The Spiritualization of Science

We take it for granted that the future would look astoundingly different to our eyes, if we could only see it. Could medieval folk in their dingy hovels possibly have visualised the world we inhabit?

And what would strike them most? The machinery and labour saving gadgets? The concrete forests? Or the fact that people aren't constantly spitting, cursing and hitting each other?

It takes effort to imagine the future. What comes to mind most easily are the dystopias which Hollywood does so well: urban jungles, totalitarian systems, technologies gone mad.

Otherwise our humanistic reflexes encourage us to think in utopian terms, as if today's positive developments will lead to a better tomorrow.

This morning I found a book in my shelves that I didn't know I possessed: Wider Horizons: Explorations in Science and Human Experience (1999). It's published by the Scientific and Medical Network, which I joined recently, and consists of essays on alternative science/spirituality topics.

One that caught my eye is by Mark B. Woodhouse titled 'Worldviews in Transition'. Woodhouse argues that we are in a process of transformation in which "materialistic reductionism, fear, hierarchical control and disempowering competition" will all yield to "holism, multi-dimensional realities, mutually empowering cooperation, and the singular importance of compassion and unconditional love". Not merely because these are nice ideas, he suggests, but because the old ways no longer serve us.

He lists about thirty areas of change, anticipating the new millennium, and I hope he won't mind my reproducing some of them here. (He has written a book called Paradigm Wars, which should be worth checking out).

I have to say, though, confident assertions of this kind make me feel conservative. I know people who are much more cautious than I am about psychic phenomena. However when it comes to things like extra-terrestrials and ancient civilizations and earth mysteries I too find myself hanging back.

A part of me is also suspicious about utopianism. Contemporary materialism could prove much more durable than we hope and expect, and the challenge from conservative religious fundamentalism may also grow. If the battle between those two old-world ideologies dominates the next few decades, it might hold up any moves towards the "sacralization" of science.

One could also argue that, given the manifest imperfections of human nature, spirituality-based thinking by definition will always remain apart from the mainstream. It may even be that we understand it best by seeing it as an alternative, a goal to strive for. Or is that unduly pessimistic?

To be fair, Woodhouse acknowledges that these emerging ideas and trends are still very much a minority position. And I agree when he says we're better advised to 'spend less time examining the ships in the harbor, more to looking in which way the winds are blowing.'

Here are some of Woodhouse's predictions, in terms of prevailing praradigms and how he sees them metamorphosing:

Past/current: Matter and energy are coequal realities, each translatable into the other. Current/developing: Energy or fields of force are fundamental; matter is compressed energy - trapped light.

Past/current: All that we can know is confined to three dimensional sensory awareness. Current/developing: reality is multi-dimensional; our physical sensory level is but one of many.

Past/current: Consciousness is a by-product of (or identical with) the neurochemistry of the brain. Consciousness is a passive mirror of external events. Current/developing: Consciousness is irreducible and extends as a spectrum to other realms. The Brain is a filter. Consciousness deeply influences outer worlds.

Past/current: If mind exists, as many believe, it is as a separate (non-physical) "ghost in the machine". Current/developing: Energy-consciousness exists throughout the cosmos, including in plants, cells and animals.

Past/current: Only sound and the electromagnetic spectrum have "frequencies" that are of much use to us. Standard physics, chemistry and biology are what we need to control our environments. Current/developing: Everything has a vibratory signature, from angels and love to disease and the weapons of war. Power accrues to those who understand and access those signatures and their forms.

Past/current: If God exists, as most believe, "He" is separate from creation and rules through organized religion. Theism prevails. Current/developing: God/Goddess is not separate from creation; accessing inner divinity is a key to spirituality. Panentheism is a more inclusive cosmology.

Past/current: To be "religious" means to have faith in your God, belong to an organization that supports your faith, and to act according to scripture. Current/developing: Emphasis is on spiritual development over outer forms of religion, including the transformative power of transpersonal experiences.

Past/current: The paranormal (broadly conceived) violates both science and common sense; it is illusory. Current/developing: The paranormal is becoming normal. Basic theory is changing to accommodate it.

Past/current: Being healthy means not having any overt signs of illness or disease. Curing disease is eradicating symptoms and physical pathology. Current/developing: Health means optimum function of all interrelated physical, emotional and spiritual systems. Healing is deeper than curing.

Past/current: Humans evolved from a chemical soup by accident, random mutation, and natural selection. Keep refining Darwin. Current/developing: Not without periodic "boosts" from sources external to the planet. Interspecies evolution is not biochemically explained.

Past/current: Human civilizations have existed for no more than seven thousand years - no earlier than 5000 BC. Current/developing: Civilizations probably existed tens of thousands of years ago, if not more. The Sphinx dates to at least 10,000 BC.

Past/current: Education is left-brained information/skills to help us do something useful and to transmit the values and paradigms of our culture(s). Courses don't fit in a coherent paradigm of human nature and social purpose. Current/developing: Different learning styles, deep critical thinking skills, psychotechnologies, life long learning, and the power of self-image are stressed. Courses do fit a coherent overarching paradigm of human nature and social purpose.

Past/current: It always costs a greater amount of some form of energy to produce a lesser amount of another form of energy, eg. the gasoline engine. Energy production is not free. We can increase efficiency, but never over 99%. Current/developing: Esoteric technologies are emerging to master gravity (thus space travel), produce five times the quality and quantity of food, detoxify the environment, eliminate gas engines, and extract "free" energy from the vacuum field.

Past/current: The media objectively and truthfully reports most of what we need to know. Investigative journalism tells us the way "things really are". Current/developing: News that deeply threatens existing power structures is either not reported or unfairly reported. A new world requires full disclosure.

Past/current: We are on the planet because our parents by design or accident created us. We now have to determine the best way of surviving. Either God put us here to worship Him, or we create our own relative meaning in a chaotic world. Current/developing: We chose to be here on a soul level to grow in wisdom and alignments with love, to integrate our spirituality with our physicality, and to contribute to the creative evolution of the universe.

Past/current: When we die, we either rot in the grave or go to (some version of) Heaven or Hell. Current/developing: Reincarnation promises to become the prevailing "after life" philosophy.

Past/current: In theory extraterrestrial races exist somewhere "out there". But they are not here and would have no interest in us, even if they could travel here efficiently. Besides, if they were here, our governments would tell us. Current/developing: Extraterrestrial races have visited Earth for thousands of years and are currently in, on, or around the planet. If they are not formally recognized as of this writing (1998) they soon will be.

Past/current: Our current worldview(s) have served us well and should be refined, but not abandoned. Judeo-Christian, Cartesian-Newtonian, or Postmodern paradigms will take us into the new millennium. There's no need for alarm or for pie in the sky. Current/developing: We need a fundamentally new worldview to respond to current transformational challenges. Holism, Systems and Complexity theories, and the Perennial Wisdom underwrite a vision for the next millennium. They are both needed and realistic.

Comments

[Robert Perry]

I think the spiritualization of science is a hugely important topic (and have been ruminating on a post about it for some weeks). I personally believe that a spiritualized science would chart a new course for humanity, so I think Woodhouses' instincts are on target.

My quibbles would be: He seems inevitably influenced by some contemporary New Age themes. I believed in ancient civilizations as a young person (including the Sphinx being 12,000 years old), but now I think the evidence just isn't there.

I also don't see too much of a social justice theme in the above list (which I realize isn't his full list). I think that how we treat each other, both interpersonally and societally, is central.

But I agree with the gist of what I read above. I think that's where things have to go and where (if we allow a long enough arc of history) there are going.

[Julie Baxter]

I too picked-up on the New Age themes but, overall I think Woodhouse has the blueprint just about right. I'm sure HH the Dalai Lama would be very much inclined to agree with much of what he says.

[Rick49]

I continue to "back away" from the position that civilization is older than 6,000 years.
The cave art in Southern France has been dated around 30,000 BCE and clearly represents "us" as it's creator. The culture represents a post ice age hunting society and there is strong speculation around "the bird man shaman' stick figure in one cave site is representative of the shamanic initiation of dying, multiple darts piercing the stick figure,who must die into the Other world and bring his magic back to his clan as "healer" and or "master of the hunt".

This Archetype remains embedded in the Christian Mythos as the Crucifixion and the piercing Of Christ's heart and the 16th century painting of the St Sebastian who is depicted with his neck pierced by an arrow. Modern shamans in the Amazon cultures describe the darts and death dismembering initiations in the various entheogen driven "plant realities".

I have seen underwater excavation sites, in several hemispheres that may point to cultures older than 30,000 BCE but no evidence as of yet.

I am always willing to look for new evidence of a more ancient high culture than 35,000 BCE. I have been delighted about recent evidence that most of the worlds population genome may carry up to 2% of Neanderthal DNA, a decades long debate may be answered regarding breeding and cohabitation of homo sapiens and Neanderthals. So if evidence for older civilizations comes forth, so be it. Until then, why just believe it? Sorry Ramtha fans.

I resonate with most of the authors 1999 predictions. I pray that some of them may be somewhat over optimistic. The Human Collective Experiment may end and it's demise would be a tiny ripple in the Vast Ocean of Consciousness.

[Robert Perry]

Rick49, I see things much the same way. Real evidence of ancient civilizations would be incredibly cool. That's why, I guess, letting go of the idea was a long process for me of encountering one damning piece of evidence after another (like the Great Pyramid carbon-dated to 3000 B.C., and mitochondrial DNA showing that Native Americans were from Asia, not Atlantis), which forced me to slowly let it all go. Finally, I realized my only evidence was stories told by psychics and Plato.

[David Chamberlain]

I cringe when I see the name of Ramtha but I remain impressed with the Seth Material from Jane Roberts. Perhaps it is my natural aversion to commercialism of the kind promoted by J Z Knight.

In the 90's I was very much into the whole Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval thing but I haven't kept abreast of it all. I'm sure there must be some mysteries left - or have they debunked it all?

Anyhow, Robert, glad to see you have joined the SMN - I have been a member for a couple of years and attended their annual gathering in Hampshire this summer just past. Wonderful group of interesting and intelligent people - I will attend again when funds allow.

Hope to see you there.

[Robert McLuhan]

David, yes indeed. Haven't had much interaction with the SMN yet, but have always had time for David Lorimer, excellent writer.

'I cringe when I see the name of Ramtha but I remain impressed with the Seth Material' - my feelings exactly. I've been sent some channelling books to review, and have seriously mixed feelings. Will be posting on it soon.

[realpc]

The ideas he listed have been around a long time, they are not new. I have been aware of those ideas for most of my life, and I am 60. He makes the unwarranted assumption that all the things he believes, the ideas on his list, are the ideas we are headed towards. Rather than thinking there will always be competing philosophies, he assumes his on philosophies are going to be the uncontested winners.

And, worst of all, he assumes that his preferred ideas will create a utopia.

I have always been sort of a new-ager and I always believed in holistic philosophy and that science and spirituality are not opposed. I am not an atheist or materialist, and I don't belong to any organized religion.

However, there is absolutely no reason that I know of to assume we are progressing towards utopia. There is absolutely no reason to assume people are getting nicer or that life is getting more peaceful, or that we will ever stop trashing the planet.

He is obviously a utopianist, and utopianism will never die out. There are certain people who need to think that way.