Dr. Fred Alan Wolf is a strange beast. Leading theoretical quantum-physicist or a New Age leader?
     Anyone who has seen the films ‘The Secret’ or ‘What the Bleep Do We Know!?’, will know the wily, white-haired quantum mechanics expert and his highly excitable delivery about the nature of reality and how we perceive it.
     In this, his first audio-book originally released in 2005, Wolf, or as the character he has created, Dr. Quantum, takes us on a head-tripping ride from the birth of Quantum Theory, to the nature of the soul, heaven, hell and almost all points in between, to tell us that everything we do, think, see, and hear in life, is completely under our control.
     This 4 CD set is broken up into 4 sessions, each exploring different aspects of quantum theory, the human soul, Quantum Heaven and Quantum Hell and how you can open your soul to the world and change things for the better (or worse).
     Session 1, Riding Your Spiritual Elephant, opens the series with the idea of the ‘Spiritual Elephant’ that we all have. Wolf tells us that we each have a ‘Spiritual Elephant’, much like an elephant standing in our rooms, that we choose to ignore or to ride.
     The Elephant, as Wolf puts it, is the essential ‘YOU’ that we all have inside us. We also have a ‘rider’, which is our ego, a construct of our environment, our history and what we tell ourselves we are.
     Most of us are the riders of our elephants, concentrating and counting on our fragile egos to get us through life. Wolf gives a successful analogy of this concept with the concept of acting, specifically to the well known story about Dustin Hoffman and Sir Lawrence Olivier on the set of the 1976 thriller, ‘Marathon Man’.
     After seeing Hoffman run around a city block a few times before a scene set just after his character has been for a run, Olivier ask the young Hoffman, ‘Why don’t you just act?’
     Most of us are method actors, getting into the roles our ego supplies us with the utmost gusto, but in order to reach a deeper plane, deeper than the shallow ego, Wolf asks us to just act the part more. The more we ‘act’ towards situations in our lives, the easier it becomes to be comfortable with the ups and downs in our everyday lives. Being able to ride your spiritual elephant more effectively brings about more integration between the rider (ego) and the elephant (YOU).
     In session 2, Quantum Heaven and Quantum Hell, Wolf delves into Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, and how it justifies the fact that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people and vice versa.
     Because Quantum Physics is based largely on the idea that everything is indeterminate, it stands to reason that what ever we do, say, think and feel, has both positive and negative connotations. That there is no good without evil, no up without down, no love without hate, is what gives our reality its playful nature, and it really is up to the individual on how they would like to play with it.
     We are responsible for our own heaven and hells, and as Wolf puts it, “you are perpetuating as much evil as you are good.” A strange idea to come to terms with, but with a little self-reflection, anyone from the highest priest to the lowliest terrorist can attest to its truth.
     In session 3, Wolf delves into the ‘what is’ of the soul. He quotes William Blake in saying that the soul is more a part of the immaterial realm than the everyday reality our bodies are subject to.
     He then goes on to espouse the advantages of hell for the soul, using the 1990 Adrian Lyne film ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ as reference. In the film the main character is a man going through an alternate hell-life, and while confusing and terrifying, the soul needs to be cleansed of human attachment before it can move on to another body or be at one with everything.
     In session 4, Wolf explains, via some light Buddhism and the basics of quantum physics, how to create one’s own reality.
     According to Wolf, “out-of-the-body” is the soul’s natural state, as shown by most people who have been through near death and out-of-the-body experiences, and who claim that instead of feeling scared, they feel the calmest they have ever felt.
     For another example of this, Wolf tells us to simply look at children. He says that it is here that you can see a soul slowly getting used to being housed in a body. The fragile first steps, the ever-increasing comprehension of the reality around it, getting used to and learning how to use human emotions. To Wolf, this is a clear example of a soul getting used to a body.
     Much like his appearance on ‘The Secret’, Wolf says that positive thinking and complete mind-full-ness are the keys to a happy reality.
     Wolf treads some serious ground in this audio book. His scientific credentials are never in doubt, but when it comes to the spiritual side Wolf tends to over-simplify matters and never comes across as clear as he does with his scientific approach.
     However, his excitable delivery is refreshing for the subject matter, and it is very easy to get caught up with his enthusiasm. As entertaining as he is, things can literally fly over your head at a moment’s notice and I found myself hitting the rewind button more often than not.
     Stick to ‘The Secret’ and ‘What the Bleep Do We Know!?’ for a nice introduction to Wolf and his ideas, but if you are ready to take the next step with Dr. Quantum, this may just be the ticket.