Gallileo, Copernicus, Newton, Niels Bohr, Einstein. Their insights shook our notion of who we are and where we stand in the globe and within their wake have gone an uneasy co-existence: science vs. religion, faith vs. empirical enquiry. Which may be the keeper of truth? Which is the true way to understanding reality?

After forty many years of study with some of the greatest scientific minds and a duration of meditative, spiritual and philosophical study, the Dalai Lama presents a brilliant about The World in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality analysis of why both disciplines should be pursued in order to arrive at an entire picture of the reality. Science shows us ways of interpreting the physical globe, while spirituality assists us cope with reality. But the extreme of either is definitely impoverishing. The belief that all is usually reducible to matter and energy leaves out a huge range of human experience: emotions, yearnings, compassion, lifestyle. At the same time, holding unexamined spiritual beliefs-beliefs that are contradicted by proof, reasoning, and experience-can lock us into fundamentalist cages.

Through an examination of Darwinism and karma, quantum mechanics and philosophical insight into the nature of reality, neurobiology and the analysis of consciousness, the Dalai Lama draws significant parallels between contemplative and scientific study of reality. “I believe that spirituality and research are complementary but different investigative techniques using the same objective of seeking the truth,” His Holiness writes. “With this, there is much each may learn from the additional, and together they may contribute to expanding the horizon of individual knowledge and intelligence.”

This breathtakingly personal examination is a tribute towards the Dalai Lama’s teachers-both of science and spirituality. The legacy of the book is definitely a vision of the world where our different methods to understanding ourselves, our universe and each other could be brought jointly in the program of humanity.