Faith and Reason, Partners for Life

"I believe that when we delve as fully into the nature of mind as we have into the nature of space, time and matter, we will find consciousness to be the long-awaited bridge between science and spirit." – From Science to God (Peter Russell)

I have had an arm’s length fascination with quantum science for many years, although I don’t pretend to really understand it. Quantum science discoveries, which suggest that reality is not what we think it is, fits my intuitive sense of life being much more than meets the eye and assuages my mind’s discomfort with purely faith-based conclusions.

I would like to believe that we are moving closer to reconciling the divergent views underlying the conflict between science and faith. It seems to me this is as important a goal as the age old "battle of the sexes"; to find a meeting place where the rational mind can lie peaceably with its intuitive counterpart. Both approaches: reason, with its penchant for intellectual rigor and processes, and faith, with its capacity to satisfy our deepest needs for meaning and purpose, are equally sincere seekers of ultimate truth. With this shared intention, each wanting what each other wants; the dissent is reduced to their unique approach to get there. My wife and I frequently disagree on how to get someplace, yet we remain married after 42 years.

Many people are surprised to learn that science and religion have not always been at war. For most of history, science and faith have been intertwined in their pursuits to understand life. Roger Bacon, an early champion of empirical science, was a Franciscan monk. Nicholas of Cusa, a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, expressed both scientific and mystical observations in his writings, and was an early champion of an infinite universe. Nicholas Copernicus, who brought forth our understanding of a sun-centered cosmos, was also a cleric in the Church. These great thinkers did not need to abandon their religious faith in order to hold onto their new discoveries, rather saw the insights as harmonious expansions of their theology. Galileo, even Darwin, worked hard to reconcile their discoveries and theories with their faith. It wasn't until the 18th century with the advent of the Enlightenment period perspectives that strong sentiments arose to keep science and religion distinctly apart. It seems this divorce did not arise over irreconcilable differences but from fear of losing their grip on known reality, which blinded them from seeing what they might learn from each other.

Of course, this division still exists today and seems most irreconcilable in the deeply entrenched camps of strongly theistic religions and rigid empirical science. The harmony between the two methods of understanding reality comes more readily within a spiritual philosophy that doesn't see the Divine as some distant Being but more of an ever-present energy/intelligence, and with a scientific paradigm that allows subjective human experience into its evidence locker. This is history worth repeating, now more than ever, as we need the full breadth and depth of our capacities to meet humanity's physical and spiritual needs.

In 1889, Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore wrote that scientific research had created a need to reinterpret scripture and that bridging science and religion would be a central purpose of the movement that was to become Unity. This bridging of the rational and intuitive is what brought me to Unity over 30 years ago. It is a spiritual paradigm that feels authentic and relevant to all of life, in which my head and my heart feel right at home. Today after several decades of study and contemplation I remain fascinated intellectually and soulfully drawn to a deepening realization of the synthesis between the mystical and rational. I would love to hear comments from any of you who have spent time on this bridge as well.

With you, in faith and reason,

Larry