Throughout the long history of humanity, religion and science have endlessly clashed in an attempt to acquire prevalence in culture. Rationalist Western science is in its nappy stage compared to the age of religious practice; however, it has been conquering the power spaces of modern society impetuously — and every time more rapidly.
If this leads some to think that the scientific activity has completely swept away any need for religion, they should observe today the emergence of those new religions, in the form of innumerable social ideologies that fanatize people in our scientistic world, because of an undescribably huge thirst for transcendental reasons for our existence in these societies so full of technological means, but so deprived of wisdom.
Many of our wisest social scientists have asserted that the disappearance of religions, in their traditional form, only brings into our reality an infinite number of developing ideologies — rooted in political, social, environmental and other kind of subjects — in which the masses unconsciously obtain some sort of psychic nutrient which, in the past, was provided by religious practices.
Quite tellingly for me, in one of his documentaries about the evils caused by religious faith, Richard Dawkins —one of the main representatives of the new atheism movement— showed himself surprised by the fact that, in our highly technological world, many expressions of irrational religiosity still survive with great force... In what age do we live?
I could understand, few years ago, that the fundamental problem in this matter lies in an unadequate expression of these phenomena in our culture.
Unfortunately, it seems that too many sympathizers of the scientistic predominance are unwilling to acknowledge the profound need that continues to lead a large part of humanity into the religious thought. Paradoxically, this unwillingness to accept the motives of religiosity is, in itself, a clear demonstration of irrationality.
If one fully adheres to rationality, one remains always open to the understanding of all things, including those which, personally, might bring us some discomfort in their discovery. That is the meaning of objectivity —despite the relativity of that concept—: the willingness to reflect free from mental chains and prejudices of our own personality, the effort to observe reality beyond our emotional reactions.
If one deals with reality that way, one will immediately begin to perceive that there are natural tendencies in our psyches that drive people to seek for transcendent reasons to continue existing, resisting.
Someone's mundane activity may be sufficiently absorbing so that such individual does not sink into the sea of such subconscious metaphysical motivations, but when great difficulties appear in life, all human beings are drawn into the deep abysses of existential meanings. Viktor Frankl called it the "man's search for a meaning".
No kind of technological device, no amount of scientific knowledge will be able to wipe this out, because it is a matter of the relationship between the human being and its very existence, and not of simple concrete events that require answers from science.
Religion is —in its essence, in the very core of our psyches— man's search for those existential meanings. Unfortunately, in the religious field, apart from the beautiful, ecstatic —and always possible— mystical perspectives, there is only fanaticism and that constant apology of the human ignorance. That is why too many religious leaders are characterized by their holy wars against doubt, critical thinking and rationality. According to the words of Jiddu Krishnamurti, such religious leaders are the exploiters of ignorance.
However, as long as we, the rationalists, remain unwilling to wisely embrace this problem, we will also remain unable to make sound proposals for a spirituality that does not mutilate the mental capacities of human beings. That spirituality would be the true solution to this unnecessary conflict which is undoubtedly, psychically, a conflict between the two most important parts of our own humanity.
You can share my writings on your social networks and websites; but be so kind as to inform my authorship, as well as the source of the text with a link to my blog.
~Spirajn Senpretend~