Fritjof Capra Quotes

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• Ecology and spirituality are fundamentally connected, because deep ecological awareness, ultimately, is spiritual awareness.

  Fritjof Capra

  Spiritual, Awareness, Ecology

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• The more we study the major problems of our time, the more we come to realise that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are interconnected and interdependent.

  Fritjof Capra

  Mean, Humanity, Study

  Fritjof Capra (1996). “The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems”, Doubleday

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• The more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be.

  Fritjof Capra

  Ecosystems, Resilience, Networking

  Fritjof Capra (1996). “The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems”, Doubleday

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• In the end, the aggressors always destroy themselves, making way for others who know how to cooperate and get along. Life is much less a competitive struggle for survival than a triumph of cooperation and creativity.

  Fritjof Capra

  Struggle, Creativity, Survival

  Fritjof Capra (1996). “The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems”, Doubleday

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• Shallow ecology is anthropocentric, or human-centred. It views humans as above or outside nature, as the source of all value, and ascribes only instrumental, or 'use', value to nature. Deep ecology does not separate humans - or anything else - from the natural environment. It does see the world not as a collection of isolated objects but as a network of phenomena that are fundamentally interconnected and interdependent. Deep ecology recognizes the intrinsic value of all human beings and views humans as just one particular strand in the web of life.

  Fritjof Capra

  Views, Web Of Life, Doe

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• Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated "building blocks," but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitute the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object can be understood only in terms of the object's interaction with the observer.

  Fritjof Capra

  Nature, Block, Science

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• Understanding of life begins with the understanding of patterns.

  Fritjof Capra

  Understanding, Patterns

  Fritjof Capra, Pier Luigi Luisi (2014). “The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”, p.94, Cambridge University Press

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• The mystic and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to Atman, the reality within.

  Fritjof Capra

  Science, Reality, Views

  Fritjof Capra, Pier Luigi Luisi (2014). “The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”, p.286, Cambridge University Press

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• The new paradigm may be called a holistic world view, seeing the world as an integrated whole rather than a dissociated collection of parts. It may also be called an ecological view, if the term "ecological" is used in a much broader and deeper sense than usual. Deep ecological awareness recognizes the fundamental interdependence of all phenomena and the fact that, as individuals and societies we are all embedded in (and ultimately dependent on) the cyclical process of nature.

  Fritjof Capra

  Views, Fundamentals, World

  Fritjof Capra, Pier Luigi Luisi (2014). “The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”, p.12, Cambridge University Press

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• We do not need to invent sustainable human communities. We can learn from societies that have lived sustainably for centuries. We can also model communities after nature's ecosystems, which are sustainable communities of plants, animals, and microorganisms. Since the outstanding characteristic of the biosphere is its inherent ability to sustain life, a sustainable human community must be designed in such a manner that its technologies and social institutions honor, support, and cooperate with nature's inherent ability to sustain life.

  Fritjof Capra

  Life, Nature, Learning

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• Whenever we look at life, we look at networks.

  Fritjof Capra

  Looks

  Fritjof Capra, Pier Luigi Luisi (2014). “The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision”, p.95, Cambridge University Press

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• Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science but man needs both.

  Fritjof Capra

  Men, Doe, Needs

  "The Tao of Physics". Book by Fritjof Capra, 1975.

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• The fact that modern physics, the manifestation of an extreme specialization of the rational mind, is now making contact with mysticism, the essence of religion and manifestation of an extreme specialization of the intuitive mind, shows very beautifully the unity and complementary nature of the rational and intuitive modes of consciousness; of the yang and the yin.

  Fritjof Capra

  Essence, Unity, Intuition

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• In ordinary life, we are not aware of the unity of all things, but divide the world into separate objects and events. This division is useful and necessary to cope with our everyday environment, but it is not a fundamental feature of reality. It is an abstraction devised by our discriminating and categorising intellect. To believe that our abstract concepts of separate 'things' and 'events' are realities of nature is an illusion.

  Fritjof Capra

  Believe, Reality, Unity

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• In Hinduism, Shiva the Cosmic Dancer, is perhaps the most perfect personification of the dynamic universe. Through his dance, Shiva sustains the manifold phenomena in the world, unifying all things by immersing them in his rhythm and making them participate in the dance - a magnificent image of the dynamic unity of the Universe.

  Fritjof Capra

  Dance, Perfect, Unity

  Fritjof Capra (2010). “The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism”, p.174, Shambhala Publications

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• Mystics understand the roots of the Tao but not its branches; scientists understand its branches but not its roots. Science does not need mysticism and mysticism does not need science; but man needs both.

  Fritjof Capra

  Science, Men, Roots

  "The Tao of Physics". Book by Fritjof Capra, 1975.

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• Our Western science, ever since the 17th century, has been obsessed with the notion of control, of man dominating nature. This obsession has led to disaster.

  Fritjof Capra

  Men, Obsession, Obsessed

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• A diverse ecosystem will also be resilient, because it contains many species with overlapping ecological functions that can partially replace one another. When a particular species is destroyed by a severe disturbance so that a link in the network is broken, a diverse community will be able to survive and reorganize itself... In other words, the more complex the network is, the more complex its pattern of interconnections, the more resilient it will be.

  Fritjof Capra

  Ecosystems, Broken, Community

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• The creativity and adaptability of life expresses itself through the spontaneous emergence of novelty at critical points of instability. Every human organization contains both designed and emergent structures. The challenge is to find the right balance between the creativity of emergence and the stability of design.

  Fritjof Capra

  Creativity, Organization, Design

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• One of the key insights of the systems approach has been the realization that the network is a pattern that is common to all life. Wherever we see life, we see networks.

  Fritjof Capra

  Keys, Realization, Patterns

  "The Hidden Connections". Book by Fritjof Capra, 2002.

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• Whenever the essential nature of things is analysed by the intellect, it must seem absurd or paradoxical. This has always been recognized by the mystics, but has become a problem in science only very recently.

  Fritjof Capra

  Science, Essentials, Problem

  "The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism". Book by Fritjof Capra, 1975.

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• Hundreds of years ago, Indian artists created visual images of dancing Shivas in a beautiful series of bronzes. In our time, physicists have used the most advanced technology to portray the patterns of the cosmic dance. The metaphor of the cosmic dance thus unifies ancient mythology, religious art and modern physics.

  Fritjof Capra

  Beautiful, Religious, Art

  "The Tao of Physics". Book by Fritjof Capra, 1975.

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• When carbon (C), Oxygen (o) and hydrogen (H) atoms bond in a certain way to form sugar, the resulting compound has a sweet taste. The sweetness resides neither in the C, nor in the O, nor in the H; it resides in the pattern that emerges from their interaction. It is an emergent property. Moreover, strictly speaking, is not a property of the chemical bonds. It is a sensory experience that arises when the sugar molecules interact with the chemistry of our taste buds, which in turns causes a set of neurons to fire in a certain way. The experience of sweetness emerges from that neural activity.

  Fritjof Capra

  Sweet, Science, Fire

  David Diamond, Fritjof Capra (2007). “Theatre for Living: The Art and Science of Community-based Dialogue”, p.169, Trafford Publishing

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• At the deepest level of ecological awareness you are talking about spiritual awareness. Spiritual awareness is an understanding of being imbedded in a larger whole, a cosmic whole, of belonging to the universe.

  Fritjof Capra

  Spiritual, Talking, Understanding

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• The basic pattern of life is a network. Whenever you see life, you see networks. The whole planet, what we can term 'Gaia' is a network of processes involving feedback tubes. Humans are part of the larger whole, Gaia.

  Fritjof Capra

  Patterns, Life Is, Feedback

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