Science and Religion

Long before I declared myself as a Baha'i, I read the book "Seven Mysteries of Life" by Guy Murchie. My guru (Guru Nityachaitanyati from the Sree Narayana Mission), had introduced me to that book. Interestingly, it was that book that I first learnt about the Baha'i Faith (Guru Nitya was happy when I told him that I accepted the Baha'i Faith as my path of spirituality. He has passed on and remains my dearest teacher in my heart.)

There was a quote from Baha'u'llah talking about the harmony between science and religion. Guru Nitya and I used to have hours of conversation about this topic, hence his recommendation to me of the book.

Years later, understanding it further as a follower of the Baha'i Faith, I just completed watching the video called "What the Bleep- down the Rabbit Hole". I strongly recommend this video documentary for anyone searching for this harmony between science and religion. It talks about quantum physics and a more transcendal knowledge of God. How the one explains the other and vice versa. That the old ways of physics, e.g. Newton's laws, only explains part of life. There is a whole other regime of Quantum physics that now makes more sense and is the physics of the 21st century. It now becomes easier for us to see the harmony between science and religion although there is still so much we cannot always explain.

It also discusses about the current duality i.e. we see ourselves as separate from God and from each other. Guru Nitya always used to tell me about this duality that we need to overcome, and I see this myticism in the Baha'i writings as well. How the oneness of humanity and unity, is not a physical oneness only, but a spiritual connectedness. What quantum physics calls "entanglement". Baha'u'llah talks about this organic and spiritual connectedness of humanity. How each one of us is connected to the other much in the same way the organs in our body are connected and function together.

It also helps me understand how Baha'u'llah reminds us that we have the two parts to our being, the material and the spiritual. We need to "feed" both. They are much like the two wings of a bird. Unless both are equally developed, the bird cannot fly. With science and our industrial age disconnecting the spirit and the material, we have learnt to indulge more in one or the other, rather than finding a balance. As we find a higher understanding of "God" and "ourselves", we will achieve this connectedness and achieve this balance. Hence the practice of meditation and prayer to "excercise" our spirit.

Don't want to take the thunder out of this amazing DVD, so go watch it.