What if our best ideas aren’t really ours? Mark Booth believes they swim into our minds from a universal intelligence, and that the great scientists of the 20th century knew it. In this conversation with Rick Rubin, he explores the mystical side of modern physics, the ancient mystery schools, and why the materialist worldview leaves out so much of what we experience.
Mark Booth is an author, editor, and publisher who also writes under the pen name Jonathan Black. He studied philosophy and theology at Oxford and built a publishing career working with authors including Rupert Sheldrake, Graham Hancock, and Lorna Byrne. His bestselling The Secret History of the World explores history through esoteric and mystical traditions. His latest book, The Secret History of the Universe, examines the relationship between spiritual belief and modern science through the lives and ideas of pioneering scientists.
In this episode, Mark and Rick discuss:
– Why Isaac Newton was called "the last of the magicians"
– Nikola Tesla’s visions, his sensitivity, and the pigeon he loved
– How Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project brought the supernatural into human affairs
– The initiation rites of the ancient mystery schools and where baptism comes from
– Wolfgang Pauli, the "Pauli effect," and his obsession with the number 137
– Why the fine structure constant also matters in the Kabbalah
– Whether math is invented or discovered
– Publishing Donovan, Pete Townshend, and Eric Clapton
– Meeting Lorna Byrne and commissioning Angels in My Hair
0:00:00 – Mark Booth
0:08:05 – Angels, AI & Universal Intelligence
0:15:13 – The New High Strangeness
0:19:48 – Newton, Tesla & the Mystical Scientists
0:24:12 – Writing The Secret History of the World
0:31:01 – Quantum Physics, Oppenheimer & the Bomb
0:40:14 – Inside the Ancient Mystery Schools
0:46:40 – Wolfgang Pauli, Jung & the Number 137
0:55:38 – Materialism, Love & Meaning
1:02:59 – Science, Philosophy & the Math of the Universe
1:10:54 – Publishing Rock Stars & Angels in My Hair
The Secret History of the Universe
Book US: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-history-of-the-universe-how-ancient-wisdom-made-the-modern-world
Book UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-History-Universe-Ancient-Wisdom/dp/1918107017
Mark Booth aka Jonathan Black
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesecrethistoryof
More: https://www.markboothauthor.com/links
Works mentioned:
The Secret History of the World: https://www.markboothauthor.com/books
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