There is the unofficial but society-approved separation between religion and science.
- By nature, religion is subjective, a private experience based on personal beliefs.
- By design, science is objective, a public enterprise based on controlled experiments.
We humans straddle these two powerful frames of reference which profoundly influence our lives and yet which operate as if they have nothing in common.
- In Western society we are inclined to worship scientific inventions but fear religious interventions.
- When seeking solutions to human problems – be it pollution, an international conflict, or heart disease – we rely more on technological fixes than spiritual solutions.
- We fear religion will cross over into places it doesn’t belong, or where we worry it will do more harm than good.
“Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.”
Einstein
- Many of us can seek spiritual confirmation from different sources, and find inspiration in the new scientific findings that reveal the interrelatedness of all life.
- There is an urgent need for us to see the world whole.
- We live in a historical moment when for the first time in several hundred years where it is possible to be deeply religious and deeply scientific without contradiction.
Re-source: Reshape
“One of the fundamental shifts is from an external authority to a person’s internal spiritual authority. It is the authority of one’s own inner journey and in many ways this is a much more demanding spirituality than the dogmatic external one. This spirituality expects individuals to do the work for themselves and not simply let the established religious authorities carry that out for them.”
Reverend Larry Thomas
Spiritual Hunger – Many people are not ready to claim all of the baggage that religious groups bring along.
- That doesn’t deny the fact that they are spiritual beings and yearn for some kind of a spiritual relationship that affirms this side of their being.
- View these attitudes as a positive trend rather than a negative one
“The task before us is fundamentally spiritual in nature: to discover who we humans are, how we are to relate to each other and to the whole community of life, and what we are to do, individually and collectively, here on Earth.”
Global 2000 report on the future of the world’s environment, population, and economic development.
“The longing of many for a world of justice and wholeness. I feel very strongly that people deep down recognize goodness. We are the beneficiaries of the prayers and the courage of what people have done in the past. Things have come to a head now. And so there is this movement of the spirit.”
Archbishop Tutu
craving and resource from “A Call for Connection” by Gail Bernice Holland
