Science & Spirituality - Should they go hand in hand? - General

Studying science is a very direct and stark way of learning. You're supposed to take the knowledge in, apply it and use it for the betterment of people, no questions asked. My experience with studying science has never kept me from having this emotional attachment to the function of life. (I'm studying optics atm) It's like how many doctors can find the anatomy to be artistically/spiritually appealing and this elevates their enjoyment of practice. In other places, you'll see many astronomers or even mathematicians gain some kind of personal, spiritual gain from what they do. Having said that, when discussing scientific principles and learning about it, I can't help but feel that many want a detachment from emotions when it concerns practice. We assume that practicing science is supposed to be without emotion, but in my mind.. it just seems wrong. What do you think? for those who have no clue what I'm on about: [url]http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/spirituality[/url] fyi: spirituality =/= religion

isn't this a topic for mass debate?

How can science and spirituality go hand in hand? There is no proof of the existence of something like a supernatural "spirit".

Fact and Fiction shouldn't go together. It's an oxymoron. Promote science and leave religion alone, let it die out. It doesn't help anything anymore.

[QUOTE=AK'z;42647385]Studying science is a very direct and stark way of learning. You're supposed to take the knowledge in, apply it and use it for the betterment of people, no questions asked. My experience with studying science has never kept me from having this emotional attachment to the function of life. (I'm studying optics atm) It's like how many doctors can find the anatomy to be artistically/spiritually appealing and this elevates their enjoyment of practice. In other places, you'll see many astronomers or even mathematicians gain some kind of personal, spiritual gain from what they do. Having said that, when discussing scientific principles and learning about it, I can't help but feel that many want a detachment from emotions when it concerns practice. [B]We assume that practicing science is supposed to be without emotion, but in my mind.. it just seems wrong.[/B] What do you think?[/QUOTE] Where do you even get this idea from? It brings joy to us when we discover something that leads us closer to understanding how and why something works the way it does. Though I don't understand what you're trying to ask in the OP. Is it okay for scientists to have religious or spiritual beliefs? Sure, some do, but it's important to understand to leave supernature out from problems we try to solve.

I'm not even sure what you mean by this, please elaborate [editline]26th October 2013[/editline] if I'm getting this right, then no, that's not how it works. scientists aren't emotionless robots who speak in monotone and do everything systematically with superhuman precision. it's safe to say that they enjoy what they do, so I'm not sure what you mean by "we assume that practicing science is supposed to be without emotion" [editline]26th October 2013[/editline] and just out of curiosity how would you improve the enjoyement of studying those fields?

[QUOTE=supersnail11;42647620]isn't this a topic for mass debate?[/QUOTE] The topic I refer to is very personal and subjective, I don't see what gain there would be to argue.

I dislike the idea that both have to be mutually exclusive. It's pretty arrogant to say that we us Humans will eventually discover everything there is to discover in this world. To be quite honest, I think there are things that we might never ever fully understand and able to prove scientifically and some things are just bigger than us.

[QUOTE=Beerminator;42647650]How can science and spirituality go hand in hand? There is no proof of the existence of something like a supernatural "spirit".[/QUOTE] We're not talking about a supernatural being in this thread, spirituality covers a lot more ground than people think. It's about psychology, philosophy, the effects of life and how people react to things.

[QUOTE=AK'z;42648251]We're not talking about a supernatural being in this thread, spirituality covers a lot more ground than people think. It's about psychology, philosophy, the effects of life and how people react to things.[/QUOTE] I would go with a different word than "spiritual" then, as it implies supernatural. Unfortunately, I don't know what word would be better.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClPShKs9Kr0[/media] Cosmos is a great series when it makes science a lot more in tune with the spirit of life. There's really no program like it.

Why would they? At the same time, why wouldn't they? Science is supposed to be objective, you can easily be a spiritual person, and still be scientific in how you actually discover and investigate things. Your spirituality could lead you to actually wonder something, and investigate it to try and work out if it is something we can measure and quantify. The two have never been mutually exclusive, a lot of big names in science history had some spiritual side to them it seems. But applying spiritual ideas to the scientific method is pretty impossible without the method becoming invalid.

[QUOTE=Beerminator;42647650]How can science and spirituality go hand in hand? There is no proof of the existence of something like a supernatural "spirit".[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Quark:;42647706]Fact and Fiction shouldn't go together. It's an oxymoron. Promote science and leave religion alone, let it die out. It doesn't help anything anymore.[/QUOTE] Ugh, that isn't what he's talking about..

Science relies on a testimony of factual evidence and laws, while spirituality relies on faith, which is best described as believing on something with the [i]lack of[/i] factual evidence and laws. You're basically asking if water and the absence of water go hand in hand, which is an absolutely inane question to ask. [editline]25th October 2013[/editline] I guess in a way they do, but only in the way that the lack of one represents the other.

Why cant they, most religious people accept science and support it. I guess as unraveling the way their diety created the universe.

[QUOTE=Quark:;42647706][img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=386682&dateline=1381633594[/img][/QUOTE] I've actually starting watching House. Greg's character is riddled with everything I'm on about here, he's very conflicted but has a very deep personal care for his practice. He's willing to risk his own career just to save one patient, and I'm only on the 14th episode.

So you're just asking if scientists should get enjoyment from their work? Of course. [editline]25th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Beerminator;42647650]How can science and spirituality go hand in hand? There is no proof of the existence of something like a supernatural "spirit".[/QUOTE] If you read the OP you'd see that this response makes no sense. [editline]25th October 2013[/editline] In the future you should probably avoid using the word spirituality, AK. It has many connotations to it that you didn't intend to convey. You probably should have asked about "sense of wonder" or something along those lines.

Here is the biggest problem with this debate, as stated in the Op link. [QUOTE]Spirituality means something different to everyone.[/QUOTE] It can and it can't. A scientists amazement at the universe and a raving Bachmans visions of the end times could both be considered spiritual. Kind of a bad example but it fits.

I don't want to say they [I]should[/I] go hand-in-hand, since that makes it sound like I think every scientist should be religious, but I really think that they can be perfectly fine coexisting entities.

[QUOTE=AK'z;42648251]We're not talking about a supernatural being in this thread, spirituality covers a lot more ground than people think. It's about psychology, philosophy, the effects of life and how people react to things.[/QUOTE] So a belief in something not scientifically proven is pretty much a religious belief even if you don't have a religion for every single non-proven thought. If the question in the OP was merely related to a hypothetical scientist and if he or she could have "spiritual" (religious) beliefs, well I guess one can have both, however they would be separated, imo.

[QUOTE=Falubii;42648491] In the future you should probably avoid using the word spirituality, AK. It has many connotations to it that you didn't intend to convey. You probably should have asked about "sense of wonder" or something along those lines.[/QUOTE] Language can be a pretty tough barrier sometimes. [editline]26th October 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Rangergxi;42648768] It can and it can't. A scientists amazement at the universe and a raving Bachmans visions of the end times could both be considered spiritual. Kind of a bad example but it fits.[/QUOTE] This is actually a fair analogy, just depends on how far apart you want the practices to be.

Could they go together? Yes. Should they go together? I tend to disagree, on the religious side of the argument (and that's being said by a religious person). Spirituality of the self, however, I guess would be acceptable.

[QUOTE=AK'z;42647385]Studying science... blah blah ...no questions asked.[/QUOTE] The basis of science IS asking questions and then attempting to answer them at its core So I find this very confusing, you make science sound like religion

within the universe and reality we reside in? don't think so. outside it? why not

People have misinterpreted the question, I'm assuming because they didn't actually read it.

You can have both. Just don't be a religious zealot.

I hate people who try and justify their spiritual beliefs by saying they have a deep understanding of scientific principles. They lie or are deluded by how much they think they know about scientific stuff. [I]"Oh my god I love quantum physics"[/I] - Every new-ager ever.

If anything spiritual could go hand in hand with science, we wouldn't call it spirituality, we would call it science

[QUOTE=Beerminator;42647650]How can science and spirituality go hand in hand? There is no proof of the existence of something like a supernatural "spirit".[/QUOTE] They can go hand to hand. All you have to do is know what you're talking about: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality[/url]

[QUOTE=MakoSkyDub;42651803]The basis of science IS asking questions and then attempting to answer them at its core So I find this very confusing, you make science sound like religion[/QUOTE] Is spirituality dogmatic religion?