TO MY NEXT INCARNATION

A debut work that combines a memoir with a philosophical essay attempts to reconcile the findings of modern physics with an appreciation of the spiritual dimension of life.

Neil B. Feldman was fascinated by science at an early age, drawn to radios, which made him feel “tuned in on a mysterious and powerful force connecting the world.” That nascent interest eventually blossomed into an intense engagement with contemporary physics. One of the highlights of this volume is the exceedingly accessible synopsis he furnishes of Einstein’s principal scientific achievements, including the theory of relativity. But for the author, quantum theory turned out to be as disconcerting as it was illuminating, since it seemed to imply that the phenomenal world as humans experienced it was ultimately chimerical, and that the impressions delivered by their senses were deceptive. In the ancient lessons of Advaita Vedanta, in particular the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, Feldman discovered a spiritual way to amend the notion that life was but a dream, one that he believed did not dismiss the demands of reason at large or the tenets of physics in particular: “And Vivekananda’s answer did not seem to me to contradict science or reason. On the contrary, by speaking about levels of consciousness as one key behind sense perception, he shed a whole new light on how we experience the world ‘out there.’ ” In consistently limpid prose, the author explains how the key is a certain understanding of consciousness, both an elemental feature of the cosmos and a “real factor in the actual creation of reality."

Feldman succumbed to cancer in 2015 before the volume’s completion—it was finally finished by Judy Scott Feldman, his wife, and Anna E. Feldman, his daughter, based on interviews with the author. This is announced in the first line of the work, which gives the remainder a poignant and even haunting quality, maybe even more so since the book eschews any maudlin sentimentality. The quest to craft a philosophical détente between science and spirituality is an urgent one, presented with impressive meticulousness and rigor, especially for a man who once took their exclusivity for granted. The criticisms of the stubborn limits of science are thoughtfully articulated: “Mainstream physics, however, has for the most part set consciousness aside, and has taken the mysteries of gravity, inertia, and electricity for granted. Why don’t scientists insist on examining what we take for granted?” Still, despite the admirable attempts at painstaking argument, scientific skeptics are unlikely to be convinced by this slim volume; in particular, the contention that the precepts of Advaita Vedanta never contradict, but rather transcend reason is never made sufficiently clear. In addition, the work simply assumes that one cannot simultaneously accept the conclusions of quantum theory and a more phenomenologically intuitive interpretation of lived experience. Finally, the discussion of morality is the analytically weakest part of the book, partly because the explication of the Judeo-Christian tradition is so thoroughly reductive. Nevertheless, the work as a whole is both intellectually stimulating and moving.

An engrossing discussion of the limits of modern science and the virtues of ancient spirituality.