Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Enlightening Exploration of Quantum Physics, Eastern Philosophy, and the Interplay of Science and Spirituality

I first read this book more than twenty years ago, and I found both its explanation of quantum physics understandable for the first time in my life (after many tries), and its conclusions about the nature of the world around us totally profound.I took it up again this year after reading *Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking*, by one of my intellectual heroes, Douglas Hofstadter, and his colleague, Emmanuel Sander. They presented the compelling argument thatwe can only form thoughts via analogies. From these we create the categories by which we organize our lives. The problem is that whenever we finally settle on a set of categories that we are comfortable with, it turns out that those categories don’t really explain as much as we thought they did. Our youth consists of successively having to recognize the inadequacy of the categories we have so laboriously developed--only to discover, once we've finally developed some categories that seem to work, that those categories are wrong, too!What was profound about that book was their recognition that great scientific discoveries may be expressed in mathematical terms, but the insights came from skilled expansion of each genius' analogies/categories. Einstein's recognition that the speed of light was the only constant, when everything else is relative, and that gravity is equivalent to acceleration represented creative extension of analogies, were a total disruption of the way people had categorized things in the past.In short, the combined conclusion that we can only make sense out of the world via analogies--and the analogies we've come up with are probably wrong--was disturbing.After that, I read much of *The Age of Entanglement*, by Louisa Guilder. Her position is that physics is not the tidy finished product that those of us who don’t really know much about it believe it to be. Modern physics is a process that entails brilliant observations and conclusions, but very painful ones, with different physicists having very different views on what is “truth”. Basically, Einstein's tidy categories got upset when the quantum physicists claimed that in the world of sub-atomic particles there is no underlying reality that we can perceive. That is there is no underlying reality that we can perceive without changing it. The best we can do is to identify probabilities that events happen. There is no "particle" in sub-atomic particles. Einstein died being convinced that somewhere out there was a theory that could unite the perceptions of reality we have when we look at the outside world and the probabilistic understanding of sub-atomic physics. He was absolutely convinced that "God does not play dice".The problem with that book is that in focusing on the disagreements between the physicists, it made use of extensive (and, yes, verbose) communications among them. This tended to confuse the underlying arguments.So, I dusted off *The Dancing Wu Li Masters". (OK, I couldn't find my copy, so I bought the Kindle edition.) And yes, it is much clearer both in describing the subject matter, and in driving home the problem we have with the analogies (categories) we have for looking at the world.The last three hundred years of (at least western) civilization have been unusual in history. Discoveries by Galileo and Newton that the physical world follows natural "laws" that can be identified and catalogued, have given us the illusion that we understand what is "reality". In the limited perspective of us walking around, this is true, and the insights have changed all of our lives. From nuclear energy to the space program, the world we understand is vastly different from what it was at the beginning of the 14th Century.But in the Twentieth Century, the quantum physicists have returned us to the era of Eastern Mysticism. The universe is energy, that occasionally (sort of) coagulates into what we see as matter. But this is all an illusion, based on the limitations of our ability to see inside what's going on. And we are limited in our ability to see what's going on.In Chinese, one word for physics, "wu li" means Patterns of Organic Energy. But the same syllables pronounced differently in Chinese can mean "My way", "Nonsense", or "I clutch my ideas". There is definitely something to think about, here.At the risk of extending another analogy that occurred to me the first time I read it. We are each actually part of an incredibly realistic video game.

Over the years I have read numerous books on astronomy, cosmology, Zen, Taoism, and of course Quantum physics. In many of these texts they had mentioned a particular book that should be read or it was listed in their reference sections. This book is “The dancing Wu Li Masters: an overview of the new physics by Gary Zukkav.” I finally purchased this 380 page soft cover book from Amazon for a bargain price and I just finished reading this very interesting and scientifically informative volume.This book explores Quantum physics and how this new scientific research in the field has changed the thinking of many scientists. First off, even though the author wrote this book for non-scientists and for those not into the mathematical formulas involved in physics; nevertheless, this huge volume is not what I would call an easy recreational read. I am happy that I finally got to read this classic and for anyone who is interested in the new developments in Quantum Mechanics this is an excellent place to start.This book was one of the first to explore the new physics for the non-scientist and even though it is somewhat dated; however, I still found it a great text to understand the important developments in physics. This book covers the following material:A forward by David Finkelstein, an introduction to the perennial classics edition, Wu Li: Big week at big sur. Einstein doesn’t like it, Patterns of Organic Energy: Living, what happens. My Way: The role of “I.” Nonsense: Beginner’s mind, special nonsense, and general nonsense. I clutch my ideas: The particle Zoo, the dance. Enlightenment: More than both, and the end of science. There is also a great note section and bibliography section.If you are interested in science and physics this is one of the great classic books that should be on your educational list of must read volumes.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective Combative Systems).

Having just re-read both books, in my mind I inevitably compare this to "Tao of Physics", as both of them relate ideas in quantum physics to Eastern mysticism. However, "...Wu Li Masters" only kind of touches on that, but it provides a much more solid introduction to the basic ideas of physics as they relate to subatomic phenomena. My background in physics is very limited and I found myself struggling with many of the concepts Zukav covers (& he kind of lost me in the last chapter or two). But overall, the book was very interesting - to the extent that, as mentioned, I read it twice and took copious notes the second time through. The book was written about 4 decades ago, so I'd be very interested to learn how the ideas he described have developed since then.

Great book for people who want to understand quantum physics

My partner and I have started "studying" this book. Gary Zukav is a passionate man, I love that. I first bought the book in the 80's and where it went, I imagine, passed on to Good Will or some charitable donation.When we discuss "deep" ideas, we laugh and say we are not physicists. We are enjoying the study with composition books, highlighter and pens for jotting down notes!

I shared this book with folks at an independent living center.

If you are philosophical and would like to learn more about the marriage between philosophy and physics, this is a GREAT starting point. Written for the lay person, Zuchov manages to tie the two together beautifully. It is likely NOT an easy read for most, but it will provide you with a lifelong paradigm changing view of reality.