T he very title of this book appears to be an oxymoron – that is two terms that seem to contradict each other. On the surface, nothing is farther apart than “spiritual” and “technology” – just like the alternate words of religion and science.
      Most of our current problems such as global warming, poverty and medical treatments, can be traced to the root attitude that if we didn’t employ all the modern machinery of civilisation, we would still be living in caves and starving to death.
      The antipathy of dangerously opposed opposites can be found in very ancient times and is expressed symbolically in the Chinese yin/yang symbol, where yousee a white circle in a black ellipse, and a black circle in a white ellipse. Thus each opposite contains the seed of the other – so technology has to have a touch of the spiritual, whether science likes it or not.
      The notion of sacred architecture, when we reflect on it, is the marriage of purely mathematical concepts and everyday physics to create something awe-inspiring that will last the ages. Chartres is an example of this and so are the structures of ancient Egypt.
      This book’s opening section on quantum peculiarities is necessary for us to understand how the secret knowledge of ancient Egypt, and indeed the drama of early Christianity, encapsulate these concepts in symbolic form, just as sacred architecture presents the spiritual in tangible structures.
      It all sounds very complex and abstruse, but we accept without thinking why scenery, mountains, musical notes, and structures in paintings can move us profoundly. Some pieces of music have the power to actually push people towards suicide.
      The decor in hospitals, income tax offices, and courthouses can be very depressing and add to the problems of the individual waiting or working within. Film makers, artists and musicians are masters at evoking any mood through their art. The ancients knew this perfectly well and were more advanced than we are in recognising and employing such techniques.
      Edward Malkowski takes us on a tour from the very dawn of humanity, through ancient Egypt, Greece and the beginnings of Christianity to show how religion and science evolved into apparent separate entities, only to start converging again in the early 20th century.
      The biblical parable of the prodigal son is cited as an example of how the spirit within transcends the ego, and produces “the kingdom of God within.” The Victorians could not comprehend the totality of Egyptian civilisation, except in material terms, as they were so busily engaged in developing science and machinery.
      In a concluding chapter, the notion that some advanced physical technology may have come into being in the distant past is proposed.
      There are the strange glyphs above an archway in Abydos that surfaced in 1998. They look like an attack helicopter and two other aircraft of modern design. Three explanations have been promulgated – one being that weather and erosion created the illusion of machines, but there seems to be very little wear and tear on the glyphs in question.
      The second explanation is that the Egyptians utilising their knowledge of consciousness penetrated the veil of time to see into the future. And the third is that they or someone else built something advanced many centuries ago. The second explanation seems to be the most convincing.
      The role consciousness plays is summed up precisely by the author:
      “If the universe is all there is, what meaning would it have if it were not aware? Would the universe still exist if we were not present to perceive it? Questions such as these, spurred by some of the latest research into quantum physics, echo concepts from texts whose origins may be as old as mankind itself.”
      Ironically, this can be applied to the individual as well ­– would our own personal world exist if we died and were no longer around to observe it? It seems a ridiculous question to ask, but philosophically, it is a matter of utmost importance.
      The wisdom of the past expressed symbolically isn’t totally confined to Egypt. The Dogon appear to have had an innate knowledge of modern scientific concepts expressed symbolically, such as knowledge of the star Sirius as a binary system, when they didn’t even have telescopes.
      In The Spiritual Technology of Ancient Egypt, Malkowski gives us plenty to think about without being overly complicated in his approach. He concludes that consciousness is the only way to explain how matter became organised and animate. Totally convincing and meticulously researched.