"Science must confine its inquiry only to things belonging to the human senses, while spiritualism transcends the senses. If you want to understand the nature of spiritual power you can do so only through the path of spirituality and not science. What science has been able to unravel is merely a fraction of the cosmic phenomena ..." - Sathya Sai Baba
First of all, science tells us far more about things we can't detect with the senses than anyone thought possible only a century or two ago. The electromagnetic spectrum is just one of countless examples. I will, however, agree with the last sentence of his quote. We know that the observable universe is only 4% matter and the rest is dark matter. But science tells us more in every age, does it not?
Newtonian Physics isn’t wrong, it was just the beginning of modern physics. We have also advanced our medicine, our biology, our chemistry, and our mathematics considerably since then. The first automobiles weren't incorrect in their design, but they are primitive by today's standards. We have outgrown alchemy and astrology, both considered scientific fields just a few short centuries ago. Improving upon past discoveries does not make those discoveries wrong, it just means that we understand more. Consider the germ theory of disease - do you think when that was first proposed we knew everything we know now about the nature and variety of viruses and bacteria? Of course not, but the idea that microscopic organisms cause illness isn't being called into question. Similarly, just because Einstein came along and gave us relativity does not mean that the planets don't orbit the sun in an ellipse. Relativity gave us the concept of the 'fabric' of space-time and explained that the Sun is actually warping this 'fabric' and causing the planets to be drawn toward it. Newton made the initial observations and calculations, without which there would be no modern physics.
At any rate, the scientific explanation of the profound sense of wonder people feel and describe as 'spiritual experiences' does not, I think, take away from that experience. Knowing how stars are formed does not take away from admiring their beauty. Understanding the brain does not diminish a person's sense of euphoria either. And con-men like Sathya Sai Baba come along every so many years claiming to just 'know' things they can't possibly know, and people buy it. This is not good for the world.
Newtonian Physics isn’t wrong, it was just the beginning of modern physics. We have also advanced our medicine, our biology, our chemistry, and our mathematics considerably since then. The first automobiles weren't incorrect in their design, but they are primitive by today's standards. We have outgrown alchemy and astrology, both considered scientific fields just a few short centuries ago. Improving upon past discoveries does not make those discoveries wrong, it just means that we understand more. Consider the germ theory of disease - do you think when that was first proposed we knew everything we know now about the nature and variety of viruses and bacteria? Of course not, but the idea that microscopic organisms cause illness isn't being called into question. Similarly, just because Einstein came along and gave us relativity does not mean that the planets don't orbit the sun in an ellipse. Relativity gave us the concept of the 'fabric' of space-time and explained that the Sun is actually warping this 'fabric' and causing the planets to be drawn toward it. Newton made the initial observations and calculations, without which there would be no modern physics.
No comments:
Post a Comment