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Growth Online > Knowledge Base > Society's Growth > Foundations of a New Science
Foundations of a New Science
(from science to a new science of life, integrating
all planes of existence, not just the material)
INTRODUCTION TO PAGE
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In this section of the Growth Online Knowledge Base, we present our original thoughts, as well as links to our original articles on the Society's Growth topic of "Foundations of a New Science." (If you wish, you can see our other Society's Growth categories.)
PART 1
THE HISTORY AND NATURE OF SCIENCE
Definitions of Science
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Definition of Science
Science is human knowledge resulting from the development of mental consciousness in humanity. (MSS)
Science Means Knowledge
The word ’science’ means knowledge. Knowledge [however] directly issues out of consciousness. (MSS)
History & Accomplishments of Science
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History, Accomplishment, Limitations of Science
Science has been the driving force for unlocking the secrets of nature and technology that have made possible the development of modern societies. Today it is the main hope for creating a better future for all humanity.At the time of its emergence more than three centuries ago, science was a reaction to the imaginative speculation, superstition and mysticism that dominated thought and belief in a previous age. Science countered these earlier belief systems by establishing rationality, systematic methodology, predictability and repetition as fundamental principles in the quest for knowledge. As a counterpoise to the earlier preoccupation with supraphysical phenomena, it concentrated its experimental method almost exclusively on physical phenomena, physical mechanisms and processes, physical experiments and techniques, physical measures and results--so much so that this emphasis on the physical has been mistaken for an essential characteristic of science.
In the last few centuries, this orientation has enabled humanity to discover many of the mechanisms of physical nature, but it has left largely unexplained the underlying processes which govern these mechanisms and the nature of the essential reality of the world we live in. Science has thus far focused on secondary causes and phenomenal realities rather than on root causes and essential knowledge. It has arrived in some areas at the power to manipulate circumstances but not at the essential control of creative processes. (MSS)
Science as Technology, Not Original Impulse of Mind
It is noteworthy that fundamental discoveries of science are largely confined to Europe and what the USA has taken up is the application of practical knowledge to it, reducing it to Technology. It is by the dazzling success of human comforts that science now thrives or even survives, not by following the original impulse of an awakening Mind. (MSS)The Development of the Modern Science
The boundaries which constrain the further development of science are inherent limitations arising from the circumstances of its development during the 16th and 17th Centuries. Modern science emerged in post-Renaissance Europe as a natural reaction to the superstition-laden amalgam of empirical facts, metaphysical thought and church theology that characterized knowledge in the Middle Ages. In the preceding centuries, accepted knowledge had been largely governed by traditional beliefs, religious scripture and church dogma. The Renaissance period re-kindled the ancient Athenian spirit of free philosophical inquiry, unfettered by theological constraints. The growing diversity of religious thought following the Protestant Reformation created greater tolerance for the development of secular thought as well. As the Reformation represented a reaction against the monopoly of the church over knowledge of God, modern science emerged as a reaction against the monopoly of the church over knowledge of the world. The spread of elementary education, which had become universal and compulsory in many European states by the end of the 17th Century, coupled with the growing circulation of newspapers, journals and books further stimulated the rise of secular thought. After centuries of co-habitation, reason and faith parted ways and pursued their own increasingly divergent paths to knowledge. (MSS)Success of Science
Science came into its own when it challenged the ruling thought of superstition in almost all walks of life. Over the centuries, science has lived up to its original claim and now, all over the world, in every field conceivable, science is the ruling philosophy, the inspiring vision and a mental incentive for the multitude. (MSS) [Still it has many problems. "Our foremost endeavour will be to examine how far science has been conquered by the superstition it began to revolt against." (MSS)]
Science has Provided for the Common Man
We know the twentieth century as the century where science has enriched life. Science, especially technology has made the results of great scientific achievements available for the common man. The unattainable is made attainable.Commerce has brought science to the masses through technology. (MSS)
Fundamental Understanding of Life that Science Does Not Know
The early development of modern science gave rise to a conception of knowledge as the order which the rational mind can observe, measure or otherwise intellectually formulate about physical objects. This conception has resulted in a phenomenal and unprecedented growth in our knowledge of the quantitative aspects of the material world. Yet the fundamental questions of science regarding the origin and nature of matter, life and mind remain unanswered and recent theory seems to directly conflict with the underlying premises on which science has come to be based. Physics has discovered that matter does not consist of finite particles of substance, nor even probabilities of things, but only abstract "probabilities of interconnections". The very concept of matter and the traditional distinctions between matter, life and mind are now being called into question. Discoveries in molecular biology explain how instructions for protein synthesis are inherited, but have brought us no closer to understanding the appearance of life and mind in an inanimate material universe, the process of creation, the sharp differentiation of species, the morphogenesis of life forms or the inheritance of behavior. Renewed interest in the concept of the universe as an evolving organism has even led some to question the most fundamental premise of science, the existence of timeless universal laws. Many may still believe that new ideas regarding the origin of the universe, a unified field theory, and discoveries in molecular biology will soon solve these mysteries. But when viewed from a historical perspective it becomes evident the failure to find adequate answers to these fundamental questions is an inevitable product of the inherent limitations in the conception and methodology of the scientific pursuit of knowledge. The difficulties are as great in the social sciences, where specialization has led to an ever growing fragmentation of knowledge and divorce of theory from life. (MSS)
Truth, Honesty, Integrity Accelerates Development
More than their genius or insights, it is TRUTH, fact, honesty, and integrity have fostered the development of science in the West. These elements are essential keys to many facets of human development, including the social and economic sphere. In those nations where these elements are lacking, their implementation will be a fast-track to vast and rapid economic and social development.
Marvel of Science
Science is a MARVEL today on the strength of discovery, forging fresh new tools of measurement, securing greater knowledge of metals, gases and all other things, their dedication to Truth and several other things.
Westerner's Character and Personality
Westerners are educated, are of well-formed character. The enormous amount of high level general reading they do has created a personality in the Individual out of his character. They all work hard, the Americans harder. The work values have grown into social values of civic consciousness and matured into personal values that ennoble the existing Individual he is. At the bottom of it all lies high prosperity and the incessant wars that he has fought. Work, a stomach full of food, a brain full of information unleashes the curiosity of the mind. Science flourishes. The whole nation rises in human values.
Development of Science and the Western Consciousness
The Westerner has discovered the Spirit in Matter. Why is this so? It has because it has uncovered the true values of life. Values are the way that the Spirit express effectively and powerfully in daily life. Spiritual power in life is that power of truth, orderliness, regularity, etc. that brings about far greater results than we are used to. The West has these in great abundance. E.g. no science would have come into existence if scientists had been speaking falsehood, were clumsy, dirty, dishonest, or secretive, which are the values of darkness.
Science's Technology Expands, Makes Conscious Energy, Enabling It Do a Great Work
For several centuries, Science has been discovering the laws of Nature. Its concentration has been mainly on technology. Technology makes a small energy do a great work, which means the scientist makes the energy expand. In other words, the scientist makes energy CONSCIOUS because that which is not conscious cannot expand by itself. (MSS)
Science, Religion, and Philosophy
Science focuses primarily and most successfully on physical facts in search for the laws and principles governing the formation of material objects and material forces, though its researches have now taken it to the borderline where the material opens out into more subtler domains of reality. Religion in its most exalted forms of spirituality focuses on inner spiritual experience to reveal that reality directly to the consciousness of the spiritual seeker. In its more mundane forms, it provides a set of tenets to govern human behavior in a manner that appears most conducive to social harmony and moral development. Philosophy focuses on the construction of a rational mental framework for understanding reality. But since mind’s linear mode of functioning rarely suffices to embrace the subtle and many-sided complexity of life movements, philosophy normally fails by abstraction to capture the object of its search. (MSS)
Resistance to New Invention
Orthodoxy, conservation, tradition are the old ways of life summarized by the modern term ‘Establishment’. That the old strongly resists the new is the order of the day. The old ways of life are so strong, that they can come back sooner or later, even if removed effectively. After the French Revolution, Napoleon made himself the Emperor. Later the royalty was restored. The same thing happened in England earlier. Even in democratic countries, the President of the nation behaves like a Monarch and people at all levels treat him as a King. The old is strongly entrenched, not easy to remove. As late as 1930, the US public opinion was not in favour of Darwin’s theory of evolution being taught in the schools. There was a famous case at that time against a teacher who taught the principle of evolution.
Those who stick to the old methods won’t permit a little change of any description. About 170 years ago the Railways came into existence. Christians who believed in the sanctity of the Sunday Sabbath would not allow the Railways to operate on Sundays. For several decades that rule prevailed. In Scotland it was there for a longer time than in England. Every innovation - the steamship, the telegraph, the phone, the radio, etc. - met with the same type of resistance. Science called it superstition, but later science developed its own orthodoxy. As recently as 1960 when Eisenhower was President of USA, he disliked the use of phones, though his position compelled him to use them frequently. Industrialists introduce new technologies, but try to operate them in the old way, thereby getting the minimal benefit. (MSS)
Science and God in the West
Science has usurped the position of God in the West. (MSS)
PART 2
Overview of the Limitations of Science
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Limits of Science
In the sections below we describe some of the major limitations of science. Among the topics addressed are:
how science does not understand the fundamental processes of life
how science is fixed in the material view of reality
how science does not perceive the subtle forces of life based on the vital, mental, and spiritual dimension of life, in addition to the material
how science in its limited view, thus sees only the part of the truth, not the whole of any truth, phenomenon, object of inquiry, etc.
how it is unable to come up with a fundamental philosophical underpinning to what life is
how the scientist's mind is prejudiced in one direction. (In fact, the mind of man tends to be fixated in one view, reluctant to accept the multiplicity of truths in a particular endeavor, theory, object, etc. in life.)
how the scientific institutions reinforce the prejudice, limited vie of the limited mind of the scientist
How we tend to think linearly and in other fixed ways that prevent true, intergal knowledge
how science is in fact irrational because it denies the other planes of life, accepting only the material
how science can overcome its limitations by expanding itself to become a Science of Life, and how out of that can emerge a Unified theory of existence
Science Misses the Wider and Deeper View of Life
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Incorporate All Planes of Life
We must incorporate all facets of life, from the psychological to the vital to the spiritual -- not just the measurable and quantifiable material -- to understand the reality of existence.
The Wider Life Science Does Not See
Science does not perceive the wider life, limiting itself to the material. It does not embrace the powers of life, of man's consciousness, of his psyche, of the feeling, emotions, attitude, values, perceptions, opinions that directly affect the outer visible and hidden subtle movements of existence. It also knows nothing of the spiritual source of energy, life, matter, progress and evolution. Not embracing this multiplicity of views, science sees not the whole, but the part, the small material part, or the ego part one wants to see; hence there are limited and often harmful understandings, discoveries, and results.
Vast Depths and Wideness of Existence Science Misses
Science looks for the great energies on the surface; in the material, in facts, in proof, in evidence, not realizing that it too looks out through its own limited view, through its own falsehood and material, surface-based, measurable matter-based superstitions; dawdling on the surface onion skin of life, unable to penetrate the depths of life and existence, where the great truths of the True Nature of the cosmos, of matter, reside. (MSS)Need for Knowledge of Acts and Processes across All Aspects of Life
The forces that act in our lives include forces of material nature such as weather and gravity, but also social forces such as political power, social status and peer pressure, and psychological forces such as the power of ideas, ideals, opinions, beliefs, emotions, sensations, impulses, desires and aspirations. All these forces meet and interact in the cauldron of life to influence the course of the acts, activities, systems and organizations.As science studies the structure and functioning of material substance to discover its composition, the processes through which it undergoes change, and the rules governing its interactions with other substances, so also, both for the purposes of pure and applied knowledge, it needs to study the structure of acts to discover their composition, motive power, sequence and interactions with other acts. Scientific knowledge of matter generates the power to create new and improved materials and to produce more efficient material processes with less expenditure of physical energy. Scientific knowledge of Life will generate the power to create new and more effective acts and organizations of act, to accomplish far greater results with less expenditure of human energy. As the study of physics holds a key to understanding the process of material creation, the study of these life processes holds the key to the process of human accomplishment in all fields of life, which is creation of a higher, more complex order. (MSS)
Evolution from the Surface Superstition View of Science
Science is superstition, in that it takes the surface of life -- which it knows fairly well -- as the whole. It knows the onion skin and not the onion, and yet calls the skin the onion. Just as there is vast religious and social superstition in each culture which science perceives through its power of rationality, there is vast Ignorance in science and the material-only view of the world. When we perceive all of the inner and outer forces and determinants of life, we will gain the deepest insights into the objects of inquiry that science only begins to address, leading towards unending discovery, which will enable a staggering utility for society.Converging Views of Science and Spirit
In recent years, the scientists and spiritual evolutionists are coming to a common understanding of the nature of Matter in the universe. The inevitable realization of scientific inquiry is that the the basis of all material existence is Spiritual, while the inevitable result of spiritual experience is that Spirit reaches its full flowering and apex when it is expressed through the details of material life.The recent discovery by scientists of Dark Energy in the universe confirms this trend. Invisible Dark Energy is now believed to be the source of all forms in the cosmos. The Indian spiritual sage and seer Sri Aurobindo came to the same conclusion, but from a different angle; namely that this subtle, invisible Energy is an end product of a Divine process. In fact, the Dark Energy of material science and subtle Energy of the modern spiritual metaphysician may simply be the same thing.
Let's examine this invisible Energy from the spiritual perspective, since the scientific one is more commonly discussed. Sri Aurobindo says that there is an ultimate Reality -- ineffable, immutable, timeless and spaceless. At some point that Reality took its first step toward manifestation when it became conscious of itself and as a result generated a Force. Conscious-Force thus became the original non-substance "substance" of creation. In reality, that Conscious-Force split in that creation process, leaving only the Force component. That Force became the invisible sea of Energy that permeates the universe, and out of which all forms come into being.
As science continues to explore, it finds itself in endless conundrums; at dead ends, as their discoveries confound their minds. That is because the Reality is beyond the normal functionings of mind. It only can be perceived through intuition, revelation, and supra versions of mentality, which is precisely the way the spiritual seekers of the modern era are beginning to perceive the world. They sense this Reality, and are thus coming in touch with it, and by identity explaining it. Sri Aurobindo has provided this profound knowledge in great detail, saving humanity perhaps 1000 years of spiritual and metaphysical inquiry. Scientists are merely coming to the same understanding through the faulty logic of empiricism, of the material view, which sees only the part, not the Whole; and surely not the Essence.
Life is more than matter. It contains vital movement, energy and force; mental knowledge and awareness; and spiritual expressions taking shape as Oneness of being to Infinite Creation Power to Divine Love to rhapsodic Delight of Being. Science can learn to embrace these other dimensions of the Cosmos. When they do, they will perceive a core Spirit behind all things. Then they will be on their way to a true understand of life in the universe.
Solving the Astonishing Riddles of Science
In the 1960s, a scientific experiment revealed a startling result. It indicated that an individual who wiggles his finger actually starts processing in his brain the fact that his digit has actually begun wiggling before his brain processes the fact that he would like to wiggle it! In other words, the fact of wiggling happens before the will to wiggle, which we would normally perceive as occurring come first -- confounding science, and our concepts of how life functions in time.In other discoveries, such as those in quantum physics, it has been shown in equations that an individual can be several places at once, while in another it has been revealed that if the spin of one electron of an atom can affect the spin of another electron of the same atom, even though the two electrons are five thousand miles apart! Again, in this latter reality of 'non-local connection" the scientific discovery overwhelms our views of space and time, of causality, or what is possible, of what is real. In essence, science has not been able to explain these phenomenon.
Scientists are mental individuals; they try to discover answers through the power of mind. They are also generally quite empirical, looking exclusively for evidence -- especially material evidence -- to explain the physical phenomenon of life. As we see, as they arrive a these fantastic discoveries of quantum and universal science, empiricism fails to provide answers. Observing the world only at the material level will fail to produce adequate explanations for the currently unexplainable. Even the rational mind is unable to fathom what seems to be the unfathomable. Something more is needed.
Another recent insight of science may prove to be the discovery that leads the way to the answers to all of these other confounding scientific issues. It is that the status of the person doing the viewing is critical to the outcome of the phenomenon itself! In other words, the consciousness of the viewer very much determines the outcomes of life that quantum and universal science is trying to uncover. This fact completely changes the equation of scientific inquiry and discovery.
If this is the case, then it would seem that someone of the deepest and highest consciousness would be prime candidate to discover the surreal exigencies of science. Someone who has experienced first hand in his or her life the subtle laws of life -- such as the phenomenon of life response, or has had the experience of synchronicities -- and yet has a full learned knowledge of the principles of science, would be the ideal person to penetrate these strange and confounding mysteries of material science.
In fact, the Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo has already explained fully the evolutionary process of life, and has revealed all of the forces at work in the material and non-material universe. If a learned scientific individual -- an expert in his field -- were steeped in such knowledge, and actually had the subtle experiences that Sri Aurobindo's teachings point to, that individual would become a Master Scientist on earth; one who would reveal the true causality in the universe. He could explain any aberration of life that science has discovered. It is a golden opportunity for anyone who wants to be a true pioneer in the search for the highest purpose and meaning in life.
Scientist as Misinformed Man in the Mirror
The scientist is much like a man staring into a mirror trying to see what is on the other side. Much of what he sees is only a reflection of himself, of his own a priori assumptions about the nature of reality and of his own methods of investigation. Much else of what he looks at is opaque and impenetrable to his vision, such as the inner workings of a lover’s emotions, a thinker’s genius, and a mystic’s inspiration. It is not surprising that when he tries to analyze life and mind with physical instruments that he concludes life and mind are simply electrical and chemical processes of material energy and substance. That conclusion inevitably follows from his methodology and instrumentation.
Science Misses the Wider Life
Science understands the surface of the verifiable seen or unseen matter, and even then only very partially. It ignores emotions, feelings, psychological states, forces, powers, and ultimately the spirit's function in the workings of life in the universe in determining the truer, fuller movements of life. In essence it ignores life in the name of verifiable facts of matter. Thus it misses out on 95-99% of the workings, laws, and principles of existence. A true Science of Life would include all that the scientist currently strives for and all that he could strive for if he incorporated all of these other elements into his equations. If he wishes to have success and knowledge and insight 1000 times beyond his current work, he must embrace all of these subjective elements in his "objective" reality. His current objectivity is the wildest subjective superstition of a surface-only, a matter only reality
It can be seen that the current science misses the habits, attitudes, emotions, sensations, intentions, inner forces, will, and other higher mental and spiritual formulations of individual and collective existence when developing its conclusions about how life works. The intricate web of these forces is what enables the movement, patterns, and formulations of life; as opposed to only the measurable verifiable, provable material matter, seen or unseen. (E.g. one's psychological state is as important to understanding disease as is all we see as proof under the microscope. Extend that in all direction of the human psyche from matter to emotion to mind to spirit, and in all fields of science -- physics, biology, etc.) and you will see that we are just scratching the surface of things with our material-only understanding)
To know the workings of life one must include matter, life, mind, and spirit. Anything short of this brings limitation, error, Ignorance, falsehood, and even evil (as we see in the development of surface weapons of mass destruction, pollution, and all of the nemesis to come, etc. when we just try to build science just on the material foundation). Working from this verifiable, proof-only material surface status creates a negative result for every positive advance, and is a danger to the community of man.
One hundred years from now we will look back on the current state of science as a vast superstition of the surface that could have known infinitely more than it did.
Overcoming the Material View that Creates Insights and Products of Harm for a Wider Science of Life
The material view that science ascribes to is to only recognize that which is verifiable, measurable, and provable. In that way it misses 99% of our life and existence. More troubling still is that a science rooted in such a material-only view is bound to create limited and false insights and thereby products of harm and destruction. When science moves from its current acceptance of matter and fact as the only truth to an all embracing science of life -- embracing the psychological state of the human, incorporating the deepest human values, and recognizing the hidden forces and powers of existence, including the Conscious-Force and Spirit that underlies all of creation -- it will move away from its self-destructive tendencies, creating understanding and insights that will enable products that are ONLY good for the world.Limitations of the Physical Scientist, Science
-The physical scientist is for the most part resolved not to admit what cannot be neatly packed and labelled and docketed in his own system and its formulas.-.. physical Science became very arrogant and presumptuous and tried to subject everything to itself and its processes. Now in theory it has begun to recognise its limitations in a general way, but the old mentality is still too habitual in most scientists to shake it off. (Sri Aurobindo)
Laws of Consciousness Determine the Workings of Life
According to Sri Aurobindo’s hypothesis, there are objective, universal laws that govern actions, reactions and results in life, but these laws are not the laws codified by material science, they are laws of consciousness. He goes even further to argue that the fundamental principles of consciousness governing these phenomena are in essence the same as those governing material fields, forces and forms, only the fields of action, the forms and the forces are subtle, not material. (MSS) [Science only sees the laws of science, not the laws of all of life which are all determining in what occurs in life, which the scientist invariably misses.]
Science Misses Underlying Process of Life
Science enabled humanity to discover many of the mechanisms of physical nature, but it has left largely unexplained the underlying processes which govern these mechanisms and the nature of the essential reality of the world we live in. Science has thus far focused on secondary causes and phenomenal realities rather than on root causes and essential knowledge. It has arrived in some areas at the power to manipulate circumstances but not at the essential control of creative processes. (MSS, slightly modified)
Fundamental Understanding of Life that Science Does Not Know
The early development of modern science gave rise to a conception of knowledge as the order which the rational mind can observe, measure or otherwise intellectually formulate about physical objects. This conception has resulted in a phenomenal and unprecedented growth in our knowledge of the quantitative aspects of the material world. Yet the fundamental questions of science regarding the origin and nature of matter, life and mind remain unanswered and recent theory seems to directly conflict with the underlying premises on which science has come to be based. Physics has discovered that matter does not consist of finite particles of substance, nor even probabilities of things, but only abstract "probabilities of interconnections". The very concept of matter and the traditional distinctions between matter, life and mind are now being called into question. Discoveries in molecular biology explain how instructions for protein synthesis are inherited, but have brought us no closer to understanding the appearance of life and mind in an inanimate material universe, the process of creation, the sharp differentiation of species, the morphogenesis of life forms or the inheritance of behavior. Renewed interest in the concept of the universe as an evolving organism has even led some to question the most fundamental premise of science, the existence of timeless universal laws. Many may still believe that new ideas regarding the origin of the universe, a unified field theory, and discoveries in molecular biology will soon solve these mysteries. But when viewed from a historical perspective it becomes evident the failure to find adequate answers to these fundamental questions is an inevitable product of the inherent limitations in the conception and methodology of the scientific pursuit of knowledge. The difficulties are as great in the social sciences, where specialization has led to an ever growing fragmentation of knowledge and divorce of theory from life. (MSS)
Science Has Missed What has Made the Impossible Possible
Science has missed something essential; it has seen and scrutinised what has happened and in a way how it happened, but it has shut its eyes to something that made the impossible possible, something it is there to express. There is no fundamental significance in things if you miss the Divine Reality; for you remain embedded in a huge surface crust of manageable and utilisable appearance. (Sri Aurobindo)
Discovering the Whole Beyond the Part
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Know the Vital, Mental, and Spiritual to Know the Physical
The material universe is only the facade of an immense building which has other structures behind it, and it is only if one knows the whole that one can have the knowledge of the truth of the material universe. There are vital, mental, and spiritual ranges which give the material its significance. (Sri Aurobindo)
Limitations of Mind
Science should examine the nature of mental knowledge and discover its character and limitations. Mind knows by division of the whole into an infinite number of parts and by an aggregation of parts to form composite wholes. The more it concentrates on knowing the part, the more it abstracts the part from the whole and loses the context in which it exists and is real. The Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo would want science to discover and test the power of mental silence to reveal higher knowledge and to help develop the intuitive faculty on a much wider basis. (MSS)
Root of Problem of Science is the Exclusivity of Mind
The root of the problem in science lies in man's propensity to exclusively embrace one truth at the expense of knowing all truths.
Man, not Science Should be at Center of Life
-Science is a mental tool Man has created so that it may serve him. Science is not the centre of life; nor can it ever become one. Man is the centre of life. It is by a psychological superstition that Man becomes a slave of science.
-Science is a part and society is a whole. To pursue the part for its own sake is not the highest wisdom. [When we make the part the center of life, we are enabling superstition and falsehood.] (MSS, with additions)
Discovering the Whole, not the Part in Various Aspects of Life
We must pursue the whole, not the part. To make science the center of life, or money the center of economic life, is to put the part at the center of life. To make man the center of life is the whole. Even connect with spirit apart from life is the last great limitation of the part. To see the spirit in the details of life is to see the integral whole. (Paraphrase of MSS)
Truth that Science Should Perceive
- The whole Truth of science must correspond to a whole conception of our existence, which is not just sensory and mental. Only then science can avoid negative consequences.
- Science must move toward the truth of the whole from the truth of the part. (MSS)
Superstition of Science that Takes the Surface for the Whole
We see how a primitive society believes in a dogma that science easily explains as superstition. Equally true is that science itself is steeped in in its own superstition in that it takes the surface of life for the whole, when there are infinite levels of depth and unseen powers to explain the Complete Reality.
Limitation of Demand for Proof
CHENNAI: In our ardent fervor to be rational, we refuse to accept things without sufficient proof. It is a welcome attitude that outgrows the superstition that readily swallows any statement.
There was a belief among the sailors of Europe that the world ended at Cape Bojador, midway down the Western coast of Africa, and the ship that crossed that point would tumble into the abyss.
Before Science came to be accepted widely, it was believed that God created the world in seven days. To those who believe in the existence of hell and heaven, Dr S Radhakrishnan said heaven and hell are conditions of mind and are not places of resort.
When an unbeliever told a priest that he would believe in God only when God was physically produced, the priest retorted that he would believe that he had brains only when it was physically produced.
In the film ’Contact’, the heroine Dr Ellie Arroway constantly demands proof for everything. Her frustrated father says, ‘‘This is my scientist’’. Her priest friend asks her if she could prove her affection for her father.
Proof is in the physical plane. It is valid there. To demand proof for events is rational. But life is not all physical. There is emotional life, mental life, spiritual life.
Each plane has its own laws. The law of one plane is invalid in another plane. Ellie is a scientist and a very eminent scientist at that. All her life she demanded proof.
Life takes her through many ups and downs. She receives messages from outer space and after trials and tribulations she travels into outer space, has the most magnificent experience and returns.
She explains her experience to others which is fully valid to her. The audience demands proof.
She has no way of offering proof unless they take her words to be true on the strength of what she says. She never imagined that life would come back to her in that fashion.
Unable to offer proof, she seeks consolation in smiling children. When we push logic beyond a permissible limit, it has a way of coming back at us to reveal our illogical thinking. (MSS)
Science for the People, not Science of the Part Which Brings Problems
-The post war period was known as the period of the Cold War. All over the world, it was a period when pollution slowly gathered into a veritable evil, resulting in smog in the air, acid rain, DDT in vegetables and in water. Life was threatened at its very roots. Then emerged the movement of the environmentalists. Many things of revolutionary character emerged. The most important thing was that the world discovered that science is for the people and not science for science’s sake. When a part usurps the status of the whole, the part has the tendency to become evil. Science is a part, the society is a whole.-We are all proud of science, especially its technology. Its success, says Russell, is amazing. Because of the striking success, we begin to worship science, adore it as the be all and end all. Science is neutral; man, his attitude, is moral in the sense he gives a character to the thing he uses. Man’s excessive devotion to science leads to science harming him. That the scientist has a social responsibility is now well established. The scientist concentrating on science is part. His taking society into account is whole. The former can hurt, not the latter.
-Science rules the world. It is knowledge. It seeks pure, total, ultimate knowledge. How can evil come out of it? Still, we see it emerges out of science. The part can become selfish, evil, wrong. It can be an error. The whole can never hurt, go wrong or give birth to evil.
-The scientist has a responsibility to the society which is the whole. Though the scientist discovers, it is the politician who has the ultimate word as to its use. Should the scientist develop social responsibilities, he will move to the present position of the politician. (MSS, extracted)
The Positive and Negative a Product Produces is Reflection of Man's Character
Every new scientific discovery begins as theory and ends as a PRODUCT.The product is neutral.
It is Man who gives a character to the product he uses. A product that offers a great service usually has another side, an undesirable side.
It was inevitable in a world of dualities. The fission of the atom is certainly a great discovery. It gave birth to a monstrously destructive weapon, the atom bomb. Atomic energy can be put to peaceful positive uses of electric power generation. But it has a capacity to generate radioactive fallout. There is no greater boon than electricity. Its generation results in emissions that are harmful. Anything good has a bad side effect.Science ushered mankind into the age of comfort, convenience, and speed.
It made the impossible possible, the inconceivable real. t is heartening to see science discovering products to fight disease and vaccines to prevent disease.
The dread disease of malaria could be largely stifled by sprinkling kerosene on stagnant water, which prevents the breeding of mosquitoes. Science is knowledge.
Unfortunately, knowledge is double-edged. The machine gun that deals a mortal blow to the criminal is sometimes wielded by the criminal himself. (MSS, extracted)Great Positive Products with No Negative Effects
[Preliminary: Normally products have a negative effect for the positive it produces, reflecting the charter of man. e.g. the atom bomb to fission of atom, utility of electricity vs. emissions, etc.]Science ushered mankind into the age of comfort, convenience, and speed.
It made the impossible possible, the inconceivable real. It is heartening to see science discovering products to fight disease and vaccines to prevent disease.
The dread disease of malaria could be largely stifled by sprinkling kerosene on stagnant water, which prevents the breeding of mosquitoes. Science is knowledge.
Unfortunately, knowledge is double-edged. The machine gun that deals a mortal blow to the criminal is sometimes wielded by the criminal himself. (MSS, extracted)Also See Thoughts on the Limitations of the Way the Mind Works
MSS Paper: Science of the Part, Knowledge of the Whole
Irrationality & Superstition of Science
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Need for Rationality Instead of Superstition of Science
Sri Aurobindo would want scientists to become rational. This may appear a none too lofty or difficult accomplishment, but it would be an enormous advancement for humanity, including its most thinking sections. What goes by the name of science today, even good science, is permeated with convention, superstition, prejudice and arbitrary limitation. A former President of the World Academy of Art & Sciences confided years ago that most scientists judge the validity of a statement by the status of person who stated it, rather than by its content. When Arthur Conan Doyle argued for the existence of occult phenomena, his opponent asked if he could give the names of professors who supported his view. Doyle gave 40 names. This is not rationality. Rationality needs to know whether or not occult phenomena are true, not who else supports his view. The recent history of science is replete with examples of ideas that were scoffed at, not on rational grounds, but simply because they contradicted established thought or the words of the masters.
When an internationally renown biologist can say with a straight face that all cases of parapsychological phenomena have been proven bogus beyond a shadow of a doubt or that the secret of free will has been uncovered by an observation of one brain-injured old woman, he casts rationality to the wind. Even the most brilliant cannot resist the pressure of society, e.g. when Einstein adds a fudge factor to his theory, because it suggests that the universe is expanding rather than static. Look back on almost every scientific breakthrough and you find that the initial response of the scientific community, including its leaders, is often irrational rejection, rather than rational consideration.
Sri Aurobindo would argue that rationality is a power of mind, and therefore of Ignorance. But, at least, it is a power of mental man in whom mind has emerged from domination of the vital, emotional, social and personal. Perhaps there are very few truly mental individuals. People will resent it if someone labels scientists irrational. Consideration of what Sri Aurobindo says about the higher than mental states will indirectly help the emergence of the pure (rational) mind in its own right. That would be a major breakthrough. (MSS)
Evolution from the Surface Superstition View of Science
Science is superstition, in that it takes the surface of life -- which it knows fairly well -- as the whole. It knows the onion skin and not the onion, and yet calls the skin the onion. Just as there is vast religious and social superstition in each culture which science perceives through its power of rationality, there is vast Ignorance in science and the material-only view of the world. When we perceive all of the inner and outer forces and determinants of life, we will gain the deepest insights into the objects of inquiry that science only begins to address, leading towards unending discovery, which will enable a staggering utility for society.
Science Superstition Prevails Over Yesterday's Superstition
The science of today and the superstition of yesterday are of the same character. As the science is of the Mind and superstition is of the vital [as in the case of religion], that superiority of the Mind made science succeed over superstition. (MSS)
On the Nature of Superstition
Science arose with one significant aim of ousting superstition. A movement that is against an ideal subconsciously becomes a victim to what it fights. To define superstition, classify it into its varieties, and explain its origin theoretically will offer us enough field of inquiry. Superstition is to --
believe what is not a fact.
take a sense impression as a physical fact.
accept a one time experience as a valid fact forever.
grant credibility to social opinion.
concede scientific validity when an eminent person endorse an unproven fact.
be illogical.
be unreasonable.
validate the rule of another plane in this plane.
believe what one likes.
hesitate to examine a proposition as rigorously as it requires. (MSS)
Absence of courage to adhere to KNOWLEDGE will inevitably lead to superstition.
Toward a New Science of Life
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New Science of Life
Current science is limited to the material only. A Science of Life will give the widest explanation of existence, even as it resolves the problems being addressed in the current physical science.
Life Sciences vs. Science of Life
We know of life sciences. We are yet to know of the Science of Life. (MSS)
Science of Life
Science must explain all things at all planes, as it should be a Science of Life, 1000 times greater than what it is now, which is a science of the surface, narrowly led and driven by false social propriety. It can begin by going to the origins of Energy, which it can know through the Process of Creation. "Unless the world is divinely explained, nothing is explained." Once explained science can then know the true meaning of space and time, objectivity and subjectivity, matter, life, mind, psychological state, spirit, evolution, energy, transition, creation, etc. It is a wonderful and great challenge before this field of life.
Science to Science of Life
These are days of the life sciences. My thinking is on the Science of Life. It is my ardent hope that one day the Science of Life will become a universal subject of study. It just means that one should have enough knowledge of life that his acts will always be supported by life. In plain words, students would be taught how to avoid failure in life totally or at least in a major way. (MSS)
A New Science Open to Life World and Mind
If science is to turn her face towards the Divine, it must be a new science not yet developed which deals directly with the forces of the life-world and of Mind and so arrives at what is beyond Mind; but present day science cannot do that. (Sri Aurobindo)
Fundamental Understanding of Life that Science Does Not Know
The early development of modern science gave rise to a conception of knowledge as the order which the rational mind can observe, measure or otherwise intellectually formulate about physical objects. This conception has resulted in a phenomenal and unprecedented growth in our knowledge of the quantitative aspects of the material world. Yet the fundamental questions of science regarding the origin and nature of matter, life and mind remain unanswered and recent theory seems to directly conflict with the underlying premises on which science has come to be based. Physics has discovered that matter does not consist of finite particles of substance, nor even probabilities of things, but only abstract "probabilities of interconnections". The very concept of matter and the traditional distinctions between matter, life and mind are now being called into question. Discoveries in molecular biology explain how instructions for protein synthesis are inherited, but have brought us no closer to understanding the appearance of life and mind in an inanimate material universe, the process of creation, the sharp differentiation of species, the morphogenesis of life forms or the inheritance of behavior. Renewed interest in the concept of the universe as an evolving organism has even led some to question the most fundamental premise of science, the existence of timeless universal laws. Many may still believe that new ideas regarding the origin of the universe, a unified field theory, and discoveries in molecular biology will soon solve these mysteries. But when viewed from a historical perspective it becomes evident the failure to find adequate answers to these fundamental questions is an inevitable product of the inherent limitations in the conception and methodology of the scientific pursuit of knowledge. The difficulties are as great in the social sciences, where specialization has led to an ever growing fragmentation of knowledge and divorce of theory from life. (MSS)
Man, not Science Should be at Center of Life
-Science is a mental tool Man has created so that it may serve him. Science is not the centre of life; nor can it ever become one. Man is the centre of life. It is by a psychological superstition that Man becomes a slave of science.
-Science is a part and society is a whole. To pursue the part for its own sake is not the highest wisdom. [When we make the part the center of life, we are enabling superstition and falsehood.] (MSS, with additions)
Toward a True Unified Theory of Life
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Partial Theories of Science
I recently reread Stephen Hawking’s Introduction to his popular book on Time. I had missed earlier two important points, perhaps because I believe he makes them as a concession to rationality rather than out of person conviction or full understanding. First, he concedes that all theories of science are partial theories and that the effort to know the whole by combining or integrating partial theories (which is what he and others are trying to do to arrive at a unified field theory) may not work because all partial theories may be wrong! This is a great insight, which as I say I do not think he really believes. Partial theories may describe and predict but unless they are based on a knowledge of the whole, they may totally miss the reality they seek to describe. That is where science is. Second, he speculates that a theory or law of the whole may be so all-encompassing that it even defines or determines the capacity of human beings to discover or understand it. This idea broadens the realm of theory from mere physical phenomenon to life events and human consciousness, thereby implicitly conceding that a theory of the whole must encompass life and mind as well as matter. He may not have really meant that, but this is the logical conclusion from his statement. (MSS)Stephen Hawking on the Limitation of Partial Theories of Science
“It turns out to be very difficult to devise a theory to describe the universe all in one go. Instead, we break the problem up into bits and invent a number of partial theories. Each of these partial theories describes and predicts a certain limited class of observations, neglecting the effects of other quantities, or representing them by a simple set of numbers. It may be that this approach is completely wrong. If everything in the universe depends on everything else in a fundamental way, it might be impossible to get close to a full solution by investigating parts of the problem in isolation. Nevertheless, it is certainly the way we have made progress in the past.”Later he seems to suggest that a unified theory would have to include human beings and their capacity to know as well as the physical universe:
“Now if you believe that the universe is not arbitrary, but is governed by definite laws, you ultimately have to combine the partial theories into a complete unified theory that will describe everything in the universe. But there is a fundamental paradox in the search for such a complete unified theory. .. Yet, if there really is a complete unified theory, it would also presumably determine our actions. And so the theory itself would determine the outcome of our search for it!”
Sri Aurobindo and Unified Theory
-He (Sri Aurobindo), too, quests for an ultimate unifying theory. But it becomes evident that by ultimate unification he means something far more encompassing and also far more relevant to human existence than the unification of the four fundamental forces of material nature long sought after by physics.
-If all physical, vital and mental phenomena are in relation with themselves and each other, then there must be a common denominator, there must be a plane of existence in which they are unified. (MSS) [It is the spiritual]
-Science starts with the hypothesis that material energy-substance has somehow emerged from an inconscient Infinity. Material energy emerging or materializing from this inconscient infinity is somehow organized or organizes itself to define forms that manifest to our senses as material substance. Sri Aurobindo begins with the alternative hypothesis that an Infinite Conscious Existence is the source of all energy-substance. The Pure Existent, infinite and eternal, manifests its potentialities through an inherent capacity for self-organization termed Consciousness-Force, and that Consciousness-Force gives rise to all the forms of mental consciousness, life consciousness and material energy-substance in the universe. According to Sri Aurobindo, material energy-substance is nothing other than involved consciousness-force.
Science Futile Attempt at Ultimate Truth
One might ask whether Science itself has arrived at any ultimate truth; on the contrary, ultimate truth even at the physical plane [that Science addresses] seems to recede as Science advances. Science started on the assumption that the ultimate truth must be physical and objective -- and the objective Ultimate (or even less than that) would explain all subjective phenomena. Yoga [spiritual transformation and connection with Spirit] proceeds on the opposite view that the ultimate Truth is spiritual and subjective and it is in that ultimate Light that we must view objective phenomenon. It is the two opposite poles and the gulf is as wide as it can get. (Sri Aurobindo; our statements in brackets.)
Science's Delegation of the Big Issues to Other Disciplines
Most continental [i.e. European] scientists have now renounced the idea that Science can explain the fundamentals of existence. They hold that Science is only concerned with process and not with fundamentals. They declare that it is not the business of Science nor is it within its means to decide anything about the great questions which concern philosophy and religion. This is the enormous change which the latest developments of Science have brought about. Science itself nowadays is neither materialistic or idealistic. (Sri Aurobindo) [This separation science has created is their easy way out; because the integral understanding that includes these other realms of understanding is still the only way to explain the reality they seek to know. On the other hand, perhaps science divorcing itself from the big issues is a very small first subconscious step in acknowledging that it eventually needs to integrate these other realities in its formulations. -Editor]
Life Response and a Unified Theory
Life Response is the unified theory which will determine his actions and that is what Stephen Hawking is looking for.
Hawking sees the uselessness of a partial theory,
He needs a unified theory and says it should determine the actions of the observer, i.e. Matter that is observed by consciousness should include consciousness. Hawking 'concedes' the possibility of consciousness.
Life Response includes both and each determines others' actions. From a level higher than Matter and Mind, one must be able to control both. Our experiences confirm. (MSS, extracted)
Life Response Provides the Answer to Science's Quest for the Unified Theory
Stephen Hawking is a front rank physicist, though physically crippled. He talks of a unified theory which is the preoccupation of physical science now. He is not satisfied with partial theories. He raises a question about unified theory. If the world arrives at a unified theory, he says, it should determine our actions too. Science has advanced by specialisation. Specialisation is its forte. Man has a genius for making the best into the worst by his attitude. He is capable of becoming a slave of his own creations. Specialisation is the strength of science when science does not lose hold of the whole. Specialisation has the vice of separating the branch from the centre. Stephen Hawking touches upon that sensitive spot. A theory which embraces the theorist is a unified theory, which means the Matter he is analysing must be part of the consciousness that analyses. The whole includes both.The Indian scientists who have not given up their spiritual heritage to the Westernising influence and who are not lost to the superstition of the ritual, can offer Stephen Hawking what he is looking for, if they are spiritually inclined. I have been often talking about ‘Life Response’ based on the unity of the observed and the observer, which is what the unified theory is looking for. A whole new science has been forged around the centre of Life by Sri Aurobindo who has laid down the philosophical foundations of sucz
Falsehood of Social Deference of the Scientist
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The True Scientist
The world is conditioned socially and psychologically. The true scientist is not one who allows himself to be so conditioned. (MSS) [I.e. he should not be preoccupied, persuaded with his own or another's social position and eminence, but only with truth itself.]
Untitled
Individuals worship those who are in prestigious positions, or of certain levels of authority, or fame, instead of worshiping Truth.
Science's Falsehood of Deference to Social Eminence
Science was born a few centuries ago to fight superstition that was enthroned in the society. Science grew in eminence and society conferred its recognition to Science while the society was still under the spell of [religious and other] superstition. Having accepted the society’s recognition, Science longed for more of it, rather than maintaining the pristine purity of Science. Thus, Science gave in, not just to social influence but to superstition... Science no longer has its own authority of truth, but needs the external authority of social eminence [i.e. of an eminent scientist], which indirectly means the authority of superstition. (MSS)
Falsehood of Worshiping Status
The birth of democracy is traced to the spirit of individuality of the human soul represented by Protestantism. The dicta of the officiating priest between man and his God met its death blow when the soul raised its banner of revolt. The liberated human soul embodied itself politically in the institution of democracy. Its extension to economies is the free market when one is free to produce and sell, dictated not by a central economy, but by his own perception of what is good and beneficial for his own self. Freedom of worship and freedom for religious instruction arise from there. Having achieved all these fundamental freedoms over the centuries all over the globe, it is a sad ending of an uninspiring story that submits valid opinions on science to the social status of scientists. Science should rule, not the scientists’ status. Thought should have precedence over social power which is not mental, but vital. Eminence is for science. The eminent scientist should not be allowed to replace the priest of the church. Impersonal knowledge shifting to personal status is to organise the death of science and inquiry. There arises the seed of fundamentalism, the Amish culture’s purblindness. The speed of computer functioning is conquering Time and eventually Space which has been the expression of advancing civilization. Such an advance must find its foundation in scientific life in clearer logic and severe rationality, not in social or organisational prowess. Democratic legislations should not rely on royal assents. (MSS)
PART 3
LIMITATIONS TO THE WAY WE THINK
Evolution of the Mind and Consciousness of the Individual Scientist
[This is a key to the development of a new foundation for science]
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The Limitations of the Human Mind, which Causes Scientists to Creates Products of Destruction
The human mind tends to selectively choose one part of a multifaceted truth, leading to misunderstanding and Ignorance. We each see the part, not all the parts, and certainly not the whole. In the case of the scientist, he sees only the physical, material part of truth, or otherwise only sees a small part of the whole which causes him to come to come to partial understandings, which in turn causes him to create products of destruction to match every success he has -- e.g. nuclear power and nuclear annihilation. When the scientist sees all aspects of any object of inquiry -- physical, vital, mental, and spiritual -- he will move from the part that sees only the material and will embrace all parts that make up the whole, and then some. Then there will be a movement beyond the current limited material science to a true Science of Life. This same challenge awaits the individual, for our mind's are each limited this way, and the ultimate cause of our essential Ignorance, falsehood, and our suffering. If we take that great effort, we will evolve out of our current Ignorance of Mind, and into the light of an integral Truth consciousness.
The Problem and the Solution for Science
Science has created great results, but also equal levels of harm. Science does not perceive the wider life, limiting itself to the material. It sees not the whole, but the part; hence there are limited understandings, discoveries, and results. The source of the problem is the limited nature of the Mind in man. Mind sees the part, not the whole; e.g. just the material outer and not the multiplicity of existence. From out of that partiality it creates problems as much as achievements (e.g. pollution with industrialization). When we understand that limitation, and we rise to the higher dimensions of Mind, science will produce not only great benefit without harm, but will embrace the multifaceted aspect of human existence.
Limitations of Mind
Science should examine the nature of mental knowledge and discover its character and limitations. Mind knows by division of the whole into an infinite number of parts and by an aggregation of parts to form composite wholes. The more it concentrates on knowing the part, the more it abstracts the part from the whole and loses the context in which it exists and is real. The Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo would want science to discover and test the power of mental silence to reveal higher knowledge and to help develop the intuitive faculty on a much wider basis. (MSS)
Root of Problem of Science is the Exclusivity of Mind
The root of the problem in science lies in man's propensity to exclusively embrace one truth at the expense of knowing all truths.Environmentalism and the Future Evolution of Man
The Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo envisioned a future divine life on earth, which would in essence be the culmination and ultimate achievement for humanity. He calls for our collaboration in this endeavor by opening up to and drawing in the spiritual dimension into our lives in order to divinize it -- i.e. bring out its infinite potential.Before that could happen, however, he suggested that several other developments had to take place, one of which is the movement toward human unity amongst the people of the earth. Already this process has begun, especially in the last 50 years with the emergence of the United Nations, the European Union, global economics, the Internet, and the cultural cross-pollination and integration we see in the major urban areas of the world, to name a few. It should be noted that much of this was presaged in the 1960s during the Hippy era when the youth of the world took to greater freedom and creative expression, while exploring a variety of cultures and forms of spirituality, including those of the East. What is occurring now is in one sense a ripening of that dramatic, through relatively short-lived pioneering effort amongst that generation’s youth.
Yet another way world unity is emerging is through the rapid expansion of the global environmental movement. Because of the misuse of the resources of the planet, the people of the world have been galvanized to change those dire conditions. On the surface, the degrading of the environment might appear to simply be the byproduct of an industrial society, or the dark side of prosperity, but more fundamentally, it is a reflection of the very way we humans think. Let me explain.
Though scientists, researchers, engineers, and others in the West and elsewhere are able to conceive of an infinite variety of material forms which comfort and benefit us, we are unable to control the negative side of this creative, developmental process. For example, we discovered and unlocked the power of the atom, yet we were unable to contain its byproduct of atomic weaponry. That wanton result has become the greatest evil ever devised by Man -- casting humanity’s very future in doubt. Likewise, we have developed infinite manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of an ever more prosperous and growing population, yet we cannot control the array of forms of pollution it has engendered. Similarly, we have developed powerful automobiles that glide along super highways, but cannot control the hundreds of thousands of deaths from car accidents every year. Thus, for every positive that science and technology devises, one or more very dangerous negative consequences are unleashed upon the world.
Which leads me back to the essential reason this occurs. It turns out that environmental degradation is the end result of our uni-dimensional view of life. It is the result of our mechanistic, empirical, material-only approach to the creative process, which excludes other dimensions -- including the psychological, the social, and the spiritual. Environmental degradation itself thus a product of having left Man out of the developmental equation. The scientist, engineer, or other professional is too preoccupied by the joy of discovery in matter; by what can be seen under the microscope; by what can be resolved into a neat equation to address the subject from its deepest and widest context. Operating from within a constricting, exclusive box of a materiality, the discoverers and implementers are insulated from the wider truths of life, which allow falsehood, and, yes, evil to be set lose on the world.
We could therefore say that this material, empirical, mechanistic approach to discovery is one of Ignorance, since it is separated from the true, wider, multi-faceted, all embracing Knowledge that is being addressed. Because the work professional sees only a small part of the whole picture, decisions made and actions taken are based on a material, mechanistic, empirical superstition, releasing negative outcomes that become the basis for social strife and danger in the world. In fact, one subtle principles of life is that when we embrace only a part of the Whole of any object of inquiry, all of the other parts tend to express negatively. Pollution, nuclear threat, and death on the highways are but several ways the unaddressed Whole, this missing multiplicity of understanding expresses when we look out on the world through these limited blinders. Even now, the unaddressed truths related to any number of subject matters are producing negative side effects in a host of fields that we are summarily unaware of.
Thus, though the world has now begun to perceive the dangers of the degradation of the environment, it has not understood the process by which it occurs. It is not simply a product of modern life, or of a developing economy, or even the foolish ignorance of a few men, but the way we put Matter before Man in the discovery process. It is the root cause of the dark consequences that threaten or otherwise degrade our daily lives.
And yet no matter what its origins – material or otherwise -- environmental degradation is a reality and fact of life. Moreover, that issue is galvanizing the peoples of the world into action. In that process, connections are occurring amongst individuals, associations, and organizations, which, in essence, occur as movements of cooperation, integration, and harmony. Such integrative and harmonic associations are but another way that human unity is taking shape.
We could even say that these harmonic developments are reflections of the Spirit itself – particularly the Divine aspect of the Oneness of life. When we protect the planet we share, and when we do so through deep cooperation and connection, we are experiencing several aspects of the Oneness of being in life. If this is so, then environmentalism may be looked upon as a kind of shared religion; or better yet, a first form of common spiritual experience shared by the peoples of the world.
Through our ever-increasing mentality, through wider circles of culture, through the integration of citizens and nations, human unity is beginning to take shape in the world. Environmentalism is a particularly powerful catalyst because it addresses a fresh new way of relating to our common experience, enabling people to participate and interrelate in ways that transcend one’s backgrounds and culture. The environment is not alone in this regard, as the Internet has a very similar nature. It is a most unexpected manifestation of the new: an organization that not only supports ever-greater knowledge and individuality, but ever-greater unity and harmony of purpose amongst the people.
These ever-new, unexpected forms of commonality of purpose are sure signs of an emerging World Unity. We can look around and see many such signs in the arts, politics, economics, the media, public discussion, and so forth. Most of all they subtly reside in the new perceptions of the individual, in the way he or she relates to others as well as humanity as a whole.
And yet this slow but steady emergence of World Unity presages an even greater eventuality for humanity: the emergence of a common spirit-oriented life on earth. It is a human existence where the Spirit is brought into every activity of our lives in order to bring out their infinite potential. It is a new world unimagined where we experience our ultimate psychological fulfillment, while perceiving the deepest truths of life, including the Spiritual underpinnings of all existence. That ecstatic vision and possibility is also now beginning to appear on the horizon: a sign of humanity’s ultimate destiny and purpose.
Rational Thinking and Higher Faculties
-Individuals need to develop the capacity for true rational thinking and beyond that to mind's higher faculties. This will enable the scientist to see the whole, go beyond the material-only view, avoid superstition, enable great discoveries, eliminating negative results, etc.
-Rational thinking is the result of detachment from the data of the senses, the higher faculties can be explained as a detachment from the activity or effort of the thinking mind. We all know the phenomenon that when the mind stops trying to know, sometimes knowledge comes. When we forget a problem, sleep on it, etc. solutions spontaneously arise. That means Mind is not limited to the conscious linear thought processes. (MSS and other)
Achievements as well as Problems of Civilization Created by Limited Mind
All achievements of modern civilization are products of mind.
- Democracy
- Science
- Technology
- Industrialization
- Education
- Economic development
- Money
- Social Organizations – Green Revolution
- Internet
However, very advance of humanity has created a problem.
- Industrialization > pollution
- Automobile > road accidents
- Money > inflation, deflation
- Economic development > unemployment
- Green Revolution > pesticide poisoning
They are the result of the limitation of Mind. To overcome these problems, man must move from the lower poise of mind to a higher poise. (MSS, extracts)
Evolution of the Scientist's Mind
-Science is the result of the development of Mind in man.-Science has enabled great benefit for society, but also has created serious problems. (e.g. pollution, proliferation of weapons etc.)
-To overcome these the scientist must move from its current Ignorance to an integral Truth in life.
-Sc
