The Holographic Universe [Paperback]

Ok, the book is really great, first of all. It has just countless paranormal experiences and explains them using the "holographic universe" point of view. Great idea, awesome analogy, and amazing stories...

One story in particular just blew my mind. On page 150 (soft cover), it talks about this guy, Sai Baba. The book claims Sai Baba could actually create any object he wanted and it would flow from his hands. It spent 4 pages on stuff Sai Baba has done, and how it's been confirmed. This intrigued me so much, I did a simple Google on "Sai Baba". After maybe 5 minutes of research, I found a website that had videos of Sai Baba producing random objects, and the videos were SOLID PROOF that Sai Baba is a fake. Not only a magician, but a terriable magician!

The book presented his knowledge with such enthusiasm that I believed it. Only after some basic research did I realize it wasn't true. It seems like the author didn't set his skepticism level high enough, and just took ANY paranormal story he could get his hands on, and printed it in his own "hologram" perspective to try and prove his point. I feel very cheated! What other stories in the book are completely false, I wonder?

Overall: awesome idea of reality, and mind blowing, but c'mon! How hard is it to do some basic research?

In the introduction, the author clarifies terms like Holographic Universe, and concepts like the holographic analogy, metaphor or paradigm. The physicist Bohm and the quantum physicist Pribram are the originators of the idea. In this book, the theories and the conclusions of many researchers influenced by the holographic model and its interpretations are explored. Talbot warns that some interpretations are controversial and the book indeed strays into highly esoteric territory.

Part One: A Remarkable New View of Reality, looks at the work of Pribram and Bohm and how these two scientists teamed up. These two chapters, The Brain as Hologram and The Cosmos as Hologram, examines the vastness of memory, associative memories, photographic memory, phantom limb sensations, the transference of learnt skills and our amazing ability to recall, forget and recognize familiar things.

Part Two: Mind and Body, investigates the holographic model in psychology, the body, miracles and in the ability to see holographically. Phenomena like dreams, psychosis, lucid dreaming and holographic therapy are examined, with reference to the work of Stanislav Grof amongst others. The section on healing deals inter alia with the work of pioneers like Dr Carl Simonton and Larry Dossey, with emphasis on conscious and unconscious beliefs, acupuncture and the use of imagery (visualization).

In the chapter: A Pocketful of Miracles, there are discussions of psychokinesis, the kahunas of Hawaii, the work of Carlos Castaneda and the question of whether consciousness creates subatomic particles. The next chapter explores research on the human energy field, the energy field of the psyche, the aura and the chakras, x-ray vision and the altered states of shamanism.

Part Three: Space and Time, attempts to apply the holographic model to clairvoyance, retrocognition, ghosts and apparitions. It also explores the possibility of a holographic past and future and of thought as the creator of reality. Out-of-Body experiences, Near-Death experiences and their holographic explanation are discussed and there is an interesting section on the famous mystic Swedenborg. This part also looks at a variety of phenomena like Marian appearances, UFO's, the results of taking the herb ayahuasca and various shamanic experiences.

The chapter Return to Dreamtime revisits Bohm's idea of the implicate and explicate order and compares it to Tibetan Buddhism, Zen and Hinduism. In the next one: The Future of the Holographic Idea, the author investigates holographic sound with reference to the physiologist Hugo Zuccarelli, and speculates on the implications for science of the holographic paradigm. Amongst them are new kinds of computers and puzzles in chemistry that might finally be solved. The model might be able to eventually explain telepathy, synchronicity, paranormal and mystical experiences. The text concludes with Talbot's view of mankind's evolutionay thrust towards a higher consciousness.

The book contains voluminous notes arranged by chapter, and an index. The text is well-documented. The only problem is that there are repetitive accounts of well-known historical paranormal experiences that are already very familiar from the literature. Overall, The Holographic Universe contains enough purely scientific information to serve as a starting point, but it will appeal more to those who are into the metaphysical and spiritual side of things.

"...There is evidence to suggest that our world and everything in it...are ...projections from a level of reality so beyond our own it is literally beyond both space and time."(Introduction p1)
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Talbot uses the theory developed by physicist Bohm in which he postulates an explicit order and an intricate order. The explicit is the world we see that is the hologram, which is projected from the intricate order, which is the mind.(or thought)(or spirit)
There is a brief discussion of holograms and theory and Talbot moves on to anecdotes.

In biology he notes that human memory is vaster than would be possible if it were stored as on film on the brains surface. It must be stored holgraphically. (p21) Similarly the evidence that the brain sees "out there" is an illusion. The brain cannot tell the difference between "out" there and its own process (eg "phantom limb" syndrome).

With respect to the role of mind in Medicine he quotes Siegal (author Love, Medicine and Miracles). Siegal sees this as a sign of tremendous hope,(p87) an indication that if one has the power to create sickness, one also has the power to create wellness.

And another quote from psychologist Keith Floyd. "Contrary to what everyone knows is so, it may not be the brain that produces consciousness, but rather consciousness that creates the appearance of the brain-matter,space,time and everything else we are pleased to interpret as the physical universe" (p160)
(In other words the brain is the effect of mind and not the cause!)

With respect to quantum physics he notes that small "particles" literally have no dimensions. (This would be consistent with say being a projection)

The quote by the way that "a grain of sand contains all the information out of which the universe is made" which is attributed to Blake in the "Holographic Universe" is also attributed to Jesus in "A Course in Miracles."

Talbot also uses the holographic theory to explain Marian visions, as does Gary R Renard in Disappearance of the Universe.

UFO's are also explained as being the physical manifestations of human (or nonhuman??) subconscious.

Some other insights of the power of mind are

1) The stigmatists. Starting with St Francis of Assisi, a group of mystics were able to alter skin blood vessels etc to create the wounds incurred by Christ. This is attributable to autosuggestion (and not divine intervention!). The mind altering normal body physiology to produce the result.
2) Hawaiian firewalkers. After undertaking various mind training exercises by the shamans, Hawaiians are able to walk across hot lava without harm, something that would be impossible under normal physics. Clearly the mind of the firewalkers alters the local physical environment in some way.

Strengths

1) Offers a scientific theory for the illusory nature of the "physical" world".
2) Offers support for the concept that we can create our own reality. That it is mind that causes body effect. This can be used to treat "dis-ease"!

Weaknesses
1) There is only one major physicist to draw on: David Bohm.
2) The quotation of various biological experiments does not get it all together In fact the brain is as illusory as the rest of the body, and mind must be separate from it as well.

Spiritual Correlates

For 1500 years the fact that the world is illusory is known to Hindu yogis> the illusion is referred to as the "Maya" in Sanskrit.. In the Twentieth Century "A Course in Miracles" also states that the world is illusory, a dream of a mind outside of space and time

In Summary Talbot is on the right track. He however tries to string too many anecdotes in without rigidly sticking to his original theory. Despite that..A must read.