“It is the uncertainty that charms one. A mist makes things wonderful.” —Oscar Wilde
Many years ago, while attending university in Vancouver, I took in a lecture by a renowned researcher and was struck by a curious fact. The man on the stage described several archeological time periods with precision and certainty. He referenced events millions of years in the past as if he had witnessed them himself. On the previous day, I had attended a church service on campus in which the pastor discussed the origins of life. Here the pastor also spoke with confidence. As she explained why God needed 7 days to form the earth and the life upon it, her eyes lit up and her voice took the familiar tone we normally use to describe a car accident.
This was odd. Both leaders appeared certain of the content of their presentation. Even more absurd, both presentations sounded near identical. That one was scientific and the other religious did not seem to make a difference. Both presentations asked audience members to suspend their disbelief.
There is a common tendency in western society for us to dismiss religious belief systems as fare for the sentimental and the intellectually-challenged, but what about the claims made by the “religion” of science? Has it not also taken a mythical importance in our lives? Does it not also offer refuge from eternal destruction?
Have you noticed the smug, holier-than-thou attitude among us because of science’s most beloved offspring, Technology? We happily speed along in metal and plastic bubbles called cars. On a whim we speak across continents with our cell phones. And we do a myriad of other things with devices whose function most of us are unable to explain.
Technology has made us bold. No, technology has made us arrogant.
We who live in the first world believe that science eventually will uncover all things. Perhaps we should not be so confident. From what I can see, science moves us forward only in haphazard, frustrating fashion. For every answer it provides, there are perplexing questions and unsolvable dilemmas that follow.
We get fast modes of transportation but these cause vast, environmental damage. We invent a multitude of gadgets so as to make ourselves more comfortable but we have become soft and sickly. Our devices and platforms allow us to live parallel lives simultaneously but only at great cost to our nervous systems and mental health.
Technology had made some of us wealthier than kings, but science is a cold god. There is something deflating about knowing that in a matter of time all will be discovered and understood. What will we do then? How will we entertain ourselves if not by engaging in daily discoveries?
I do not reject science entirely. Like you, I also enjoy the comforts of innovation and the advantages of progress. But I refuse to worship science as the source of my salvation. Life is more enjoyable when it remains mysterious and a tad impenetrable. It is essential that my god stay invisible.
Thankfully, some scientific discoveries only reinforce the idea that life will always be magical and just beyond our ability to understand. Physicists call the smallest units of the atom quarks. Apparently, when these units are examined they turn out to be made up of…nothing! * The smallest units of the atoms that hold matter together are made up of nothing substantial. Food for meditative thought.
Like Oscar Wilde, I prefer a mist. I reject the superstition that accompanies many of the established faiths, but I’m not a fan of mere information, cold facts and raw data. And in any case, science will always be a poor deity because it is in perpetual flux and subject to constant revision.
*It is interesting that in eastern religions, reality is often called Maya, a word which means illusion. Both science and some religions suggest that what we refer to as reality might actually comprise nothing at all.