Science and Spirituality: Organic Earth

Talk given by Dr. Pal Dhall, at the Combined Conference of the International Centre of Human Values with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Science and Spirituality, 31 July 2010

The Organic Earth

When I was asked to contribute a paper on Organic Earth I spent several days thinking what would be most suitable topic bearing in mind the background material by Ken Wilber which purported to look to an overarching meta-narrative between Science and Spirituality. This initially seemed quite challenging as there is a whole spectrum of views both in Science and in Spirituality with unbridgeable as well as bridgeable differences. It is the nature of Science to ask questions and to doubt, but at the same time it goes through relentless progress according to the available evidence. In this paper I wish to present an integral view of Organic Earth that is informed both by Science and Spirituality.

At one end of the spectrum of stances Science and Spirituality are regarded as two opposing rather than complementary systems of investigating reality because the methodologies of investigation and epistemology of the two are different. However, both are ways of knowing reality and have origins in the evolutionary development of human nature. Both exist within their own specific social, intellectual and historical contexts. There is undoubted rationality in both but the context of living and engagement with life and phenomena are different for scientists and spiritual aspirants. I shall explore this question with reference to Organic Earth with forays into other disciplines which overlap with the concept of Organic Earth.

I want to start by defining the word "organic." Normally it is defined as "living" as opposed to non living matter. However, I would like to present the view that the whole Universe is in one sense organic as it is pregnant with consciousness and capable of responding: the universe it is an interconnected, communicating, coherent and holistic system.

As a background I am an academic surgeon engaged with clinical as well as laboratory based research, the latter in cell biology and fibrin polymerization in the field of thrombosis. Further, I worked in the area of islet cells transplantation for the treatment of diabetes and this included animal experiments. At present as the Director of Institute of Sathya Sai Education in Australia I supervise scientific research in Education, Psychology, family dynamics, youth issues, Human Values, Ethics and Spirituality. Scientific methodologies in these various disciplines are widely varied but they have one common aim: to find facts relating to laws of relationships within each discipline. When I engage as a scientist I research for facts, not for Truth and when I engage in my Spiritual practices I seek Truth, not facts.

Religion and Spirituality

The methodology of Science was articulated within the Christian world some three hundred years ago. It had the main objective of seeking explanation of natural phenomena rationally and without reference to God. By this very definition Science contrasts with theism of the Christian and other monotheistic traditions in which God stands separate from creation. Some branches of Science e.g., Quantum Physics, Consciousness research, transpersonal psychology. Cosmology and life sciences are in less sharp contrast with Eastern pantheistic and non-dual philosophies. In these Divinity is the underlying principle of all creation and phenomenon is the very manifestation of Divinity. In looking for complementarity between Science and Religion distinction should be made between Religions and Spirituality. It is easier to find commonalities between Spirituality and Science than between Religion and Science.

Challenges of Science to Religions

Systematically applied Science to explore every imaginable human activity has uncovered facts that conflict with orthodox theistic religious beliefs based on the revelations of prophets. Debate is particularly vigorous under two specific circumstances - one when the interpretations of the mythic, ritual and narrative content of scriptures is taken literally rather than metaphorically and second when whatever was not known at the time is ascribed to a God of the gaps. Modern Science upholds Darwinian evolution. This has shaken the foundations of the Biblical account in the Book of Genesis but has had a lesser impact on Eastern religious and spiritual traditions in which evolution is not only an acceptable but a central concept. God is a caring Consciousness underlying Nature.

Origin of the Universe

Other unresolved points of debate between Science and Religion centre around the origin and nature of life, evolution from unicellular organisms into an enormous biodiversity, the phenomena of consciousness and human self-awareness. Science has good evidence that the universe came into existence 13.7 billion years ago from "the Big Bang". Spirituality is in general agreement with this although different religious traditions give different historical narratives. However, the fascinating point is the perfection of the fine tuning of the Big Bang. This defies logic with its precision of 30 odd parameters. The probability of a universe coming into existence by random selection from amongst other possibilities is assessed (Penrose, 1999) of the order of one in ten to the power of 10 to the power of 123. This is inconceivably large number and it is an improbability that cannot be taken seriously.

Evolution and Consciousness

Science does not have a clear idea of the purpose of the universe (Laszlo, 2006). The view of Eastern Spirituality is that creation is a manifestation of the Divine Consciousness and the purpose of creation is no other than Divine play. The objective for the Consciousness is to experience itself. This finds some support in Science which has shown that it is the information processing and consciousness that evolve during evolution, and biology follows (Collins, 2006). Quantum physics, consciousness research, transpersonal psychology, cosmology etc are showing that the Newtonian separation of matter and consciousness is not the only ontological reality and that Reality is many faceted with no separation between consciousness and matter, between time, space and energy.

Organic Earth

It is of particular note that as described by classical science consciousness is said to have appeared simultaneously with organic life. The appearance of life is shown in this diagram. As you see life first appeared some 4 billion years ago. According to Science life on earth started the era of Organic Earth. The answer to the really big question of how life started in this planet by reductive Science seems highly improbable. It took approximately 9 billion years for the earth to become a habitat capable of sustaining living organisms. The appearance of life was a random event according to Science. Molecules appeared from star dust 4 billion years ago, landed on earth to commence forming building blocks of nucleotides, followed by more and more complex bimolecular. Natural selection favoured the concentration of bio-molecules with the properties to self-assemble into ribonucleotides. Thereafter, the concentration of self- assembling RNA molecules increased selectively. These molecules steadily developed capacity of carrying information. Similar random natural selection led to the development of protein molecules and enzymes and DNA. This not only started organic unicellular life but within half a million years made the planet into a hospitable home for complex life forms (Goodenough, 1998).

The real challenge in accepting this Scientific theory of origin of life is not just the improbability of life starting as an event driven entirely by chance, or the improbability of self-replicating molecules to appear and then unassisted to develop lipid membranes around them and then a capacity to carry information and then to migrate into cells to become genes. The difficult challenge is in accepting that life started from non-life and that consciousness developed out of inert matter. Reductive scientists explain this (away) by regarding consciousness as an emergent property or an epiphenomenon. Science can neither explain how consciousness arises from non-living, inorganic matter nor has it been able to replicate the production of life from inorganic chemicals despite considerable effort. The appearance of life and attendant consciousness are the turning point breakthroughs in organic evolution. Life and consciousness are of qualitatively different from their precursors. It seems more plausible that Consciousness was responsible for the initial Big Bang and for creating conditions on the planet suitable for life to evolve and manifest itself in its elementary form.

The scientists say that consciousness evolved de novo into greater and greater complexity eventually generating human consciousness. This seems highly unlikely. It is more plausible that life was informationally seeded. It was not biology that gave rise to consciousness but consciousness that expressed itself in higher and higher integration culminating in the human consciousness, a consciousness that can not only examine itself but through spiritual practices also evolve consciously.

What is the rational goal of cosmos? Science has no clear answer. The rational goal of the cosmos, according to Spirituality, is an encounter and subsequent realization, of an abiding and indissoluble relationship of human consciousness with the Divine Consciousness. According to spiritual traditions Divine consciousness played a permissive role in the origin of life. Many spiritual masters demonstrate the supremacy of Consciousness over matter and energy and teach that there is purposive guidance in Nature. This includes guidance for the process of natural selection. Thus natural selection under the purposive guidance of Consciousness, rather than operation of blind chance alone, seems a more plausible mechanism for the origin of life and for the emergence of spectacular biodiversity. This also would account for the relatively short period of approximately 500,000 years time for biodiversity to become established. This short time scale otherwise defies the logic of Science.

The Play of Consciousness in Non-Living Molecules

Leaving aside the matter of being aware of the workings of Consciousness in everyday life in clinical situations of patients, I would like to relate my experience in the laboratory, in research with fibrinogen molecule. I have been constantly fascinated with the play of consciousness evident in non-living bio-molecules that are in tremendous abundance in the biological world and in tremendous coherence. Fibrinogen is non-living strand of protein with an amazingly complex and elegant structure. It plays a variety of roles in physiology and pathology where it forms networks of different morphology for a variety of purposes - to stop haemorrhage, to form a scaffold for the growth of repair cells in a wound, to prevent the spread of cancer cells, to stop spread of infection with bacteria and viruses etc. It is fascinating how the fibrinogen molecule responds in many ways just as another living organism with consciousness, as if it was aware of its environment, folding and unfolding, splitting off its specific parts, exposing reactive sites for the attachment of other molecules which will assist in its own dissolution some days or weeks later in its downstream life span. It seems to have a capacity to "sense and respond" to extremely minor changes in its environment. When needed it polymerises and undergoes self assembly in a very precise way, making a network of just the right tensile strength and porosity within milliseconds. The beauty is that it tailor-makes the network to suit the specific "demands" placed on it in its physiological context. The play of consciousness in bio-molecules is not dissimilar to that the physicists experience with the subatomic particles in experiments in Quantum Physics.

In the clinical context as a surgeon I am accustomed to inflicting wounds on different tissues and seeing them heal to the precise form of the tissue injured. All living cells follow laws of morphogenesis. These laws govern the development of complex forms from simple forms e.g. development of an animal from an egg, a whole human being with trillions of cells from a unicellular embryo. Reductive explanation of how complex forms develop from simpler forms is the chemical nature of DNA. But the form of human leg and arm, liver and brain are different despite the same DNA. Sheldrake (1984) developed the concept of morphogenetic field, a causal structure that directs the cells and tissues in such a way as to give them their characteristic shape. Sheldrake maintains that in these situations we are dealing with a profound mystery which is beyond reductive Science. Thus there is a sharp contrast between a holistic approach to nature and a mechanistic and reductive approach.

Purpose of Human life and of Creation

Taking up the story of evolution again, approximately 200,000 years ago Homo sapiens appeared on the evolutionary scene. As we ascend the evolutionary scale consciousness steadily develops. In humans there is a sudden discontinuity and consciousness has undergone a further remarkable development. We ask ultimate questions and seek ultimate answers to the existential questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? Where am I going? Science has no answer why human consciousness is uniquely and discontinuously developed in humans other than to say such development has survival value. Science gives the same answer to the question why humans have such highly developed logical sense. From the perspective of evolution of consciousness the advent of humans is a fantastic second organic breakthrough. Humans are able to evolve their consciousness through self effort, discipline and training of the mind and heart and when appropriately developed an individual consciousness can experience Immanence and enter into direct communion with Consciousness, experiencing themselves not as the body, the mind or the vital principle but as Consciousness.

Spirituality regards human life not only as a unique opportunity for humans to experience their Reality through an encounter with Truth but also that this is the very purpose of human life and indeed of the creation of the universe.

Dual nature of Human beings

Human beings have dual nature: an intuitive-aesthetic and a rational-logical. The intuitive-aesthetic aspect, supported by the mirror neurons gives us an ethical framework and equips us to ask the ultimate questions. Our tremendously developed forebrain gives us a wonderful capacity to introspect deeply fundamental questions of meaning and purpose and seek harmony, both inner and outer. In this aspect we are self-aware and seek connection with others as well as transcendence and mystical experiences.

A separate area of human brain makes us highly rational and logical, seeking explanation and reasons for physical and mental phenomena. Both our human nature and our biological equipment enables us to develop two distinct areas of human enquiry. Spirituality is a search for Truth and Science is a search facts and laws of Nature.

Conclusion: Coming Together of Science and Spirituality

The question that has been raised in the background paper by Ken Wilber is one of addressing the problem of human knowledge and arriving at a more comprehensive framework in the hopes of lessening the gap between Science and Spirituality. The differences in the epistemology of the two disciplines make an overarching meta-narrative difficult as there are unbridgeable gaps in the stances of reductive positivism, post modern Science, esoteric religion and inflexible doctrines. In coming together both Science and Spirituality have to retain their intellectual integrity. This is only possible within a larger context where Spirituality and Science are prepared to engage in an authentic dialogue. A critical self appraisal is needed by both Science and Spirituality. While the basis is rationality in both, albeit of a different kind, both are interpretative of experience, for in both we do not deal directly with the Reality, but with interpretations of it. There are several areas where their coming together as partners in a joint venture is likely to be enriching for humanity.

Science gives us clear facts and these can ignite a sense of wonder, awe and mystery at the complexity and beauty of Nature and heighten awareness of Dharma but Science does not deal in values. It is for this very reason that Science has become the hand maiden of Technology, Industry, Economics and Politics and been instrumental in inflicting much damage on the planet. Spirituality and Religion on the other hand deal with values and culture. They can enrich the daily life through their emphasis on values in all domains of life including Science. This has happened in the field of Ecology, the only area where Science has had a significant ethical impact on the way we live by underlining our basic connection with nature. Ecological theory (Lovelock, 1979) states that this the Earth is a community of trust in which all living organisms including humans, animals, insects, reptiles as well as atmosphere, seas and the terrestrial crust work together and regulate the physical conditions of the planet for life to be supported and for evolution to continue under the benign watchful eyes of Gaia. This theory links Science and Spirituality and has heightened awareness that the Western style of life is unsustainable in a planet of finite resources. Its impact is changing the world in a number of ways - ecology is being put back into economy, new forms of technologies are being introduced to limit the impact on the climate, politics is changing to take the welfare of the planet into account, consumption is being looked at vis-a-vis the pollution of the land, atmosphere and the oceans and our spiritual role in the planet is being taken seriously. In this case Science has enhanced Spirituality and Spirituality has enriched our lives.

Science and Spirituality can change the world in more ways by forming similar alliances in many other areas of human enterprise- farming, agriculture, management, corporate practice, economics, finance, politics, professions, trades, managing global issues of poverty, terrorism and dispossession as well as human well-being and happiness. An introductory but a vital discourse between Science and Spirituality should become compulsory education in every school, college, tertiary training facility and university. This would lead humanity to wake up and inaugurate a new era of peace and prosperity.

A third area of potentially fruitful collaboration of Science and Spirituality is in the development of evolutionary epistemology. Religions have to go beyond their scriptural narratives, rituals and practices into trans-religious Spirituality which is the common ground of all religions. Different religions have to learn a great deal from each other without compromising their own integrity. Both Science and Spirituality are forms of human rationality. A dialogue can take place between them in the recognition that they have valid but different reasoning strategies for different facets of life and living and for viewing the same reality. Both have to acknowledge that their origins are in brain development, human biological and spiritual make up and both focus on human well being. A dialogue on this basis will reduce the gap in the traditional demarcation between Science and Spirituality. Then an attempt can be made to create a mutually acceptable epistemology, which in all likelihood, will remain distinct in the two disciplines but understanding will be enhanced.

References

Collins, F.S, The Language of Gods: A Scientist Presents Evidence For Beliefs: New York, Free Press, 2006.

Goodenough, U. The Sacred Depths of Nature, New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Laszlo, E. Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos, Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions, 2006

Lovelock. J Gaia, A New Look at Life on Earth, London: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Penrose, R. The Emperor's New Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Sheldrake, R. "Morphic Resonance" in Grof (ed) Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1984.

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