The Radius Foundation Sponsored Publications and Videos

We invite you to read reviews and learn more about our sponsored publications and videos. A book, The Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology by Wolfgang Smith and a video, Shakespeare's Spirituality: A Perspective. An Interview with Dr. Martin Lings.

The Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology

Book Review Excerpt

Is boredom and meaninglessness the price we have to pay for the blessings of scientific progress?  Yes, says Wolfgang Smith, unless we can effect the regeneration of science itself from subatomic physics all the way up to the Big Picture, cosmology by putting it back on the right metaphysical foundation. Nobody does scientific research in a vacuum it is shaped by, and shapes, the culture around it. The picture of reality that we think has been "discovered by science" owes more than we know to the philosophy it was built on.

There is nobody quite like Dr. Smith. Some scientists tinker with philosophy, and some philosophers specialize in the philosophy of science, but here is a man of high achievement in both fields: a physicist and research mathematician whose work in aerodynamics laid the groundwork for the solution of the re-entry problem, and also a philosopher rooted in the classical realism of the Aristotelian/Thomist synthesis as well as Buddhist and Vedantic thought.

This, his fourth full-length book, builds on the work of two of his others, Cosmos and Transcendence: Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientistic Belief (1984), and The Quantum Enigma: Finding the Hidden Key (1995).

In the former, he liberates us from some dangerous philosophical dogmas disguised as science, tracing them back to their roots in Descartes "bifurcationism," which leaves us in a position where "the soul has no windows." (In my opinion, two of the chapters, "Lost Horizons" and "Progress' in Retrospect" ought to be made up into leaflets and airdropped like CARE packages over our Ivy League universities.)

Read the full review or learn more about the book, the author and read comments from scholars.

Shakespeare's Spirituality: A Perspective. An Interview with Dr. Martin Lings

Video Review Excerpt

When Martin Lings saw a Shakespeare play performed for the first time, for several days afterwards he found himself "plunged into an extraordinary state of happiness" such as he had never experienced before. Which play was it that caused him such euphoria? It was Othello–not only a tragedy, but arguably the most heart-rending of all of Shakespeare's tragedies.

How could such a sad play produce such joy? Dr. Lings, in this interview by Ira Zinman, illuminates his experience–which is surely shared by many who appreciate the works of Shakespeare–by explaining the nature of sacred art, in the context of an account of his own life's spiritual journey. The resulting film will be appreciated both by admirers of Lings, who will treasure this last footage of Dr. Lings before his death, and anyone who has experienced the sacred in a work of fiction and wondered how it can reside there.

Read the full review, find out more information about the video, or visit the director and producer's website and buy the DVD online.