The Quest in Science and Advaita
You may like to remind me that this web site is a place for serious philosophy and not for science. Science, in the opinion of diehard Vedantins, is a game in concepts that people play sometimes even with expensive toys like the ten billion dollar (Rupess 56,000 crore) Large Hadron Collider. You may wave me away telling me that science is for kids.
Precisely. That is the point. It will perhaps be easier for me to talk to your child or perhaps to your grandchild. You have already lost your ability for scientific thinking! I am not saying this. It is Sharon Begley, the well-known Science writer, who said it a few months ago. And she has a stream of studies carried out for over two decades to back her up. She writes, “research has shown that children think scientifically—making predictions, carrying out mini experiments, reaching conclusions and revising their initial hypotheses in light of new evidence.” As we grow old, “we learn more about the world, [but] our knowledge and beliefs trump our powers of scientific reasoning.”
Serious inquiry into one’s own ‘self’ or the Universal Self too demands “reaching conclusions and revising the initial understanding in the light of new evidence”, a process called “apavAda” or sublation in Advaita. If we are unable to pursue this analytical process to the very end, our inquiry will be compromised. Or we may lose track of our pursuit midway if we happen to get caught in some pleasant “comfort zone” (read ritual or religion) and we may not even know it. Moreover, we may claim ownership to that comfort zone as “my God, my religion.” And talking of ownership, 3-4 year old young ones have a sage advice for us. They think that only man-made objects can be owned and not natural things.
Dr. Richard Feynman captures well the spirit that lies behind scientific inquiry when he says:
“I wonder;
I wonder why;
I wonder why I wonder why?”
An open mind and a profound sense of wonder are sine qua non for any investigation. Science is concerned all the time about such an attitude in scientific research and scientists are generally trained to develop incisive mind and unbound curiosity to know the unknown. Needless to say that we have to get back that childlike innocence and wonder particularly in the matter of Advaita where the inquiry involves peeling off the finer and finer layers of veils that conceal the ultimate Truth, the inexpressible Unknown for which the word Brahman happens to be merely one of many a pointer.
For our ancient seers and sages, “science” was never an alien creature in their spiritual quest. Nor did they categorize science to lower levels to be despised. Whether it was etymology, grammar or logic or even Vedas were shastras for them. Shastra is all about a rigor and a discipline. Shastra was defined by them as: shAsanAt shAstram iti Ahuh (that which directs a person to do or refrain from doing an action) or shamsati iti shAstram (that which recommends, in a dispassionate manner). That is what science is about too. No wonder we translate the word ‘shastra’ to mean science in English.
In contrast, some of the elderly Vedantins in modern times consider science and scientific approach “mlecha,” unfit for spiritual and philosophical pursuits.
It is a quirk of history that we carry a burdensome mindset of keeping science and philosophy immiscibly separate. It, perhaps, goes back to the days of Rene Descartes in the seventeenth century when he proposed the scientific method for material things and contemplative approach for philosophical issues, thus separating science and philosophy into two distinct streams.
The consequent Cartesian dichotomy of matter and mind facilitated bold scientific experimentation without the unwelcome interference of the Church in the West. But it has unfortunately resulted in the parochial identification of inflexible jurisdictions leading to turf wars between scientists and philosophers in later times. We may, however, note that Newton christened his revolutionary scientific studies in the late seventeenth century as “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy,” attesting to the singular goal of scientific or philosophical investigations. An intellectual and Philosopher, Prof. John Searle persuasively argued establishing the mind – matter continuity. He pointed out that the barrier between them was purely artificial and nothing more than an historical accident. But his views were more pooh-poohed than accepted.
Arguments are advanced by people from both sides to strengthen the walls of separation between science and philosophy. They held that science is about “objects (the observed)” and philosophy (particularly Advaita) is about the “subject (the observer).” In fact, the observer – observed differentiation received a big jolt in early twentieth century with the discovery of Quantum Physics. It became very difficult to explain how the probability of multiple states of a sub-atomic particle or a photon (a packet of electromagnetic energy) would collapse into a single state upon an experimenter measuring or observing a quantum phenomenon. But the education system in particular and the society in general merrily stuck to the bifurcation of the disciplines of science and philosophy rather than melding them into a single stream with the common goal of inquiring into the ultimate Truth. Advaitins too kept themselves aloof from scientific method, though Advaita also points to the non-difference in the substance of the observer (a ‘me’ here) and the observed (a ‘world’ out there).
The extent of the hardening of separation built into the fields of science and philosophy today can be seen in the title of a recently published book. Two intellectuals examining various issues of spiritual thought and scientific research found it fit to call their tome as “War of Worldviews.” Nothing less than calling the difference in their viewpoints as “War” could satisfy them!
It is noteworthy that the fundamental questions raised by science or Advaita philosophy are about the same.
Many of our ancient scriptures usually begin with the questions:
Koham kathamidam jAtam ko vai kartAsya vidyate |
upadAnam kim asti iha vicharah so ayamIdrisah || – Aparokshanubhuti – 12:
Who am I? How is this world created? Who created it? What is it made up of?
These questions define the spirit of modern-day scientific inquiry too, as can be seen from the following examples:
The Theoretical and High Energy physicists spend billions of dollars on huge underground machines like Large Hadron Collider. Journalists asked Physicist Lawrence Krauss on the purpose of such large scale spending on science. In his response, he did not justify the expenditure in terms of the little technological goodies that accrue from such studies. He referred to the deeper and profound quest “to understand ourselves” to be the theme behind such research work.
Or take the case of the Dawn satellite that was launched four years ago into space up above. A few months back it reached one of the asteroids (Vesta) in the Solar System. The scientists connected with this work at the University of California said that the information from the satellite must be able to help us “to know our own origins, origins of the Solar System and that of the universe we live in.”
Prof. L. Randall, a well-known Physicist has recently published her latest book, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” The book is acclaimed to be “The most sweeping and exciting science book in years.” The book, as one reviewer put it, “makes clear the biggest scientific questions we face and reveals how answering them could ultimately tell us who we are and where we came from.” There are also books authored by highly respected scientists and Nobel Prize winners in as varied subjects as astronomy and biology and almost all of them introduce their scientific work starting with the questions like “who am I and how did the world come about.”
Thus both science and Advaita philosophy have the same quest – to understand man and the world he appears in.
Before we proceed further, it will be fun to watch Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley speak about the long-lost-child-scientist in you.
What’s it really like to see through the eyes of a child?
(To Continue: Methodology in Science and Advaita)
