Mr. Norman E. Friedman

Member, and Norman Friedman, former director of Hawthorne-Cedar

The program, taught by educator Norman E. Friedman, is part of the County Executive's Protect the Kids initiative.
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Friedman, former director of Hawthorne-Cedar Knolls, teacher, counselor and mental health professional, is a member of the Protect the Kids Committee and volunteered to conduct the presentations for the county free of charge.

During the 45-minute presentation, Friedman shows parents a non-threatening, common-sense approach to teaching their children about their bodies, and provides age-appropriate lessons and rules for them to follow.

Friedman said he was happy to be able to volunteer his time to work with parents on behalf of the county."I am grateful that Westchester County is giving me this opportunity to reach parents," he said."I have done this presentation for parents many times and parents tell me that they are surprised at how easy it is and how well it works."

During the past 20 years, Mr. Friedman has specialized in child abuse prevention, acting as a consultant to schools and camps throughout Westchester and beyond.He has made presentations on child sexual abuse at dozens of public and private schools, and has advised staff at more than 350 summer camps since 1999.

I'm convinced that even if readers don't understand every sentence or even some paragraphs or chapters, curiosity about the world we live in would draw them to Bridging Science And Spirit by Norman Friedman (Living Lake Books, The Woodbridge Group, 1994).While indeed challenging in its content, this is a book I couldn't put down.
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To build his case, Friedman establishes parallels and interrelationships between the scientific knowledge and theories of physicist David Bohm, an expert in quantum physics; the philosophical insights of Ken Wilbur, a transpersonal psychologist; and the unique perspectives of the entity known as Seth, who was channeled through the author-medium, Jane Roberts.
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Friedman dedicates one-half of his book to three chapters, one each for Bohm, the Perennial Philosophy, and Seth.
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In the second half of the book, Friedman explores more deeply the common elements of the three and then focuses on specific topics, such as space-time creation, the mind-body connection, and what is termed "nonlocality."The last topic is especially important today because this concept turns up more and more in current books.One example is in Dr. Larry Dossey's newest book, Reinventing Medicine (Harper Collins, 1999).

Friedman introduces his work as part of "the ongoing quest to explain reality."He notes, "Although this book is intended for the general reader, some parts will be difficult without a background in science."He encourages readers to "persist" and "skim" if necessary because "allowing yourself to provisionally accept some of these ideas, even if you don't entirely follow the reasoning behind them, may open the way to a general and often deeper understanding later on."I found this to be very true.Even those terms and principles of quantum physics which seemed incomprehensible to me at first, gradually became clearer as Friedman explained, defined, compared, and developed analogies to make the various points clear.Most people who are interested in the body-mind-spirit connection ponder questions about reality, consciousness, and the universe at some time.These themes pervade Friedman's book.He says, "My purpose in this book is to present images of reality that are both illuminated by spirit and grounded in science."Moreover, "At the center of this whole discussion is consciousness."Friedman points out: "We need particles of matter to make up the objects of our everyday world (including us), and we need an object in that very everyday world (us) to define and observe those particles.Observation implies consciousness."Then he explains, "Consciousness was introduced into physics in a sense because relativity theory requires that the frame of reference of the observer be taken into account."
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In each of the author's primary discussions of his three frames of reference – theoretical physics, mysticism, and the paranormal (via a channeled entity) – Friedman introduces the theories, builds definitions of terms unique to that particular source or discipline and begins to make comparisons.Of the three, readers will probably struggle most with the terminology of quantum physics, but the further I read, the more I could understand the terms.

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Friedman says, "That consciousness is the basic constituent of the universe ... is expressed (in different words) by Seth, Bohm, and (physicist) Erwin Schrodinger."
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Friedman also notes, "Seth emphasizes the fact that ALL portions of the universe are conscious, with the planner within the plan."
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Friedman then moves to a discussion of the common elements in the ideas of Bohm, the Perennial Philosophy, and Seth.
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Moreover, "Nature is alive with meaning at all levels," says Friedman.Seth claims, "There is no such thing, in your terms, as nonliving matter."Does this give you something to think about?Have you thanked your car, computer, and appliances lately?

Physics and the Perennial Philosophy share similar thoughts regarding Time.Friedman says, "The important point for our discussion is that space and time are constructs of the mind of the observer rather than inherent in any absolute way in the fabric of reality."
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As Friedman explains, it can lead us toward a new paradigm.A "paradigm" is a kind of pattern that by consensus of a majority, becomes the framework that guides how we (as a group) think about reality.It is a kind of lens that colors how we see the world, in other words, our world view.As each one of us develops greater understanding of who and what we are, our paradigm shifts and takes in greater and wider ranges of focus.It is sort of like clearing our vision.It leads to greater awareness and consciousness.It also strongly suggests purpose in the universe.