Peter Russell Visit

Peter Russell Visits SJA
Friday, February 1 to Sunday, February 3, 2002

WHO: Peter Russell, renowned physicist, philosopher, best-selling author
WHAT: As a part of a Minneapolis book tour for newly-released From Science to God, Peter will lead this years Small Christian Community Retreat and speak at Sunday Mass.
WHEN: SCC Retreat- Friday, 7-9 pm and Saturday, 9-3 pm/Sunday Mass at 9 and 11 am Open to all.

About Peter Russell

With degrees from Cambridge in physics (he was a student of Stephen Hawking), psychology, and computer science, Russell brings a sharp mind to world affairs.
Ted Turner heralds Russell’s work as, “A fascinating vision of how the information revolution is changing human thinking. A much needed, optimistic perspective on the future.”
WJKL-FM, Chicago calls Peter Russell’s morning program appearance, “fascinating, informative, very fresh and extremely warm…days later the show was still getting calls and e-mail from listeners asking when he will be back.”
Russell pioneered the introduction of self-development skills to the corporate world, running acclaimed programs on creativity, management, and sustainability for IBM, Apple, American Express, Volvo, Swedish Telecom, Shell Oil and British Petroleum.
Advance praise for From Science to God, ranges from “I predict that this book will spread like wildfire.” (Prof. Michael Ray, Stanford Business School) to, “A record of a courageous traveler who has ventured where scientists aren’t supposed to go…this book will be invaluable to millions…” (Larry Dossey, MD, author of Time, Space and Medicine)

Peter Russell brings together scientific rationale, perennial wisdom and current affairs like no one else, and points a way through these unsettled times. He is well known for his ability to make the highly complex understandable and appealing to a broad number of people. His insight is lucid, timely, and perhaps most importantly, it is hopeful.

“I've a strong feeling Peter Russell’s ideas will become mainstream in a few years time.” Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop

About The Book: From Science to God: The Mystery of Consciousness and the Meaning of Light

New Light on Reality
A renowned scientist’s odyssey into the nature of consciousness
Source: press release, The Next Level, promoting visionary people and projects

What does the speed of light have to do with the Koran, St. John and Aldous Huxley? Where does quantum physics meet the psychology of meditation? And if “I think, therefore I am,” why can’t physics, chemistry or biology explain where human thought comes from?

From quarks to quasars, Western science has achieved remarkable success in explaining the world around us. But when it comes to our inner world, science falls curiously silent. Physicist, psychologist, and philosopher, Peter Russell offers one of the most lucid accounts of why the great spiritual teachings might have science by the tail when it comes to consciousness-and how collective wisdom is so valuable during these troubled times.

His latest release, From Science to God, is as much a personal story of an open-minded skeptic as it is a tour de force of scientific and religious paradigm shifts. Russell takes us from Galileo’s den to the lecture halls of Cambridge University where he studied with Stephen Hawking. "If you had asked me then if there was a God," says the best-selling author of his scientific beginnings, "I would have pointed to mathematics." But no matter what empirical truths science offered him, one thorny question remained: How can something as immaterial as consciousness, ever arise from something as unconscious as matter?

And so Russell brings us to Buddha and to Einstein, daring us to wonder if science may have it all backwards. With characteristic warmth and rationale he leads the reader to a new worldview in which consciousness is as fundamental a component of reality as space, time and matter, and God takes on new meaning-one that neither conflicts with modern science, nor diminishes traditional spiritual teachings. In so doing he offers poignant insight into solutions to humanity’s great malaise:

“This meeting of science and spirit is crucial, not just for a more comprehensive understanding of the cosmos, but also for the future of our species. Today, more than ever, we need a worldview that validates spiritual inquiry, for it is the spiritual aridity of our current times that lies behind so many of our crises.”

Large-scale problems call for innovative thinking-and true innovation often appears radical in the face of old paradigms. Amidst terrorism, political deception and the violence all around us, peace and healing are radical notions indeed. With hopeful reasoning Peter Russell shows us that beyond the limited constructs of our brain and five senses, lives the greater power of the human mind and heart.

“At a time when Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban have given God a bad name it is a pleasure to read Peter Russell’s beautifully written book endorsing the transcendental view of life. Based on his own experiences as a mathematician and as a mystic he charts the route from materialism to meditation and has a convincing explanation of the meaning of such diverse items such as gravity, relativity, quantum theory, light and consciousness -- and a new and satisfying interpretation of God.” Napier Collyns, co-founder of The Global Business Network