There have been many attempts to weld science and materialism together. If someone uses the word “science” we understand it is materialism. We even equate science with technology. Eventually we can drop the word “materialism” and feel secure that science rests on the bedrock of materialism! But this position is not what science is about. It’s really materialism.
If a person informs me that there is no scientific basis or proof that brains depend on consciousness I can turn the tables on them and say, “Sir, you are espousing materialism under the guise of science. You’re only saying that the brain, which you believe can be reduced to some kind of matter, is the source of consciousness.”
When a person uses the expression “scientific basis” it should be understood as meaning, materialism, which is opposed to idealism, which is the theory that the universe or reality is essentially spirit or mind. Matter does not exist, in other words.
Not wishing to leave out science, what does it mean? First of all, science has no connection with materialism or technology. Those who make science fungible with materialism and technology err. The most rudimentary definition of science is: “The state or fact of knowing” (Oxford English Dictionary). If I come to know ultimate reality or the same, the ultimate substance of the universe, this is science, that is, the highest science. If I come to know that squirrels bury their acorns in my front lawn as a means of preserving them, this is a different kind of science than knowing ultimate reality.
It goes even further. Science, rationality, objectivity, materialism and atheism are all seen as one thing. In fact, they are all different. A person who believes they are the same will tell you that mystical insight is subjective, therefore immaterial, therefore unscientific. They will say, especially since there is no God, or any ultimate reality. I believe that THAT is a subjective, emotional opinion. By confusing science with philosophy, materialism seeks to replace science. This tactic is more about war than knowledge. It seeks to convert, not to inform.
On a very different note, I have been thinking about death and my next incarnation lately. Does Buddhism have anything to say about the presence and purpose of other worlds or other universes? As in, parallel realities and the lifeforms in them. I have been looking at the image of Mara clutching the wheel. How does Buddhism order the universes, plural? This matters to me because of a personal encounter with what lies beyond. I want to how Buddhism might help me to understand the experience, and what will happen next.
Posted by: Electric Black | December 15, 2014 at 03:42 AM