All Is Mind

ALL IS MIND by a well-known Indian environmentalist and an eco-philosopher, Prof. Vir Singh, is one of the rarest books attempting to confer on the humanity a cornucopia of unusual benefits – by unravelling all mysteries and creative potencies of human Mind, the most fascinating and potent outcome of Evolution. ALL IS MIND also attempts to unfold mysteries of the universe, which, in fact, are in the domains of human Mind. Woven around Henryk Skolimowski’s philosophy of the Participatory Mind, Vir Singh’s ALL IS MIND deeply looks into new delighting and intellect-blasting theory of knowledge and of the universe: THE PARTICIPATORY MIND. This philosophy is the crux of the evolution. This philosophy is the climax of Evolution. This philosophy is the absolute beauty of Evolution. This philosophy is the soul of Evolution. This philosophy is the true spirit which Evolution seems striving to instil into human beings, for the perfection of their own evolution, and for the deep and real purpose of Evolution itself. This universe, this world, and this life – all are, as they are, owing to Mind. Humankind, human cultures, and human faiths – all are what and how Mind conceives them, chisels them, shapes them, and reshapes them. All colours, all diversities, and all beauties are there because Mind is there. All what has happened, all what is happening, and all due to happen is a firmament of Mind. Mind is the most interesting and yet an unsolvable riddle. Mind is the most complex and yet simply the most astonishing aspect of all human epochs. Everything there is, is examined by Mind. Anything there may be, is imagined by Mind. Nothing can elude Mind. All phenomena of the universe pass through Mind. Mind itself is the most wonderful phenomenon of the universe. Indeed, a phenomenon of all universal phenomena! All cosmic drama is witnessed by Mind. Mind itself is the most interesting drama of the cosmos. Indeed, a drama of all universal dramas! Vir Singh in his ALL IS MIND stages this drama on the canvas of human Mind. Mind has been a subject of almost all luminaries from the past to the present, from Gautam Buddha to Henryk Skolimowski. “The Mind is everything; what you think you become, said the Buddha. “All things were together; then came Mind and set them in order,” claimed Anaxagoras. “It is all in the Mind,” declared George Harrison. “Everything is created by the Mind alone,” taught Master Hua. “The empires of the future are the empires of the Mind,” suggested Winston Churchill. “Mind is the most fascinating faculty of the universe,” opines Henryk Skolimowski. ALL IS MIND looks into all aspects of the Skolimowskian Philosophy of the Participatory Mind and is unique in itself in the sense that it attempts to absorb the whole Evolution in it. Mind in the ALL IS MIND emerges as an Epic of the Evolution itself. Mind itself is the most fascinating story of the cosmic light. Skolimowski’s theory of evolution transcends all previous theories: from Darwin to Bergson to Teilhard. He has dealt with Evolution as if the Evolution itself invited him to comprehend itself! Everything in it – from amoeba to human being, from living planet to infinite cosmos – is dynamic, lively, full of hope, joyful, attractive, successional and transcending, and glittering with light. The unique philosophy the ALL IS MIND is impregnated with helps us reach the stars. This book is a wonder in itself, from the point of view that it carries a potential of inventing the self by understanding the creative potencies of one’s Mind. It guides to unleash the human capabilities by paving a path to new forms of creativity, for enlarging our cosmos infinitesimally through higher levels of understanding. It forms a new basis of new cosmology. It is replete with many promises for humankind. It embodies the cosmos-unfolding Skolimowskian Philosophy and beautifully elaborates all philosophies which illumine human Mind. The ALL IS MIND explains the centrality of Mind in life, elaborates the Minds ranging from an amoeba to Einstein, a sensitivities–consciousness–Mind relationship, a new concept of human, and introduces a model of Mind as reality – Noetic Monism. It beautifully presents empiricists’ and rationalists’ views of the Mind, pigeon methodology vs the co-creative Mind, Karl Popper’s theory of partial liberation from positivism, and the three Western projects. It brings to the fore the beauty and essential incompleteness of the Teilhard’s story of complexity and Teilhard’s legacy, gradualism, and the thesis of simplicity/ comprehension. evolutionary phases of the Western Mind and concludes with happy and optimistic notes of Skolimowski: We are opening up, the cosmos is opening up, evolution is unfolding… It proposes the methodology of participation as superseding the methodology of objectivity, and draws its consequences. The ALL IS MIND outlines Skolimowski’s spectacular proposal by outlining participatory research programmes, participatory strategies, participatory thinking and sensitivity of matter. Structures and ascent of Evolution, the origin of structures, symbols and their role in the ascent of man, dominant symbols in Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, scientific knowledge and its enigmatic symbols have been exquisitely elaborated. The ALL IS MIND attempts to enrich our knowledge about the spectacular diversity amongst different cultures, spirals and perspectives of understanding. Brains, Minds and computers have been compared. A historical record of interactionism and participatory Mind presented. Skolimowski’s inference ‘Truth is the consequence of the participatory context’ is emphasized. Mind has probably been the most investigated and worked out aspect of life. Throughout the history of human civilizations, Mind has been a central idea of human thinking and discourse. Copious literature on Mind is available. However, the ALL IS MIND seems to have presented the most extraordinary and outstanding dimensions of the Mind. “Those who exert the first influence upon the Mind, have the greatest power,” says Horace Mann. Vir Singh’s ALL IS MIND, in essence, exerts the “First Influence” by empowering human persons to take up new role – of reconstructing our world, of fertilizing the universe, of preserving the beauty of our cosmos.