A 1986 edition of Discovery Magazine listed consciousness as one of the ten great questions yet to receive a comprehensive treatment in modern science. In response, Thompson argues that mechanistic paradigms lack efficacy to exhaustively explore subtle phenomena such as consciousness. In contrast, he recommends a serious examination of non-quantitative natural analyses such as those afforded within Eastern philosophy.
Thompson begins his presentation with a discussion of the Arthurian account of the “Lady of the Lake” which describes an underwater denizen displaying an apparent ability to disappear in one place, and then reappear in another without passing through intervening space.
This selection of verses from the Srimad-Bhagavatam describes the Vedic sage Kardama Muni’s ashrama (living place), said to be located along the shores of Lake Bindu Sarovara, some 1.7 billion years ago. Naturally, an analysis based on contemporary paleontology would consider such an account mythological.
Thompson offers a detailed account of the Vedic conception of time. He then compares time reversibility equations considered within contemporary physics with the cyclic process of cosmic creation and annihilation described in the Purāṇas. Thompson also discusses the Eastern lunar calendar and its 360-day year.
Thompson examines a variety of traditional approaches for considering absolute truth, while also analyzing historical, academic, and philosophical perspectives. He then compares Sankarite concepts of impersonal Brahman, with the idea of energy fields described in modern physics, concluding with an evaluation of the efforts of the well-known theoretical physicist, David Bohm, who proposed to graft “consciousness” onto physics by adding “bliss” to the energy field.
This esoteric verse, which describes the battle between Lord Varaha and the formidable asura Hiranyaksa, can sound like poetic myth when viewed exclusively through the context of modern science. But Thompson suggests that when appreciated through the cosmological context of the Puranic worldview, this same pastime acquires both universal and deep personal significance.
Thompson argues that deterministic chaos, popularly known as “the butterfly effect,” undermines Laplace’s model for the stability of the solar system. He then discusses how the majority of natural philosophers credited with establishing Western science during the 17th century considered divine intervention integral to maintaining order in the universe, since they also considered cosmological mechanisms to be inherently unstable.
The principle of locality integral to Einstein’s theory of relativity, states that cause and effect take place in a localized region and follow simple rules. However, persistent challenges from the field of theoretical physics suggest this picture is far from complete. Thompson examines several apparently contradictory concerns, including mind-body matters as well as free will versus determinism.
Thompson explores the question: “Is it possible that the perceptible universe is embedded within a larger reality? And if so, would it be plausible to consider interacting with it?” In response, he proposes that an analysis limited to mechanical motion would restrain an investigation to characteristics defining an immediate perception of natural phenomena.
Are the Puranic histories mythological narrations, or do they suggest a valid, albeit alternate, view of a palpable reality? In this presentation of Vedic astronomy, Thompson describes how the rings of the Bhū-maṇḍala described in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa compare surprising well with mathematical calculations of the planetary orbits, considered from a geocentric perspective.
