Parallels and Paradoxes in Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism: I - A Critical Reconnaissance

This paper is a prolegomenon to a study of the social origins and functions of the thesis that there are parallels between modern physics and Eastern mysticism. Interest in the parallelism thesis has been growing, but with an emphasis on advocacy as opposed to critical analysis. Advocates of parallelism such as Fritjof Capra have failed to take account of the pitfalls associated with drawing parallels between science and religion, or physics and mysticism. My basic objective in this paper is to establish a preliminary foundation for social studies of parallelism. I outline the parallelism thesis, emphasizing physicsmysticism parallelism, identify several pitfalls in the parallelism arguments, and suggest reasons for moderating the skepticism which emerges from the pitfalls analysis.