Truth is truth to the end of reckoning.
—William Shakespeare
In a time when fake news, climate change denial, and conspiracy theories loom large in our lives, it is important to remind ourselves that the driving force behind both our scientific enterprise and spiritual awakening has always been our search for the truth.
Truth matters not simply because we want to have an objectively correct view of the world and ourselves, but because a worldview based on falsehood will eventually lead to our demise. Even though lying is prohibited in every single religion or spiritual tradition in the world, there are repressive regimes who fear the truth more than they fear their enemies and spend much time and effort on promoting falsehood among their own people. No nation or community can be sustained by lies.
Truth also matters as the basis of scientific inquiry. The discovery of bacteria and viruses, for example, not only showed us a new fact about the world, but has become one of the cornerstones of modern medicine and the fight against disease.
If truth is such a fundamental aspect of our life, why do we sometimes choose the path of falsehood and deceit? In addition to oftentimes being led to the path of falsehood by the very institutions we trust–such as governments that spread propaganda–there are many other reasons for this choice, such as the pursuit of self-interest, vanity, weakness of the will, and the fact that finding and telling the truth requires hard work, dedication and self-sacrifice. The path of falsehood is much easier to take but the consequences are always dire for ourselves and those around us. Furthermore, lying and deceitfulness darken our souls and lead us farther away from our humanity.
In the Western world, science and religion have been at war with each other over the truth since the early inception of modern science by the works of people such as Nicolaus Copernicus (d. 1543) and Galileo Galilei (d. 1642). Eventually, the explanation by means of divine revelations could not win against scientific explanations mainly because only the latter had both explanatory and predictive power. To give an example, the story of creation based on Adam and Eve cannot explain the high degree of similarity between human DNA and that of other animals. Modern evolutionary biology, however, can explain this fact about us, as we are only one of many branches in the tree of life.
With the advance of scientific explanation, religion gradually had to give up its claim of monopoly over the truth and retreated to the domain of morality and human values. Science can tell us the distance between the sun and the moon but it cannot tell us how we ought to live our lives, how to pursue a good life, which of our actions are right or wrong, and whether or not certain scientific pursuits such as the genetic engineering of super-humans are ethical.
Not only are the aims of science and religion different, but their methods are also different. Science is based on observation, measurement, and the construction of explanatory theories which can be later disproved by new experiments. Religion, on the other hand, is based on rituals, faith in the unknown, and the desire to transform ourselves for the better by following certain ethical principles.
The method of science is objective in the sense that it does not allow the scientist's inner state to determine the outcome of a scientific inquiry. To be sure, some experiments in quantum physics may show that, as observers, we influence the outcome of the experiment, but the nature of the influence does not have to do with our own psychological state; it does not depend on whether we are sad, angry or happy. More to the point, the objectivity of science comes at a price: anyone can practice science irrespective of his/her ethical standpoint. To put it another way, to practice science does not make one a better person. One can be a very selfish egomaniac with a terrible attitude towards others and still be a brilliant scientist.
As religious explanations and theories gave way to scientific explanations, religious or spiritual truth has become more a matter of subjective experience. Religion is no longer perceived by its practitioners (at least to a large extent in the Western hemisphere) as an explanatory hypothesis of natural phenomena, but as a way to experience the divine qualities, such as unconditional love and compassion towards others.
Most people now attend religious ceremonies not because they are interested in theories about the origin of the universe, but because they experience something in such gatherings that resonates with their souls and provides meaning to their lives. Such experiences are by their very nature personal and the effect of performing the same ritual will vary in different people. For instance, the same meditation may create a state of ecstasy in one person, a state of yearning in another and a state of serenity in yet another.
In contrast with the scientific enterprise, our subjective experience does matter in determining whether or not we have found the spiritual truth. A person is not enlightened if he or she is consumed by anger and jealousy. The spiritual truth is intertwined with our inner states in a way that scientific truth is not.
Just as religion and science can be a source of good, they can also result in tremendous acts of evil. So many people continue to die in the name of religion that it seems intolerance is one of the main by-products of religion. Similarly, science and technology have continued to this day to produce weapons of mass destruction that have put the future of humanity on shaky ground.
Despite all the differences, there is one basic commonality between our scientific enterprise and our religious endeavor: both are expressions of our search for the truth. As such, both disciplines must be approached with sincerity. In the realm of science, the pursuit of truth means to let the facts and experiments decide the case without personal bias. In the realm of spirituality, truthfulness means not to have any hidden agendas or self-gratification in our spiritual journey. Obviously, anyone who pursues any spiritual tradition for the sake of power over others or material gain is deluded and far from the truth. But the role of truth in the spiritual journey is far subtler than this.
In mystical traditions, truth is no longer a relationship between divine revelation and the world that includes us; rather it becomes a matter of direct experience. The mystic experiences the divine directly without the aid of any mediator. To put it simply, while religion had to give up the realm of explanation of natural phenomena to science when it retreated to the realm of morality, mysticism had always approached the truth from a different angle: truth is a matter of direct experience of divine qualities in the world.
To be sure, the truth of scientific enterprise is different from the truth sought and known by the mystics. The truths discovered by science relate to the explanation of observable phenomena in the natural world, while the truth experienced by the mystics is the perception of divine qualities in our everyday life. Science may tell us that in loving other human beings certain areas of the brain become active. But the mystic's aim is to experience love in mundane and everyday interactions with others.
Although both the mystical truth and the scientific truth can co-exist in one and the same person, this is not necessarily so. We do not require scientists to develop spiritual qualities in their pursuit of scientific truth, nor do we require mystics to understand dark matter. And, in fact, both disciplines have been developed, by and large, separately from each other.
It is important, however, to point out that both disciplines can contribute to each other. Increasingly, scientists are faced with dilemmas that cannot be solved by science alone. Take the oft-mentioned example of genetic engineering. No doubt scientists around the world are manipulating our genes for the prevention of diseases, but in the process, they may also discover a way to change humanity into more competitive, ruthless beings who are less prone to feeling compassion for others. No doubt many institutions in the world are interested in possessing such a ruthless army. A scientist who has developed and experienced compassion towards others, may think twice before embarking on this enterprise. Similarly, a mystic who feels compassion towards others may fall in the trap of superstition and fantastic explanations of natural phenomena if he or she has no knowledge of science and its application to everyday life.
In Sufism, the aim is to experience the truth of the divine through love, not the falsehood of thoughts and actions that stem from the ego. The goal is to realize that we are part of the whole, to experience the Unity of Being without seeing ourselves as different and distinct from the whole. The metaphor the Sufis use for the description of this experience is that of the drop reaching the ocean and becoming the ocean.
This is a profound and ineffable experience. Hence, the Sufis' use of poetry and ecstatic expressions to describe their states. It is an experience that fundamentally changes our consciousness and attitudes towards all living and non-living things in the world.
The seeker of the truth and the truth are fundamentally one and the same. The spiritual journey is only the realisation of this truth. This is just what the thirty birds (si-morgh means thirty birds in Persian) in 'Attar's epic poem, The Conference of the Birds, experience when they arrive at the abode of the legendary bird, Simorgh: they realise that they themselves are the very si-morgh they sought all along. For the Sufis, the truth lies hidden within oneself and therefore the seeker of the truth is ultimately on a path of self-discovery.
Truth is truth to the end of reckoning.
—William Shakespeare
In a time when fake news, climate change denial, and conspiracy theories loom large in our lives, it is important to remind ourselves that the driving force behind both our scientific enterprise and spiritual awakening has always been our search for the truth.
Truth matters not simply because we want to have an objectively correct view of the world and ourselves, but because a worldview based on falsehood will eventually lead to our demise. Even though lying is prohibited in every single religion or spiritual tradition in the world, there are repressive regimes who fear the truth more than they fear their enemies and spend much time and effort on promoting falsehood among their own people. No nation or community can be sustained by lies.
Truth also matters as the basis of scientific inquiry. The discovery of bacteria and viruses, for example, not only showed us a new fact about the world, but has become one of the cornerstones of modern medicine and the fight against disease.
If truth is such a fundamental aspect of our life, why do we sometimes choose the path of falsehood and deceit? In addition to oftentimes being led to the path of falsehood by the very institutions we trust–such as governments that spread propaganda–there are many other reasons for this choice, such as the pursuit of self-interest, vanity, weakness of the will, and the fact that finding and telling the truth requires hard work, dedication and self-sacrifice. The path of falsehood is much easier to take but the consequences are always dire for ourselves and those around us. Furthermore, lying and deceitfulness darken our souls and lead us farther away from our humanity.
In the Western world, science and religion have been at war with each other over the truth since the early inception of modern science by the works of people such as Nicolaus Copernicus (d. 1543) and Galileo Galilei (d. 1642). Eventually, the explanation by means of divine revelations could not win against scientific explanations mainly because only the latter had both explanatory and predictive power. To give an example, the story of creation based on Adam and Eve cannot explain the high degree of similarity between human DNA and that of other animals. Modern evolutionary biology, however, can explain this fact about us, as we are only one of many branches in the tree of life.
With the advance of scientific explanation, religion gradually had to give up its claim of monopoly over the truth and retreated to the domain of morality and human values. Science can tell us the distance between the sun and the moon but it cannot tell us how we ought to live our lives, how to pursue a good life, which of our actions are right or wrong, and whether or not certain scientific pursuits such as the genetic engineering of super-humans are ethical.
Not only are the aims of science and religion different, but their methods are also different. Science is based on observation, measurement, and the construction of explanatory theories which can be later disproved by new experiments. Religion, on the other hand, is based on rituals, faith in the unknown, and the desire to transform ourselves for the better by following certain ethical principles.
The method of science is objective in the sense that it does not allow the scientist's inner state to determine the outcome of a scientific inquiry. To be sure, some experiments in quantum physics may show that, as observers, we influence the outcome of the experiment, but the nature of the influence does not have to do with our own psychological state; it does not depend on whether we are sad, angry or happy. More to the point, the objectivity of science comes at a price: anyone can practice science irrespective of his/her ethical standpoint. To put it another way, to practice science does not make one a better person. One can be a very selfish egomaniac with a terrible attitude towards others and still be a brilliant scientist.
As religious explanations and theories gave way to scientific explanations, religious or spiritual truth has become more a matter of subjective experience. Religion is no longer perceived by its practitioners (at least to a large extent in the Western hemisphere) as an explanatory hypothesis of natural phenomena, but as a way to experience the divine qualities, such as unconditional love and compassion towards others.
Most people now attend religious ceremonies not because they are interested in theories about the origin of the universe, but because they experience something in such gatherings that resonates with their souls and provides meaning to their lives. Such experiences are by their very nature personal and the effect of performing the same ritual will vary in different people. For instance, the same meditation may create a state of ecstasy in one person, a state of yearning in another and a state of serenity in yet another.
In contrast with the scientific enterprise, our subjective experience does matter in determining whether or not we have found the spiritual truth. A person is not enlightened if he or she is consumed by anger and jealousy. The spiritual truth is intertwined with our inner states in a way that scientific truth is not.
Just as religion and science can be a source of good, they can also result in tremendous acts of evil. So many people continue to die in the name of religion that it seems intolerance is one of the main by-products of religion. Similarly, science and technology have continued to this day to produce weapons of mass destruction that have put the future of humanity on shaky ground.
Despite all the differences, there is one basic commonality between our scientific enterprise and our religious endeavor: both are expressions of our search for the truth. As such, both disciplines must be approached with sincerity. In the realm of science, the pursuit of truth means to let the facts and experiments decide the case without personal bias. In the realm of spirituality, truthfulness means not to have any hidden agendas or self-gratification in our spiritual journey. Obviously, anyone who pursues any spiritual tradition for the sake of power over others or material gain is deluded and far from the truth. But the role of truth in the spiritual journey is far subtler than this.
In mystical traditions, truth is no longer a relationship between divine revelation and the world that includes us; rather it becomes a matter of direct experience. The mystic experiences the divine directly without the aid of any mediator. To put it simply, while religion had to give up the realm of explanation of natural phenomena to science when it retreated to the realm of morality, mysticism had always approached the truth from a different angle: truth is a matter of direct experience of divine qualities in the world.
To be sure, the truth of scientific enterprise is different from the truth sought and known by the mystics. The truths discovered by science relate to the explanation of observable phenomena in the natural world, while the truth experienced by the mystics is the perception of divine qualities in our everyday life. Science may tell us that in loving other human beings certain areas of the brain become active. But the mystic's aim is to experience love in mundane and everyday interactions with others.
Although both the mystical truth and the scientific truth can co-exist in one and the same person, this is not necessarily so. We do not require scientists to develop spiritual qualities in their pursuit of scientific truth, nor do we require mystics to understand dark matter. And, in fact, both disciplines have been developed, by and large, separately from each other.
It is important, however, to point out that both disciplines can contribute to each other. Increasingly, scientists are faced with dilemmas that cannot be solved by science alone. Take the oft-mentioned example of genetic engineering. No doubt scientists around the world are manipulating our genes for the prevention of diseases, but in the process, they may also discover a way to change humanity into more competitive, ruthless beings who are less prone to feeling compassion for others. No doubt many institutions in the world are interested in possessing such a ruthless army. A scientist who has developed and experienced compassion towards others, may think twice before embarking on this enterprise. Similarly, a mystic who feels compassion towards others may fall in the trap of superstition and fantastic explanations of natural phenomena if he or she has no knowledge of science and its application to everyday life.
In Sufism, the aim is to experience the truth of the divine through love, not the falsehood of thoughts and actions that stem from the ego. The goal is to realize that we are part of the whole, to experience the Unity of Being without seeing ourselves as different and distinct from the whole. The metaphor the Sufis use for the description of this experience is that of the drop reaching the ocean and becoming the ocean.
This is a profound and ineffable experience. Hence, the Sufis' use of poetry and ecstatic expressions to describe their states. It is an experience that fundamentally changes our consciousness and attitudes towards all living and non-living things in the world.
The seeker of the truth and the truth are fundamentally one and the same. The spiritual journey is only the realisation of this truth. This is just what the thirty birds (si-morgh means thirty birds in Persian) in 'Attar's epic poem, The Conference of the Birds, experience when they arrive at the abode of the legendary bird, Simorgh: they realise that they themselves are the very si-morgh they sought all along. For the Sufis, the truth lies hidden within oneself and therefore the seeker of the truth is ultimately on a path of self-discovery.
