He will present his radical ideas on human evolution to a gathering of scholars and members of the public during a lecture and workshop called “Deep Spirit, Higher Consciousness: Science and the Story of Evolution” at the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), Burbank, CA, on Sunday, November 2, 2003. The event will be a tribute to another renegade philosopher Arthur M. Young, inventor of the Bell helicopter, and originator of a theory that light is the missing link between science and spirituality.

According to Dr. de Quincey, nature experiments with different strategies for success, and we see only the survivors. Many species have either gone extinct or have run into evolutionary dead-ends. This is not news to science. What is new is the idea that we humans may not be as special as we like to think. In fact, says de Quincey, this idea of “human specialness” is the root cause of the vast ecological crisis we face today.

He believes the idea of “human specialness,” supported by both science and religion, is seriously mistaken. “Science says we are special because we have consciousness. Religion says we are special because we have souls. I challenge both of these views.”

He explains: “Consciousness is not unique to humans. In fact, it is everywhere in nature – in other animals, in plants, even in single cells, all the way down to molecules and atoms.” This radical view is not easily accepted by modern science or philosophy, but de Quincey claims to show that the idea that all bodies – from quarks to quasars – “tingle with the spark of spirit” is the only one that fits the facts. “If we don’t recognize this – and soon – we may very well destroy our environment, bringing our own evolution to a premature dead end.”

But it doesn’t have to be that way, he says. “We can adopt a different ‘story’ of the relationship between humans and nature – where spirit or consciousness is active throughout the world of matter and throughout evolution." In his PRS talk, Dr. de Quincey will present this different worldview, based on quantum physics and the process theory of Arthur Young, showing how purpose was built into evolution right from the start – in fact, from the Big Bang itself, nearly 15 billion years ago.

Dr. de Quincey will read from his new novel Deep Spirit:

Fifteen billion years ago, it all started with a Big Bang. Today, all we hear is a faint echo. Can we decode its mysterious message in time?

Early in the 21st century, the world is already on course for a major transformation: a revolutionary shift in consciousness. The key: a new way of knowing that builds on the ancient wisdom traditions of shamans, the perennial philosophy of mystics, and the profound insights of modern science.

If we succeed, millions around the world will be liberated to join in the final homecoming of spirit. If we fail . . . well, sometimes evolution makes mistakes. We could be its final, fatal dead end.

Christian de Quincey, PhD, author of the award-winning book Radical Nature: Rediscovering the Soul of Matter, is a professor of philosophy and consciousness studies at John F. Kennedy University, and managing editor of IONS Review, published by the Institute of Noetic Sciences. He was recently appointed the Arthur Young Professor of Philosophy at the University of Philosophical Research.

The Philosophical Research Society is located at 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles, near Griffith Park. Phone: 323-663-2167. Fax: 323-663-9443. Website: www.prs.org.”