The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit

By Joseph Chilton Pearce

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892819901
• ISBN13: 9780892819904
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Park Street Press
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 1.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A book written with the clarity of someone who understands deeply the unrealized birthright of human

This is an excellent and important book - a must read for those who have noticed the incongruence immanent in our culture, and are concerned about well being of the planet and themselves. I was raised an evangelical Christian and realized in my late teens that there was a deep disconnect between what Jesus said and how some Christians behaved. They didn't suspend judgment as Jesus said, "Judge not", but condemned and punished...

A Must-Read for People Interested in Consciousness

Reviewed by Elliot A. Ryan and Charles O. BubarMany books have one or a handful of fundamental concepts. This book has dozens, woven together in a powerful fabric to provide intelligent clothing for a new paradigm of transcendence. A major argument of this book is that transcendence, the ability to go beyond limitation and restraint, is our biological birthright, built into us genetically, and blocked by enculturation. ...

For Our Magnificent Adventure

The life each of us is living is a magnificent adventure - an adventure of discovery of our Self, what is actually going on in human life, what the universe is, and what the meaning and purpose of life are. All that, in order to lift ourselves up from misperception and rote choices - to transcend the mundane and unfulfilling. These are our responsibilities to create for ourselves. "The Biology of Transcendence" actually...

The Synthesis of a Lifelong Spiritual Seeker

It is not often that lifelong spiritual seekers are ever open to new possibilities rather than being content to believe that they have arrived and/or becoming gurus. Likewise most spiritual seekers are inimical to scientific research and knowledge. However, Joseph Chilton Pearce does not fit that bill. Here in this remarkably comprehensive synthesis he demonstrates that even as he nears 80 years of age he is still seeking,...

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Have you ever had the feeling that you were missing something, that something big was supposed to happen but didn't? Have you ever been in love and literally felt it in your heart? Would you like to overcome your fear reaction and use your highest powers to deal with stressful situations? Would you like to know how we can stop the damage to our children's minds? These things and many more are explained. This book is a roadmap...