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461d799
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Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated "building blocks," but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitute the final link in the ..
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Fritjof Capra |
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3809aa8
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Scientists, therefore, are responsible for their research, not only intellectually but also morally. This responsibility has become an important issue in many of today's sciences, but especially so in physics, in which the results of quantum mechanics and relativity theory have opened up two very different paths for physicists to pursue. They may lead us - to put it in extreme terms - to the Buddha or to the Bomb, and it is up to each of us..
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Fritjof Capra |
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d479197
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Subatomic particles do not exist but rather show 'tendencies to exist', and atomic events do not occur with certainty at definite times and in definite ways, but rather show 'tendencies to occur'.
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Fritjof Capra |
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9dd58d3
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In the words of Heisenberg, "What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning."
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Fritjof Capra |
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8377c56
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Care flows naturally if the "self" is widened and deepened so that protection of free Nature is felt and conceived as protection of ourselves...Just as we need no morals to make us breathe...[so] if your "self" in the wide sense embraces another being, you need no moral exhortation to show care...You care for yourself without feeling any moral pressure to do it."
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Fritjof Capra |
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fe7d60c
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Genuine mental health would involve a balanced interplay of both modes of experience, a way of life in which one's identification with the ego is playful and tentative rather than absolute and mandatory, while the concern with material possessions is pragmatic rather than obsessive.
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Fritjof Capra |
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633c337
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The phenomenon of emergence takes place at critical points of instability that arise from fluctuations in the environment, amplified by feedback loops.
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Fritjof Capra |
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4dd1994
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The basic recurring theme in Hindu mythology is the creation of the world by the self-sacrifice of God--"sacrifice" in the original sense of "making sacred"--whereby God becomes the world which, in the end, becomes again God. This creative activity of the Divine is called lila, the play of God, and the world is seen as the stage of the divine play. Like most of Hindu mythology, the myth of lila has a strong magical flavour. Brahman is the g..
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religion
life
hinduism
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Fritjof Capra |
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c26b966
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As the twenty-first century unfolds, it is becoming more and more evident that the major problems of our time - energy, the environment, climate change, food security, financial security - cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are all interconnected and interdependent. Ultimately, these problems must be seen as just different facets of one single crisis, which is largely a crisis of perception...
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Fritjof Capra |
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7099f59
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There are solutions to the major problems of our time; some of them even simple. But they require a radical shift in our perceptions, our thinking, our values. And, indeed, we are now at the beginning of such a fundamental change of worldview in science and society, a change of paradigms as radical as the Copernican revolution. Unfortunately, this realization has not yet dawned on most of our political leaders, who are unable to "connect th..
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Fritjof Capra |
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807ca5e
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This state of affairs is not inevitable. Humans were able to employ science and law to transform common holdings into a commodity and then into capital; we also have the ability to reverse this path, transforming some of our now overabundant capital into renewed commons.
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Fritjof Capra |
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f17848b
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Systems thinking is "contextual," which is the opposite of analytical thinking. Analysis means taking something apart in order to understand it; systems thinking means putting it into the context of a larger whole."
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Fritjof Capra |
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010f255
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The complexity and efficiency of the physicist's technical apparatus is matched, if not surpassed, by that of the mystic's consciousness--both physical and spiritual--in deep meditation.
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Fritjof Capra |
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5536f20
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Whenever we look at life, we look at networks.
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networks
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Fritjof Capra |
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55642a7
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Albert Einstein, for one, repeatedly expressed these feelings, as in the following celebrated passage (Einstein, 1949, p. 5): The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science...the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvellous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so t..
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Fritjof Capra |
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34442b1
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Leonardo did not pursue science and engineering in order to dominate nature, as Francis Bacon would advocate a century later, but always tried to learn as much as possible from nature. He was in awe of the beauty he saw in the complexity of natural forms, patterns, and processes, and aware that nature's ingenuity was far superior to human design. Accordingly, he often used natural processes and structures as models for his own designs.
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Fritjof Capra |
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9963a28
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Communication, according to Maturana, is not primarily a transmission of information, but rather a coordination of behavior between living organisms.
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Fritjof Capra |
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46fe73c
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This exceptional ability to interconnect observations and ideas from different disciplines lies at the very heart of Leonardo's approach to learning and research.
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Fritjof Capra |
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167d3e0
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The double role of living systems as parts and wholes requires the interplay of two opposite tendencies: an integrative tendency to function as part of a larger whole, and a self-assertive, or self-organizing tendency to preserve individual autonomy (see Chapter 7).
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Fritjof Capra |
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f069a54
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This segregation is confirmed by the common stereotypes of these two disciplines and their representatives. While scientists are perceived as absentminded, casually dressed individuals who live in a refined world of abstract theory with little practical reality, lawyers are usually perceived as formally dressed people who are practically oriented, concentrating mainly on trivialities (such as negotiating their retaining fee) and engaging pr..
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Fritjof Capra |
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15d79f3
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He had a deep respect for life, a special compassion for animals, and great awe and reverence for nature's complexity and abundance. While a brilliant inventor and designer himself, he always thought that nature's ingenuity was vastly superior to human design. He felt that we would be wise to respect nature and learn from her.
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Fritjof Capra |
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8d80206
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The natural world, on the other hand, is one of infinite varieties and complexities, a multidimensional world which contains no straight lines or completely regular shapes, where things do not happen in sequences, but all together; a world where--as modern physics tells us--even empty space is curved.
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Fritjof Capra |
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87f5a2c
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human needs are finite, but human greed is not ...
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needs
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Fritjof Capra |
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a1f6755
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The principles of classical management theory have become so deeply ingrained in the ways managers think about organizations that for most of them the design of formal structures, linked by clear lines of communication, coordination, and control, has become almost second nature. This largely unconscious embrace of the mechanistic approach to management has now become one of the main obstacles to organizational change.
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Fritjof Capra |
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ef9d1ed
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Throughout the living world, we find living systems nesting within other living systems.
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Fritjof Capra |
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e84b59e
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Deep ecology does not see the world as a collection of isolated objects but rather as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. It recognizes the intrinsic value of all living beings and views humans--in the celebrated words attributed to Chief Seattle--as just one particular strand in the web of life.
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Fritjof Capra |
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106b7d3
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the properties of a particle can only be understood in terms of its activity--of its interaction with the surrounding environment--and that the particle, therefore, cannot be seen as an isolated entity but has to be understood as an integrated part of the whole.
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Fritjof Capra |
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52ebea5
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taught us to be aware of ourselves as isolated egos existing "inside" our bodies; it has led us to set a higher value on mental than manual work; it has enabled huge industries to sell products - especially to women - that would make us owners of the "ideal body"; it has kept doctors from seriously considering the psychological dimensions of illness, and psychotherapists from dealing with their patients' bodies."
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Fritjof Capra |
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3fd58d9
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The paradigm that is now receding has dominated our culture for several hundred years, during which it has shaped our modern Western society and has significantly influenced the rest of the world. This paradigm consists of a number of entrenched ideas and values, among them the view of the universe as a mechanical system composed of elementary building-blocks, the view of the human body as a machine, the view of life in society as a competi..
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Fritjof Capra |
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cca56c9
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The conceptual problem at the center of contemporary healthcare is the confusion between disease processes and disease origins. Instead of asking why an illness occurs and trying to remove the conditions that led to it, medical researchers try to understand the mechanisms through which the disease operates, so that they can then interfere with them. These mechanisms, rather than the true origins, are seen as the causes of disease in current..
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Fritjof Capra |
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9231fcc
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The parallels to modern physics [with mysticism] appear not only in the Vedas of Hinduism, in the I Ching, or in the Buddhist sutras, but also in the fragments of Heraclitus, in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, or in the teachings of the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan.
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Fritjof Capra |
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8f09c10
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Intersections of lines, for example, remain intersections, and the hole in a torus (doughnut) cannot be transformed away. Thus a doughnut may be transformed topologically into a coffee cup (the hole turning into a handle) but never into a pancake. Topology, then, is really a mathematics of relationships, of unchangeable, or "invariant," patterns."
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Fritjof Capra |
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e82d714
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Since human needs are finite, but human greed is not, economic growth can usually be maintained through artificial creation of needs by means of advertising. The goods that are produced and sold in this way are often unneeded, and thus are essentially waste. The pollution and depletion of natural resources generated by this enormous waste of unnecessary goods is exacerbated by the waste of energy and materials in inefficient production proc..
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Fritjof Capra |
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4347e89
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all living systems are complex - i.e., highly nonlinear - networks ...
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Fritjof Capra |
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bb63adc
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The parallel between scientific experiments and mystical (read spiritual) experiences may seem surprising in view of the very different nature of these acts of observation. Physics perform experiments involving an elaborate teamwork and a highly sophisticated technology, whereas mystics obtain their knowledge purely through introspection, without any machinery, in the privacy of meditation. Scientific experiments, furthermore, seem repeatab..
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Fritjof Capra |
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22a4ed6
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Since
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Fritjof Capra |
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b91eac1
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Mere curiosity has become profound scientific research,
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Fritjof Capra |
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aa3eee0
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There is another way in which Arne Naess characterized deep ecology. "The essence of deep ecology," he wrote, "is to ask deeper questions" (quoted by Devall and Sessions, 1985, p. 74). This is also the essence of a paradigm shift. We need to be prepared to question every single aspect of the old paradigm. Eventually, we will not need to abandon all our old concepts and ideas, but before we know that, we need to be willing to question everyt..
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Fritjof Capra |
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db15a96
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I never read. It prevents me from thinking. (Paul Dirac)
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Fritjof Capra |
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f36cb74
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In the words of a Zen poem, At dusk the cock announces dawn; At midnight, the bright sun.
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Fritjof Capra |
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2b33000
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Religion is the organized attempt to understand spiritual experience, to interpret it with words and concepts, and to use this interpretation as the source of moral guidelines for the religious community.
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Fritjof Capra |
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afff6cc
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A diverse community is a resilient community, capable of adapting to changing situations.
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Fritjof Capra |