(Reviewed by Pat Luboff)
Dante’s Hell had a sign over the gate: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” Larry Gottlieb’s book could have a similar sign: “Abandon all ideas of who you are and what the world is, ye who read this.” And, instead of leading us into hell, Gottlieb shows us how to make life a heavenly experience.
The Seer’s Explanation posits that we wake up every day not to the real world, but to an explanation of the world, which has been passed down through the generations. We mistake the explanation for the real thing; like mistaking the map for the territory. The commonly held description paints the world as a place of scarcity and conflict. We also have an explanation for what we are as human beings, aka known as the story we tell about ourselves. We create these stories based on the erroneous description of the world and long forgotten but still unconsciously active survival techniques developed to deal with childhood experiences of powerlessness. What could possibly rescue us from this morass?
Quantum physics to the rescue! Gottlieb takes us on a tour of the latest developments in scientific thought about the nature of reality, which he couches in language a layman can grasp. With those thoughts as a springing off point, the book develops organically; part physics textbook, part memoir of a life as a radical in the ‘60s and a traveling musician in the ‘70s, part compendium of a variety of philosophies and spiritual paths, and all characterized by a clarity of language that exhibits a lifetime of thoughtful inquiry.
Expressing the radical change in understanding of who we are and why we are here and what “here” is that Gottlieb espouses is beyond the scope of a review such as this. You will have to read the book and see the idea from the many angles Gottlieb presents it. When you understand the seer’s explanation, you will not abandon hope. You will have it, perhaps for the first time.
This is a thinking person’s book. I recommend it for anyone who is open to new ideas. More information can be found on Gottlieb’s site: www.TheSeersExplanation.com
