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Paths Between Head and Heart – Exploring the Harmonies of Science and Spirituality

The author is a Lecturer in Psychology, and in this book he sets out to explore – as the full title suggests – harmonies between Science and Spirituality. 

He describes Psychology, his discipline, as a “boundary place, aspiring to be a hard science but humming with the conundrums of subjectivity and free will, both of which science has traditionally preferred to avoid or deny in its pursuit of objective fact”.  I understand his outlook – in many ways Yoga, certainly Yoga Therapy, sits in a similar boundary space between the two polarities of science and spirituality.

But are they in fact polarities?  Does one deny the other?

The authors position is no, they do not deny each other, in fact they compliment each other.  Not in the least, however reductionist scientific knowledge becomes there is still that final step to follow, beyond the end of scientific knowledge,  which must be philosophy or, if you prefer, spiritual.

So in this book the author explores the boundaries of science and spirituality and how they work together in our search for understanding.  He explores the theme through analysis of several dualities, eg Outer and Inner, Impersonal and Personal, Thinking and Feeling, and he argues for paths between those dualities.

Its a readable book, in my view pitching itself to be a serious piece of work but without getting bogged down in spurious detail, and the author rights lucidly.  If this junction of science and spirituality interests you, then this book will be worth a read.  It doesn’t answer anything – there is no complete answer – but it certainly stimulates thought and opens the mind to new ways of seeing connection.

Paths Between Head and Heart – Exploring the Harmonies of Science and Spirituality by Oliver Robinson is available on Amazon, and if you use this link, Yinspire earns a smalll commission.