The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit - Hardcover

Pearce, Joseph Chilton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0892819901 ISBN 13: 9780892819904

Publisher: Park Street Press, 2002

Synopsis

Uses the insights and research of a new wave of biologists and neurologists to explore how we can transcend our current cultural and societal crises.

· Explains new biological understanding of the human organism having five brains, the fifth of which is located in the heart.

· Explains that transcendence of our current modes of behavior, thinking, and believing require the dynamic interaction of our fourth and fifth brains (intellect and intelligence).

· Explores the idea of Jesus, Buddha, and other historical great beings as models of nature's possibility and our ability to achieve transcendence.

· How is it that we as humans seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Buddha, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet cannot seem to reach the same state?

In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can transcend our current evolutionary capacities and limitations. This latest research identifies our five neural centers--or brains--and establishes that our fourth and most recently developed brain is located in the head while the fifth is located in the heart. It is the dynamic interaction of this head brain (intellect) and heart brain (intelligence), of biology and spirit, that allows transcendence from one evolutionary place to the next--we are, quite literally, made to transcend. Conversely, it is the breakdown of this interaction through the effects of cultural dictates surrounding us from the time we are children that keeps us where we are, mired in the current crises of violence among people and between people and the planet.

But Pearce reminds us that we are not stuck for good. Transcendence is our biological imperative, a state we have been moving toward for millennia.

About this title

From the Back Cover

NEW SCIENCE / PHILOSOPHY

“The Biology of Transcendence will transform your worldview and change forever your understanding of our past, present, and future. Riveting, insightful, and penetrating, Pearce has laid out one of the most startling and powerful visions of our future. . . . You won’t be able to put this book down, and when you’ve read it, you won’t be able to stop talking about it with everybody you know.”
--Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

“This is a masterpiece of science and spirit, love over law, and the stunning biological truth of the capacity for transcendence that the universe has placed within us. Here, in brilliant and incisive words, is the foundation for a new mind and a new world.”
--Jean Houston, author of A Passion for the Possible and Jump Time: Shaping Your Future in a World of Radical Change

Why do we seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet not seem to reach the same state?

In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can go beyond the limitations and constraints of our current capacities of body and mind--how we can transcend. Recent research in the neurosciences and neurocardiology identifies the four neural centers of our brain and indicates that a fifth such center is located in the heart. This research reveals that the evolutionary structure of our brain and its dynamic interactions with our heart are designed by nature to reach beyond our current evolutionary capacities. We are quite literally, made to transcend.

Pearce explores how this biological imperative drives our life into ever-greater realms of being--even as the cultural imperative of social conformity and behavior counters this genetic heritage, blocks our transcendent capacities, and breeds violence in all its forms. The conflict between religion and spirit is an important part of this struggle. But each of us may overthrow these cultural imperatives to reach “unconflicted behavior,” wherein heart and mind-brain resonate in synchronicity, opening us to levels of possibility beyond the ordinary.

JOSEPH CHILTON PEARCE is the author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Magical Child, and Evolution’s End. For the past twenty-five years, he has taught about the changing needs of children and the development of human society. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

About the Author

Joseph Chilton Pearce is the author of Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Magical Child, and Evolution's End. For the past 25 years, he has taught about the changing needs of children and the development of human society. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Park Street Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0892819901
• ISBN 13: 9780892819904
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288