Vipassana Meditation and the Scientific Worldview (2nd Edition): Revised & With New Essays

Paul R. Fleischman

ene 2020 · Pariyatti

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We have lived in an era during which the spirituality intrinsic to science has become obvious.

The universe is not random. It contains patterns and paths. This is called the information-state of the universe, and it organizes the materials and energies that form our bodies and minds. We are each microcosms; downloaded into our small selves are a vast array of directives and limits, the laws of science, that govern stars as well as our hearts and minds. We can gain access to some of the wisdom of this universal, lawful reality through meditation. As we observe our body sensations with equanimity, we come in contact with basic laws of physics, like entropy, or the decay of aggregates over time, and we also encounter basic laws of psychology, like the fact that social love, Mettā, leaves us happier than anger or fear. We may become self-balanced to face contingencies.

It is science, not mysticism or religion, that reveals the value of Vipassana as a vestibule to ultimate realities, and highlights it as a practical guide to the psychology of well-lived lives. We are each unique snowflakes, patterns and lace, melting in the cosmic storm. We arise and pass inside a universe, a web, a Dhamma. We become aware of the scriptures that are inscribed inside us and that guide our wellbeing.

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Paul R. Fleischman, M.D., (New Jersey, 1945) trained in psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, where he also served as Chief Resident. He was a psychiatric consultant to numerous New England hospitals and clinics, and lectured at conferences, universities and institutions throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Now retired from a more than 30-year private psychiatry practice, he lives with his wife in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Dr. Fleischman is the author of nine books as well as numerous articles published in magazines and journals. The recipient of several prestigious fellowships, in 1993 he was honored by the American Psychiatric Association with the Oskar Pfister Award for being an "...outstanding contributor to the humanistic and spiritual side of psychiatric and medical issues."

He was appointed by Mr. S.N. Goenka to be a Vipassana teacher with the particular assignment to communicate with professionals and academics in the West, by using language and concepts derived from psychology, biology and medicine, making Vipassana a beacon that is culturally universal and nonsectarian. Dr. Fleischman speaks and writes in his own voice, informed by science, religious studies, and poetry.