Sun of God: Consciousness and the Self-Organizing Force That Underlies Everything

by Gregory Sams and Graham Hancock

Book Overview

In Sun of gOd, cultural pioneer and philosopher Gregory Sams takes a fresh look at our solar benefactor. As Sams sees it cultures throughout the ancient world were right to recognize the Sun as a living, conscious being. The implications of a conscious provider in the sky are startling, though often obvious and in harmony with science, logic and common sense.

Sun of gOd explores exciting new ground, adding a crucial piece to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578634547
• ISBN13: 9781578634545
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: Weiser Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Sun as "Other-Than-Human" Person

As a monotheistic animist raised in both my traditional Native American traditions and as a Roman Catholic who finds little to no conflict in those two paths, I applaud Gregory Sams' work on this subject, reminding people of the place of the Sun in the foundations of world religious thought, and that the Sun is a Being in its own right, as the Ojibwa say, "an other-than-human person." Look at all the ancient and modern depictions of the Sun with eyes and a smiling face. Others also are looking at reviving the ancient worldview of the animist in new ways, notably Graham Harvey in his book Animism: Respecting the Living World. Sams is not an academic scholar, but a man searching, recognizing and wrestling with an ancient and forgotten truth...that the Sun is alive, that it has sentience, and is the generator/center of life in our solar system. In trying to find common ground with the mainstream folks who were not brought up in an animist tradition, but are generally JudeoChristian and/or scientific materialists/secularists, he constructs the book as a developing dialogue with self. He considers the implications and looks at religion and history to figure out how the sun lost its age-old status as lifegiver and solar spirit/deity. Sams adds into the mix his thoughts about how science also might work with this idea of the Sun as a Being. Sadly however, in this he is doomed to failure, as the thoroughly immaterial spirit/soul is not liable to study by science, which is thoroughly empirical/materialist. It's apples and hammers :-) Certainly recognizing that recognition of the Sun's role and being as a sentient being is also reflected in the JudeoChristian/ancient Near Eastern idea of the Shining Host of spirits/intelligences/angels/stars arrayed around the Throne of the Most High, YHWH, and joining that with the animist idea that everything is alive, and that life would not be without the light and warmth of the Sun, that is not worship. Just because there is a recognition of spirits ("gods") greater than man does not mean we "worship" them. Do you worship your mother for cooking the meal that sustains you, even though she did not create the food the meal was made from? No, you thank, appreciate, respect, and love her. Catholicism differentiates between "Worship" of God and "veneration" of the saints for example. Animism is not a religion, but a system of thought, that all things are alive and are part of a web of relationship. There really should be no grounds for dissonance between animism and Christianity. The real problem is that in our society, materialism and Christianity have somehow become strange bedfellows. Now, certainly dogmatic materialism will have dissonance with this idea, given that materialists even have trouble granting the concept of souls to animals or trees, and even human beings in some extremist views. How can scientists see the Sun as a spirit when many scientists do not really believe in the existence of ghosts/spirits..

Intelligent Universe

This is a wonderful book that examines the universe and natural world. Does the sun have some form of organizing intelligence? Is it even possible that it is just one big accident? The author first goes into the science of the sun in all of its majesty and complexity. He then asks whether we should not appreciate the sun for its life giving energy, and not take it for granted. The book both examines the wisdom of the ancients for their natural reverence for the heavenly bodies and their understanding of nature having "spirit", and also discusses the most modern science that gives the reader a sense of wonder about the miracle of life itself. He takes many interesting side roads drawing the reader into wondering if ant colonies and bee hives might have a collective consciousness we can observe. Also, might plants have a form of consciousness that we can not comprehend? The book examines these and many more questions that will keep an open minded reader enthralled, while this book will highly offend most fundamentalist religions. I thoroughly enjoyed his interesting and thought provoking examination of different forms of consciousness and how they may relate to each other. I would recommend you buy and read this book, it will change the way you look at the sun and the universe, permanently.

You need to read this book with an open mind.

Most of us grew up brain-washed, led by "schools", media, organized religions, government, and parents (who most often were simply passing on what they were taught). This is one of the best books I've ever read and each day I looked forward to reading additional chapters. I read a number of metaphysical books years ago and none made more sense (in an easy to understand way) than Sun of gOd. There is SO much yet to be discovered, learned, and explored, now and long after we are gone. Think about all that has happened in the last 50 years, or your own time here on Earth. Would you have believed it possible as a child? There is more right now to understand, as well as ahead. This book is a worthy read.

great contribution to conscious evolution

"People might look at you strangely if you tell them you believe that the Sun thinks and that it truly is a celestial being..." So begins Son of gOd, a journey with author Gregory Sams into the mysteries of the universe, from microbes and molecules to galaxies and Universal Mind. One might think, from the opening line, that this book was another new age spin on an old theme, and that we were being encouraged to jump on the bandwagon and hail Sun as our divine essence of the month. Not at all; although the marketing for this book gives that spin. Although Sams makes a point of reminding us of the provocative paradigms of our solar origins and our solar-based existence, his view of Sun as "intelligent" or conscious of itself and its place in the Universe is no less radical than the idea that Earth is an organizing, interdependent living system. His point is that to omit Sun from our consideration as having and being part of a conscious universe is a strange omission and one that he intends to illuminate. And he does, with engaging depth and reverence. Sun of gOd, however, is epic in scope and subject, diving into such unruly subjects as creative intelligence from a `bottoms up" perspective, free will, notions of divinity, the four elements, electro-magnetism, the intelligence of light and photons, God, feedback, gods, microbes; in short the self-organizing force that seems to be apparent everywhere. Sun of gOd is wise, persuasively reasoned, and thoughtfully written--not light reading, but rich, provocative, and worth savoring, like a fine meal. By the time we finish, Sams has served up a feast, moving fluidly between the micro and the macro, exploring self-organizing principles within the cosmos with resounding logic and common sense, and making great contributions to the global shift in consciousness. Coined as a "cultural pioneer and bootstrap philosopher" (his life is as unusual and intriguing as this book) author Gregory Sams summarizes Sun of gOd by saying: "If we cannot even understand our own process of intelligence, how can we be expected to understand how trillions and trillions of drifting hydrogen and helium atoms in a pre-stellar cloud managed to engineer their own amazing feat of star formation? But they did it, as we and a bright Universe are able to witness. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge other vehicles of intelligence that are beyond our comprehension, and not just the incomprehensible version that we personally experience and accept. ...This universe is, I would suggest, assembling and utilizing the vibration and intelligence of its myriad individual components and synthesizing them into a unified universal intelligence--a single mind. Whatever the nature of such a Universal Being at the beginning of time, it is now infinitely more substantial, evolved, enlightened and enlightening than the infant universe. And we are all playing a part in that cosmic evolution--every star-studded galaxy, each planet, person, butterfly,

A must-read for the unbiased thinker

In a world where blind scientism and slavish creationism have been deadlocked for a long time due to their decidedly limited and un-creative approach to Universal Life, Gregory Sams offers a rare opportunity to emancipate ourselves away from these stale battle lines. This is a very liberating book that enlists the brilliant discoveries of true Science to assist us in intuiting the breathtaking mysteries of Spirit. It shows a way to find our true place in a miraculous and alive universe, with our experience unfettered by prescribed interpretations from either science or religion. Gregory Sams often shares moments of his creative process, he writes with great clarity, generosity and insight, inspiring us to shine our light that much brighter! Cornelis Swarttouw