Quintessence of Dust: The Mystical Meaning of Hamlet

by Kenneth K C Chan

Overview

Shakespeare's Hamlet contains a profound spiritual message for mankind that has been largely unrecognized for centuries. The meaning of Hamlet so perplexed critics over the last four hundred years that many finally concluded, after immense struggle, that the play lacks a binding philosophy. Nothing, in fact, is more wrong.

Quintessence of Dust now explains how Shakespeare meticulously crafted every scene to convey, through our emotional involvement in the drama, a central spiritual message. The book also explains by a single coherent theme practically every aspect of the play that has puzzled critics for centuries. It demonstrates that Hamlet is nothing short of an artistic miracle, reflected both in its poetic brilliance and in its profound meaning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789819410415
Publisher:	Kenneth K. C. Chan
Publication date:	09/28/2024
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Kenneth K. C. Chan holds university degrees in both medicine and physics. He is a follower of Tibetan Buddhism and a student of Western Mysticism, with a deep interest in the interactions between the spiritual traditions and the arts and sciences.His scientific paper, "Time and Space," explains for the first time why the speed of light is constant, to which our human consciousness plays a critical role-a conclusion made possible due to Kenneth's background in both physics and human physiology. He clarifies this for a general audience with his article, "Why Relativity Exists," explaining how our perceptual limitations bring about the theory of relativity.Against this backdrop, Kenneth published the first edition of "Quintessence of Dust: The Mystical Meaning of Hamlet," nominated for the Book of the Year award by Foreword Magazine, in 2004. It explains how, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, the mundane world of our senses and the wider spiritual world, just a shade beyond, are intertwined-as evident in Hamlet's delay in taking revenge.In connecting spiritual philosophies across the fields of physics and literature, Kenneth has published further essays, explaining how the Buddhist Madhyamika philosophy solves the mystery of quantum physics, and how the spiritual path irrevocably shows why revenge can never be compatible with our spiritual development.Today, Kenneth continues his studies and writings, passionately seeking to realize the spiritual truths beyond the physical. For, as Hamlet says, "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Kenneth lives in the metropolitan city of Singapore and is a proud father of two.