The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit - Softcover

"This book must be read by anyone wanting a better future for the world." * Dr. Roger Taylor, Caduceus, April 2007 * "...a survey of spiritual transcendence so linked to science that it earns a place of respect in the spheres of science, health, and metaphysics." * The Midwest Book Review * "Revolutionary significance for anyone...seeking clues on how to develop the magnificent but frustrated potential that is our birthright." * Charles Eisenstein, Progressive Health, Summer 2004 * "Rarely does a single book encompass such far reaching vistas and disturbing revelations as The Biology of Transcendence." * Robert Simmons, The Metaphysical Guide to Tucson Gem & Mineral Shows 2004 * ". . . an engaging blend of scientific research and personal accounts of altered states, [this book] outlines the anatomy of levels of consciousness." * Fran Shaw, Parabola, Fall, 2003 * "Joseph Chilton Pearce has profoundly altered my view of religion and culture and has left me with both the understanding and the tools to go beyond limitations to the joy of love and all its possibilities." * Carla Hannaford, Ph.D., author of Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head and Awakening th * "I've spent over thirty years pioneering wellness programs, always trying to grasp why it is such a struggle for people to attain and maintain the well-being that is their birthright. In the last decade I finally came to appreciate what Pearce discovered long ago: that the heart and key to wellness lies in how we nurture our young--enabling them to thrive, rather than merely survive." * John W. Travis, M.D., M.P.H., author of Simply Well and Wellness Workbook * "The Biology of Transcendence will transform your worldview and change forever your understanding of our past, present, and future. Riveting, insightful, and penetrating, Pearce has laid out one of the most startling and powerful visions of our future. . . . You won't be able to put this book down, and when you've read it, you won't be able to stop talking about it with everybody you know." * Thom Hartmann, author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight * "This is a masterpiece of science and spirit, love over law, and the stunning biological truth of the capacity for transcendence that the universe has placed within us. Here, in brilliant and incisive words, is the foundation for a new mind and a new world." * Jean Houston, author of A Passion for the Possible and Jump Time *

Why do we seem stuck in a culture of violence and injustice? How is it that we can recognize the transcendent ideal represented by figures such as Jesus, Lao-tzu, and many others who have walked among us and yet not seem to reach the same state? In The Biology of Transcendence Joseph Chilton Pearce examines the current biological understanding of our neural organization to address how we can go beyond the limitations and constraints of our current capacities of body and mind--how we can transcend. Recent research in the neurosciences and neurocardiology identifies the four neural centers of our brain and indicates that a fifth such center is located in the heart. This research reveals that the evolutionary structure of our brain and its dynamic interactions with our heart are designed by nature to reach beyond our current evolutionary capacities. We are quite literally, madeto transcend. Pearce explores how this "biological imperative" drives our life into ever-greater realms of being--even as the "cultural imperative" of social conformity and behavior counters this genetic heritage, blocks our transcendent capacities, and breeds violence in all its forms. The conflict between religion and spirit is an important part of this struggle. But each of us may overthrow these cultural imperatives to reach "unconflicted behavior," wherein heart and mind-brain resonate in synchronicity, opening us to levels of possibility beyond the ordinary.