Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.
- Carl Sagan, astronomer
Many have misunderstood me when I’ve told them that I find inspiration in being alone in the universe. However, I don’t think this sentiment is uncommon, especially in the scientific community. In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins writes frequently of what he calls “Einsteinian Religion,” or the wonder and fascination that many scientists experience as they explore the natural world and all its strangeness, on both the microscopic and telescopic scales.
My sense of inspiration and awe – the closest thing I think I’ve ever come to knowing god – is best articulated by Carl Sagan in the popular “Pale Blue Dot” video.* Sagan eloquently sums it up:
Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you’ve ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings; thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines; every hunter and forager; every hero and coward; every creator and destroyer of civilizations; every king and peasant, every young couple in love; every mother and father; every hopeful child; every inventor and explorer; every teacher of morals; every corrupt politician; every supreme leader; every superstar; every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there… It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. It underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the only home we’ve ever known: the pale blue dot.”
The inspiration I draw from the vastness of an inconceivably old universe gives me a sense of humanity, a powerful connectedness with others. This sensation trancends race and culture, and makes me feel like an ordinary member of the human species, not much different from any other person. We can argue over politics, ethics, or creed, but in the end we’re all just doing what we can to survive and prosper in this world. So while science may take a lot of the first-century mysticism away from our everyday lives, it also uncovers so much more about our world, including new mysteries to be pondered, explored, and ultimately solved.
*Unfortunately, PBD has been commandeered by the Al Gore and the Environati in recent years to fuel their own religious fervor. However, the force behind Sagan’s message seems to me to be primarily about human survival and peace, rather than environmental consideration.
