Science and Religion: Reality vs. Emotion!
Mohammad Gani (USA).
"Tagore created a unique timeless literary recipe by mixing the tune of time which has surpassed the barrier of time and space". Interesting opinion and analysis! These symptoms could be called "intellectual blasphemy" within the science's realms and are fundamentally flawed and unscientific; thus could be dismissed outright. That is exactly what we often come up on philosophy of most religions (God) with rancorous "gossip", calling it nothing but neurological disorder (to have faith in God)! Our superior imagination on Tagore's creations (philosophy) are simply the weakness of our emotional weak minds and the real world, I mean scientific world does not support these concepts of emotional sentiments as we often claim exactly during attacks on many religions (God). However, if it is only sporadic sentiment of an emotional mind, then surely it is within the realm of comprehension.
Tagore is and has always been the champion of pioneers in Bengali literature for his philosophy, devotion and wisdom. But if we, say focus on his philosophy of love (emotion/Chemical imbalance) and eternity those go beyond "space and time" (if there is any such destination) and those truly attract us are only his (Tagore's) creations of (his) superior mind and therefore are his own absolute artworks with no mathematical or scientific significance. Now, the very legitimate question is; why are we even looking for abstract Mathematics in love and eternity? The prompt response is, why not or don't we aggressively practice it (science) with full capacity in questioning God or religion? As an artist, Tagore's rhetoric was only for producing the persuasion among the "people" and he amazingly penetrated our hearts, to our minds with his unscientific fictions; as so did the religions to the minds of billions people of faith, some say. Now, what kind of persuasion he intended and what are its exact objectives are the different stories.
People with religious faith (GOD) have been going through false-beliefs or true-beliefs on Prophet's rhetoric often make some of us crucified with disbeliefs. Rhetoric is not always bad; all rhetoricians, I mean Prophets know exactly and have knowledge on justice, good, evils, right and wrong etc! So, what is the problem with religion?
We may not argue on or about the determinations made by science as it is almost always based on proofs. In this secular world, it is quite understandable to question the existence of God, especially since we can't see Him, touch Him or have any other communication with Him. Those of us who believe in existence of God, yet the mystery is not over; we have no idea in what form He exists, how He came into existence and what His existence means to our life and also to the universe. The ideological conflicts or disagreement on stance in existence of God and its support from science is huge. Being a liberal Muslim in faith with average education, I read with great interest and try to understand the available meanings and teachings of all religions those give me their insights and any conflicts with science on some issues, especially on God. There are so many scholars, philosophers and scientists who worked on and evaluated religions to discover God who have expressed their penchant towards God as well as established their own faiths in God. All religions have delivered incremental codes of civilizations and humanity to the human habitats in this planet for thousands of years. On the other hand, our science's visible contributions to the mankind are also so meaningful that it has become almost impossible to outright ignore it with its arguments on grounds of admissibility in existence of God. This on going dilemma shall remain open unresolved for many thousands years to come until our own planet becomes a dead one.
Questions that religious philosophy cannot answer about the nature of existence and the origin of God; just as there are many questions that scientists cannot answer about the nature and origins of physical laws. The main difference between the two is that the scientists only address what can be seen and proven while the religious philosophy relies on its creativity to find the balance between what is known and what can only be derived. Clearly some do better then others but only the ignorant would dismiss the probability of God and His divinity just based on only theories of science.
Science has no room for creating something from nothing and our theory of "Infinite Density Mass and Zero Volume" theory (known as Singularity) as science describes; has many fundamental flaws. 2nd law of thermodynamics, Energy conservation law and Newton's first law of motion have clear conflicts in supporting Big Bang theory. For example, Newton's 1st law of motion states that "an object stays at rest or in uniform motion unless the object is acted upon by an external force to change that state". Today it is proven (?) that many galaxies are drifting apart and that everything in space is getting farther apart from each other. The 'Big Bang' set everything into motion but based on Newton's law; an "outside force" had to cause the Big Bang; because the masses in space were in composite form to a state of "Infinite Density/Zero Volume" as well as at the "State of Rest or in motion" immediately before the Big Bang. Logically and in accordance with Newton's law of motion; there still had to be "Something in Existence to conduct this manipulation of Big Bang". What exactly was the "outside force" that caused the Big Bang? Was it God, whatever shape or form God is? At some point one has to simply accept "some type of belief" in the topic of the "beginning moment" of Big Bang.". There is still so much science hasn't even touched that may or may not solve the mystery of the beginning.
This is not the end of the puzzle; our cosmology also has its own problem; like where does "mass" come from, at the most fundamental level? To find that answer physicists try to find via large accelerators that should be a spin-zero particles with nonzero mass. The central point of this approach is that "mass" is created by a very special non-Euclidian manifold. This experiment of creating mass from nothing has eventually ended up as a miscarriage at the maternity! Now, if someone asks on who or what put energy and matter into the universe, what is antimatter and where did it come from are only theories. Science cannot answer these questions, because in the first moments of its existence the universe was probably compressed to such an extraordinary degree and consumed by the heat of a fire beyond human imagination!
Though science can only PREDICT (no proof) what happened in the universe immediately after the Big Bang, it does not explain what happened at the instant of creation. Also, physicists so far could not pass through the "singularity state of the universe" to find out what happened before the Big Bang. Also, our universe logically, physically and even theoretically can not be so-called infinite because anything with "infinite size" would never support its continuous motion (in infinite space!) in its real term! If so, all laws of our existence would be incompatible. Therefore, the expression "Infinite" cannot be applied as a measure for the concept of Space and time. Our scientists at present have not yet developed anything enough to accommodate specific yardsticks necessary for comprehension of the limits or limitlessness of the depths of paths within the physical coordinates of the six degrees of oscillatory freedom, not even in its any mathematical form.
The scientific community has however arrived at an organizational format not much different from a religious one. When the religious institutions used to tell us the earth is flat, the masses followed. When Copernicus and Galileo started to look at things closer, Newton and others developed calculating tools, few of the masses jumped on their wagons of different thinking about our planet. Our current secular community has arrived at such a stagnation point similar to those religious institutions, off course in a coalesced scientific format!
Our Astrophysics is more poetic and sophomoric than coming up with any empirical evidences on Universe and Space, thus lacking proofs of "abstract and applied science". Here, I shall bring something to think about from religious perspectives. In the Islamic Holy book, the Quran mentions things 1400 years ago those were not known to man at that time frame. In the Quran, it says (The Prophets / 21:30), "Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before We clove them asunder, and We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?" This "seems" to be a reference of the 'Big Bang'. Now in reference to the continuous expansion of the universe, The Quran says (The Winds/51:47), "And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily it is We who are steadily expanding it." Hindu "religious thought" denies that the world of nature stands on its own feet. It clearly says that it is grounded in God; if He were removed, it would collapse into nothingness. In Christian religion; "God is creating the entire universe; fully and totally, in this present now. Everything God created. God creates now all at once'. All religions have given remarkably similar descriptions of the universe and the life force that pervades it.
Our cosmos is not any lifeless machine but is instead a unified and living organism (reproductive). Although it appears new for our times; the idea that the universe is alive is an ancient one. More than two thousand years ago, Plato described the universe as one Whole of wholes and a single living creature which encompasses all of the living creatures that are within it. Science presumes life to be a cosmic accident and hence assumes that our consciousness will cease to exist after our death. According to science millions of years ago, under certain favorable climatic conditions, life was born in the form of unicellular organism and ever since evolution of life progressed, to bring living beings as complicated as human beings. Even though there is adequate evidence to support this concept, it is still difficult to believe that all this ecological balance we are seeing in this world and its perfection, with which our internal and external systems are working, is an accident. It seems that behind the evolution there could be a spiritual force that has given some directions.
Though our science is able to explain the consciousness; as caused by physical activity in the brain and our nervous system; we cannot disregard the concept of soul. May be we feel our soul or have consciousness through physical activity during our life in a physical state. In the same way, possibly both the theory of evolution and concept of God could be true. May be God created life through the process of evolution. Therefore, the concepts of religion and science can co-exist. Our brain and the mind are two different entities. While the brain is an organic and tangible element locked within the confines of our cranium; the mind is not. The mind is an entity of our existence that possibly roams the astral world. Our minds world is actually a universe in its own right; fathomless, mysterious and much like our physical universe but that only the eye cannot see. If there is a soul that could outlive our body; during life it is in the form of consciousness but it is to that heavenly universe to where the soul may go to after we die.
We do have an intuitive connection with the universe and our capacity to use our intuition is still in its infancy given our early stage of learning. An empathic connection with the universe is nothing special; it is built into the systems of the cosmos. Our physical body does not stop at the edge of our skin, in stead extends into and is inseparable from the universe. Consciousness is found at every level of the cosmos and is not confined only within our brains, but extends beyond the body and can meaningfully interact with the rest of the universe in both sending and receiving communications. Our cosmos is responsive, conscious and alive as we are! Thus it is reasonable to believe in the existence of a mental component of the universe. If we believe in this mental component of the universe, then we can say that we are small pieces of God's mental apparatus.
My wife for last 27 years mentioned to me that we are actually prisoners of our physical body and work entire life to feed it, we plan and work towards a comfortable life and then leave behind material fortunes for our children to do the same as we did all our life. Thus we are slaves of our biological body for average 75 earth years which shall decompose in our absence within 24 hours. Without this biological body we are free and free from what? Free from everything EXCEPT knowledge, love, attraction and mobility. We need all those qualities to enjoy entire creation being creations ourselves which are so vast and endless. We shall only then know the mysteries of these creations and our life will be truly meaningful only after passing through the gate of death; a journey which no body should miss the taste of, in any way by assuming death as cruel and painful. We shall be then in our real consciousness for which we were born! Actually Mohammad Gani has no interest to know or wish to know of his exact moment of death at this time but the problem is, the City officials recently fined a woman in a housing project for not giving 30 days notice before dying and I also may come across something of that nature from different entity!
I believe in God not to rescue myself just from the misery of death; not to justify my hedonistic desires or to triumph over the evil. I believe in a Creator (God) because I see the creation around me everyday. I see all its order, I see the existence and I see the creativity. What could create orders those are not ordered? What could create existence that does not exist? The overall philosophy of science has given me the understanding to believe that it is not within sciences realm to prove or to disprove God and also that it is wholly unscientific to believe that science in any measure discounts God and His divinity. To the contrary, science suggests the implementation of all elements of our knowledge and wisdom more advanced and forcefully than our own mind in explaining our existence. Thus it would be a brutal scientific irresponsibility if we conveniently use (abuse) philosophy of science to disprove the existence of creator (God).
[Ref: Plato/Gorgias for logical concept, Stephen Hawkins's Essays and several scientific/research journals].
Mohammad Gani
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
*************************************************************
*****************************************
Sign the Petition : Release the Arrested University Teachers Immediately : An Appeal to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/university_teachers_arrest.htm
*****************************************
Daily Star publishes an interview with Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/news/daily_star/daily_star_MM.pdf
*****************************************
MM site is blocked in Islamic countries such as UAE. Members of those theocratic states, kindly use any proxy (such as http://proxy.org/) to access mukto-mona.
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates 5th Anniversary
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/5_yrs_anniv/index.htm
*****************************************
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Earth Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Earth_day2006/index.htm
*****************************************
Kansat Uprising : A Special Page from Mukto-Mona
http://www.mukto-mona.com/human_rights/kansat2006/members/
*****************************************
MM Project : Grand assembly of local freedom fighters at Raumari
http://www.mukto-mona.com/project/Roumari/freedom_fighters_union300306.htm
*****************************************
German Bangla Radio Interviews Mukto-Mona Members:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/german_radio/
Mukto-Mona Celebrates Darwin Day:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm
*****************************************
Some FAQ's about Mukto-Mona:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/faq_mm.htm
****************************************************
VISIT MUKTO-MONA WEB-SITE : http://www.mukto-mona.com/
****************************************************
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
-Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___