Science and spirit

I’m fascinated by the English physicist Brian Cox. In his popular TV shows that examine the dynamics of our universe, he conveys a joy and wonder that I find infectious.

In the first episode of Wonders of the Solar System, Cox and his crew are in the holy Indian city of Varanasi, waiting on the bank of the river Ganges to observe a solar eclipse. Thousands of Hindu worshippers are all around, preparing for what to them will be a sacred moment. Speaking to the camera, Cox says scientists can predict the date and duration of future eclipses for hundreds of years to come. Science is based on provable facts, he adds, and not faith. When the eclipse occurs, Cox seems as awe-struck as the Hindus around him.

If faith is defined as adherence to a particular system of knowledge, then it seems to me that science is as much reliant on faith as any religion. More so if it claims to be the only or superior system. Though its achievements are prodigious and it has radically changed and enlightened the world in many ways, Western science has its limits. Mechanistic Newtonian science – where everything runs like clockwork according to eternal laws – still reigns in the popular mind, but has given way for many scientists to more complex and nuanced understandings of the universe. Science is as bound by change as any other system of knowledge.

And by limiting itself to the study of the material universe, it can’t truly be comprehensive. Without delving into the transcendent or numinous qualities of existence, the realm of spirit, there is a crucial gap in knowledge and in human life. Science either denies spirit outright or leaves it out of its field of interest.

To incorporate spirit into a world view is to live in a purposeful or meaningful universe, not one governed by chance. It is also to recognise metaphysical forces beyond humanity that help to shape our lives. I recently read an interview in which the late American psychologist James Hillman talked about the soul of each person carrying an image that was their calling or purpose in life. Hillman pointed out that the myth of each individual being born with a particular destiny was common to many cultures. I think this is an excellent example where non- or pre-scientific thinking is important, even vital. To contemplate the soul-image that you or I was born with is fascinating and can be immensely fruitful to add meaning and depth to our lives. It can point us in the direction of a career or towards a particular type of person for a relationship, potentially allowing hidden layers of ourselves to come to consciousness. There is a truth here that is foreign to the world view of positivistic Western science. It is a truth from the world of metaphor, from the depths of the psyche, and no less real because of it. In this kind of truth there is no separation between that which is revealed by the senses and unseen reality – the two are one.

As part of the process of healing our planet, I think humanity needs to re-engage with this spiritual level of truth, which accords with traditional mythical ways of seeing the world. In this regard there is much to be learnt from the wisdom of Indigenous cultures. We are, I believe, sorely in need of new myths that speak to the current condition of our lives and the Earth and that reconnect humanity within the bigger pulse of life. Essentially, we need a new cosmology – one that recognises and values diversity while acknowledging that all is ultimately one. I believe we are on that path.

Meanwhile, the Earth groans under the ravages of human greed and ignorance. Such wholesale changes that need to be made to rein in humanity within ecological boundaries include a radical transformation of science. Indeed, science is indispensable as we move towards a more enlightened way of being, just not the kind of science that we have been used to.