Ever since the dark of time, Science and Religion have been engaged in a tug of war. Science was the realm of the philosophers and astrologers while Religion was in the hands of the Priesthood. And this lead to a dualistic perception of reality. There was good and evil... there was God and Satan as these forces opposed each other in a seemingty endless battle.
It was the Greeks. Somewhere between 400 and 600 B.C. the Greek philosophers realized that a third element was needed in order to explain reality. Things could no longer be either black or white there had to be something in between. Perhaps a shade of gray. And the gap between philosophical thought and observation began to narrow. Heaven and Hell had to have a purgatory. The opposition between substance and form was mediated by activity. And so it was for perhaps the next 2500 years.
Newton was the last giant to comment on the deterministic aspect of reality. The measurement of the relationship between mass and distance as the reason for the attraction between two bodies and the ability to make rather precise measurements of the effect of gravity lead the world to a new understanding.
But it was Einstein who introduced the third element with his statement of the relativity of all things.
Thanks to Albert Einstein we are now traveling at light speed and there was no holding back on the development of human thought and an understanding of the universe we live in. But it was Neils Bohr and the other physicists who developed the theories of quantum physics who brought us to where we are today and the opportunity to bring into play the third factor between Science and Religion and that is... Spirituality.
Next week I will tell you about the developments in quantum physics and how I think that this approach could answer a lot of questions about Science, Religion and Spirituality and what are the possibilities beyond that. So keep tuned and don't be hesitant about asking questions or makinig comments. This is easily done by posting a comment and I promise to answer every one.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Purpose Behind the Journey
Well folks.. it's Thursday again and that is the day on which I chose to write something in my Blog. Today I am going to tell you about why I realized a relationship between Science, Religion and Spirituality.
It all started the day my wife of over 34 years died. Suzanne was a very quiet person with a very persceptive personality, honed by many years as an operating room nurse. She loved being a Nurse and kept up with all the latest developments in the healthcare field from medicine to new procedures to heal us, patch us up and otherwise keep us healthy. So you see, I and our boys had access to the best health advice that anyone could get.
But, that did not help Suzanne. Sometime in the early 80's she contracted what was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis. We were living in a semi-rural community in western Michigan. The Docs there did what they knew best and that was to load her up with huge doses of aspirin. But that wasn't the answer. When she turned as yellow as a lemon and had virtually no strength I literally carried her to the car and took her to the nearest large city where they were able to stabilize her with gold compounds. And from there the beat goes on.
In 1986 we were transferred back to Delaware. Here we had access to more knowledgeable doctors... more sophisticated drugs. But even that didn't help. She gradually deterioated as treatment proceded. Being a member of the medical community, she was given every consideration. New drugs were tried. But some almost killed her on the spot and others were about as effective as a mosquito bite on an elephant. And she became a chemical dump.
Then just before Thanksgiving, 2005, she announced that she had to go into the hospital as an outpatient for some gall bladder treatment. And she didn't think that it was necessary for anyone to take her there because..."she would be back home the same day". It never happened. Somehow her gall bladder was nicked or whatever and she aspirated fluid into her lungs and contracted a chemical pneumonia. They moved her to ICU that weekend and of course we visited her to give support and cheering up.
That Monday, a cold and dreary Monday, I received a call from the hospital that Suzanne, my wife of over 34 years, was dead due to complications of the gall bladder surgery.
It was then that I became personally introduced to death as a reality. My parents had both died. But, it was at a time when I was out of town and not exposed to the intimate delails of their death. My sister also died in another state, out of time, out of mind. Now the cold realization of the short time we have on this earth came hurtling down on me like a bolt from the blue.
It was quite a few months later that I realized that the calm and control that I had during the days and weeks after the funeral was only gossamer-thin. I had to understand about life and death and where do we go after that. So I went into grief-counseling for perspective and I sat down for some reasoning beyond that of heaven, hell and purgatory as the ultimate destination. And that part of the journey I will describe for you next week.
It all started the day my wife of over 34 years died. Suzanne was a very quiet person with a very persceptive personality, honed by many years as an operating room nurse. She loved being a Nurse and kept up with all the latest developments in the healthcare field from medicine to new procedures to heal us, patch us up and otherwise keep us healthy. So you see, I and our boys had access to the best health advice that anyone could get.
But, that did not help Suzanne. Sometime in the early 80's she contracted what was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis. We were living in a semi-rural community in western Michigan. The Docs there did what they knew best and that was to load her up with huge doses of aspirin. But that wasn't the answer. When she turned as yellow as a lemon and had virtually no strength I literally carried her to the car and took her to the nearest large city where they were able to stabilize her with gold compounds. And from there the beat goes on.
In 1986 we were transferred back to Delaware. Here we had access to more knowledgeable doctors... more sophisticated drugs. But even that didn't help. She gradually deterioated as treatment proceded. Being a member of the medical community, she was given every consideration. New drugs were tried. But some almost killed her on the spot and others were about as effective as a mosquito bite on an elephant. And she became a chemical dump.
Then just before Thanksgiving, 2005, she announced that she had to go into the hospital as an outpatient for some gall bladder treatment. And she didn't think that it was necessary for anyone to take her there because..."she would be back home the same day". It never happened. Somehow her gall bladder was nicked or whatever and she aspirated fluid into her lungs and contracted a chemical pneumonia. They moved her to ICU that weekend and of course we visited her to give support and cheering up.
That Monday, a cold and dreary Monday, I received a call from the hospital that Suzanne, my wife of over 34 years, was dead due to complications of the gall bladder surgery.
It was then that I became personally introduced to death as a reality. My parents had both died. But, it was at a time when I was out of town and not exposed to the intimate delails of their death. My sister also died in another state, out of time, out of mind. Now the cold realization of the short time we have on this earth came hurtling down on me like a bolt from the blue.
It was quite a few months later that I realized that the calm and control that I had during the days and weeks after the funeral was only gossamer-thin. I had to understand about life and death and where do we go after that. So I went into grief-counseling for perspective and I sat down for some reasoning beyond that of heaven, hell and purgatory as the ultimate destination. And that part of the journey I will describe for you next week.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Conversations with myself
Hello World... I decided that after all my years on this planet that I should put down my thoughts to see how insane I really was. Everyone is insane of course, because to be not insane is to be normal and average and really uninteresting... I am goiing to share my thoughts with those who care to join me and comment and throw in their own two cents.
My thoughts started out probably when I was ten years old and they didn't make much sense. I was raised as catholic with sunday school and bible studies as my resources and well aware of the Jewish and Muslim alternative. But as you yourself may have been caught up, there were more questions than answers.
Then I went off to school to study science, Chemistry exactly and after reaching the PhD level I enjoyed a thirty four year career with a large Chemical company. In the meantime there were many fascinating discoveries and developments in the science field especially in cosmology and physics. So
archeology, paleontology and the like were able to put a new spin on those things addressed and related to in the Bible, the Koran and other ancient writings such as the dead sea scrolls.
The third element to come into play is Spirituality. The advent of the internet, cable television and much more connectedness around the world has awakened people to questions about themselves and the reality around them in a totally new way that is different than the formal religions that we depended on in our childhood.
My own observations are that Science, Religion and Spirituality are coming together to give us a totally new world view. It is from this point of view that I intend to express myself through the blog. The title I have chosen is "Conversations with myself" to address the little dialogs that each of us have when we self-talk and have absolutely no limitations on time and space and let imagination, visualization and creativity completely have a free rein..
Next week I will tell you about how I came to this point of sharing my conversations and so begins the journey. draft 12:41:00 PM by Thewalrussez Delete
My thoughts started out probably when I was ten years old and they didn't make much sense. I was raised as catholic with sunday school and bible studies as my resources and well aware of the Jewish and Muslim alternative. But as you yourself may have been caught up, there were more questions than answers.
Then I went off to school to study science, Chemistry exactly and after reaching the PhD level I enjoyed a thirty four year career with a large Chemical company. In the meantime there were many fascinating discoveries and developments in the science field especially in cosmology and physics. So
archeology, paleontology and the like were able to put a new spin on those things addressed and related to in the Bible, the Koran and other ancient writings such as the dead sea scrolls.
The third element to come into play is Spirituality. The advent of the internet, cable television and much more connectedness around the world has awakened people to questions about themselves and the reality around them in a totally new way that is different than the formal religions that we depended on in our childhood.
My own observations are that Science, Religion and Spirituality are coming together to give us a totally new world view. It is from this point of view that I intend to express myself through the blog. The title I have chosen is "Conversations with myself" to address the little dialogs that each of us have when we self-talk and have absolutely no limitations on time and space and let imagination, visualization and creativity completely have a free rein..
Next week I will tell you about how I came to this point of sharing my conversations and so begins the journey. draft 12:41:00 PM by Thewalrussez Delete
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Follow me thru the Looking Glass
The time has come the Walrus said... I have always thought of writing my thoughts down, but I always figured that no one would be interested in reading them... I did what so many before me did.. I wrote a Blog. At this point I have no idea how many people would be intersted in what I say or even comment on my presentations. But, it is like something that has to come out. I don't plan on sticking to any one particular subject. As I get comments or suggestions then that will guide me on subject and frequency.
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