Shards of Consciousness

When I was young, I was fascinated by science, technology, grasping the laws of the universe as we see it with our eyes, our instruments, and our thoughts.

I eagerly read all the science books I could. A favorite gift was the chemistry set I received for Christmas one year. I sat with millions of others as Neil Armstrong said That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. My heart aches at the thought that we could have expanded beyond this one small planet, but we have turned aside.

I understand the scientific view of the universe.

At heart, I'm a pragmatist. On the surface, what is more pragmatic than science? Its methods of asking questions of the physical universe have given us the tools to act that only lived in the tales of the gods at one point. It has given us resources to live with the leisure to pursue our dreams, not just answer to the demands of the environment.

Yet, for all that, the metaphysic behind science has left us with a diseased world. One demand of the metaphysic behind much of science is that if something cannot be described mathematically, if it cannot be measured, it isn't real. Even those things which are least physical, thought and imagination, have been considered to be real only by seeing them as neurological phenomena. Physically, technology's use without regard for the consequences has polluted the earth on which we live. Rather than living in harmony with the world, we act as interlopers in it. Socially, we have created the machinery of political, economic, and religious states that demand the individual bend to the needs of the machine, rather than the machine be shaped around the needs of the individuals. We must create ever more to stay in the same place. This has led to decreasing freedom for individuals, and increasing amounts of anomie, depression, anxiety. Ultimately, the materialistic metaphysic is just not practical.

In times past, and for many people today, religion was the vehicle by which we were taught our place in the world, the vehicle that gave meaning to our daily lives. While many only pay lip service to it, and others confuse the form with the intent, religions speak to us still.

Unlike a materialistic metaphysic, a spiritual metaphysic does imbue the world with meaning. Meaning is one of the few things we actually need. Physically, we need shelter from the elements, nutritious food, clean water. Emotionally we need to feel safe, people to love, a reason to be needed. As far as the materialistic metaphysic is concerned, it stops there. Fulfill the physical and emotional needs, and you have a happy, healthy person. If they aren't happy and healthy with that, they have some type of disorder.

Viewed in this light, most people do have some kind of disorder. Given safety, physical and emotional fulfillment, and time to sit alone with themselves, and people discover an empty spot, a darkness that, given time and attention, will grow and grow until it colors every aspect of their lives. There is something missing, something that all the gourmet food, television shows, movies, music, electronic toys, football games, nights at the pub, or new best sellers cannot replace. Meaning.

This is the impracticality of a materialistic metaphysic. It is incomplete. In declaring the unmeasurable unreal, it throws away half of reality, and the important half at that. It has declared the spiritual dimension of life unreal. And it is the spiritual dimension that is the wellspring of meaning.

Meaning is the point to which religion addresses itself. Rightly or wrongly, religion tells us our lives have meaning. We are an integral part of the world, not an accidental stain in the emptiness of space. In the worst cases, it is Marx's opium of the people, a tool to maintain the socioeconomic context of a culture. In the best cases, it shows us tools to really know themselves and to become free beings aware of our connections to each other and the rest of the world rather than psychosocial machines.

Knowing that what you do and who you are has meaning above and beyond yourself, your family, your culture, is needful. The words holy, whole, and healthy all come from the same root. Once upon a time our fathers and mothers knew they were tied to each other.

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