real), quantum jumping, the two slit experiment and its variations, retrocausation, I-ness, the Quantum Zeno effect, and much more and they fit nicely with the biocentric thesis. There are other books with similar ideas, but Beyond Biocentrism goes much further; materialism is defunct.

I am on my second reading; this book is fabulous and I cannot do justice in this review. If these ideas are correct, realism is far stranger than science fiction or fantasy.

Rich
60 people found this helpful
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A masterpiece...a paradigm shift in modern thought

A brilliant presentation of the history of physics, it's roots in science and philosophical theory catalyzed into ....well, Biocentrism. A MUST read !!
23 people found this helpful
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Accepting Human Consciousness

Beyond Biocentrism, by Lanza and Berman, examines the scientific evidence that seems to fly in the face of a mechanistic cosmos, such as the famous double-slit experiment, in which consciousness itself seems to affect the experiment's outcome. The authors, instead of treating these facts as mere curiosities, take the bold step of accepting human consciousness as an integral part of the cosmos -- perhaps as the foundation, or even as the very whole of the cosmos. This is the center-piece of their cosmological model called “biocentrism.” They admit, and even embrace the fact that teachers of mysticism have been saying a similar thing for centuries. And yet the book remains fairly well grounded in science. This confrontation between logical science and mystical perception has troubled and fascinated me for decades. I was very happy to see this ancient puzzle treated intelligently.

The authors did not fully prove their case, nor did they claim to do so. They presented biocentrism as an alternate explanation or model that is more consistent with scientific observations than the more mechanistic model generally accepted by scientists. And I think they made a fairly good argument for it.

I felt a little frustration by a pattern of argument that almost, but did not quite, lead to the conclusion of biocentrism, seeming to expect the reader to grasp an intuitive understanding that would carry him or her over the missing logical steps. I had hoped for a more rigorous argument. But I have recognized the very same shortcoming in my own writing about mysticism. You see, I had hoped to get some help here and didn't find as much as I hoped for. I really should not have expected as much logic as I did, as the nature of a universe founded on consciousness must necessarily be beyond mind and logic, as spiritual teachers say repeatedly. Even the authors acknowledge the qualitative difference between logic and intuitive perception.

One particularly interesting statement is the authors' attempt to define the transition point between the world of quantum theory and the more familiar mechanistic world. On page 194 they wrote:

"… the full gaining of information also entails setting and controlling measurement references such as timing or angle, which are vital for our minds to really grasp what's happening. The physicists found that when these are controlled, the transition to our classical physical world is invariable and inevitable. It all keeps the observer's knowledge firmly in the scene, in how the cosmos manifests itself."

So this is where maya or illusion begins -- with careful objective observation! And it is built into the structure of world-mind-perseption. Very interesting.

One mystical teacher, Sant Rajinder Singh, who has a scientific background himself, has said that science is on the cusp of mystical understanding. And seemingly, here it comes!
20 people found this helpful
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One of my favorite books of all time! I've read it at least 5 times!

This book is much better than the first. The structure and presentation of the material exceeds the first book. If you really do have an open mind and listen to reason, then this book is for you. Does it have the answers? No, but you are sure to be on the right track! I cannot recommend this book enough for the souls out there who want to really think about reality the way it should be!
15 people found this helpful
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All you really need to know is in the Alice books..

3 stars for a good try..
Basically, the Heisenberg Principal coupled with what Lewis Carroll said at the end of Through the Looking Glass 150 Years ago:
"Life, what is it but a dream! "
12 people found this helpful
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Some novel ideas that aren't so novel (aka Alan W. Watts)

I'm all too ready to be open-minded regarding matters of conciousness - it is absolutely fascinating. In fact, I found many (not all) of the authors' insights regarding our human propensity to proclaim we know more scientifically about the universe than may be humanly possible. However, in the last 3-4 chapters of the book, I had a strange case of deja vu. Many of the central themes (minus the death defying, immortality claim) were outlined more than 45-60 years ago by eastern/western philosopher Alan W. Watts (who died in 1973). There is a treasure trove of Watt's lectures available free on youtube. Go see for yourself. E.g., Watts often spoke of the human nature to be "prickly" (analytical, fact-oriented, hardcore material rationalists) or "goo" types (flexible, open-minded, out-of-the-box albeit skeptical thinkers). In the biocentrism theory work-up, the authors use the terms "rough" and "smooth" for these same personality types (lol). There are numerous, uncanny similarities like this example among the themes explored by both parties. I have no problem with authors invoking the ideas of earlier thinkers (Aristotle anybody) as long as credit is given where credit is due. It's amazing how many contemporarty philosophers pilfer Watt's ideas without mentioning his name. It was also strange that the authors chastise the scientific community (particularly physicists) for making grandiose, unsupported truth claims while themselves making a similarly unfounded, grandiose, truth claim (biocentrism - idea that the act of concious observation creates our subjective reality - whereas in the absense of concious observation, reality as we understand it does not exist). This is probably the most significant departure between Watts and the authors. Watts, I believe, envisioned a natural reality beyond concious observation. However, like the present authors, Watts viewed all material things rather as transient forms which are forever changing and interacting transactionally with everything else. That is to say, it is the universal transformation of material and energy operating at a grand scale of informational evolution. Consequently, Universe is all and all is Universe - one in the same.
I did feel the book was well-written. Certainly some of the better expository writing I have seen in a while. The book is a good read and I would recommend it for the "goo" or "smooth" types while perhaps a little out there for the "prickles" (aka "rough") types.
11 people found this helpful
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Beyond Self-fulfilling Prophecies

It takes a while to finally admit that everything is just made up, largely because there is an attendant guilt associated with such recklessness. After schooling and acculturation has done its damage, promulgating complex and intricate scenarios about why things are like they are, it is considered the height of irresponsibility to say, "I don't care." Then causation is invoked with its implicit paranoia and used as a club to beat some sense into the apparently glib and carefree skeptic who won't conform. Beyond Biocentrism offers a convincing context for opposing what it calls "the collective ignorance about reality" that typifies our prevailing view of the universe.

One would think that a hundred years of quantum mechanics would have had greater impact upon the popular view of what constitutes reality, but it hasn't. Lanza and Berman supply a very clear and impressively concise summation of what science has discovered since Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Ironically, what quantum theory discovered was not to Einstein's liking as he persisted in holding on to some idea of an independently existing physical reality outside of any sort of observation. Ultimately, he was proven wrong, but this triumph of a "spooky" basis for what we experience as reality never made the evening news. We still operate on glaringly false assumptions about the "out there" being out there.

Beyond Biocentrism is a book of monumental importance. If the reader is willing to explore the backstory on which it is based, namely the whole stirring development of quantum physics since classical or Newtonian physics in the late seventeenth century, he or she will become amenable to the general assertion posited by the biocentric view: "Then, too, biocentrism shows us that since the observer and the universe are correlative, the space 'out there' is part of a continuum of consciousness, and nothing exists apart from the observer. In reality, the farthest regions of space are located here in our minds." It's all so very simple--and guilt-free.
6 people found this helpful
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Hooray for Dr Lanza love his books!

Dr Lanza is terrific in explaining science to the layman. This is the second book I have read and I loved it as much as his first "Biocentrism". It makes sense! We are the universe , our bodies are temporary representations of souls in progress ! We are here for a purpose , otherwise nothing makes sense! Energy can not be destroyed and we are energy! But then I should let you find out by reading this great book!
5 people found this helpful
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Get it! Read it every year until you “get it”!

The book helps clarify the theory presented in the first book. Read both, the implications of this “new” worldview are profound and change the understanding of every facet of scientific and theological thought.
4 people found this helpful

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