Sri Sathya Sai International Centre for Human Values
International Conference on Science & Spirituality – The Growing Interface ►2010 ►New Dehli
This International Conference on “Science and Spirituality: the Growing Interface” held on 31st July and 1st August, 2010 has deliberated on the various issues and arrived at the following areas of consensus:
The main cause of the unease felt by some mainstream scientists in dealing with spiritual truths and vice versa is the historical divide between the Church and the scientific community at the beginning of the Renaissance in the Western world. Most scientists are not fully aware that a Science of Wholeness has already emerged in their midst. The day these subterranean rumblings convert themselves into a conscious acceptance, science is going to witness a cataclysm in its overall thinking.
In similar fashion, spiritual leaders have yet to realize that the educated youth of their communities will be increasingly allergic to propositions that sound illogical, irrational and unscientific. Out of a positive convergence between the two systems of knowledge, namely, religion and spirituality on the one hand, and science and technology on the other, a set of core values for the betterment of humanity is already emerging. Let those who have eyes see and those who have ears hear!
What the future holds for humanity is a kind of scenario that prevailed in Vedic India, when all knowledge was considered scientific and was divided into para vidya and apara vidya. We have to accept a division of knowledge, in which science talks of this, that is, the material, the sensory, what is part of creation, what is pervious to the mind, while spirituality deals with that, that is, what is beyond the senses, what tries to apprehend the Creator, what is above the mind. Together they would try to grasp the what, the how, the why and the wherefore of existence.
If Science hopes to unravel the Theory of Everything, it will have to collaborate with spirituality in order to grasp the true nature of the unified field in the implicate order, which is the vacuum, the void, the Tao, the Ultimate Reality beyond existence and non-existence, that can be felt and realized and may not be understandable by the analytical mind alone.
It is only then that we shall be able to really appreciate the seemingly absurd and paradoxical conclusions of modern physics about non-locality, super-luminal velocity, the behaviour of sub-atomic particles that appears to be whimsical and subject to the observer effect, and the interrelatedness of all phenomena which tends to annihilate time and space.
Science may have to gradually accept the proposition that Consciousness may not be an epiphenomenon; it may be the basic stuff of the universe. Science can then, following its own methods, grasp the macro reality, in which there is a process of involution when the Absolute Reality subjects itself to self-created limitations of ignorance and desire and thus sinks to the gross level of matter. And the other process of evolution, in which cosmic evolution is followed by biological evolution and finally by cultural or psycho-social evolution, and ascends the heights of superconscousness in order to arrive at the Cosmic Overmind once again.
Already there is a grudging acceptance by some sections of humanity of a design behind evolution, without accepting the Designer behind the design. It will take time for the realization to sink in that the Designer or the Creator is currently not acceptable, because he is visualized as an anthropomorphic bearded king seated on a throne in a distant heaven, taking micro decisions in respect of individual souls. If He is seen as the Formless Absolute Reality which is both transcendental and immanent, subject only to the eternal law of love, He may be more widely acceptable. And the process of evolution itself will, with the advent of man, appear more and more an exercise in co-creation by Man and God working in tandem.
Humanity has already lost much of its erstwhile masculine concept of Nature as a dead amphitheatre where animals, vegetation and minerals had been placed for exploitation and over consumption by man in order to satisfy his limitless, insatiable desires. The realization has dawned that it is the love between Father Sun and Mother Earth which provides us with all the bounties of Nature. We have the right to take what is required to fulfil our needs. There has to be a ceiling on desires, so that we keep enough in stock for the succeeding generations to enjoy.
And now there is growing evidence that these future generations are only we ourselves taking rebirth in order to work out our Karma. There is a record being built of out-of-body experiences, near death experiences, reincarnation memories, spirit communications and the like. We are compelled to admit that death is not a tragedy; it is an essential element of the process of existence. There is a possibility of there being some subtle essence that survives death and journeys through a succession of forms over time to complete its learning experience.
Science is discovering that the lifespan itself is not something limited and destined, that medicine is not meant merely to counter disease, that the reductionist approach which reduces human beings to biochemical reactions alone is not valid. A new science of wellness is being promoted, where the individual uses inputs at all levels, sensory, mental, intellectual and spiritual, so as to always remain in a state of bliss, equipoise and mindfulness. It would be excellent if all this is done without jettisoning the merits of the scientific approach.
Even the social sciences cannot remain unaffected by the New Age Philosophy. Corporate entities have realized that the untrammelled pursuit of greed, whether individual or institutional, can only lead to unmitigated disaster. Company after company has started implementing programmes of corporate social responsibility, corporate ethics and value-based governance. They have found to their delight that the pursuit of welfare of the entire society, especially the poor and the dispossessed, is also good business.
The spiritual leaders have to grasp the fundamental postulate that there are many areas of spiritual faith and belief where the application of scientific methods can easily lead to verifiable truths that will have universal acceptability. They should follow the example of Buddha who said that nothing should be accepted only because it is so written in the scriptures, or because it is an ancient belief. Only if it is rational, reasonable and can be tested in a scientific manner on the anvil of one’s own experience should it be given credence. If ideas are good and correct, they will definitely stand close scrutiny and become part of the scientific tradition.
This Conference, therefore, appeals to scientists and spiritual leaders worldwide to take the following steps in order to bridge the great divide that currently separates science from spirituality:
- Shed the mindset that science and spirituality are opposed to each other and see them rather as complementary disciplines which taken together can present reality in its fullness;
- The scientists should stop saying that spirituality is a bundle of superstitions and that any scientist who tries to dabble in study, analysis, experimental verification etc of spiritual theories, concepts and conclusions would do so at the risk of his professional reputation and be declared as an intellectual pariah;
- Spiritual leaders should stop deriding scientists for all the ills of society and realize that both science and spirituality are being misused by the commercial and political elements in society, against whom both spiritual and scientific leaders have to build strong and impenetrable defences;
- Scientists should get rid of the notion that certain areas such as psychic powers, telepathy, clairvoyance and the entire body of phenomena which are currently labelled as “miraculous” are outside their scope or not fit to be studied and make a beginning by starting a comprehensive programme of recording the facts as they appear or are reported or seem to be occurring;
- Spiritual practitioners should also not take umbrage at any comments made by rationalists and scientists, but should volunteer to subject all their claims to laboratory conditions which will, if their claims are true, definitively vindicate them and silence their ignorant and prejudiced critics;
- Scientists and spiritualists should create joint teams of theorists and practitioners in science and spirituality and organize seminars and conferences in order to have a continuing dialogue on the congruent approach that is possible;
- They should jointly write textbooks at all levels in order to exhibit that the findings of science have now corroborated the truth of many of the experiences reported by seers and mystics of all cultures;
- They should initiate teacher training programmes so that, both at school and university levels, there is a constant emphasis on the growing interface between science and spirituality.
We believe that, in this process, India with its strong and ancient tradition of para and apara vidya cohabiting with each other is best suited to take a lead.
Thank you.