The Laszlo Chronicle: A Global Thinker's Journey from Systems to Consciousness and the Akashic Field

by Gyorgyi Szabo, Ervin Laszlo, Ph.D. (Foreword by)

Overview

This study analyses the fifty year evolution of Ervin Laszlo’s contribution to science and philosophy. It records the major turning points in his thinking and discusses who and what influenced this evolution and with what result.

Laszlo’s search for answers to questions such as man’s relationship to nature and the cosmos, and the nature of underlying factors of evolution which connect all things were not satisfied by working only on the basis of the General Evolutionary Systems Theory. Wittgenstein said “In every serious philosophical question uncertainty extends to the very roots of the problem. We must always be prepared to learn something totally new.” Laszlo did discover something entirely new – the theory of the information field – after immersing himself in a range of areas of study such as cosmology, consciousness studies, quantum physics, metaphysics and various Eastern traditions. The integration of his earlier works with his more recent studies lies behind his explanation of the existence of the Akashic Field.

The Akashic Field is a term that refers to an interactive universe communicating in a subtle manner, which connects everything with every other thing everywhere. This is a pure information field where communication takes place without the need for the transportation of physical energy; thus interaction can occur instantaneously regardless of distance and time. Coherence and consciousness are the bases of Laszlo’s Akashic field. He proposed a ‘system theoretic paradigm’, which focuses on a general understanding of the cosmos and the implications for entities such as human beings. This entails the observation and explanation of human and cosmic evolution as viewed in unity or inter-connectedness where macro and micro are essentially interlinked. Laszlo’s philosophical work extends to sociology when describing concurrent worldwide issues closely related to the existence of the Akashic Field. His humanist ideals are evidenced by his efforts to help humans understand the context and causes for their recent challenges and the possibilities that may lie ahead. Ervin Laszlo’s half-century of exceptional philosophical work gives us the most coherent picture of the nature of the world to date.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590793961
Publisher:	SelectBooks
Publication date:	01/17/2017
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Gyorgyi Szabo holds a Ph.D. in Sociology - Summa Cum Laude awarded by the Sorbonne, the University of Paris; a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Trinity St David, University of Wales, and a Bachelor’s degree with Honors from Birkbeck College, University of London. She is also a trained Reiki and Reconnective Healing practitioner. She has lived in America, England, Italy and Spain. She currently lives in Paris, France. Her holistic approach to metaphysics and interest in conscious evolution serves as the foundation for her work in facilitating cooperative evolution toward a peaceful and sustainable world.

Gyorgyi serves as Deputy to Director Ervin Laszlo at the Laszlo New-Paradigm Leadership Center Italy. She is also Director of Academic Research and Program Development at Ubiquity University. She was a Co-Founder and Academic Dean of the Ervin Laszlo Center for Advanced Study (ELCAS), heading the Center’s Exploratoria Program and was the co-creator of the WorldShift International Foundation, and the WorldShift 2012 organizations. She serves as Member of the Advisory Board of the Memnosyne Foundation.

Dr. Szabo collaborated with Ervin Laszlo in preparing the annual Conferences of the World Cultural Forum in China and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Club of Budapest France. In 2012, in association with Barbara Marx Hubbard she founded UniverSoul, a Hub for Conscious Evolution, in Paris and serves as its president. Her papers and monographs have appeared inter alia in The Scientific and Medical Network Review, The Shift Network, and World Futures: The Journal of New Paradigm Research.
 

Table of Contents

Foreword Ervin Laszlo vii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Part 1 The Discovery and Development of Laszlo's Systems Philosophy 1

1 The Predecessors of the Systems Concept as Developed in Laszlo's Early Works 3

2 The Relevance of Alfred North Whitehead's Organic Metaphysics 7

3 Laszlo's Integration of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory in Systems Philosophy 13

Part 2 Laszlo's Application of the Systems Concept to World Order 19

4 The Systems Approach to World Order: Perspectives and Models 21

5 New Horizons for Humankind 35

6 Systems Evolution: The Maturation of the Formulation of Systems Philosophy and the Concept of General Evolution Theory 47

Part 3 The Development of Unified Information Field Theory 63

7 Laszlo's Systems Approach to Unification in Science 65

8 The First Formulation of the New Paradigm: The Theory of the Psi-Field and the Next Stage of the 5th Field 79

9 The Development of the Mature Concept of the New Paradigm: The Akasha Paradigm in Science and Philosophy 95

Part 4 Humankind and the Akashic Paradigm 131

10 Laszlo's Evolutionary Systems Views on the Challenge of the 3rd Millennium 133

11 The Relevance and Application of Cosmic Information Field Theory to the Problems of Our Times 163

12 Akashic Philosophy: The Wider Perspectives 193

Conclusion: The Principal Results of Ervin Laszlo's Philosophical Work from Systems Theory to the Study of Consciousness and the Theory of a Universal Information Field 235

Appendix I Biography of Ervin Laszlo 259

Appendix II Edgar Morin on the Evolution of Complex Systems 265

Notes 273

References 279

Index 287

About the Author 301