The notes below are designed to give prospective readers an idea of what to expect from the book, and to aid in making a decision on whether to buy it.

The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capro

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This is a good book, but it gets a bit technical and long winded. It is 342 pages long, and the first 100 cover it well, but the scientific discussion was a bit too deep to my liking. Still, below are some notes that summarise what I learned.

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General Notes

 

The Santiago theory suggests that mind and matter cannot be separated.

 

All matter is vibrating with cosmic rays hitting earth.

 

Eastern studies mean Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

 

Before the Greeks in 600 BC, people focused on science, philosophy and religions being linked.

 

Greeks focused on logic; Eastern studies is focused on observation. In the East all is organic and linked together.

 

Heraclitus has the thought that all is continuous flow and fir. You transcend opposite forces which creates loops. There was no split between spiritual mater until the idea of the atom came about in 500BC. This was reinforced via Descartes, that change between mind and matter is mechanistic.

 

We all only approximate reality. We don’t know it. We are like a cartographer who tries to make a 2D map of 3D reality.   

 

Our finger points to the moon, but we must forget the finger once we see the moon.

 

Abstraction is a powerful tool but not a perfect reality. Spontaneous, intuitive insights occur - for example we come up with jokes. Scientific insights occur when the mind is silenced.

 

Mind is a mirror of the heavens. Koans are nonsensical riddle like a quark.

 

Light and all electromagnetic radiation is both a particle and a wave.

 

4K includes time.

 

Gravity curves space. 

 

All is relative, not absolute. 

 

Electrons are waves, not orbits.

 

Hinduism is a philosophy, not a religion. It is complex with many sects. Learn via tales. Maya is power and might, not mystery.

 

Buddhism has a single founder, Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. He is not divine but just tells us how to reduce suffering.

 

Suffering comes from clinging or grasping.

 

We can end suffering via nirvana, breaking samsara of karma.

 

Bodhivista is an evolved human who helps others.  

 

Sophist is specialization of rational mind. Mystic is specialization of intuitive mind.