Robert Schneider: Science without wonder, pure aspiration for truth is broken

To The Daily Sun,

Dr. Albert Einstein declared: Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Science is systematic inquiry, observation, and experimentation aimed at understanding underlying principles, patterns, and laws that govern the universe, with the goal of using this to predict, explain, and positively affect natural events.

Einstein discovered the physics of light to be both particle and wave. Baffled and awe-inspired, he described in it “a cosmic religious feeling” — recognizing the vanity of personal desires in the face of the universe's vastness and order. Einstein saw science, then, as a path to a profound spirituality based on a reverence for the "mysterious" and the structure of existence.

Einstein also commented much on religion saying, “the goal of which is the free and responsible development of the individual so that he may place his powers freely and gladly in the service of all mankind.” A religiously enlightened person would be “one who has, to the best of his ability, liberated himself from the fetters of his selfish desires and is preoccupied with thoughts, feelings, and aspirations to which he clings because of their super-personal value.” Such value comes from truth, justice, beauty ... integrity ... compassion for others ... and never personal gain.

Similarly, science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with such aspiration toward truth and understanding for the sake of all. “I cannot conceive of a genuine scientist without that profound faith,” Einstein said.

Science, then, without humble awe and wonder, pure aspiration for truth unencumbered by personal gain or politics ... is broken. Religion that ignores science as anchored in awe and wonder ... is not seeing the fullness of life and what is Divine.

May both be led by the utmost of integrity, truth, and cosmic religious feeling ... never corrupted by individual, economic, or political gain.

Robert Schneider

Moultonborough