|
|
|
Email
|
|
|
Gnosis and Sciencis by V.V. Raman |
|
|
 A true science and religion dialogue must recognize that scientific knowledge (sciencis) ought to be distinguished from the deeper and uplifting dimensions of the human experience (gnosis). There is more to life than understanding and explanation. The meaningful aspects of life call for lofty poetry and sublime music. What the microscope is to the scientist, poetry is to the visionary. Both approaches reveal knowledge of reality, yet efforts to reconcile the two will always be fruitless. This weekly column reflects on both sciencis and gnosis, exploring these equally essential and irreconcilable ways of knowing. |
|
3/04/2010
- More than Cinematic Entertainment in Three Dimensions: Thoughts Provoked by James Cameron's Avatar
[...P]erhaps movies like this will inspire thinkers in other cultures to examine their own history. Some may have the courage to recognize where their ancestors crossed the line of moral decency and engaged in behaviors that were affronts to human dignity. More
| 12/11/2009
- Empedocles
[I]n Empedocles’ vision the attractive force of love plays an important role in binding the organs created by nature into successful and unsuccessful creatures. More
| 11/06/2009
- The Elder Pliny and the First Book on Natural History
Modern writers who are eager to establish that the ancients knew all about modern science should peruse Pliny’s volume which is a treasure chest of ancient knowledge as well as a repository of ancient misperceptions. More
| 10/09/2009
- Reflections on Darwinian Science Part III: Manifestation of the Divine in an Evolutionary Metaphor
It occurred to some Hindu thinkers in the nineteenth century, after reading Darwin, that there was this uncanny parallel between the modern evolutionary insight and the avataric manifestation on earth. The British biologist J. B. S. Haldane reiterated this idea, unwittingly misleading some Hindus into believing that Darwin had been foreseen by their ancestors whom he should have acknowledged in his work. More
| 9/04/2009
- Reflections on Darwinian Science - Part I
[T]alk of evolution and all hell and heaven break lose in our imagination, the framework of our moral laws seems to be shaken, and many people feel very uncomfortable being demoted from Imago Dei to fructose simian... More
| 6/25/2009
- The Discovery of Fire
Those who first mastered the technique of setting dry sticks on fire must no doubt have felt both fear and a sense of power. With its intangibility and immateriality, fire must have seemed very mysterious to early humans. More
| 6/01/2009
- On the Founders of Religions
Religions... rest on the utterances of men of wisdom of the distant past. More
| 5/22/2009
- On the Founders of Sciencis
In the world of science the discoverers of phenomena, and the proponents of theories are recalled through their names. We speak of Newton’s laws and Pascal’s principle, Raman effect and Dirac equation. But there is no record of the first human being who harnessed fire or invented the wheel, counted the planets or recognized their periodicities. We don’t know who first thought of an alphabet or a counting system. The names of the originators of sciensis have vanished with the memories of their coeval communities. More
| 5/01/2009
- Cosmic Connection
Religions arose from the recognition that human consciousness is a significant, perhaps unique, aspect of the perceived world. Whether consciousness arose as a result of biological evolution, as current science strongly suggests, or was implanted in us by an intentional Creator, as religions envision, an undeniable fact is that it inspires us to consider our individual existence in the larger scheme of the universe. More
| 3/27/2009
- Introduction to Gnosis and Sciencis
The word Gnosticism is derived from the Greek for knowledge: gnosis. The Latin word for knowledge, scientia, gave us the word science. Both claim to reveal knowledge. More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|