True Science

There is a lot of talk of ‘the science’ these days. Scientists are greatly respected. Rightly so for they guide and shape much of our understanding today about how we see life and nature.

In many ways science leads the way. Advances in science can save many lives and many scientists work tirelessly to help the world overcome the devastating effects of this global pandemic, for instance. Scientists can work with great care and compassion for the good of all and with dedicated commitment. Humanity, on the whole, is appreciative of great scientific minds that have made amazing breakthroughs and provided medicines and medical innovations that benefit the human race.

Scientific knowledge evolves

And yet scientific knowledge is always evolving. Many times there are paradigm shifts within science that can render previous conclusions and discoveries inadequate or redundant in the light of new knowledge or discovery.

What is True Science?

Within the phenomenal world, science is the study of matter through observation and experiment, as described here.

(Phenomenal means ‘perceptible by the senses or through immediate experience’)

Science – a definition

‘the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment’.

In a sense we could say – the study of reality, the study of life, the study of nature and the physical world.

Quantum Physics

However in Quantum Physics it has been noted that

‘When a quantum “observer” is watching Quantum mechanics states that particles can also behave as waves. … In other words, when under observation, electrons are being “forced” to behave like particles and not like waves. Thus the mere act of observation affects the experimental findings.’

This is profound! Have the ramifications of this really been assimilated?

I do not have a degree in science and neither am I an expert on quantum mechanics, but having delved at least to some degree into the science of spirituality, through direct experience, it seems there is a threshold to cross that changes everything. A threshold of seeing. But for whom?

What do I mean by that?

It is almost impossible to describe but this apparent transformation of seeing is like a shift from one realm to another. From one vibrational field to another that appears somehow more subtle and less dense. Words cannot really describe this – they can only point. There are some words that seem to point to such a shift:

from head to heart,

from physical to spiritual,

from object to subject,

from limited to limitless,

from mundane to miraculous,

from control to surrender,

from death to life.

What does this have to do with science? Well – science is really a study of what is true and real – isn’t it? Awakening to spirit or truth is like waking up out of the dream of what feels mundane and constricted and bound by time, into a vast and spacious emptiness that feels unbound, natural and free.

Evolutionary shift in science

Has the evolutionary shift in scientific thinking that Quantum Physics points to really been investigated deeply? Is it related to this shift in seeing somehow? Does it point to new possibilities that defy or transcend Newtonian laws and thinking? Perhaps so.

Is there an unsubstantiated belief and assumption in science today that there is an independent reality that exists apart from the observer? Has this been proved to exist? In other words, has dualistic thinking really been questioned in the scientific world?

Is the assumption that the objective world is ‘reality’ true? Does seeing the world as full of separate independent objects itself somehow cover over the discovery of true reality and radical insight? These questions seem more important than the answers.

The observer affects the observed and even changes the outcome of experiments. Electrons behave differently when watched. Therefore objective reality is not quite as reliable as we may assume perhaps?

What is Life?

May be it is ‘science’ also to look at what the source of life actually is (not that is can be described or understood by the thinking mind) and to go deeper than purely assuming objective existence is reality. Could it be that the subject is the one indivisible source? Could there be a science of spirituality? Is enlightenment or self realisation anything to do with a more pure, evolved scientific way of seeing? Again I ask – for whom?

Could it be that the sages, seers and mystics are in a sense true scientists as they enquire deeply, through direct experience into who or what they are. They investigate consciousness or awareness itself. The invisible substratum of life. The formless, infinite source of the universe. They appear to also be swallowed up by their sacred and profound discovery.

Is this relevant to consider? Or is this useless abstract speculation? The western mind will often say the latter perhaps.

Why? Because it is form that we have been conditioned to look at and observe and dissect and test and label, rather than formlessness that we could say is our true essence, our pure being. Even the scientists like Rutherford and Bohr saw that atoms were mostly space so we can conclude that things are not as solid as they appear to be.

One thing that is observed here is that – the phenomenal world changes, every thing comes and goes. Witnessed by a deeper unchanging presence.

Science and Spirituality investigate what is true.

What is true science then? May be science can begin to evolve radically to learn from some of the greatest beings that have penetrated the realm that is beyond thought, beyond so called objective reality.

I have been inspired to listen to Bentinho Massaro’s recent podcasts and particularly this one which is talking about this very topic with great depth, insight and radical enquiry.

It is important to say that with any evolution it is good to include and transcend. Be grateful for what has gone before but also be courageous enough to put down limiting assumptions and brave new frontiers. For the good of all and for the advancement and progression of true science.