By Sawraj Singh
Many intellectuals, including some leftists and Marxists, have the wrong impression that spirituality and science oppose each other. However, the truth is that they complement each other. Spirituality and science deal with different levels of reality, and although their fields differ, both are seeking the truth. Science deals with perceptive reality. This level of truth can be known by our senses. Spirituality is concerned with ultimate reality or eternal truth which is beyond the reach of our senses.
Science tries to understand laws of nature through perceptive reality. The field of spirituality is very wide. The Indian word Dharam includes spirituality. Besides trying to understand ultimate reality, it has many other dimensions such as righteousness, duty and ethics. If we disassociate science from ethics, then scientific progress cannot be useful for society and it can even harm society. Capitalism has divorced science from spirituality. By doing this, it has limited progress in science mainly to increasing profits instead of using science for the benefit of the whole mankind.
Today, we can see in India and the rest of the world that progress made in science in the last two centuries has not helped the vast majority of people. For example, in India, grain production has increased many folds and there is surplus grain which sometimes rots in storage facilities. However, a large portion of the population is suffering from hunger and malnourishment. About 70% of children do not get enough calories in their diet, which are essential for their proper growth. Similarly, more than half of our women suffer from iron deficiency anemia. Without fair distribution, increased production does not help people.
The western capitalists used progress in science and technology to enslave other nations. They used gun-boat diplomacy for this purpose. Now, they are using progress in the means of communication and their media to exert control over the minds of the citizens of other nations and impose their values on them. All this is being done not for the welfare of mankind, but to increase their profits and expand their markets. For this purpose they have tried to separate science from spirituality and put them in opposition to each other. Many of our intellectuals, who are influenced by western liberalism, have negative feeling towards Dharam, which is an eastern concept and it includes spirituality.
To understand the difference between science and spirituality, we have to understand the difference between different levels of reality. Basically, there are three levels of reality: Perceptive reality, Transcendent reality, and Ultimate reality. Perceptive reality is that level of reality which we can know by our senses. Transcendent reality is the reality behind visible or perceptive reality, and ultimate reality is the unchanging reality or eternal truth. We can understand the different levels by a simple example. If a ten years old boy is standing next to a thirty years old man, then perceptive reality tells us that the man is bigger and stronger than the boy. However, transcendent reality tells us that after 20 years, the boy will become a thirty years old young man and probably bigger and stronger than the other man who will now be fifty years old. The ultimate reality is that one day both will die. Everyone who is born is destined to die, in other words, death is the ultimate reality of life.
Science is primarily concerned with perceptive reality, which we can feel with our senses. Science extends the reach of our senses. Our unaided eye can see for a few miles; however, a telescope can extend our length of vision to several thousand or a million miles. Similarly, a microscope can help us to see things much smaller than our unaided eye. However, a telescope or a microscope will always have a limit. Perceptive reality is bound by time and space. Therefore, it cannot reach infinity. Spirituality is beyond time and space, therefore, it can reach infinity.
Inspired by ultimate reality or eternal truth, spirituality helps to set ethical standards. It is important for science to function under these standards; only then scientific progress can be beneficial for the whole mankind. If science disregards ethics, then not only will the vast majority of people be deprived of the benefits of scientific progress, but they can be harmed by the progress.
In the last two centuries, scientific progress primarily occurred in western countries. Dharam (spirituality) is an eastern concept. By fusing the best elements of east and west, we can benefit the whole mankind. Therefore, there should be a fusion of science and spirituality.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
