01.31.08
Scientists clueless
An Astronomer Attempts to Explain Spirituality
“I doubt that science will ever be able to give us the spiritual and emotional things we crave. So I think faith will always be with us.”
Scientists just don’t get it. People have beliefs in the supernatural because something at the limits of their representations seems to penetrate their consciousness. Getting to the bottom of this is hardly possible in terms of current science.
Consider the philosopher Schopenhauer on this point, if you don’t want mystical superstitions.
According to astronomer Nahum Arav, an astrophysics research professor at the University of Colorado, science is opening the way to a new form of human spirituality. Based on a sense of evolutionary connectedness to a changing and growing universe, this new spirituality, if fully realized, would transcend ancient ideas of a supernatural creator.
Arav, who studies the dynamics of quasars and their role in the development of galaxies, talked about science and spirituality with Vision contributor Dan Cloer.
DC You have said that “the human mind is desperate to believe.” What do you mean?
NA If you look at that from a scientific, evolutionary view, you can see that there is a very strong advantage to intelligent beings that believe in the supernatural. We had a huge advantage in evolution once we developed brains and consciousness and an ability to understand things. But with that came a huge liability. Once we became self-aware, we also became aware that everything we are doing on a personal level is for naught—we will die one day.
One of the ways to get around that is to develop a very strong system of beliefs that transcends the natural world. The most common thing for all human societies on this planet is some sort of supernatural belief. It was extraordinarily necessary, because it is very difficult for people to live in an arbitrary and aimless universe.