Fritjof Capra became famous for his bestseller book “Tao of physics” published in 1975. It was one of the first books that tried to show the connection between Modern physics and Eastern Mysticism and succeeded in grabbing peoples’ attention. Who influenced Capra on this journey from a particle physicist to a no man's land? What kind of conversations did he have with these remarkable men? That is the focus of his book “Uncommon wisdom: Conversations with remarkable people”. What appealed to me about these conversations is that the questions that got raised in them are still quite relevant and the wisdom still uncommon. The book contains conversations with a dozen people spread across 8 chapters. Here I am summarising the nuggets from four of these conversations.
First
you are a human being (Jiddu Krishnamurti, 1968): When
Capra met the spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti in 1968, Capra was on the
runway of his career as a physicists and it was about to take off. JK
was giving a series of talks at the University of California, Santa Cruz where Capra
was a faculty. Capra recalls, “I remember that I was fascinated as well as
deeply disturbed by Krishnamurti’s lectures. After each evening talk Jacqueline
and I stayed up for several hours more, sitting at our fireplace and discussing
what Krishnamurti had said.”
JK had created a major confusion in Capra’s mind. He
didn’t know how to marry his career ambition with JK’s advice of going beyond
thought. Fortunately, he got an opportunity to meet JK the morning after one of
his talks. “How can I be a scientist,” Capra asked JK, “and still follow your
advice of stopping thought and attaining freedom from the known?” JK answered
immediately. “First, you are a human being,” he said, “then you are a
scientist. First, you have to become free, and this freedom cannot be achieved
through thought. It is achieved through meditation – the understanding of the
totality of life in which every form of fragmentation has ceased.” According to
JK, once one has this understanding, he would be able to work as a scientist
without any problems. Capra recalls, “Krishnamurti answered my question in ten
seconds in a way that completely solved my problem.”
Find
pleasure in the process not just the results (Werner Heisenberg, 1972): Capra met Werner Heisenberg, one of the fathers
of Quantum Mechanics and Capra’s hero, at the Max Plank Institute in
Munich, Germany. By then Capra had published the first article on the new theme
titled “The dance of Shiva: The Hindu view of matter in the light of Modern
Physics”. Heisenberg had sent him encouraging response to this article.
During this meeting Heisenberg recalled his India
visit in 1929. He stayed as a guest with Rabindranath Tagore and had long conversations
with the poet. “After these conversations with Tagore,” Heisenberg said, “Some
of the ideas that seemed so crazy suddenly made much more sense. That was a
great help for me.” In 1972, Heisenberg was 71 years old, way past his prime
time as a scientist. Capra asked him what kind of results he was working
towards. Heisenberg explained him the goals of the research program and added
that he found as much pleasure in the process of research as in achieving those
goals. What a profound statement!
Take
a small step, wait for the feedback and then proceed (Fritz Schumacher, 1977): When
Capra met Fritz Schumacher at his Caterham house near London, Capra had
published “Tao of physics” and Schumacher was famous for his book “Small is beautiful”. Unlike Capra, Schumacher, the prophet of sustainability
movement, was not very optimistic about Physics creating the new world view. However,
unlike Capra, he carried a vision of an alternative future, a sustainable
future which was influenced by, among others, Mahatma Gandhi and Buddhist monks in Burma.
How does one work in this alternative world? “Because of
smallness and patchiness of our knowledge,” Schumacher said, “We have to go in
small steps. We have to leave room for non-knowledge. Take a small step and
wait for the feedback and then proceed further. There is wisdom in smallness,
you see.” What a humble approach!
How
to introduce technology without destroying the culture? (Indira Gandhi, 1982): Capra met Indira Gandhi at her office in the
Parliament House in Delhi. She was back in power after the post-emergency debacle
and had experienced untimely death of her younger son. Capra had various
images of Indira Gandhi e.g. strong willed, autocratic, tough and arrogant,
spiritual person etc. After exchanging the pleasantries, Gandhi asked Capra,
“My problem is, how can I introduce new technologies into India without
destroying the existing culture? We want to learn as much as we can from the
Western countries. But we want to keep our roots. Today, it seems much easier
and cheaper to buy plastic than to spend time with these crafts,” she said with
a sad smile, “What a pity!”
“The people in India,” she said, “no matter how poor they
are, have a special quality of wisdom, an inner strength which comes from our
spiritual tradition. I would like them to keep this quality, this special
presence, while ridding themselves of poverty." As Capra started giving a few suggestions, Gandhi started taking notes.