Ervin László (; born 12 June 1932) is a Hungarian

philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

systems theorist Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or human-made. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structu ...

, integral theorist, originally a classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

. He is an advocate of the theory of quantum consciousness.

Early life and education

László was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, the son of a shoe manufacturer and a mother who played the piano; László himself started playing the piano when he was five years old, and gave his first piano concert with the

Budapest Symphony Orchestra The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known earlier as Budapest Symphony Orchestra) ( hu, Magyar Rádió Szimfonikus Zenekara; MRZE) is a Hungarian radio orchestra. It is part of the Hungarian Television and Broadcasting Organisation, Magya ...

at the age of nine. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he moved to the United States.

Career

László is a visiting faculty member at the Graduate Institute Bethany. He has published about 75 books and over 400 papers, and is editor of ''World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution''. László participated in the

Stock Exchange of Visions {{Unreferenced, date=August 2007 The Stock Exchange of Visions is a project initiated in 2006 by Fabrica, Benetton's research center. It gathers visionaries from diverse nationalities and cultures, who hail from a wide range of specialties, to prov ...

project in 2006. In 2010, he was elected an external member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

. In Hungary, the minister of environment appointed Laszlo as one of the leaders of the ministry's campaign concerning

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

Awards and honors

In 2002, László received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the

University of Pécs The University of Pécs (UP; Hungarian: ''Pécsi Tudományegyetem''; PTE) is an institution of higher education in Hungary. The modern university was established in 1912 but has its roots in the medieval university founded in Pécs in 1367 by ...

Personal life

László married Carita Jägerhorn af Spurila 16 November 1956. One of their two sons is Alexander Laszlo.

Work

General Evolutionary Research Group

In 1984, László was co-founder with

Béla H. Bánáthy Béla Heinrich Bánáthy ( hu, Bánáthy Béla; December 1, 1919 – September 4, 2003) was a Hungarian-American linguist, and Professor at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley. He is known as founder of the White Stag Leadership Developme ...

Riane Eisler Riane Tennenhaus Eisler (born 22 July 1931) is an Austrian-born American systems scientist and author who writes about the effect of gender politics historically on society. She is most known for her 1987 book ''The Chalice and the Blade'', in ...

, John Corliss,

Francisco Varela Francisco Javier Varela García (September 7, 1946 – May 28, 2001) was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, cybernetician, and neuroscientist who, together with his mentor Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesi ...

, Vilmos Csanyi, Gyorgy Kampis,

David Loye David Elliot Loye (April 26, 1925 – January 25, 2022) was an American author, psychologist, and evolutionary systems scientist. Early life Born in Palo Alto, California, Loye served in World War II in the Navy under the writer Walter Karig ...

Jonathan Schull Jonathan may refer to: *Jonathan (name), a masculine given name Media * ''Jonathan'' (1970 film), a German film directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer * ''Jonathan'' (2016 film), a German film directed by Piotr J. Lewandowski * ''Jonathan'' (2018 ...

and

Eric Chaisson Eric J. Chaisson (pronounced ''chase-on'', born on October 26, 1946 in Lowell, Massachusetts) is an American astrophysicist known for his research, teaching, and writing on the interdisciplinary science of cosmic evolution. He is a member of the ...

of the initially secret General Evolutionary Research Group. Meeting behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

, the group of scientists and thinkers from a variety of disciplines met in secret. Their goal was to explore whether it might be possible to use the

chaos theory Chaos theory is an interdisciplinary area of scientific study and branch of mathematics focused on underlying patterns and deterministic laws of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, and were once thought to have co ...

to identify a new general theory of evolution that might serve as a path to a better world.

Club of Budapest

In 1993, in response to his experience with the

Club of Rome The Club of Rome is a nonprofit, informal organization of intellectuals and business leaders whose goal is a critical discussion of pressing global issues. The Club of Rome was founded in 1968 at Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, Italy. It consists ...

, he founded the

Club of Budapest Ervin László founded international organization the Club of Budapest in 1993 to expand beyond the scientific purpose of the General Evolution Research Group to try to mobilize the resources of humanity to meet future challenges. The Club of Buda ...

to, in his words, "centre attention on the evolution of human values and consciousness as the crucial factors in changing course — from a race towards degradation, polarization and disaster to a rethinking of values and priorities so as to navigate today's transformation in the direction of humanism, ethics and global sustainability".

Akashic field theory

László's 2004 book, ''Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything'' posits a field of information as the substance of the

cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

. Using the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

term for "

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

", ''

Akasha Akasha or Akash (Sanskrit ' ) means space or sky or æther in traditional Indian cosmology, depending on the religion. The term has also been adopted in Western occultism and spiritualism in the late 19th century. In many modern Indo-Aryan la ...

'', he calls this information field the "Akashic field" or "A-field". He posits that the "quantum vacuum" (see

Vacuum state In quantum field theory, the quantum vacuum state (also called the quantum vacuum or vacuum state) is the quantum state with the lowest possible energy. Generally, it contains no physical particles. The word zero-point field is sometimes used as ...

) is the fundamental energy and information-carrying field that informs not just the current universe, but all universes past and present (collectively, the "

Metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

"). László believes that such an informational field can explain why our universe appears to be

fine-tuned In theoretical physics, fine-tuning is the process in which parameters of a model must be adjusted very precisely in order to fit with certain observations. This had led to the discovery that the fundamental constants and quantities fall into suc ...

so as to form galaxies and conscious lifeforms; and why

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

is an informed, not random, process. He believes that the

hypothesis A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...

solves several problems that emerge from

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, qua ...

, especially nonlocality and

quantum entanglement Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon that occurs when a group of particles are generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of ...

The Immortal Mind

László became interested in the consciousness theories of Anthony Peake, (who in turn was an admirer of László’s work on the Akashic Field). Peake, whose background was in the

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

, had sought to explain the fact that

altered states of consciousness An altered state of consciousness (ASC), also called altered state of mind or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis, though there ...

(such as

deja vu Deja or Dejah may refer to: * Deja News, an archive of messages posted to Usenet discussion groups and its successor ''deja.com'' * Andreas Deja (born 1957), German animator * Dejah Mulipola (born 1998), American softball player * Dejah Thoris, a ...

dreams A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

experiences,

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...

near death experience A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers claim share similar characteristics. When positive, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detac ...

) sometimes seem to feature

precognition Precognition (from the Latin 'before', and 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a ...

and

premonitions Precognition (from the Latin 'before', and 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a ...

. Peake had produced a tentative synthesis of the ancient idea of the "

Eternal Return Eternal return (german: Ewige Wiederkunft; also known as eternal recurrence) is a concept that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur in a self similar form an infinite number of times across i ...

" with modern ideas like the simulation argument, the

holographic universe The holographic principle is an axiom in string theories and a supposed property of quantum gravity that states that the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on a lower-dimensional boundary to the region — such as a l ...

, and the

many worlds interpretation The many-worlds interpretation (MWI) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts that the universal wavefunction is objectively real, and that there is no wave function collapse. This implies that all possible outcomes of quantum m ...

. In Peake’s hypothesis, one lives variants of the same life repeatedly but with the ability to make different choices and experience different outcomes, and a premonition is in fact a memory of the past. Peake became a Consciousness Studies Department Member at Ervin László’s Center For Advanced Studies. László collaborated with Anthony Peake on the book ''The Immortal Mind: Science and the Continuity of Consciousness Beyond the Brain''.

Macroshift theory

In his book ''You Can Change the World'', László promotes a linking of

non-government organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

promoting

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

, using the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

Autobiography

László has written an autobiography entitled ''Simply Genius! And Other Tales from My Life'', published by Hay House Publishers in June 2011.

Reception

In an essay, Stanislav Grof compared László's work to that of

Ken Wilber Kenneth Earl Wilber II (born January 31, 1949) is an American philosopher and writer on transpersonal psychology and his own integral theory, a philosophy which suggests the synthesis of all human knowledge and experience. Life and career Wilbe ...

, saying "Where Wilber outlined what an integral theory of everything should look like, Laszlo actually created one."Grof, "A Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology", 14

Selected publications

*''The Systems View of the World: A Holistic Vision for Our Time,'' Hampton Press, 1996. *''The Whispering Pond: A Personal Guide to the Emerging Vision of Science,'' Element Books, Ltd., 1996. *''Evolution: The General Theory,'' Hampton Press, 1996. *''Macroshift: Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable World,'' Berrett - Koehler, 2001 *''The Connectivity Hypothesis: Foundations of an Integral Science of Quantum, Cosmos, Life, and Consciousness,'' State University of New York Press, 2003. *''You Can Change the World: The Global Citizen's Handbook for Living on Planet Earth: A Report of the Club of Budapest,'' Select Books, 2003. *''Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything,'' Inner Traditions International, 2004. *''Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos : The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality,'' Inner Traditions, 2006. *''The Chaos Point: The World at the Crossroads,'' Hampton Roads, 2006. *''Quantum Shift in the Global Brain: How the New Scientific Reality Can Change Us and our World,'' Inner Traditions, 2008. *''WorldShift 2012: Making Green Business New Politics & Higher Consciousness Work Together,'' McArthur & Company, 2009. *''The Immortal Mind: Science and the Continuity of Consciousness Beyond the Brain,'' with Anthony Peake, Simon and Schuster, 2014. *''The Intelligence of the Cosmos'', Inner Traditions, 2017. *''Reconnecting to the Source: The New Science of Spiritual Experience, How It Can Change You, and How It Can Transform the World'', St. Martin's Essentials, 2020.

References

External links

ervinlaszlo.com - The personal site of Ervin Laszlo

The Life and Career of Dr. Ervin Laszlo
interviewed by David William Gibbons December 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Laszlo, Ervin Hungarian philosophers Philosophers of science Hungarian systems scientists Futurologists Hungarian non-fiction writers Hungarian classical pianists Hungarian male musicians Male classical pianists 1932 births Living people Parapsychologists Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Quantum mind Quantum mysticism advocates Presidents of the International Society for the Systems Sciences