David Peat, scientist, writer, and cultural explorer, is more interested in finding a good question than in discovering an ultimate answer. Trained as a theoretical physicist, Peat's intellectual independence and natural curiosity took the reigns of his career, leading him far beyond the university classroom and the research laboratory. He was a close associate, and the official biographer, of the renowned physicist and visionary, David Bohm, a follower of analytical psychologist Carl Jung, a denizen of the London art scene, and an enthusiast of the wisdom of Native American elders.
In this talk, recorded live at the Foxhollow Forum in western Massachussetts, Peat discusses his long-standing fascination with the phenomenon of synchronicity, those rare and fortuitous occurrences that can suddenly imbue life with unexpected meaning and harmony. As the title of Peat's book on the subject, Synchronicity: The Bridge between Mind and Matter, indicates, synchronous events reveal what many scientists intuit but can't quite prove: that there is an underlying order in the universe which the laws of causality can't fully account for. Elucidating and punctuating his talk with personal recollections and anecdotes about famous physicists, philosophers, poets, and artists, Peat's remarkable life in many ways exemplifies his belief in the undeniable interdependence between matter and spirit.
BIO
David Peat is a British-born physicist noted for his research in solid state physics and the foundations of quantum theory. A prodigious writer, he has to his credit numerous scientific papers, radio and film scripts, and is the author, singly or in collaboration, of over twenty books on topics ranging from superstrings to synchronicity. His most recent book, Pathways of Chance, is autobiographical and includes an explanation of the many diverse ideas which have shaped his life. Today, Peat maintains an active international schedule of lecturing, teaching, and consulting, and is the founding director of the Pari Center for New Learning in the Tuscan hill town of Pari near Siena.
