The Tao of Physics
In 1975, a physics lecturer at University of California in Berkeley, wrote a book which not only an all time classic, but also established a new genre of books establishing parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism. This person was Fritjof Capra and the book was The Tao of Physics.
The background of how he came to write on this topic is described by him:
"I was sitting by the ocean one late summer afternoon, watching the waves rolling in and feeling the rhythm of my breathing, when I suddenly became of my whole environment as being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance. Being a physicist, I knew that the sand, rocks, water and air around me were made of vibrating molecules and atoms, and that these consisted of particles which interacted with one another by creating and destroying other particles. I also knew that the Earth's atmosphere was continually bombarded by showers of 'cosmic rays'... but until that moment I had only experienced through graphs, diagrams and mathematical theories. As I sat on the beach my former experience came to life; I 'saw' cascades of energy coming down from outer space, in which particles were created and destroyed in rhythmic pulses; I 'saw' the atoms of the elements and those of my body participating in this cosmic dance of energy; I felt its rhythm and I 'heard' its sound, and at that moment I knew that this was the Dance of Shiva, the Lord of Dancers worshipped by the Hindus."
This experience became the inspiration for Capra to search for the linkages between the physics and mysticism, and to write the book.
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