“Okay… well, then why does science work?” This question was asked of me when I was explaining that science, in many ways, is simply another religion. It is another set of beliefs that makes us function a certain way, and put our faith in certain people. Whether that be done by a just or logical means is irrelevant. The fact of the matter simply states that science has the power to influence our perceptions of the world, our own morality and how things should be and are.
With this awareness of science’s power in mind, we can begin to see the connection between this way of explaining the world compared to the many others. Whether that be Catholicism, Buddism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Spiritualism, Science, and/or a hundred other possibilities, these belief systems are means of understanding and creating everything that is. And like all ways of understanding the world, we must take certain assumptions and grow from them. We take certain beliefs as absolute and see how far we can run with them before deciding to sacrifice logic or the assumption in hand. Because I’m sorry to say, but every assumption will eventually have its back to a wall, it’s just a matter of how far you’re willing to go.
So, whether your assumption is of a man in the sky, your senses as objective, you as the creator as opposed to the observer, and/or an infinite of other possibilities, they will all have their limits and restrictions. This is what led me to the very simple, yet extremely difficult to answer the question of, “Why does science work then?”. This obvious problem stumped me quite some time. Constantly second-guessing myself as the practicality of science overwhelmed me, I eventually found an answer once I realized a key element of humanity and life as a whole (assuming they are even separate). That realization is to not mistake the map for the territory and that we are the universe.
** I highly recommend that you read either or both of the hyperlinked posts. If you have the time, they will certainly help you to understand the idea that I am attempting to convey. **
In my post, The Implications of Our Lack of Free Will, I discuss what our world would look like when we assume we do not have free will. For my third application, I discuss that we are the universe. I came to this conclusion by assuming humanity is entirely made up of nature and nurture. Although I find this conclusion accurate, it alone is incomplete. By assuming we are the sum of nature and nurture, we still need to find out what controls or dictates those two things, if not us. This is where the universe comes in.
The universe dictates everything. It is what created our galaxy, our solar system, and our planet. It then made an environment suitable for life, which slowly created cells and organisms. This microscopic life eventually evolved, and evolved, and evolved. And over time we emerged. We emerged as other life did, and the one thing different from a living thing and a nonliving thing is that living things want to make more of themselves. With that need, we eventually began to organize ourselves and develop emotions like greed and empathy. The universe dictates everything, and therefore we are the universe.
Before I proceed, I can see a possible issue with my last sentence in the paragraph above. You may be thinking, “simply because something dictates us, should not mean we are it”. I suppose a quick explanation is that whether you know it or not, you have probably been doing that your whole life. In my post, Do We Have Free Will?, I explain that we are controlled by ourselves rather than we control ourselves.
** This thought theory does not give mindfulness a thorough consideration. This is personally where I feel my idea may be lacking and is possibly contacted in my later work. If this interests you at all, please feel free to follow the link to a phase in the blog that addresses this head-on **
With some variation, we mostly identify ourselves by how and who we act as. We essentially say our personalities are who we are. And the issue with this is that there is nothing personal about our personalities.
Personalities are created, as I explained in the previous paragraphs. They are not created by you or me, or anyone for that matter. It is simply something that controls us and dictates us for who we are, yet we identify with it. So rather than seeing it as its own thing, we identify with it and assume it is our own. This is why I believe I can safely safe we are the universe. I mean it in no different of a way that we mean when we say we are ourselves.
Now that we both assume science is a religion and that we are the universe, it becomes clear why science works (at least to me… let me know what you think). It works because we think within this universe and therefore act within this universe. Our logic to create science, our adoption of mathematics, and our understanding of this reality, are all within the parameters of the universe. Although we are not always accurate, we are always thinking within these parameters and therefore never totally clueless. This is also why I believe science will become more and more accurate, from within our universe, as we modernize and develop new ideas. I believe science, although a non-absolute religion, is the best understanding of our universe today and will be for a long time.
This post began with a question that I hope I have answered. Yet since language is a bit of a barrier and abstract thoughts are challenging to write about, I encourage you to comment below or email me any question you may have.
Also, if you find an issue in anything I have said please feel free to discuss it is with me in the same two forms of communication. I write about these topics because I believe I am correct, but just because I think I am correct, does not mean I am current. Therefore, I would love to talk about anything we disagree on. I will try my hardest to consider your point, just as I hope you will do the same for me.
🙂 Have a nice day!