Background

Science is an ever-evolving body of knowledge. It is not a fixed set of laws that never changes, nor should it be. It evolves as our knowledge and understanding of our universe increases. Its theories grow and expand, while retaining those ideas and knowledge that remain reliable as an explanation of what is perceived. This way it incorporates and integrates the older established knowledge with newer data to form a wider picture. Scientists question and explore and change their views when fact and logic force them to do so. They base their views on what can be verified through experiment or what can be deduced from experimentally confirmed hypotheses. They ask how, not why. Science is an enterprise that systematically builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. It has assumed there is an objective reality shared by rational observers and governed by natural laws that can be described by observation and experimentation.

How Science Works

Although there is some controversy in scientific circles around the scientific method, the elements of good scientific practice cannot be and should not be ignored. They include controlled and disciplined observation, with careful and unbiased measurement, and a requirement for public consensus agreement that these measurements are correct. Phenomena must be independently and repeatedly measurable to allow this consensus to form. Only this repeated replication creates stability for any hypothesis. It is a valuable process that allows us to keep moving forward, develop and test theories, and ultimately add to our self-knowledge.

It is an interesting phenomenon that science works toward gaining a concrete and absolute factual knowledge, and yet so much of what is held as consensus is based on assumption and uncertainty. This is the great paradox. However, even though one cannot deny the incredible advances science has made, particularly over the past hundred years, there is still so very much more to explore. The latest developments in quantum physics, astrophysics, cymatics, cosmology, plasma science, neuroscience, biology, biophysics, epigenetics, and molecular biology are converging to provide a new worldview of who we are and where we came from that is very different from the one we think we know. There is a slow emergence of reconciliation between the ancient, intuitive, mystic, and metaphysical views of the spiritual world with the findings of science through scientific exploration. What is emerging is a picture of consciousness, as these two seemingly opposed worlds begin to discover their real similarities rather than polarize in their differences. As we move forward in our search for knowledge, this is a time for synthesis and synergy. As Carl Sagan wrote, "The very act of understanding is a celebration of joining, even if in a very modest sense with the magnificence of the cosmos. Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality."

Reality — Current Mainstream Views

What follows is a brief review of where we are as a global community in terms of scientific exploration, understanding, and mainstream views. The term energetics in the book title refers to the principles, components, and applications of energy. If you believe you are not interested in science or that it is not relevant to what follows, this is step number one in challenging belief systems that condition your thinking. A very brief review of how current mainstream views developed leads us on into the newer and incredibly exciting revelations of modern science. This will certainly facilitate your progress and support clarity of purpose as you approach the self-inquiry sections in part 2. It has been humbling to research these topics, for it is clear how the courageous men and women over the past three centuries have pioneered new frontiers, sometimes at the expense of their lives, to provide you and me with incredible knowledge about ourselves and our universe. Their work has formed the foundation for the knowledge that is becoming available now, and rather than be now dismissed as "incorrect," it can be integrated and viewed as a necessary step along the way of our ever-expanding global consciousness. And it continues.

Our scientific awareness is an evolutionary process as we develop more and more sophisticated methods of research and detection. I urge you not to skip part 1, even those among you who may have a reasonable knowledge of current scientific data. This section covers many disciplines, and it is this multidisciplinary approach that gradually reveals the incredible connections between events that might have previously seemed unrelated. It is the story of a new emerging paradigm.

Newton, Darwin, and Descartes: The Historical Context

Scientific views inform our concept of self. We are the product of our scientific heritage. How we learn to think about ourselves is based on the scientific models scientists use to describe our physical world. Our concept of the self is changed as new scientific theories evolve and new evidence is presented, provided the new information is disseminated. Science gains knowledge through conducting research. However, the current general view of physical reality and the universe is based on models that no longer adequately explain the phenomena of our experienced reality. The majority of educated people, including education systems, medical research bodies, corporations, governments, and indeed some of those in the mainstream scientific community itself, still hold a dualistic worldview of mechanical materialism and a separate spirituality that manifests in some kind of religious expression.

Newton, together with Darwin, gave us a description of a mechanistic universe, existing independently from humans, created by accident, with no purpose and doomed to endless scarcity and competitive struggle before ending in heat death...