The Connectivity Hypothesis:

by Ervin Laszlo
Albany: SUNY Press, 2003

Foreword by Ralph H. Abraham (

Pythagoras, ancient theologian and prophet, imagined a model for cosmos and consciousness based on number mysticism. But 2000 years would pass before his prophesy could be realized. Then in 1637, Descartes and Fermat independently connected algebra and geometry, an adequate basis for modern science. And very swiftly we had Galileo, Newton, d'Alembert, Fourier, Maxwell, Einstein, Schroedinger, and the field theories of mathematical physics -- scalar, vector, tensor, spinor fields, and so on. The attempts to unify all the fields into a single mathematical model began with Einstein and are ongoing today. The current state of the art, known as the theory of the quantum vacuum field, attempts to model the wholeness and connectedness of the physical universe, from quantum to cosmos. Meanwhile, the methods and dreams of mathematical physics were applied to biology by Rashevsky, and to psychology by Lewin, in the 1930s.

More recently, hopes grow for a science of consciousness, and many capable scientists are engaged in experimental and theoretical work aimed at models inspired by the field theories of mathematical physics, especially quantum theory.

Somehow, and nobody knows quite why, the upper, vital spheres of the perennial philosophy -- intellect, soul, and spirit -- were dropped out of the picture, as modern science took over from philosophy and religion at the end of the Renaissance. The new science of life of Sheldrake tries to restore vitalism to biology. The archetypal psychology of Jung, Hillman, and Moore tries to bring it back into psychology. Along with many others, these efforts may be seen as a New Renaissance.

Amid the milieu of this embryonic paradigm shift, Ervin Laszlo stands out as the unique champion of a wholistic philosophy of the broadest perspective. For his bold plan is to unify all -- quantum, cosmos, life, and consciousness -- in a single grand unified model. In this book he summarizes the new empirical results which now trigger a paradigm shift, details his blueprint for the conceptual foundations of a unified theory of the psi field, and works out the implications of the new theory for the outstanding philosophical problems unresolved by our current paradigm. A chief characteristic feature of his psi field theory is its bipolar aspect: the manifest domain of matter and a virtual domain of infinite energy are in an endless loop of coevolution.

It seems likely that someday, such a great grand unified theory will appear. And when it does, it will very likely conform in broad outline to the prophetic vision of Ervin Laszlo. In this book, he points the way indeed to Wholeness in Cosmos and Consciousness, and provides the Conceptual Foundations of the Emerging Paradigm of the 21st Century.