It was never love at first sight; science regards spirituality as irrational, something qualitative that can never be proved or disproved, the ramblings of an overactive imagination while spirituality sees science as the big bad reductionist, with its narrow minded and mechanistic view of the universe which seems to have no point to it or purpose.
Then there is the rebel in the midst of science: quantum physics with its theoretical meanderings, endless equations, brilliant minds and huge particle accelerators; those vast, energy hungry machines designed to smash and measure the infinitely small. It is a youth compared to the Newtonian father, the know-it-all teenager who thinks it can do a better job than its parent when it comes to making sense of the universe.
Yet, does science still seem meaningless to the everyday people of the world? What relevance does the quest for the Higgs-Boson particle have to our lives? Is this the reason many turn to spirituality because it tries to enable us to understand our place in the cosmos and the place of the cosmos in our lives? Does spirituality try to touch our lives in an individual and meaningful way, so that we have the strength and faith to continue when all seems hopeless?
However opposite science and spirituality may seem, quantum physics has the capacity to explain the fundamental concepts of the soul, a theme common to all religions of the world. It has the potential to make spiritual concepts more substantial to those who cry out for something a little more tangible. It can ground spirituality, not deride it. It may take longer for the biologist to accept the idea of the soul and to see the underlying electromagnetic forces that organise the cells of the body and infuse them with life. Slowly but surely, researchers and writers are beginning to broach this almost heretical union. Science and spirituality are inching closer together to the point where one day, one day they just might kiss.
Marie Harbon is the author of a new five part science/spiritual fantasy epic ‘Seven Point Eight’. ‘The First Chronicle is now available on Amazon.com or through her website
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