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Opinion Science And Sikhi - Two Sides Of A Coin

IJSingh

Writer
SPNer
Sep 24, 2004
139
395
Two paths define and instruct my life. Science and Sikhi have a hold on what I am, whatever it is.

Of the two, which is the original me and which the alter-ego (doppelganger)? Any distinction between them is meaningless. Like productive oxen, they are best yoked together. Both realities are intimately engaged in the formation of my sense of self.

I fell into science in my teens, and never ventured out except for brief overlapping forays into the seductive art of writing. I was raised a Sikh but Sikhi never really possessed me until I entered graduate school in the United States almost a lifetime ago. My stumbling into Sikhi was enabled and empowered by my environs that had few, if any, Sikhs then. My non-Sikh neighbors and friends regularly invited me to their churches and synagogues, communities, and worship services; some, surely, were counting on a conversion. Instead, I leaned further into Sikhi to understand better the path from which I was being cajoled away. I have written elsewhere about those times.

I have argued earlier that science and religion (notably Sikhi) are not in conflict and are entirely compatible with each other. But today I dwell on some dissimilarities that come together to create a rich, variegated mix.

The lab-based bench sciences, mostly verifiable, often replicable, present a very special reality. Despite unending and formidable progress in newly discovered secrets, science holds promise of many more mysteries to explore and unravel. Religious systems, on the other hand, despite much devoted application, start and end with the unchallenged dictum of limitless unquestioned faith.

Which, then, is the harder of the two to connect with?

Modern social scientists tell us that religions are the glue that binds a people. This is how communities emerge. This is how they survive and thrive. Clearly the human, alone or in a family unit, is neither fast nor strong enough to escape becoming part of the food chain of our many foes. It is the common practices and traditions -- the caring and sharing -- that makes our survival possible, including human mastery over our environment. Hence the religions.

Religions speak of an Infinite Creator. This tells us that there is a reality open to experience but one that still retains its mystery, and always will. This reality transcends both our senses and our intellect. Being infinite, it remains significantly unknowable and nothing will change that defining limitation on our finite ability, capacity, desire, and language.

Science, on the other hand, deals only with our finite reality. Despite many newly discovered inventions and ideas every day, new mysteries remain beyond our imagination and understanding at any given time. Yet, what we know today does not become unknown tomorrow. What we have unmasked by our experimentation today remains ours – we own it forever, until we change it – like the idea of a flat earth.

Ergo, I would say that spiritual discipline is, at one level, more complex. This path is not adorned with academic credentials, honors bestowed, papers published – medals or lucre. It sates my hunger but not in ways that I can effectively see, count, track, or describe.

A life of both faith and science then transcends one in which one single path is true and another that is false. Ergo, it is not a matter of the self (me) being hamstrung by a doppelganger. The two together define my life – a more complete existence. Both remain necessary; either reason or faith alone remains incomplete

This takes me to the fundamental precept of Meeri and Peeri that defines a Sikh life, where Meeri represents the externally directed worldly reality while Peeri speaks of an inner life of the spirit – the mind. Doctrinally inseparable, both are essential to a meaningful, productive life, one path alone is an incomplete life. Be it a wholesome life or part of a vibrant community, we, the people, depend on a healthy marriage of the two.

Remember the age-old truism that weddings are easy, accomplished in minutes, no matter the religious label; making a marriage out of a wedding takes a lifetime. To neglect faith or reason unfailingly diminishes the totality of life, just as any one side of a coin.

Every coin has two sides dramatically different from each other, but only when welded together do they make a true coin with truly lasting value.
 

RD1

Writer
SPNer
Sep 25, 2016
361
153
At the end of the day, it is all One. No matter the duality, no matter how different or opposing things may seem to us on one side of the coin compared to the other, the truth is that there is no real separation. Everything makes up, and contributes to, the Whole.
 

seekingsikhi

Writer
SPNer
Sep 27, 2017
36
30
38
Houston, TX
Meeri represents the externally directed worldly reality while Peeri speaks of an inner life of the spirit – the mind. Doctrinally inseparable, both are essential to a meaningful, productive life, one path alone is an incomplete life. Be it a wholesome life or part of a vibrant community, we, the people, depend on a healthy marriage of the two.

This passage particularly got me. I came to a similar realization recently. I've found science interesting for the past couple of years, but since discovering sikhi it has taken on a whole new and glorious dimension. I get to sit in my chemistry class and marvel at the glory of waheguru on an atomic level. I get to stare in awe of waheguru through 100x magnification in microbiology. And when tutoring some of my struggling classmates, I get a very similar "rush" as the one I feel doing simran. For me, science IS a religious experience; and both science and religion could stand to benefit from such a marriage.
 

Original

Writer
SPNer
Jan 9, 2011
1,053
553
66
London UK
I've found science interesting for the past couple of years, but since discovering sikhi it has taken on a whole new and glorious dimension.
...you know why ? Look below:
॥ ਪਹਿਲਾ ਪਾਣੀ ਜੀਉ ਹੈ ਜਿਤੁ ਹਰਿਆ ਸਭੁ ਕੋਇ ॥ [SGGSJ, 472. Translation: life started in water]. Meaning, Sikhism is Science. Now have a read of Charles Darwin's TOE and what do you get ? The 21st Century ape you, meaning, from ape to man and from man to God - the immortal you.

Sikhism n Science were never divorced, in fact they're "one". Wait until you begin the excursion "spiritual science of the soul" then the penny I'll drop and you'll hear the "unstruck sound" [anhad shabd, SGGSJ, 124].

Goodnight
 

Sikhilove

Writer
SPNer
May 11, 2016
608
166
Two paths define and instruct my life. Science and Sikhi have a hold on what I am, whatever it is.

Of the two, which is the original me and which the alter-ego (doppelganger)? Any distinction between them is meaningless. Like productive oxen, they are best yoked together. Both realities are intimately engaged in the formation of my sense of self.

I fell into science in my teens, and never ventured out except for brief overlapping forays into the seductive art of writing. I was raised a Sikh but Sikhi never really possessed me until I entered graduate school in the United States almost a lifetime ago. My stumbling into Sikhi was enabled and empowered by my environs that had few, if any, Sikhs then. My non-Sikh neighbors and friends regularly invited me to their churches and synagogues, communities, and worship services; some, surely, were counting on a conversion. Instead, I leaned further into Sikhi to understand better the path from which I was being cajoled away. I have written elsewhere about those times.

I have argued earlier that science and religion (notably Sikhi) are not in conflict and are entirely compatible with each other. But today I dwell on some dissimilarities that come together to create a rich, variegated mix.

The lab-based bench sciences, mostly verifiable, often replicable, present a very special reality. Despite unending and formidable progress in newly discovered secrets, science holds promise of many more mysteries to explore and unravel. Religious systems, on the other hand, despite much devoted application, start and end with the unchallenged dictum of limitless unquestioned faith.

Which, then, is the harder of the two to connect with?

Modern social scientists tell us that religions are the glue that binds a people. This is how communities emerge. This is how they survive and thrive. Clearly the human, alone or in a family unit, is neither fast nor strong enough to escape becoming part of the food chain of our many foes. It is the common practices and traditions -- the caring and sharing -- that makes our survival possible, including human mastery over our environment. Hence the religions.

Religions speak of an Infinite Creator. This tells us that there is a reality open to experience but one that still retains its mystery, and always will. This reality transcends both our senses and our intellect. Being infinite, it remains significantly unknowable and nothing will change that defining limitation on our finite ability, capacity, desire, and language.

Science, on the other hand, deals only with our finite reality. Despite many newly discovered inventions and ideas every day, new mysteries remain beyond our imagination and understanding at any given time. Yet, what we know today does not become unknown tomorrow. What we have unmasked by our experimentation today remains ours – we own it forever, until we change it – like the idea of a flat earth.

Ergo, I would say that spiritual discipline is, at one level, more complex. This path is not adorned with academic credentials, honors bestowed, papers published – medals or lucre. It sates my hunger but not in ways that I can effectively see, count, track, or describe.

A life of both faith and science then transcends one in which one single path is true and another that is false. Ergo, it is not a matter of the self (me) being hamstrung by a doppelganger. The two together define my life – a more complete existence. Both remain necessary; either reason or faith alone remains incomplete

This takes me to the fundamental precept of Meeri and Peeri that defines a Sikh life, where Meeri represents the externally directed worldly reality while Peeri speaks of an inner life of the spirit – the mind. Doctrinally inseparable, both are essential to a meaningful, productive life, one path alone is an incomplete life. Be it a wholesome life or part of a vibrant community, we, the people, depend on a healthy marriage of the two.

Remember the age-old truism that weddings are easy, accomplished in minutes, no matter the religious label; making a marriage out of a wedding takes a lifetime. To neglect faith or reason unfailingly diminishes the totality of life, just as any one side of a coin.

Every coin has two sides dramatically different from each other, but only when welded together do they make a true coin with truly lasting value.

Sir, i really like your posts alot. My only issue is that they are normally really long and It takes me time to read them. I wish I could summarise them quickly!

I was thinking about this yesterday. I was thinking about food and chemicals.

I was wondering at the fact that a certain chemical can touch your skin and you are ruined or scarred for life.

On the other hand, certain liquids and certain foods nourish us and can transform our bodies and looks.

Same with creams and make-up.

The most Wonderous fact of all is that these chemicals/ foods derived from various miraculous sources, are completely illusionary.

For we were formed from Nothing, in the khel, we were formed from clay n infused with the breath of life.

What an incomprehensible incredible miracle!

You basically place an illusory potion in your mouth and it nourishes u. Like magic.

You can mix other magic potions together n they form different potions, different drinks, medicines, lotions and perfumes, food
 

Harry Haller

Panga Master
SPNer
Jan 31, 2011
5,769
8,194
54
The most Wonderous fact of all is that these chemicals/ foods derived from various miraculous sources, are completely illusionary.

Can you explain please, if I do not take a dose of perindopril daily, I die, are you suggesting it is merely a placebo?
 

Inderjeet Kaur

Writer
SPNer
Oct 13, 2011
869
1,765
Seattle, Washington, USA
Back in 2013, I wrote a Facebook Note about Science and Religion. It fits in well here, even though I was writing about religion in general, not just Sikhi.
* **********************
GOD and SCIENCE - What I believe in words an intelligent child can understand
My answer to the question, "Do you believe in God or Science?"

I will repeat myself.

There is a Creator who created everything (except Itself which is eternal beyond Its creation).



999364_394577213985339_1515628674_n.jpg


I really miss dear, old, eccentric Pluto.

When this Creator created the universe, It made it to run in a particular way, according to certain rules that we call Natural Law.

We call the Creator God.

We call our attempts to discover and codify Natural Law, Science.

There can be no conflict, no contradiction between God and Science.

If there is an apparent contradiction, that shows our lack of understanding.

(And it's OK to be agnostic or atheist. OK with me, at least.)

* ***********************
I will add that it bothers me. A lot. When people try to use Holy Books, whether the Bible or Siri Guru Granth Sahib or any other, as scientific textbooks. That is not their purpose and using them thus makes as much sense as using an orange to repair a computer. It doesn't make sense at all...
 

Sikhilove

Writer
SPNer
May 11, 2016
608
166
Sir, i really like your posts alot. My only issue is that they are normally really long and It takes me time to read them. I wish I could summarise them quickly!

I was thinking about this yesterday. I was thinking about food and chemicals.

I was wondering at the fact that a certain chemical can touch your skin and you are ruined or scarred for life.

On the other hand, certain liquids and certain foods nourish us and can transform our bodies and looks.

Same with creams and make-up.

The most Wonderous fact of all is that these chemicals/ foods derived from various miraculous sources, are completely illusionary.

For we were formed from Nothing, in the khel, we were formed from clay n infused with the breath of life.

What an incomprehensible incredible miracle!

You basically place a potion in your mouth and it nourishes u. Like a magic show.
Can you explain please, if I do not take a dose of perindopril daily, I die, are you suggesting it is merely a placebo?


Greetings yet again Sir, nice to see you commenting on so many of my posts- in different threads also.

The universe is an utter miracle, call it what u wish.
 

Sikhilove

Writer
SPNer
May 11, 2016
608
166
Back in 2013, I wrote a Facebook Note about Science and Religion. It fits in well here, even though I was writing about religion in general, not just Sikhi.
* **********************
GOD and SCIENCE - What I believe in words an intelligent child can understand
My answer to the question, "Do you believe in God or Science?"

I will repeat myself.

There is a Creator who created everything (except Itself which is eternal beyond Its creation).



999364_394577213985339_1515628674_n.jpg


I really miss dear, old, eccentric Pluto.

When this Creator created the universe, It made it to run in a particular way, according to certain rules that we call Natural Law.

We call the Creator God.

We call our attempts to discover and codify Natural Law, Science.

There can be no conflict, no contradiction between God and Science.

If there is an apparent contradiction, that shows our lack of understanding.

(And it's OK to be agnostic or atheist. OK with me, at least.)

* ***********************
I will add that it bothers me. A lot. When people try to use Holy Books, whether the Bible or Siri Guru Granth Sahib or any other, as scientific textbooks. That is not their purpose and using them thus makes as much sense as using an orange to repair a computer. It doesn't make sense at all...

In the khel, science Is great.

But remember, it is just a khel. The Gurus called it an illusion, a dream.

Science cannot fathom a universe created from Nothing. That Is simply a miracle.
 

Sikhilove

Writer
SPNer
May 11, 2016
608
166
Ultimate Cause is beyond the realm of science, but we can discover truths about Natural Law.

Nature, atoms, molecules are imaginary. But it's All Him, derived from Nothing.

Yeh his khel is amazing and yeh science in the khel is cool and serves us well, but don't be in attachment to it, for it's an illusion.
 

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