Here, There and Everywhere: a coherent vision of everything
The Network (89) recently published Laszlo’s own synopsis of this fascinating book on the Akashic or ‘A’ field. So perhaps the refrain is familiar: modern science is discovering the ancient wisdom that - ‘information is produced by the real world and conveyed by a fundamental field … present throughout nature.’ What is new and refreshing is the wealth of very specific and up-to-date scientific information which ‘informs’ this concise, short, yet highly substantive and ‘integral’’ synthesis. With 74 previous books to his credit, Laszlo has clearly hit his stride.

The book’s message is that the cosmos – physiosphere, biosphere and noosphere- (matter, life and mind/consciousness) are deeply coherent and interconnected thanks to the medium of the fundamental A-field at the roots of reality. This medium conserves and conveys information much as the sea generates waves, to record and remember the passage of all who sail, swim or splash in her waters. These waves are not just out there in empty sea and space - they penetrate everything including organisms. Thus, ‘the organism is amazingly coherent in itself , and is coherently linked to the world around it.’ ‘Living matter …exhibits the coherence of quanta’ and we find ‘time independent transpersonal connections in consciousness.’

One of cosmology’s fascinating puzzles is the ‘tuning of the constant.’ ‘Dozens of physical parameters of the universe are so finely tuned that they create the highly improbable conditions [for] life.’ [Not labelled here as anthropic]. This coherence suggests our universe is part of an infinitely larger ‘meta-universe’ from which ours, like others, inherits increased coherence potential with each iteration. [Clearly we cannot see the whole]. Likewise, stating simply that Darwinism and Dawkinism are ‘not correct,’ Laszlo shows how the organism is now seen as a biofield, instantly and continuously co-ordinating myriad molecules, genes and cells internally and with the environment. Any event or stress, including radiation or electromagnetism (EM) ripples through the dynamic genome like a wave through fluid. In discussing consciousness research Laszlo emphasises the transpersonal connectedness of the human mind, between individuals (e.g., twin telepathy) or entire cultures – all sharing information through the A-field –without physical contact.

Laszlo explains the ‘quantum vacuum’ concept and GUTs (Grand Unified Theories) which have replaced the idea that space is an absolute empty vacuum. The Zero Point Field concept also arose because field energies remain present even at absolute zero where other classic forms of energy vanish. The Q vacuum is a superdense cosmic medium carrying density pressure waves that likely set values on gravity, EM and the nuclear forces, and also establish matter density gradients (global scaling theory). Matter is a secondary wave form disturbance in a sea of energy. ‘All processes have an inner rhythm according to their resonance with the vacuum’s standing waves.’ One such pressure wave coming from a Perseus cluster black hole has a B flat note, 53 octaves below middle C. (Laszlo is a musician). This gives new meaning to the notion of good vibrations and still waters running deep! The Q vacuum may be a cosmic ultra-weak background that acts as a morphogenetic field. [Laszlo cites Sheldrake in other books]. If a truly frictionless medium, the wave memory of the universe may be eternal. ‘The Quantum vacuum generates the holographic field that is the memory of the universe’ [Laszlo’s emphasis]. Ultimately this explains why life established itself so rapidly on the young earth - it was morphogenetically pre-‘informed’ or informationally – not biologically seeded.

Quantum cosmology is challenging for non-physicists but fascinatingly compelling. Laszlo’s masterful interweaving of cutting edge theory and evidence resonates with our intuitive organic sense of ‘inner rhythm.’ More at home in biology, I found multiple resonances between Laszlo’s examples of coherence and those of pioneer biologists like Mae Wan Ho (biophysics) and Wolfgang Schad (biology of form). How refreshing to witness a truly visionary and integral scientific consciousness demonstrating that every higher organism ranges over 70 octaves (vibrational levels) and describing living tissue as a vibrant ‘Bose-Einstein condensate’ where quantum wave processes occur on the macroscopic scale allowing superconductivity (instant communication) between atoms and cells. And how satisfying to see the now-much-doubted Darwinism paradigms dethroned, not by mere denial, but by compelling alternatives that show genes and environment are so deeply interconnected, fine tuned and ‘irreducibly complex’ that no new viable system (origin of species) can appear without every part being ‘kept in functional relationship with every other part throughout the entire transformation.’ In one fell swoop Laszlo takes the believable ‘intelligent design’ tenet of ‘irreducible complexity’ (Michael Behe) and validates it - not as divine intervention - but as a necessary manifestation of quantum coherence.

Seamlessly we arrive at consciousness and Gregory Bateson’s notion that the human mind is not an isolated entity but and ‘ecology’ of transpersonal connections. Many EEG experiments prove both telepathic and telesomatic connections. Though still dangerous territory for scientists who are not well-established, those who, are like Erwin Schrödinger or David Bohm, who stated ‘deep down the consciousness of mankind is one’ have helped mainstream science take notice. ‘This field creates the human information pool that Carl Jung called the collective unconscious and Teilhard de Chardin the noosphere.’
evolutionary panpsychism sees no level ‘below’ which no consciousness exists; it is ‘inherent in every electron’ (Dyson). Ultimately our thought forms are read into and from the quantum vacuum: this helps explain psychic communication. Laszlo cites Sri Aurobindo, Jean Gebser, Richard Bucke and Ken Wilber on evolution towards integral, or cosmic consciousness. On the subject of immortality and reincarnation (NDEs, OBEs and ADC: After Death Communication) he suggests ‘we as individuals are not immortal but our experience is.’ This universal Q vacuum memory is essentially another metaphor for Plato’s immortal soul or Hegel’s Absolute Idea.

In a final autobiographical retrospective Laszlo outlines his lifelong quest for integral understanding, which led him from the concert stage to academic acclaim at the Sorbonne, Yale, Princeton, the UN and the Club of Budapest. His associations with systems thinkers like Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Ilya Prigogine have generated many glowing testimonials of his synthetic vision of the universe and its essentially coherent fabric. In my humble opinion these are well-deserved endorsements for a thoroughly coherent vision of an organic universe.

Professor Martin Lockley is the author of 'The Eternal Trail' and teaches palaeontology and evolution of consciousness at the University of Colorado in Denver.