The sense of wonder, where religion and science meet?
No, I don't mean the Rachel Carson book.
I'm referring to the feeling I (and perhaps you) get when I listen to some really profound statement about science. Carl Sagan and Richard Feynman were especially good at these kinds of statements. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myPSkL_S45E
I am not religious, but my question is for religious and non-religious, for scientists and non-scientists:
Do you think that the feelings I described are the same as those felt by religious people when praying to or contemplating their respective deities, or when listening to religious texts being spoken or sung? It seems to me that there is much in common; that the same brain functions are used in each of these experiences. In other words, might not they be the same experience, but in different contexts?
What are your thoughts?
I have asked this question in both the Religion and Science sections, to get a broader perspective.
auntb932009-02-02T22:29:27Z
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Oh, I could watch the entire series all over again there, but I had to draw myself back. "We are made of star-stuff."
Yes, this sense of wonder is what we need, and the fearlessness to separate facts from imagination. And I think it may well be something like what people get when they get deeply into religious practices. I have done enough with various forms of meditation and spiritual practices to suspect that you are right about this.
But the two are not equivalent, in that one is in harmony with our reason and knowledge, and one is not. One energizes the will to understand more, and the other overwhelms any attempt at rational analysis. Worse yet, it can be ruined by attempts to understand.
The deepest and most elemental questions are of the metaphysical kind, whether we ask these questions spiritually or scientifically.
Both ways address the essence of what it means to be human.
On a side note, most of the brightest minds the world has conceived have had a religious perspective in common: Deism. Where does science and religion meet? I propose Deism, where science is religion and religion is science.
List of Deists:
Albert Einstein Socrates Aristotle David Hume Benjamin Franklin Abraham Lincoln Mark Twain Etc.
Yes. I have Mormon relatives who speak of the "burning of the bosom". A religious connection to God. Maybe our connection to the cosmos is profound and real and maybe we are all energetically a part of it. Life happens any place it can, maybe we as human beings just happen to have a brain capable of seeing this like a mirror, we know how lucky we are to be able to witness the cosmos from our little place on the planet, a speck in the universe. We are lucky and should be grateful. A show like "Cosmos" gives the non believer a place to view the awesomeness of life from a point that inspires awe. God gives the believer that same perspective. In many ways I believe it is the same.
Yes, I think you are right. As a Christian, I always liked the Cosmos series, and James Burke's "Connections" and "The Day The Universe Changed". I have merged my faith with my science (I hold two science degrees) and see them as heading in the same direction. Might I recommend you read a great book on the subject written by one of my professors, "The Steppingstones" by Scarborough.
in my opinion, i'm able to in no way understand the 'conflict' between faith and technological know-how. technological know-how is according to prediction and sorting out; faith is according to faith. there is not any conflict between the two; different than that the debate has been exacerbated via religious fundamentalists on one area and technological know-how reactionaries on the different. The Bible (and the Koran, for that remember) are no longer medical literature; nor could they be. the wonder of the universe is something to be celebrated; whether by technological know-how or faith, or the two.