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+--- Thread: Why Carl Sagan believed that science is a source of spirituality (/thread-13630.html)
Why Carl Sagan believed that science is a source of spirituality - C C - Feb 10, 2023
https://bigthink.com/thinking/why-carl-sagan-believed-that-science-is-a-source-of-spirituality/
INTRO (excerpts): Many assume [...] a spiritual worldview is simply incompatible with a scientific one. While that is the common assumption, it couldn’t be more wrong. Spirituality simply refers to a sense of connection to something larger than oneself, and it has nothing to do with the supernatural. To quote Carl Sagan, “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.”
Einstein [...] shared this view... “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”
So, what is the meaning of life, and the meaning of existence, according to this new worldview? In his book Vital Dust, Nobel laureate Christian de Duve gives a satisfying answer to that question:
“If the universe is not meaningless, what is its meaning? For me, this meaning is to be found in the structure of the universe, which happens to be such as to produce thought by way of life and mind. Thought, in turn, is a faculty whereby the universe can reflect upon itself, discover its own structure, and apprehend such immanent entities as truth, beauty, goodness, and love. Such is the meaning of the universe, as I see it.”
But to realize its meaning and transcendent purpose, the cosmos needs our help. As James Gardner puts it in his book Biocosm: “The universe, de Duve would surely agree, cannot exhibit the miracle of conscious thought nor its finest manifestations — truth, beauty, goodness and love — by itself. To do so, the universe urgently needs the assistance of humble mortals like ourselves.”
So, what can we do right now to assist the universe in its process of cosmic awakening? (MORE - details)
RELATED (scivillage): The most common source of awe might surprise you: It's us.
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Then again, it's also akin to cultural appropriation. Similar to how the words used for "color" (in various languages) originally referred to the experience itself or treated objects as really possessing those properties. But then science extended or reframed it as a range of frequencies in the EM spectrum. People of the past were unaware of the latter when they concocted the term. OTOH, it's also an accepted tradition to keep adding more different meanings to the same word, thus contributing to the semantic ambiguity or imprecision of ordinary language.
RE: Why Carl Sagan believed that science is a source of spirituality - Magical Realist - Feb 11, 2023
Quote:“If the universe is not meaningless, what is its meaning? For me, this meaning is to be found in the structure of the universe, which happens to be such as to produce thought by way of life and mind. Thought, in turn, is a faculty whereby the universe can reflect upon itself, discover its own structure, and apprehend such immanent entities as truth, beauty, goodness, and love. Such is the meaning of the universe, as I see it.”
I agree with that. The meaning of our existence is the cultivation and refinement of consciousness and mind. We are real and human to the extent that we are conscious and soulful participants in the evolving potentialities and novelty of the universe.