Buddhism and Science

Zip on over to Tricycle for a blog post I did on science and future of Buddhism. A friend of mine is a young zen priest (how is that for a job title). We were talking the other day about the history of Buddhism in the west and some fears people have expressed that its growth was just a baby-boomer phenomena. I was interested in how Buddhism "responds" to science which, I think, has been different from other religions (though one can ask if Buddhism in its western form is a religion in the traditional sense)

Check out this link for more reading

I wonder what my Buddhist friends think of this?

Integrity and Investigation

A link to some thoughts on the nature of science and religion as it relates to an ethic of investigation?

What marks integrity in how people pursue science or how they pursue what they feel is their religious sensibilities?

Its not about metaphysics

Quick thoughts about some responses ala the Bloggingheads piece.

In trying to chart a different path in thinking about science and its context with what happens in the domains of human spiritual endeavor many people who advocate for one of the poles want an instant movement towards a metaphysical commitment -

Its only god that exists!
No its only hard little spheres!
One must by hyper-rational in all approaches!
No one must rely on scripture!

I am not a believer and I am in love the world science reveals but what is missed in this polarized debate is a discussion about our response to the world – including the world revealed by science. There is no need to go straight to some kind of metaphysics. It is not only about a commitment to a belief about what "is". It is that internal response that I am interested in. Even if you want to hold to some kind of absolute reductionism there is still lots of room to ask about how our response to the world’s beauty and order as revealed by science speaks to those aspects of human being referred to as “religious”.

Beware orthodoxies of ultimacy of any kind. In the name of purity they tend to lead their proponents to strange positions that often have little relevance to world we all actually inhabit. Once again, science is not a philosophy, its an approach to the world. That is what makes it so much fun.

Links to two new posts

First a discussion of the Map vs Terrain metaphor for science and religion and reality. This came from the blogging heads diavlog which you can find here.

Next a short intro to Bernard d'Espagnat, this years winner of the Templeton Prize. The Templeton Foundation is very controversial and I have mixed feelings about what they do. I wonder what the general feeling is among people out there in the world about their efforts?

What Science is For

Here is a link to the latest post on Reality Base. I wonder why it is that people are intent on having their religion be a system of ideas about the world so that it must, by nature, crash headlong into the methodologies science?

Much of the last four hundred years has been a story of religions having to adjust to the claims of science. All the while the all important response to the world that was always at the root of both science and religion gets lost in theorizing.

ID Creationism and Science

So I did a post this week at Reality Base on the Texas School Board maelstrom which has engendered some debate. I heard back from some people on comments and via email (!). I will do more on it at Reality Base but here I just wanted to state something clearly. What is going on in Texas is not about some sincere attempt to understand the world through open ended inquiry personal or otherwise. It is one very particular form of religion (note that many institutional forms of Christianity do not have this trouble with evolution) and their attempt to dictate what is taught as Science. This is a very bad and very dangerous thing for us scientifically and politically. I am willing to take the heat and speak out as an a-theist scientist who is interested in, and respects the domains of human spiritual endeavor but what is happening in Texas speaks to the worst impulses that manifest in the name of religion. It is a bad, bad thing. People who have read my book and my writings know I do not say this lightly.

The Emerald City

Some links to recent activity here in Seattle - the queen of metrotopia.

2 new posts on Reality Base

Link to interview with Steve Sher.

I am off to give a talk at Seattle U. home of the Jesuits. Jesuits are known to be deep and accurate thinkers. Should be interesting and fun.