Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D. is a consulting physicist, writer, and lecturer. He travels throughout the United States and the world lecturing on the new physics and consciousness and is the author of The Eagle's Quest, Parallel Universes, and The Dreaming Universe. Wolf won the American Book Award for Taking the Quantum Leap. He lives in San Francisco.

His first book SPACETIME AND BEYOND dealt with questions of science and mysticism in a cartoon format, and was described as one of the most important works ever published on cosmic unity, scientific theory, and the nature of consciousness. His second book, TAKING THE QUANTUM LEAP was the recipient of the American Book Award for Science softcovers in 1982 and one reviewer said, "The prose is every bit as exhilarating as Gamow's and exhibits the same passion to explain--humorously." His third book, STAR WAVE: MIND, CONSCIOUSNESS AND QUANTUM PHYSICS, was critically acclaimed on the front page of the New York Times book Review as "a brilliant original leap into the future." His fourth book, THE BODY QUANTUM was described as "introducing a new model into medicine that may allow us to re­envision the body." His fifth book, PARALLEL UNIVERSES: THE SEARCH FOR OTHER WORLDS, has been described by Publisher's Weekly as "A wild intellectual ride . . . An enthralling read." The San Francisco Chronicle­Examiner said that it had "Amazing speculations on time travel, the nature of reality and existence, and the role of consciousness." New Age Journal described it as "An outrageous ride along the frontiers of science." His sixth book, THE EAGLE'S QUEST: A PHYSICIST'S SEARCH FOR TRUTH IN THE HEART OF THE SHAMANIC WORLD describes in a visionary autobiography style, the author's interactions with shamans the world over and brings to bear the author's insights into the overlap of the modern physicist's view of reality with the shaman's. The author had actually participated with several new world shamans in sometimes painful and illuminating ceremonies with them. His seventh book, THE DREAMING UNIVERSE published in May 1994 has been described as "The most important book on the nature and significance of dreams since Freud's THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS." It describes a new vision of self in the universe arising from matter dreaming.

The Spiritual Universe
Why do we believe in the soul? It is simply the fact that each of us is aware that we are aware, and, even more, aware that we are responsible for our lives and the lives of others. This responsibility that we may call the "essential goodness of humanity" is reflected to us by the incessant knowledge of our own mortality. We know that our actions can heal, harm, enliven, or destroy other life forms.

In brief, we are aware of our souls because we are aware of our impending deaths and our sense of "goodness." Unlike other scientists who write about the subject of the soul but miss dealing with the essential mysteries of death and goodness the book addresses them directly and in a new light.

Faced with many moral and ethical dilemmas, including the right to life and the death penalty, it offers a new vision, based on quantum physics and modern science in general, of evidence for the physical presence of the soul. It shows that the gap separating modern science and current spiritual thinking is actually mistaken. It shows, how the soul, the self, and the personality while related conceptually, are actually different.

Several questions are finally answered. Did we ever in the past lose our souls? Can a soul actually leave a body? Can the soul be polluted? Can it be enlightened or is it already enlightened? Is it in danger and subject to the forces of good and evil? Does the soul we refer to so glibly really exist? Is it something as tangible as physical energy or matter? Does it literally leave the body at death and travel to another location? If so where does it go? Or are these conceptual considerations of the soul too literalistic, too simplistic to be taken seriously? Can we prove the existence of the soul once and for all? Can we scientifically prove that it does exist? Are we faced with total and complete oblivion at death? What is the soul's behavior in matter? What is its behavior in the human body? In an animal body? Do dogs and other animals have souls? Does a single cell have one? What happens to the soul after death of the body? Is thesoul, if it exists, responsible for a human being's actions? If it is not responsible then who or what is?

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