And this one will make your day, Revlgking
More than that, Orac: It also made my night
BTW, is Orac your official name? Or is it the one you use here? And, what is your mother-tongue? Religion? Feel free not to tell us. Also, feel free to tell me:
Mind your own business! Being a lover of knowledge, I am just very curious about what makes people tick.
You go on:
You go on to say that science is coming back to the ideas of religion.
Orac, you mention soul "as an energy". Why not? Sounds like a good idea, to me.
Interestingly, for a logo, the Israeli airlines uses ELAL.
EL comes from Hebrew. It is the root word for "the power, the energy" and also 'god'. The logo means "to the highest heights" (Genesis 1:1).
AL is the root word in Arabic. ALLAH simply means, the one and only power.
MY IDEA OF RELIGION?In my opinion, choosing to be bright, intelligent, moral, ethical, truth-loving, gentle, perceptive and people-serving scientists--ones who are not just interested in having power, fame and fortune--past and present, have been, and are, religious, in the best sense of the word. The same is true for positive religionists.
As a positive religionist, I have no right to demand that you trust me, just because I am ordained and ask you to trust me. It is up to me to win that trust by what I do. This was the basic message of Jesus: He never demanded that people give him blind obedience to "me and my church". He simply said--and I paraphrase--: Do to, and for, others--and expect them to do same in return--that which is moral, ethical and love-based.
PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, SCIENCE, ART, POWER AND MONEYPowerful words. As I understand them: philosophy, religion, science (ABOUT knowledge), religion (ABOUT wisdom--the use or abuse of knowledge), art (the application of knowledge), power (physical, mental and spiritual), and money are just servant-like tools.
In the hands of genuine, good-hearted and generous people--who I, as a religionist, call GOD-like people--such servant-like tools ought to be used to build of republics of GOD--ones ruled by secular laws, in which philosophy, religion, science, art, power and money are just that: servant-like tools--not dogmatic powers.
Even the best of powerful tools--for example, money--in the hands of disingenuous (insincere) mean-spirited, self-centered and greedy people will give us nothing but corrupt financial systems--Our media is full of such bad news in North America. How about Australia?--which are fear and greed-based. Such systems do not serve the common good.
Instead, they bring us famines that kill millions, and wars (usually started by criminal minds out for profit and power); dysfunctional families, riots in the streets, you know the story. You mention
So, in some ways religion has been a bit harsh on science, which simply follows the truth wherever it leads and however uncomfortable it gets.
Religion harsh? Perhaps you mean, critical--like parents often are of their children. Religion, as I practice it, is never harsh--cruel, severe and without pity. I only speak out to be helpful and warn of dangers to come? Is that harsh?
BRIDGES BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION ARE EVEN NOW BEING BUILTBTW, how many scientists are aware that there are a number of modern clergy who are also qualified scientists?
http://www.ordainedscientists.org/In history, there were any number of ordained scientists. Just to name a very important few:
Copernicus, a monk. He was not just an astronomer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus And who has not heard of Gregor Mendel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_MendelThere also lay Christian scientists:
Galileo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_GalileiIsaac Newton was a lay Christian--another man of many talents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_NewtonSpeaking of physics, there was
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_PlanckHe was a German and Lutheran layman.
By the way, I certainly agree with you when you say
There is a growing sense that the properties of the universe are best described not by the laws that govern matter but by the laws that govern information.
This appears to be true for the quantum world, is certainly true for special relativity, and is currently being explored for general relativity. Having a way to handle energy on the same footing may help to draw these diverse strands together.
Interesting stuff. There's no telling where this kind of thinking might lead.
