One would expect that the staggering pace of
scientific achievements in recent times would
widen the rift between religion and science, but
an increasing number of scientists are now coming
forward to say that their very discoveries are
making them turn their attention towards spirituality
and God. Astronomer Allan Sandage, for instance,
speaks for many other scientists when he says,
"It was my science that drove me to the conclusion
that the world is much more complicated than can
be explained by science." And for physicist
Charles Townes, who won the 1964 Nobel Prize in
Physics, recent discoveries in cosmology reveal
"a universe that fits religious view"
- specifically, that "somehow intelligence
must have been involved in the laws of the universe."
"Something surprising is happening between
these two old warhorses, science and religion,
"writes Sharon Begley in Newsweek (July 27),
under the title "Science Finds God":
Rather than undercutting faith and a sense
of the spiritual, scientific discoveries are
offering support for them, at least in the minds
of people of faith. Big-bang cosmology, for
instance, once read as leaving no room for a
Creator, now implies to some scientists that
there is a design and purpose behind the universe.
Evolution, say some scientist-theologians, provides
clues to the very nature of God. And chaos theory,
which describes such mundane processes as the
patterns of weather and the dripping of faucets,
is being interpreted as opening a door for God
to act in the world……
Physicists have stumbled on signs that the
cosmos is custom-made for life and consciousness.
It turns out that if the constants of nature-unchanging
numbers like the strength of gravity, the charge
of an electron and the mass of a proton - were
the tiniest bit different, then atoms would
not hold together, stars would not burn and
life would never have made an appearance. "When
you realize that the laws of nature must be
incredibly finely tuned to produce the universe
we see," says John Polkinghorne, who had
a distinguished career as a physicist at Cambridge
University before becoming an Anglican priest
in 1982, "that conspires to plant the ideas
that the universe did not just happen, but that
there must be a purpose behind it."…
Although skeptical scientists grumble that
science has no need of religion, forward-looking
theologians think religion needs science. Religion
"is incapable of making its moral claims
persuasive or its spiritual comfort effective
unless its cognitive claims" are credible,
argues physicist-theologian Russell…To
make religions forged millenniums ago relevant
in an age of atoms and DNA, some theologians
are "incorporating knowledge gained from
natural science into the formation of doctrinal
beliefs."…
"Science produces in me a tremendous awe,"
says Sister Mary White of the Benedictine Meditation
Centre in St. Paul, Minn. "Science and
spirituality have a common quest, which is a
quest for truth."….Profoundly religious
people and great scientists are both driven
to understand the world.
Science and religion are indeed not fully reconciled,
yet both are now beginning to talk to each other,
both are viewing the universe and its phenomena
in a new light. What is really needed is a "scientific
religion" and a "religious science,"
and perhaps the day is not far off when that becomes
a reality.
Why do some people cave in when faced with disasters,
or even challenges and difficulties, while others
have the buoyancy of strength - strength not as
brute force, but as the ability to take their
fate into their own hands and to reshape their
lives? Psychologists are studying resilience -
as the field itself is known - how we can be resilient
ourselves, and how we can help those close to
us become strong in the face of adversity. Is
resilience inborn or can it be deliberately acquired?
- is the question they are asking.
Deborah Blum's report in Psychology Today (May/June
1998) reveals that resilience is a complex issue,
and encompasses a whole cornucopia of traits and
qualities. Some of the key aspects of resilience
research are thus outlined:
· There is no timeline, no set period,
for finding strength, resilient behaviours and
coping skills. People do best if they develop
strong coping skills as children….but the
ability to turn around is always there.
· About one-third of poor, neglected,
abused children are capably building better
lives by the time they are teenagers, according
to all resilience studies…
· Faith - be it in the future, the world
at the end of the power lines, or in a higher
power - is an essential ingredient…
· Most resilient people don't do it alone…You
need the lifeline of love and connection to
others….
· Setting goals and planning for the
future is a strong factor in dealing with adversity….
· Believing in oneself is important.
And it's equally important to actually recognize
one's own strengths.
"All people have the capacity for resilience;
we just have to learn to draw it out and to support
them," says Edith Grotberg, Ph. D. , who
heads an international resilience project and
tries to help people organize their strengths
into three simple categories: I have (which includes
strong relationships, structure and rules at home,
role models); I am (a person who has hope and
faith, cares about others); and I can (ability
to communicate, solve problems, gauge the temperament
of others, seek good relationships). This is a
breakthrough change from the approach of psychology
just a few decades ago, when it was believed that
people were shaped by environment. New research
on people's coping skills has disproved this.
This year's annual American Psychological Association
meeting was focused on recognizing human strengths.
Studies of people who had troubled childhoods
reveal that a large percentage got over the trauma
of their early years and did well in later life.
One of the unexpected spinoffs of resilience
research (writes Deborah Blum) is that it has
begun breaking down myths of failure - that
having a bad beginning makes one a bad person;
that abused children grow up to be abusers….Everyone
in the field of resilience emphasizes the importance
of someone else's presence. Parents, first and
best of all, who believe in you, and, if that
fails, neighbours, friends, teachers. The foremost
element in transcending trouble is not having
to do it alone.
Resilience, as studies reveal, is many different
things. It is multifaceted. We all respond differently
to different challenges. Researchers admit that
there is a lot to it that they do not understand
as yet-why some people are strong while other's
strength fails them. And how can they understand
unless they accept Karma and Reincarnation? These
twin doctrines are the key to many a problem researchers
are trying to solve.
"What despair and agony of doubt exist today
in all places!" Mr. Judge exclaimed in writing
to a correspondent. One of the reasons for this
is lack of love and trust-the bedrock of human
relationships and the panacea for many an ill
afflicting us.
In Psychology Today (July/August 1998), Hara
Estroff Marano writes editorially on the human
need for trust:
Without trust, there can be no meaningful connection
to another human being. And without connection
to another, we literally fall apart. We get
physically sick. We get depressed. And our minds
run away with themselves.
Trust develops early, in the first year of
life, researchers tell us. It is an intrinsic
part of the emotional bond and infant develops
in response to a reliably attentive parent or
other caregiver. From this primal interaction,
children build a mental representation of relationships
that they carry forth into life, one reason
most individuals tend to create fairly consistent
patterns of relationships.
Those whose early care is unreliable or unpredictable,
the thinking goes, grow up handicapped in their
ability to trust others. They are sitting ducks
for paranoia….
The absence of trust brings bad things. To
have one's sense of trust shattered by an unwanted
or unexpected event is one thing. To actively
teach distrust-to schoolkids or to anyone-is,
to me simply unimaginable. A truly impeachable
offense.
A narrow meaning of education has constricted
human minds for too long. In its wider aspect,
education can build bridges of goodwill, create
mutual respect and understanding, and provide
a lasting solution to many of the conflicts in
the world today. The following thoughts on the
purpose of education are worth reflecting upon:
Education is a process whereby unity or a sense
of synthesis is cultivated in human beings.
It guides individuals to think of themselves
in relation to the group, to the family unit
and to the nation in which their destiny has
put them.
Education prepares a person for citizenship,
parenthood and for understanding the world;
it is basically psychological and should convey
an understanding of humanity. When this type
of training is given, we shall have men and
women who are both civilized and cultured and
who will be able to perceive the underlying
meaning of the world of outer phenomena and
also possess the capacity to view human happenings
in terms of the deeper spiritual and universal
values.
In this light, schools and colleges must be
revered places of learning and their most valuable
lessons should be those that teach the wisdom
of peace, which is not just about absence of
conflict but a spirit of active goodwill linking
each to all in a harmony of right human relations…
Such an educational policy should be founded
on the following guiding principles: understanding
and respect for all peoples, their cultures,
civilizations, values and ways of life; awareness
of the increasing global interdependence between
peoples and nations; understanding of the necessity
for international solidarity and co-operation;
responsibility and readiness on the part of
the individual to participate in solving the
problems of his community, his country and the
world at large. (Purity, July 1998)
A team of paleontologists from China, Canada
and the United States came out with the announcement
this July that they have discovered two new species
of small dinosaurs, each of which was clearly
covered with feathers. According to their report
in the science journal Nature, the specimens support
the popular theory that birds are descended from
dinosaurs. They also suggest that several dinosaur
species may have belonged to the feathered variety.
A co-author of the report, Philip Curie, calls
it "one of the most exciting discoveries
of the century."
Scientists have in the past proposed the theory
of a dinosaur-bird link, but detailed evidence
to back it up had been lacking. The new find,
it is said, is enough to convince most dinosaur
experts.
This is in conformity with the occult doctrine.
"The missing links representing the transition
process between reptile and bird are apparent
to the veriest bigot," says The Secret Doctrine.
With respect to surgery, modern practitioners
have humbly and publicly confessed the total
impossibility of their approximating to anything
like the marvellous skill displayed in the art
of bandaging by ancient Egyptians. The many
hundred yards of ligature enveloping a mummy
from its ears down to every separate toe, were
studied by the chief surgical operators in Paris,
and, notwithstanding that the models were before
their eyes, they were unable to accomplish anything
like it.
Thus Isis Unveiled (I, 10). Now a detailed chemical
analysis of a 4150-year-old skeleton from Egypt's
Old Kingdom is said to be providing clues to ancient
Egyptian embalming techniques (Discover, May 1998).
The mummified skeleton of Idu II, who lived around
2150 B.C., was found at Giza and brought to the
Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany. Analysis
of a liquified bone sample reveals an abundance
of antiseptic organic compounds common to wood
tars. These substances are know to destroy bacteria
and fungi that decompose dead bodies and bones.
The mummification of the skeleton was so perfect,
in fact, that it enables an enzyme needed to build
up the bone mineral apatite to remain intact and
active for more than four millennia.
The new study suggests that "it may be time
to rewrite the history of Egyptian mummification."
The remarkable condition of Idu II's skeleton
shows that at least some of the mummification
techniques described by Herodotus were well established
very early in Egypt's history.
Isis Unveiled (I, 539) goes on to say:
None but the those who have made special study
of the subject, can estimate the amount of skill,
patience, and knowledge exacted for the accomplishment
of this indestructible work, which occupied
several months. Both chemistry and surgery were
called into requisition. The mummies, if left
in the dry climate of Egypt, seem to be practically
imperishable; and even when removed after a
repose of several thousand years, show no signs
of change. "The body," says the anonymous
writer, "was filled with myrrh, cassia,
and other gums, and after that, saturated with
natron….Then followed the marvellous swathing
of the emblamed body, so artistically executed,
that professional modern bandagists are lost
in admiration at its excellency."
|
