The Purposeful Universe: How Quantum Theory and Mayan Cosmology Explain the Origin and Evolution of Life

Best Philosphical/Scientific Book of 2009

Dr Calleman's new book is one of the best I have read in many years. It presents a solution to the greatest enigma of them all-- the Creation and the Origin of Life. Starting in the beginning with the latest data from the WMAP which suggests a Central Axis to our universe (dubbed Axis of Evil), Dr Calleman uses the fractal scaling of the Mayan calendar to trace the trajectory of the development of life and this he does with great success: The Mayan calendar does map successfully into the history of our universe in the most uncanny way. The Shamanic vision of the Mayans was able to take in the whole of reality and that vision lines up almost completely with the science of the early 21th century, the time of the Mayan End Date.

Dr Calleman, who holds a doctorate in bio-physics, has all but delivered the death blow to some aspects of both the Modern Synthesis and the Standard Model. He has established Purpose and Design where cowed and intimidated scientists see only randomness. We are dealing here with no less than a new Summa to all scientific knowledge and the author is the second coming of Bergson and Theilhard de Chardin.

Aside from a few typos and a few foreignisms (the author grew up in Sweden) the style is crisp, lucid, and fresh. The photographs are of poor quality but the line drawings are marvelous and enlightening.

All in all "The Purposeful Universe" is a breakthrough book of astounding depth of knowledge and understanding. A copy should find its way into every high school biology classroom. This book is the best counter to certain remarks by Steven Weinberg about the Universe being "pointless" and certain writings of Dennett, Dawkins, and the rest of the propagandists for the promotion of life and consciousness as "epiphenomena".

Calleman belongs to the old Chain of Being school as celebrated by Lovejoy and Arthur Koestler a few generations ago and whose principle proponent today is Ken Wilber. Calleman is the true successor to Bergson who saw Intuition as more important than the "geometric" side of the human intellect and "Purposeful Universe" is a highly Wilberian text. There are also similarities to Rupert Sheldrake. But Calleman is more impressive than either in the sense that he is more concrete-- more concrete in his knowledge of physics and biology and more focused because he is one of the world's foremost Mayan scholars. This is a formidable range of power for one man and I think this book will lead to a discontinuity in the history of the philosphy of science.

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

A book about the growth of Consciousness and the Universe (both).

A fascinating read, a little heavy on the theoretical science, no math at all (!) Calleman has some answers that are good for me as a non-scientist with an analytical and inquiring mind. Have to step outside of the box to understand his ideas. So there is much that is good about this book. I recommend it highly.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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