In 1910, the surgeons Moreau and LePrince wrote about their successful operation on an eight-year-old boy who had been blind since birth because of cataracts. When the boy's eyes were healed they removed the bandages and, waving a hand in front of the child's physically perfect eyes, asked him what he saw. "I don't know," was his only reply. What he saw was only a varying brightness in front of him. However, when allowed to touch the hand as it began to move, he cried out in a voice of triumph, "It's moving!" He could feel it move, but he still needed laboriously to learn to see it move. Light and eyes were not enough to grant him sight. How, then, do we see? What's the difference between seeing and perception? What is light? From ancient times to the present, from philosophers to quantum physicists, nothing has so perplexed, so fascinated, so captivated the mind as the elusive definition of light. In Catching the Light, Arthur Zajonc takes us on an epic journey into history, tracing how humans have endeavored to understand the phenomenon of light. Blending mythology, religion, science, literature, and painting, Zajonc reveals in poetic detail the human struggle to identify the vital connection between the outer light of nature and the inner light of the human spirit. He explains the curiousness of the Greeks' blue and green "color blindness": Odysseus gazing longingly at the "wine-dark sea"; the use of chloros (green) as the color of honey in Homer's Odessey; and Euripides' use of the color green to describe the hue of tears and blood. He demonstrates the complexity of perception through the work of Paul Cézanne--the artist standing on the bank of a river, painting the same scene over and over again, the motifs multiplying before his eyes. And Zajonc goes on to show how our quest for an understanding of light, as well as the conclusions we draw, reveals as much about the nature of our own psyche as it does about the nature of light itself. For the ancient Egyptians the nature of light was clear--it simply was the gaze of God. In the hands of the ancient Greeks, light had become the luminous inner fire whose ethereal effluence brought sight. In our contemporary world of modern quantum physics, science plays the greatest part in our theories of light's origin--from scientific perspectives such as Sir Isaac Newton's "corpuscular theory of light" and Michael Faraday's "lines of force" to such revolutionary ideas as Max Planck's "discrete motion of a pendulum" (the basis of quantum mechanics), Albert Einstein's "particles of light" and "theory of relativity," and Niels Bohr's "quantum jumps." Yet the metaphysical aspects of the scientific search, Zajonc shows, still loom large. For the physicist Richard Feynman, a quantum particle travels all paths, eventually distilling to one path whose action is least--the most beautiful path of all. Whatever light is, here is where we will find it. With rare clarity and unmatched lyricism, Zajonc illuminates the profound implications of the relationships between the multifaceted strands of human experience and scientific endeavor. A fascinating search into our deepest scientific mystery, Catching the Light is a brilliant synthesis that will both entertain and inform.

Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind

Zajonc, Arthur

Religion & Spirituality

Oxford University Press

A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. 
From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being―mind, heart, and spirit―an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. <ul>
<li>Presents Parker Palmer’s powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc’s elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions</li> </ul>
<ul>
<li>Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff</li> </ul>
<ul>
<li>Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation</li> </ul>
The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses.

The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal

PALMER, PARKER J.

Scribner, Megan

Reference

Jossey-Bass

A history of science blends religion, physics, painting, and literature to answer questions concerning light, describing the myths of light, recounting human anecdotes, and placing current views on light in evolutionary perspective.

Science & Math

Physics

Bantam]

The artist’s first solo exhibition in a New York museum since 1980, James Turrell considers his long-standing explorations of perception, light, color and space with special attention to the role of site-specificity in his practice. Local audiences find new occasion to experience his work through a major new project created especially for the Guggenheim, Aten Reign (2013), recasting the museum’s rotunda as a volume of shifting natural and artificial light. One of the most dramatic transformations of the museum ever conceived, the installation reimagines Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic architecture--its openness to nature, its graceful curves, its magnificent sense of space and light--as one of Turrell’s Skyspaces. Experienced for the first time only from below, the rotunda appears not as an open void but as a mass of vibrant color that expands and contracts above the heads of visitors, and at the installation’s core, daylight from the museum’s oculus connects the work to the outside environment. Through these interventions, Turrell rekindles the museum’s identity as a “temple of spirit” (to quote the museum’s first director, Hilla Rebay), encouraging a state of meditative contemplation. This full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibition at the Guggenheim, detailing the production of the rotunda installation and situating it in the context of Turrell’s career. In addition to beautifully reproduced images featuring the artist’s early works, his magnum opus Roden Crater Project (1979– ), and documentation of Aten Reign, this volume includes essays by the show’s curators, Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of Twentieth-Century Art, Carmen Giménez, and Associate Curator Nat Trotman, and Arthur Zajonc, Emeritus Professor of Physics at Amherst College. As an undergraduate, James Turrell (born 1943) studied psychology and mathematics, transitioning to art at MFA level. A practicing Quaker, one of his earliest memories is of his grandmother inviting him to “go inside and greet the light” at Quaker meetings. The recipient of several prestigious awards such as Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Turrell lives in Arizona.

James Turrell

Arts & Photography

Trotman, Nat

Giménez, Carmen

History & Criticism

Guggenheim Museum Publications

When we turn to meditation, we are turning toward renewal, peace, and insight. Initially, we may take up contemplative practice as a means of tapping into the abundant resources of the mind and heart that bring serenity, but the meditative journey leads further―to the place where wisdom and love unite. In Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry, Arthur Zajonc offers an overview of the meditative life, weaving practical instruction together with the guidance and inspiration of the world’s great teachers, from Rudolf Steiner to Rumi, and from Goethe to the sages of Asia. Zajonc reminds us that an ethic of humility grounds all practice, and that care of the soul is the basis for sound spiritual reflection and understanding. The author carefully describes each stage of the path and includes many recommended practices. Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry is the fruit of many years of personal practice and teaching. Arthur Zajonc developed his orientation toward meditation through working with hundreds of university students and professors, as well as with contemplative groups in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love

Lindisfarne Books

Product Description 
Form · Number · Geometry · Architecture · Light · Color · Music · Poetry\n“All such disciplines, theories, and scientific investigations as truly invigorate the eye of the soul, and purify the intellect from blindness introduced by studies of a different kind, so as to enable it to perceive the true principles and causes of the universe, were unfolded by Pythagoras to the Greeks.” ― 
Iamblichus, 
Life of Pythagoras\nHomage to Pythagoras collects essential writings by authors at the leading edge of the sacred sciences today. Each chapter―scholarly homages to the Pythagorean perspective―confirms the continuing interest in Pythagoras’ philosophy as a living reality. These authors provide a major addition to the field of Pythagorean studies and traditional mathematics. 
 Review 
“Some of the finest recent articles on Sacred Mathematics in the Pythagorean and Platonic traditions, which are still as vital and important as ever.” ( 
Ralph Abraham, author of Chaos, Gaia, Eros)\n“If they ever put together a new Library of Alexandria, Homage to Pythagoras should be required reading.” ( 
John Anthony West, author of The Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt)\n“With its testimony to number and pattern at the heart of nature and of the arts, the Pythagorean tradition will always be a guiding light to Western culture.” ( 
Joscelyn Godwin, author of The Golden Thread: The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Traditions) 
 Review 
“If they ever put together a new Library of Alexandria, Homage to Pythagoras should be required reading.” -- John Anthony West, author of The Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt\n“With its testimony to number and pattern at the heart of nature and of the arts, the Pythagorean tradition will always be a guiding light to Western culture.”\n-- Joscelyn Godwin, author of The Golden Thread: The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Traditions 
 About the Author 
Anne Macaulay (1921–1998) lived in Scotland where, for many years, she studied the origins of the alphabet, the history of the guitar, the figure of Apollo, and other mysteries surrounding Pythagoreanism. She settled in Balerno near Edinburgh and traveled widely, surveying megalithic sites around the world. In 1994, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the University of Edinburgh. Mrs. Macaulay lectured at RILKO (Research into Lost Knowledge Orga­nization) and was a trustee of the Salisbury Center in Edinburgh.\nChristopher Bamford is Editor in Chief Emeritus for SteinerBooks (Anthroposophic Press) and its imprints. A Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association, he has lectured, taught, and written widely on Western spiritual and esoteric traditions. He is the author of 
The Voice of the Eagle: The Heart of Celtic Christianity (1990) and 
An Endless Trace: The Passionate Pursuit of Wisdom in the West (2003). He has also translated and edited numerous books, including 
Celtic Christianity: Ecology and Holiness (1982); 
Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science; and 
The Noble Traveller: The Life and Writings of O. V. de L. Milosz (all published by Lindisfarne Books). HarperSanFrancisco included an essay by Mr. Bamford in its anthology 
Best Spiritual Writing 2000.\nKathleen Raine (1908–2003) graduated from Cambridge University in 1929. She became one of English literature's most remarkable twentyth-century practitioners. Although she considered herself primarily a poet, she was also a prolific writer of prose, an astute critic, and a distinguished scholar. Her poems and essays assert that true poetry is an expression of the spirit, the unfolding of a reality often hidden by the material appearance of things. Raine wrote a three-part autobiography (1973-1977), founded the magazine 
Temenos in 1981 to articulate her views, and in 1990 established the Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, a teaching academy that stressed a multistranded universalist philosophy. A professor at Ca

Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science

History

RAINE, Kathleen

Critchlow, Keith

BAMFORD, CHRISTOPHER

Macaulay, Anne

Robert, Lawlor

Ancient Civilizations

Die Lichtfänger: Die gemeinsame Geschichte von Licht und Bewusstsein

Medical Books

Freies Geistesleben GmbH

Aufbruch ins Unerwartete: Meditation als Erkenntnisweg. [hardcover] Zajonc, Arthur [Oct 01, 2009] ... 377252284X

Aufbruch ins Unerwartete: Meditation als Erkenntnisweg.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Atrapando la luz / Catching the light (Spanish Edition)

Foreign Language Study & Reference

Editorial Andre's Bello Argentina

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Zajonc, Arthur. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Zajonc, Arthur