I see a revolutionary change for Western Culture. It is a change brought about by modern science, the quantum revolution in the context of a broadened understanding of spirituality as revealed in many cultures in the mystical traditions of their religions. Perhaps for the first time in human existence we have a sufficient framework for beginning to understand ourselves. Ironically, science is both the source of this revolution in thought and at the same time its primary source of resistance.
A majority of scientists believe that material existence is all there is. Philosophically there are actually three alternative beliefs about reality that are possible in considering the body, brain and mind. The first is that reality is made up only of physical matter. This is the current belief of most scientists since Newton. The second is that reality is spiritual. This is the belief of most mystical religions and people who have had mystical experiences. The findings of parapsychology provide scientific support for this view to some extent as do Near-Death Experiences. The third is that of duality, i.e., reality is both material and spiritual. This position is characterized by the famous statement of Descartes, “I think therefore I am.” The spiritually oriented form of the statement might be, “I am therefore I think.”
We, who identify ourselves with our physical body, are like the passengers on the Titanic rearranging the deck furniture prior to the sinking of the ship. But unlike them, we know in advance that the physical body will not survive death. Yet we continue to live life ignoring this reality, entrapped in our culture’s primary belief of scientific materialism.

What is Life

Life in this world is both physical and spiritual.
Just as light is both particle and wave.
If you look one way you see only photons.
If you look another way you see only waves.
Life as seen by science is physical.
Life as seen by religion is spiritual.
In this world the physical masks the spiritual,
And the spiritual is not easily known.
When death transforms life,
The physical disappears,
And the spiritual is revealed.
What good then is knowing
Only the physical?
Know then the unity that is life

Newtonian, or classical physics, has dominated our collective thinking for several hundred years. The perception of cause and effect as perceived by our senses is imbedded in our language and is confirmed by the findings of classical physics but not by modern physics i.e., quantum mechanics. Modern physics is counter intuitive to our perceptual experience. This makes its findings difficult to assimilate both in the culture at large as well as within the scientific community.
We believe we are in control and there is no need to understand anything else except more about the external reality. The accumulated affect of this belief system results in the loss of the mythic and the holistic aspect of our consciousness (the right brain hemisphere of the cortex is largely underused or suppressed). There is nothing that science will not eventually discover. The need for religious belief is diminished since we seem to be self-sufficient without any help from any divine source. In short the ego mind is in total control. We collectively seem able to largely ignore the world problems created by this man-made rational race.
The one thing we have not gained control over is physical death. Science is gradually making inroads in prolonging life, but there is no victory over death in sight. The physical body still eventually dies. There is no physical escape from death. We are now able to resuscitate people from cardiac arrest that formerly would have resulted in death. But of course this is only a temporary reprieve from the inevitable end. Similarly we have postponed death by antibiotics, immunization, and modern surgical techniques. There is still need for myth, religious ritual and belief to deal with understanding this vexing problem of the ultimate demise of the physical body and the apparent end of the individual at death.
Science has discovered the instantaneous effect on two electrons when one of them is perturbed, regardless of how far apart, if they had been formerly associated. Einstein called this “spooky action at a distance.” This would seem to violate the classical physics law that nothing can exceed the speed of light as promulgated by Einstein. This law is not violated only if nothing is transmitted, supporting the concept of the two electrons being imbedded in a connected matrix.
Despite the revolutionary redefinition of reality inferred by quantum physics, we collectively cling to the comfort of our former belief that the Universe is as Newton described it. As a consequence of this unwillingness to change, our twenty-first century society remains mired in material monism. Here we sit watching what we think is our clockwork physical Universe while actually being imbedded in a probabilistic universe, an interactive matrix of energy, which we refuse to accept philosophically. Perhaps the responsibility of that acceptance is too great for us to handle. Is it possible that mind is an active participant in the creation of a reality we can no longer call simply physical? Is the reality defined by mystical religions encroaching on the world of physical science?
The basic issue is whether the brain is the generator of, or the transmitter of mind. If the brain generates mind, physical death of the brain would be the end of consciousness. If the brain is merely the transmitter of consciousness while we are in a physical body, then consciousness could continue after the demise of the physical brain.


Science, Religion and Truth


Both science and religion seek truth.
There is only one truth.
Yet science and religion are protagonists.
What is the combined truth
Only partially seen by each?
How shall this larger reality be known?