Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Ch. 2: On Earth as in the Heavens
Please use this thread to discuss this chapter.by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Ch. 2: On Earth as in the Heavens
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Some philosophers of religion go so far as to claim that awe is one of the "primitive" (i.e. not complex, not culturally mediated) ways of encountering the ground of being. There is no subject-object split when we are genuinely in awe, and we step out of the framework of manipulation, (where we would be calculating how we might put this thing to use).Penelope wrote:"Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual."
It isn't all about the awe, but I think most times of direct empathy (another way of connecting with the ground of being) will leave us with some of the feeling of awe. Nor is it just amazement - "I didn't know I had that in me" is not always a positive experience of awe. Sometimes it is a wretched experience of guilt or shame, for example."So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or of acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr."
The usual problem is considered to be the "disenchantment" of the world. Most of us, if we see an apparition or hear a voice, will immediately interpret it as a mental construct - an hallucination. And so it is, but the world feels different to people in less indoctrinated societies who interpret such experiences as experiences of external reality.The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.
I'm sure religious people still think there is quite a bit for the Creator to do.NDT wrote:According to Christian teachings of the day, God controlled the heavens, rendering them unknowable to our feeble mortal minds. When Newton breached this philosophical barrier by rendering all motion comprehensible and predictable, some theologians criticized him for leaving nothing for the Creator to do.
...This universality of physical laws drives scientific discovery like nothing else. And gravity was just the beginning.