Dear Friends,
It seems to me, we are stuck, as a society, scientifically and politically, until we manage to harmonize religion with science. It is not such a stretch, but there are too many with a vested interest in keeping our outdated paradigm, where science and religion are at odds. A more mature view of both, would be to integrate them by recognizing there are things that science cannot teach us, and probably never will. Truths so deep they only lend themselves to the narrative format. Truths that can only be told by religion. Insight into the complex systems that we live in. Science is constantly looking for the Mount Fuji answer. The simplified equation that solves all our problems. Complexity does not lend itself to simple answers, no, reality is far too messy for that. To solve some problems… we need religion.
Science has answered questions that religion couldn’t and never could. Because at their cores they are utter opposites. While they both seek truth, the means, method and truths sought, are far different. Science is sensory while religion and indeed morality is intuitive. Morality and religion arise from the collective unconscious. They hint at truths just out of sight, hearing and touch, yet those truths are every bit as profound as Einstein’s Relativity and Special Relativity. More so if you count the effect on human lives. People need something to believe in, and since science has answered questions religion couldn’t, many worship science. That is obviously foolhardy, because science is all about rationally sensing the universe, and not about understanding it on an intuitive spiritual level.
Science has proved itself to be a paradigm change in the way we view the world, but there are other equally valid ways of seeing it. The capitalist thinks within a market oriented mental framework, as the scientist uses the scientific method and the lawyer thinks like a lawyer. None is more valid than the other, because we live in a complex system, and to manage the changing landscapes each of us travels through, we must use the most effective path. The scientist uses the scientific method, the lawyer the legal mindset, as the electrician thinks in electrical terms and uses electrician jargon. To believe that the scientific method is the only valid way to see the world, then use Cartesian skepticism to discount the religious, is like when Mo Ti wanted music outlawed. The sensory at war with intuition.
God may exist and he may not exist, moreover, God may exist but be far different than what people envision him to be, nevertheless, our religious texts reveal deep understandings. Concepts who’s truth is only revealed when intentionally abused. Thinking pragmatically, a form of the scientific method, when looking at the twentieth century’s attempts to escape religion, human suffering was manufactured on an industrial scale. Moreover, it is in our nature to believe in something. When our religion is removed, we fill that void with absurdity. As we see stone aged beliefs come back into vogue. Moreover, those who have neolithic ideas, deride Christianity, as an outmoded iron age device. All the while lacking the self awareness to see the irony in their statements, attitude and “insight.”
If we manage to reconcile Christianity, Judaism and the other major religions, with science, it would open up the next age of human understanding. Instead of applying the scientific method to religion and morality, why not keep science in its lane? Part of this integration is to have morality play a bigger part in science though. Not all knowledge is useful nor helpful. Some is corrosive to the psyche, soul and humanity. The flavor of snorted heroin for example. Other knowledge is uplifting, inspiring and useful. The insight that religion gives us allows us to discern the difference. Instead of wasting time researching that which lowers us, why not spend that talent learning something, uplifting? Efficiency is only one example of how humanity would advance… if we could harmonize science with religion,
Sincerely,
John Pepin
