One of our readers said that there should be a proper reconciliation of science and spirituality (comments are now available for easy viewing in the side bar). Spirituality can be explained as a study concerning with things of the Spirit. Can spirituality be related to mythology? If we want to, we have to understand what mythology is. Mythology is nothing but a story retold several times over a period of time. Since it is not backed by any theory or analysis it is not a science. Our mind acts on such myths and works at higher levels of consciousness leading to some metaphysical experience. Metaphysics is the philosophical study of being and knowing and is associated with theory and analysis of being and knowing, through the study of mental life which is called psychology, a subject of science. When we talk about spirituality normally we tend to think on the ritual worship.
A person who does all the holy rituals is considered as a spiritually advanced person, which is a wrong notion. This is called devotion. Devotion is nothing but ardent love for some object. Therefore devotion is based upon religions and religious faiths. You cannot love something that does not exist. Therefore you have to have an object to develop your devotion. Devotion is different from spirituality. Spirituality is a subject that purely depends on metaphysics and psychology. As we have seen earlier that both these are subjects of science and not myths. We talk about mind and matter in spirituality, a study of abstract that exists only in the mind; separated from embodiment, being pass over to the concrete, capable of being perceived by the senses; not abstract or imaginary. We do not blindly discuss in spirituality. We talk about static and kinetic energies while discussing creation.
Spirituality does not say that the universe was born on a single day. It talks about evolution of mind and body, it talks about the five elements that we know, it talks about the progress, and it talks about energy ( for example kundalini energy) which also we know. Therefore spirituality is an advanced study of science that is associated with modifications and changes that are both gross as well as subtle. When we refer to oxygen, we are not saying so by seeing its gross form (oxygen is not visible in its gross form), but realising its subtle form (the creative and sustaining power of oxygen). This is exactly what spirituality is, a study concerning subtle matter packed in a gross form, our physical body, like oxygen filled in a cylinder. Once we understand the difference between spirituality and devotion, we can with authenticity affirm that spirituality is the study and practice of the highest level of science. But now-a-days, this is made as a money spinning business that leads to this unfortunate confusion.
Spirituality cannot be bought and sold. It is to be learnt initially from a master and further development is based on our own efforts. It is like a scientist researching on his subject, the basics of which had been learnt during his university days. That is why spirituality says that one should explore within.
October 31, 2009 01:36 AM
It has been very kind of you to have followed up on the issues that concerned me. I remain grateful to you and remain an avid reader of your words whenever my mundane and routine life permits me that liberty.
I think my earlier comment was a little too cryptic and lacked a proper explaination of what I meant when I said that we needed to reconcile Spirituality with Science. I am grateful that you found the cause worthy and chose to elaborate upon it in a very wise manner. This is a subject which perhaps bothers a lot of us and I feel encouraged to delve a little farther along the path thanks to your encouraging response. Pardon me if I appear to be a needless critic or a non-believer. I do not wish to waste your time in arguments so kindly ignore what I write below if it is too obscure or irrelevant.
Continuing beyond, the reconciliation between Spirituality and Science that I referred to was actually meant more from the standpoint of a more evolved (?) mind which tends to question things. A less inquisitive psyche would perhaps progress along a singular path and never attempt beyond.
Let me elaborate my dilemma. Spirituality and Science both have at their heart the quest for the ultimate knowledge. The approaches vary - a scientist experiments in the phsysical realm and a spiritual person does so in the realm of their mind. The outcomes can likewise be both beneficial and/or destructive. Likewise, each can term the other one as being less evolved - the scientist can call the spiritual experiences as mere bio-chemical hallucinations and the spiritual being can likewise denounce the entire physical world as "maya/illusion". Science fails to answer many things logically. Unfortunately so does Spirituality. The point of reconciliation I think is "LOGIC". Let me give you an example below. I actually debated this and found no satisfactory and logical answer. Hence my comment.
Let's probe further the concept of the "Jeevatma/Kinetic Energy" and "Brahman/Potential Energy". The former resides within each organism and the later is eternal. As one evolves and rids oneself of past encumberances, the Jeevatma merges with the Brahman. My mind thought up an analogy of an object moving higher and higher and coming to a state of rest once it reaches a threshold (destination). All the Kinetic Energy expended is now Potential Energy. The object comes to rest. The cycle of birth/death terminates. Logical so far.
Over a period of several millenia, more and more souls reach that state and thus the Kinetic Energy keeps reducing and the potential energy in the Universe keeps increasing in proprotion to the successful ones who have been able to reach that end state. The sum total of energy in the Universe (the divine power from whom we all derive) remains constant. Logical again.
Eventually, logic tells us two things. Firstly, that the process must culminate once 100% organisms evolve (and a few have been evolving every century we can safely presume). Secondly, the cycle must happen only once.
October 31, 2009 01:37 AM
Continuing again from our two conclusions above, we arrive at the contradictions which need answers.
Discounting the mythological tales of "Pralay / Noah's Ark/Extinction and Regenration", the Universe must eventually come to a static end state wherein 100% people have evolved and no one is left anymore. Does it finish there when everyone has won? Or is it that the Brahman (the 100% potential energy then) will yet again shed Kinetic Energy in a process of recreation? Will creatures be born yet again and commit sins and strive for salvation as per some revised schema? Who will be those unfortunate chunks of energy who once having reached the pinnacle get thrown out yet again? Or will these be treated as fresh entities (souls)? Is it just a game that the Brahman keeps playing over and over again to keep itself occupied? Does it therefore run the Universe as a Casino and what causes it to do so? And if that is the way it is, are all these spiritual conquests really worth it? Science has similar conundrums and obscurities. The theory of the Big Bang and Origin of the Universe are quiet identical to what I said above. There are no definitive answers either group of people have.
The only good thing I found more favourable with Science is that the limitations are universally acknowledged whereas Spiritual teachers have never clearly accepted that there is an upper limit to what can be learnt. Once again the answers must come from the Spiritual community for I presume its got a greater reach and that the Brahman can never be replicated in a laboratory or confined to a test tube?
When I said we must reconcile Science and Spirituality, what I actually meant was that spiritual people must strive to provide logical answers to the end state questions like the one above and not merely stop half way at what has already been documented and debated for centuries. The present discourse has become static.
Like I said earlier, it is entirely my fault that I did not elaborate upon what I said. Pardon me for wasting your time in case I have inadvertently done so.