A Chaos of Delight: Science, Religion and Myth and the Shaping of Western Thought

A Chaos of Delight is a comprehensive guided tour into the succession of ways human beings have constructed order and meaning about the world, and their place in it. The book examines how various cultures, from the early Sumerians, Egyptians and Greeks to contemporary Western society, have looked at the same phenomena and devised totally different worldviews, ranging from deep mythopoeic supernatural reflections to purely physical ones. One unifying feature that stands out above all others as the most certain thing about human knowledge in general, and science, religion or myth in particular, is its uncertainty. From a cross-cultural perspective, one's religious views are framed by articles of faith derived from history, and within their highly prescribed boundaries, there exists a system that is just as dynamic as modern-day science. In profoundly subtle ways, the journey challenges the reader to confront their own worldview, and to better understand its origins and development through the history of ideas. An important lesson for the third millennium is that diversity of opinion is healthy and essential; it is blind acceptance of dogma that impedes understanding and progress.