Head and Heart: A Personal Exploration of Science and the Sacred

This unusual book tells the story of an astrophysicist's search for meaning from psychological, philosophical, and spiritual points of view. Mansfield weaves personal memoir with clear scientific discussion and quotes such famous thinkers and writers as Steven Weinberg, Jane Goodall, Joseph Campbell, C. G. Jung, Nelson Mandela, Robert Frost, and the Sufi poet Rumi. In plain language, Mansfield explores radio astronomy, the nature of time, relativity, cosmological expansion, and quantum mechanics with personal examples of meditation, dreams and synchronicity to show that spiritual experience offers a fundamentally different window into reality than that given by science. And he tackles these questions: What is invisible matter? Am I merely a complex tangle of atoms and molecules controlled by the laws of physics? What is the nature of soul? How is modern science a form of religion? You will be charmed by Mansfield's anecdotes to dramatize his own struggles with such questions. In a culture where the relationship between science and spirituality continues to be strained, he offers hope for a higher synthesis that embraces dissenting worldviews and encourages compassionate action in the world.

275 pages

About the author: Victor Mansfieldis a professor of physics and astronomy at Colgate University. Along with physics and astronomy courses, he teaches popular classes focusing on Tibetan Buddhism and Jungian psychology. He regularly lectures at universities, academic conferences, Jungian institutes, grand rounds in psychiatric wards, and to general audiences throughout the USA and in Europe. He also leads all-day workshops that involve both lecture/discussion and experiential elements. His lectures and workshops are noted for their ability to make both scientific and spiritual ideas come alive for a wide variety of audiences. Besides his long list of scientific publications, he has published dozens of interdisciplinary papers examining the relationship between physics and the fields of Buddhism and Jungian psychology. He has studied and practiced with noted spiritual leaders in the USA, Europe, and India. His book, Synchronicity, Science, and Soul-Making: Understanding Jungian Synchronicity through Physics, Buddhism, and Philosophy (Open Court, 1995), now in its fifth printing, has been hailed as the most important analysis of synchronicity since C. G. Jung himself. By analyzing the largest published selection of firsthand accounts of synchronicity, the author shows how it plays an important role in our psychological development. He further enriches this exploration by meshing his interpretation of synchronicity with clearly explained cornerstones of quantum physics and basic tenets of Middle Way Buddhism—concluding with a radical and provocative worldview. Along with his wide academic experience, he has worked as a senior systems engineer in industry; led a team that wrote a major piece of scientific software; facilitated psychological groups in an experimental ward in a mental hospital; and been featured in national radio interviews, CNN television, and an international film.