Science and Spirituality

"The point at which Science and Spirituality converge is where true enlightenment begins".

I was sitting in the UCLA Library reading about Confucius around 1969 or 1970 when I came across a statement. I will paraphrase it here, "Man should study man before he studies spirit". At the time I realized the brilliance of this statement. Because studying spirit before you understand what a man is or more specifically what a human being is likely may confuse you beyond belief.

It is sort of like building a house or home. If you don't start with a solid foundation before you venture off into full creativity of design the house or home will eventually fall down. It is inevitable. Especially, if you live in a place like California where building codes have to be so strict because of ongoing earthquakes, even if you build your perfect dream house the state and counties of California are going to red tag it and make you tear it down.

It is similar to what I'm saying here about Science and Spirituality. If your connection to the spirit isn't practical enough it could kill you or drive you insane eventually. So, studying spirit is only useful if you also start from a practical grounded viewpoint.

Especially, because I was raised a minister's son I son I saw in reality all the time what this statement from Confucius actually meant in real life played out from when I was 6 to about 21 and beyond. People who would try to live a "Fairy Tale" often were soon dead. Their "house collapsed" upon them and they went crazy or they were soon dead.

So, by going to college and studying the sciences like Physics, Anthropology, Social Science, Philosophy(where all the sciences originally came form) allows a person to be grounded in practical reality. However, too much practical reality can just make people bitter, unhappy and alone. So, to combine practical reality with your dreams and visions and your compassion for yourself and others while applying the scientific method to all your researches seems to be the best method towards enlightenment both of yourself and all the people around you which will take the whole human race into a much better future than people building their homes with foundations that are going to collapse upon them during the next tornado or earthquake or tsunami in real life. By "Homes" I mean both spiritual and physical homes.

Confucius - Wikiquote

en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius‎

Wikiquote

This is the kind of person of whom you can say, "he loves learning." ..... before spiritual beings, without any doubts arising about them, shows that he knows Heaven. .... The superior man, while there is anything he has not studied, or while in ...

 

• When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, "he loves learning."

 

• At fifteen my heart was set on learning; at thirty I stood firm; at forty I had no more doubts; at fifty I knew the will of heaven; at sixty my ear was obedient; at seventy I could follow my heart's desire without overstepping the boundaries of what was right.
• Retrospection of his own life. From this phrase, alternative names for each decades of human life are derived in Chinese.

• 溫故而知新，可以為師矣。
  • Reviewing what you have learned and learning anew, you are fit to be a teacher.

• 君子周而不比，小人比而不周。
  • The Superior Man is all-embracing and not partial. The inferior man is partial and not all-embracing.

• 學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。
  • To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.

• 攻乎異端，斯害也己。
  • To throw oneself into strange teachings is quite dangerous.
  • Note: The word translated "strange teachings" means literally another end [of textile]. There are two different understandings about "strange teachings" or heretical. One possible understanding is "strange from the authentic teaching", another understanding is simply different subjects, just as two authors or two scholastic fields literature and politics.

• 由，誨女知之乎，知之為知之，不知為不知，是知也。
  • You [a disciple], shall I teach you about knowledge? What you know, you know, what you don't know, you don't know. This is true wisdom.
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  Confucius - Wikiquote