The death of religion and the rebirth of spirit: a return to the intelligence of the heart

274 Pages·2007·6.408 MB·English

by  Pearce, Joseph Chilton

The Death of
Religion

and the Rebirth of
Spirit
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The Death of
Religion
and the Rebirth of
Spirit
A Return to the
Intelligence of the Heart
Joseph Chilton Pearce
Park Street Press
Rochester, Vermont
Park Street Press
One Park Street
Rochester, Vermont 05767
www.InnerTraditions.com
Park Street Press is a division of Inner Traditions International
Copyright © 2007 by Joseph Chilton Pearce
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pearce, Joseph Chilton.
The death of religion and the rebirth of spirit : a return to the intelligence of the
heart / Joseph Chilton Pearce.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59477-746-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-59477-171-2 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59477-171-5 (hardcover)
1. Spirituality—Psychology. 2. Love—Religious aspects. 3. Violence—Religious
aspects. 4. Human evolution—Religious aspects. 5. Religion—Controversial
literature. I. Title.
BL624.P425 2007
200—dc22
2006103206
Printed and bound in the United States by Lake Book Manufacturing
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Text design and layout by Rachel Goldenberg
This book was typeset in Sabon, with Trajan as the display typeface.
To
Robert Sardello
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Contents
-
Acknowledgments • ix
Part One
Culture as a Negative Field Effect
and the Phenomenon of Mind
Introduction to Part One • 2
1 Culture and Darkness of Mind • 14
2 Culture and War • 25
3 Marghanita Laski and the Tautology of Field Phenomena • 35
4 Mind and Fields of Mind • 48
5 Mind and Intuitive Perception • 62
6 Penfield and Steiner • 78
Part Two
The Conflict of Biology and Culture
Introduction to Part Two • 90
7 Nature’s Biological Plan • 97
8 Bonding: Nature’s Imperative • 121
9 The Biology of Relationship • 138
10 Imperatives in Conflict • 147
11 The Death of Play and the Birth of Religion • 159
Part Three
The Rebirth of Spirit and The Resumption
of Evolution
Introduction to Part Three • 173
12 Life’s Strange Loops of Mind and Nature • 184
13 Brain Change • 191
14 Voices in the Wilderness • 209
15 Eureka! Moments and Cracks • 229
16 Origin and Field •
Bibliography • 249
Index • 255
Acknowledgments
M y grateful thanks to editors Elaine Cissi and Vickie Trihy for their
splendid work, making rough passages smooth, my crooked
logic straight, and my wayward prose comprehensible. While pointing
up contradictions, inconsistencies, comfortable prejudices, half-truths,
and outright errors, they made it all challenging and fun, a playful dia-
logue of reciprocal elucidations—a writer could ask for no more.
Special thanks to J. W. Travis, M.D., who gave so generously of his
time to help prepare the final edits of this book. Travis and his wife have
formed the Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children, a world-
wide movement, and their Wellness Workbook, encompassing the best
of common sense and sane medical advice, is deservedly a classic.
Robert Sardello was a major influence on the final shape of this
book, which I had thought finished when someone sent me Sardello’s
Love and the World. I have borrowed liberally from this extraordinary
work, which, along with his recently published Silence, has seriously
influenced my way of thinking and personal life.
As I did for my book The Biology of Transcendence, I have borrowed
heavily from the Institute of HeartMath, and I am grateful to them.
My very recent discoveries of David Loye and Riane Eisler forced
additional last-minute changes in this book, and to their insights and
knowledge I am grateful, both personally and on behalf of this book.
Several people struggled through early rough drafts of this work:
ix