MAGIC, GOD AND QUANTUM PHYSICS

WE should get one thing straight at the beginning - although this book is written by a respected member of the scientific community, it is not a book about science. It is about those aspects of philosophy and theology that border on the scientific enterprise, which is quite a different thing. The book's title derives from Edward Harrison's central thesis - that there is a distinction between the Universe and various universes.

The Universe is the real thing - everything that exists. It is also, according to Mr. Harrison, forever unknown and unknowable. A universe, on the other hand, is the conception people have of the makeup of the Universe at any given time -what most scientists would call a model of the Universe. It is this distinction between the Universe and our ideas about it that occupies the first section of the book. Mr. Harrison, who is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, sees human history as a long succession of universes, each representing a different mask behind which the true Universe hides.

The most primitive mask is the magical universe. This is a universe pervaded by spirits, a world in which everything is alive. As human society advanced, this mask was replaced by the mythic universe, in which a single god or a hierarchy of gods created and rule the world. The Greeks developed what Mr. Harrison calls the geometric universe, with the earth surrounded by crystal spheres carrying the planets and stars on their courses. St. Augustine tried to replace this mask with a more religious one - a universe with a Christian God watching over and imparting meaning to everything. Finally, this religious mask was replaced by the clockwork universe of Isaac Newton and the Enlightenment scientists, a universe that may or may not have been initiated by a god but is now ticking along according to natural laws that can be discovered by the human mind. The modern mask of the universe, the one to which Mr. Harrison devotes the greatest amount of time, is one characterized by unseen atoms, unseeable quarks and distorted space-time.

The point of this long, scholarly review of the various masks the Universe has worn is that all of them are imperfect. Mr. Harrison argues that the true Universe Continued on next page will always wear a mask. He then goes on to argue that a similar situation exists for God and god, the latter being defined as humanity's notion of God at any given time. In a chapter appropriately entitled ''The Cloud of Unknowing,'' he uses this similarity as a basis for arguing that these two concepts, Universe and God, are identical and that in seeking the one, people must necessarily seek the other.

What is one to make of a book whose subjects are simultaneously so broad and deep? Mr. Harrison seems bent on discussing questions that have become somewhat unfashionable these days - the existence of God, the problem of free will and determinism, the distinction between brain and mind. I have to admit I enjoyed dusting off these old problems and waltzing them around one more time. In an age where philosophers and social scientists are trying to outdo one another in imitating physicists, it's refreshing and perhaps fitting that a physicist should remind them there are important subjects that can't be approached in this way. M R. HARRISON has done a marvelous piece of historical research, and the book is filled with gems. My favorite was his discussion of an obscure 11th-century Arab science called ibn al-kalam, a variation on the old Greek atomic theory that bears an uncanny poetic resemblance to modern quantum mechanics.

Another example is his introduction of the question of whether the universe is finite or infinite in terms of the ''spear of Archytas.'' Archytas was a contemporary of Plato who approached this problem in a particularly compelling way. If the universe is finite, he said, suppose you stood on the edge and threw a spear. What would happen? He felt the spear couldn't bounce back and concluded the universe had to be infinite. There are echoes of the spear of Archytas in modern cosmological debates. Cosmologists now worry whether the observed expansion of the universe will continue forever; will a galaxy on the edge of the universe continue to fly away from us or some day ''bounce back'' in a reversal of the cosmic expansion?

But if there are such delightful fruits of research here, there also are some serious flaws. The worst has nothing to do with Mr. Harrison's arguments but can be attributed to poor editing. Time and time again, interesting but marginally relevant snippets are allowed to creep into the text, making it very difficult to follow the main points. For example, halfway through a discussion of the nuclear reactions that provide the energy source for stars, Mr. Harrison goes off into a long discussion of why nuclear power should be used to generate power here on earth. As it happens, I agree with his conclusion and think his arguments are cogent and well stated. They just do not belong in a chapter devoted to explaining the mechanics of stars. This sort of thing happens so often that it becomes frustrating. Mr. Harrison has much to say, and these diversions distract one from the main points he is trying to make.

Another problem is that although several chapters are devoted to the modern quantum-mechanical mask of the universe, the main purpose of this book is to explore the theological implications of cosmology, not to teach that science. Consequently, if you have not already acquired some familiarity with modern physics and astronomy, you may find it a bit hard to orient yourself with nothing but the quick introductions given. I

* WOULD have liked to see a little more discussion of the philosophy of modern scientists in terms of the universe-Universe dichotomy. I think most scientists would agree that our present universe will change in the future, but they would argue that each successive mask of the Universe represents a better approximation to the Universe than its predecessor. Even if we can never know the Universe and therefore can't tell how well our universe matches it, we can certainly judge a universe on how well it does what it claims to do. Every universe is supposed to tell us how to use the forces of nature for our own benefit. Does anyone seriously contend that the spells of the shaman can affect the weather or that a natal horoscope can tell you about the state of your health? Modern science, on the other hand, has delivered so well on its promise to show us how to understand and control the forces of nature that its successes have generated a whole series of problems for us to cope with that could not even have been imagined in the past.

''Masks of the Universe'' is a provocative book, and comments like those above will occur repeatedly to the reader. I filled up several pages of notes recording my own reactions, but when I got to the end I realized they were largely irrelevant and tore them up. What, after all, do such details have to do with a closing argument like this: ''Do not deny the gods. Fight the gods if you will. . . . Hate them! Curse them! Though they may crush you, they will not despise you. But if you ignore them, then beware! . . . Only fools deny the hereditary gods that live within us''?

In the end, Mr. Harrison does not speak to us with the voice of science or even the voice of the scientists. He speaks in the language of science about mankind's age-old need to find meaning and order in a seemingly senseless Universe.

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