Uncommon Wisdom: Conversations with Remarkable People | 
“We have become so obsessed with rational knowledge, objectivity, and quantification that we are very insecure in dealing with human values and human experience."
- Margaret M. Lock, speaking with Fritjof Capra
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“We have become so obsessed with rational knowledge, objectivity, and quantification that we are very insecure in dealing with human values and human experience."
- Margaret M. Lock, speaking with Fritjof Capra
My earlier misgivings that this book might have aged badly on this re-read, thankfully, have evaporated. Though Capra's tone is sometimes overly self-congratulatory, the ideas he presents are generously shared with the "remarkable people" with whom he converses. I've just finished the chapter on his meetings with existential therapist R. D. Laing (pic), which was just wonderful. The several books I have by Laing tbr have moved up my list ?
What a different impression I'm getting from this book than when I first read it, 31 year ago. Capra seems more egotistical than I recall, and having access to the internet (not a thing in 1989) means I can now see that the interpretation of quantum physics upon which he based his writings has pretty much been trashed. However, the model of relationship and interconnectedness he uses still feels relevant. I almost gave up reading, but will 👇🏼
“Science is of no value unless it is accompanied by social concern.”
"For those of us who identify with the movements of the '60s this period represents not so much a decade as a state of consciousness, characterized by the transpersonal expansion, the questioning of authority, a sense of empowerment, & the experience of sensuous beauty & community. This state of consciousness reached well into the '70s. In fact one could say that the '60s came to an end only in December 1980 with the shot that killed John Lennon."
I knew that I'd read this in 1989, but taking it off the shelf to re-read, I had a strong reaction to realising I was 25 years old at the time. Having lived more years than that since is something of a realisation. Just having finished Seneca's "On the Shortness of Life" certainly plays into my sense of reflection. One of the strange feelings is of not having been a parent then. My children are so much a part of my life and sense-of-self ??
