Book Review and Reflection – “God is Not Dead – What Quantum Physics Tells Us About Our Origins and How We Should Live” by Amit Goswami

Amit Goswami is a quantum physicist, raised in the Hindu tradition. His unique experiences bring a fresh perspective to the connection between science and spirituality.

The most important takeaways from this book are not what we would think of as scientific:

- Consciousness is the root of the material world, not the other way around

- There is a process whereby "quantum leaps" of intuition/creativity occur and manifest themselves in the material world (the source of which is ultimately a downward causal process and source of consciousness of which we are all a part of -- i.e. God).

- Both the subtle world of consciousness/spirit and the material world are important. Mystics sit on one end of this spectrum, and materialists on the other. I personally thought that the right answer was something in between -- somewhere that recognized the importance of both realms. I now feel well justified in this belief.

- The material world is where the infinite potential of consciousness is manifested in a continuous process of evolution and perfecting.

If you are squeamish about all things scientific, this may not be the book for you, as Gaswami’s main motivation is to provide a new framework for scientific research, rooted in consciousness as the prime mover for all reality. Most of the content is directed towards proving that point, and some of his logical arguments are hard to follow.

That being said, I have read other works by physicists (Deutsch and Tipler come to mind), and this book is comparatively easy to follow for those not indoctrinated in the field. The language and style are relatively common and colorful. This is decisively not a book on physics, and that is a good thing. (Just skip the Intro and Prologue until after you’ve read the rest of the book. Trust me.). I wouldn’t say this is a book on spirituality either. It covers a middle ground, making a connection between the two. Since I come from a scientific background, and I’ve been on a spiritual path recently, I found his arguments really interesting and helpful.

A lot of the same questions were asked that I have asked myself, and the answers were sometimes different. For instance, I had started to accept the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum physics (put forth by David Deutch and others). After reading “God Is Not Dead,” I realize that this materialist interpretation has some serious flaws.

The timing for me on reading this book was very coincidental with other events in my life. It’s cleared up some confusion I had about writing my next blog entry for one. The most amazing coincidence, however, was that on the same morning after I finished this book, I was also introduced to the process of “thoughtstorming” which seems like a very interesting exercise in group consciousness. This process is amazingly similar to the process Goswami covers in “God Is Not Dead” (the process whereby "quantum leaps" of intuition/creativity occur and manifest themselves in the material world, as I already mentioned.) According to Goswami, here’s how this process works – and how I found it similar to thoughtstorming:

- Preparation – This involves research/discussion on what it is you’d like to change or get new creative ideas about. This is equivalent to the thoughtstorming process of choosing a topic and talking about it.

- Resting/Relaxing -- the part where you just sit back and let unconscious processing work -- where the "wave of possibility" expands. This is equivalent to the thoughtstorming process of "relaxing, allowing, and stopping self-comparisions to create an ego-free zone."

- Intuitive "Quantum Leap" -- where we "collapse" the quantum wave of possibility, thus making a choice. This is also an unconscious (or perhaps "unaware" is a better term) process that involves our highest level of consciousness. (Which is, as Goswami says, a downwardly causal force of consciousness that we are all a part of -- or in other words, God.) This is a spontaneous and discontinuous leap of creativity/intuition. It is the same underlying process that is supposed to occur in thoughtstorming.

- Manifestation -- where we become aware of this shift in consciousness and give it meaning. It is the point where it influences the material world -- either through our thoughts and actions, or some concrete physical manifestation. This is equivalent to the thoughtstorming realization of a “corecept” -- where "corecepts trigger intuitive recognition and agreement by the group, a "Why, of course!" reaction.” The process of thoughtstorming itself can apparently have other beneficial manifestations in your life.


Even though Goswami is promoting this process as a scientific way of thinking, I don’t think we need to understand the nuts and bolts of the underlying process in order to apply it to our lives. Even if this were taken as a scientific framework, it seems that part of the process is, by definition, beyond scientific study. For me, at least, it does offer some reassurance that the latest in scientific and spiritual thinking have a lot in common. I take this as a sign that our world is in the process of going through some positive changes toward spiritual growth.