The marriage of science and religion has been one of dispute, conflict and quarrel but at the height of it all, the one thing that strings these giants together is harmony. A mess of oxymoronic and contradicting ideas that have infected the greatest minds in human history; this is a relationship like none other.
The rawest form of the yin and yang.
Curiosity is what differentiates humans from our mammalian counterparts. It is the curiosity of man that led to us pondering the night time stars, contemplating the motion of celestial bodies, deliberating our own anatomical structures, and the most quintessential of all: reflecting on the nature of life itself and our purpose of existence in this vast cosmic realm. These are not merely musing for the passage of time, but we desperately seek answers. And through the aeons and generations since the genesis of mankind, we have decided that there is a higher power that governs these matters.
I am humble enough to accept that I have not reached the intellectual caliber to comment on all religions - whether they may be pagan, Abrahamic, monotheistic, polytheistic - but I am compelled to say that the common denominator amongst all of them is the belief in a higher power. An entity that controls what is beyond our reach. But we are not such simplified creatures. We set out to discover the mechanisms of these miraculous events and thus was the birth of scientific thought. We expressed the planetary motions through the eloquent language of mathematics, deciphered the codes that govern the livelihood of organisms, and studied the most fundamental particles that dictate the element of a substance. But it is the differing nature of faith and method that forms a basis of the conflict between science and religion.
To those conflicted men of science who question the presence of a higher power, I must ask, do you not see the invisible connections throughout nature? The quantum entanglement of particles thousands of light-years apart, the simultaneous hatching of twin eggs on opposite ends of the globe, the unified movement of miles of jellyfish in the seas throbbing as if connected by one mind. If you accept these imperceptible relationships, then is it really so difficult to believe in the sacred connection between man and God? As a medical intern myself, when I see a patient enter the ER on the brink of life and death, I immediately set to resuscitating them because I am aware of pulmonary functions and mechanisms of the heart. Yet, even as I administer CPR, I mutter a prayer under my breath. Because even after decades of medical training it is the soul, my dear reader, that no doctor has any control over.
So as I stare into the starless night writing this lengthy analysis, I catch a glimpse of a celestial body. Perhaps Venus showing itself? And a thought crosses my mind: Gravity explains the motion of planets;
But it cannot explain who set the planets in motion.
Religion doesn't contradict science; it compliments it.
Since the dawn of the 20th century, the following phrase has
been imprinted into the mind of every child: Drugs Are Bad. But one is
naturally lead to question the premise of this notion because how can something
cause so much euphoria and not be good for you? Is happiness not a good thing?
Is it possible that these mystic chemicals could unravel parts of the human
psyche whereby you could discover the undiscovered? Let us tread on these
waters (without tripping) and look for answers.
1) The structure of DNA
Francis Crick, the nobel-prize winning genius whose famed
discovery lead to the genesis of modern genetics, was under the influence of
LSD when he discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. Crick is often quoted
as saying Crick had told him that some Cambridge academics used LSD in tiny
amounts as a thinking tool, to liberate them from preconceptions and let their
genius wander freely to new ideas. Crick told him he had perceived the
double-helix shape while on LSD. which goes hand-in-hand with the fact that he
was a firm believer and devotee of the works of Aldous Huxley, who is the
author Doors of Perception in which he wrote as a series of filters on it that
basically prevent abstract thought (evolution put them there for the sake of
survival, since having daydreams about the nature of the universe while driving
can cause you to plow into a semi). But Huxley and Crick thought drugs like
mescaline and LSD could temporarily remove those filters.
However, it is crucial to note that Crick was a genius. To
fathom a model such as the double-helix required a high set of theoretical,
analytical, spatial thinking and preexisting knowledge. The intellect was
always present, LSD was merely a catalyst in the thought process.
Back in the 1820’s, when the world was flat, Adam and Eve
ventured the planet, and the plague was conquering Europe, there was one common
factor that tied the peripheries of life together: Soda.
Like any important thing in the course of history, this
sacred liquid was carefully formulated to excite the taste buds, and alter your
heart and brain chemistry so you fall in love with it. John Pemberton found a
nice way around this predicament. The Atlanta pharmacist that invented Coca
Colaclaimed that the key ingredient,
Cocoa leaf, could cure everything from nervousness to depression. You know what
else does that? Cocaine. Coca is the
leaf that produces cocaine, and John Pemberton was incredibly enthusiastic
about its "health benefits." And like any great entrepreneur, he was
willing to risk his business on the basis of this unproven hypothesis.
400 billion cans of coca cola are sold every year.
A quote from Steve Jobs to New York Timesreporter John
Markoff. Speaking about psychedelics, Jobs said, “Doing LSD was one of the two
or three most important things I have done in my life.” He was hardly alone
among computer scientists in his appreciation of hallucinogenics and their
capacity to liberate human thought from the prison of the mind. Jobs even let
drop that Microsoft’s Bill Gates would “be a broader guy if he had dropped acid
once.” Apple’s mantra was ”Think different.” Jobs did. And he credited his use
of LSD as a major reason for his success.
Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the
unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of Freudian theory is that
the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people suspect.
So the goal of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious conscious. Although
his theories are very controversial, they still created an entire branch of
medicine and formed the basis of modern day psychology.
Freud, however, was a man obsessed with Cocaine. He used to
prescribe it to friends, consume it himself, write thesis’ on the magnificence
of the drug, and work at his best while under its influence. He sat on a couch
high out of his mind, listening to people pour out their emotions, while he
scribbled on his notepad. Remind you of something?
First thing that pops to mind when “Reggae Music” is
mentioned is a faded image of Bob Marley with a blunt in his mouth – and if you’re
extra artsy, you might even envision a beach in the background.
The fact of the matter is, cannabis is and was integral to
the growth of Rastafarian music/culture. quickly became the soundtrack to an
increasingly politicised young Jamaica. With the arrival of bands such as the
Pioneers and the Wailers (featuring Peter Tosh and Bob Marley), the nascent
reggae scene began to embrace sociopolitical and religious themes and,
particularly, the growing influence of Rastafarianism on Jamaican youth. The
smoking of cannabis in its purest form (grass, or ganja, as opposed to pot)
became as intrinsic a part of the Rasta's holy trinity as the Ethiopian flag
and the choppy skank of reggae's rhythm guitar. For Rastas, the smoking of herb
or ganja is a spiritual act, often an accompaniment to bible-reading, with
reggae the musical backbeat to both the religion and the way of life.
Just so you can feel momentary engagement to this culture, I
offer you some Bob Marley:
6) Paul Erdos Math papers were published while he was on
amphetamines
Paul Erdos - a man who spared no time for frivolities such
as sex, movies, art, or fiction – was a man only a few homosapiens can claim to
have been. His biographer writes “Paul Erdös was one of those very special
geniuses, the kind who comes along only once in a very long while yet he chose,
quite consciously I am sure, to share mathematics with mere mortals”
Erdos begun his journey in the vast field of mathematics when
he was merely a child. At the young age of three he could multiply three-digit
numbers in his head, and at four he discovered negative numbers. But the
pursuit to greatness and the obsession with maths, a love more poignant that
most humans can claim to have felt in their lifetimes, led him to putting in 19
hour days, keeping himself fortified with 10 to 20 milligrams of Benzedrine or
Ritalin, strong espresso, and caffeine tablets. He was famously quoted for
saying “"A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into
theorems." His addiction to amphetamines did cause raise concerns amongst
his peers, but he was not a man to distance himself from Maths for a few hours
of sleep. When friends urged him to slow down, he always had the same response:
"There'll be plenty of time to rest in the grave."
He wrote or co-authored 1,475 academic papers, a significant
proportion of which offered breakthroughs in the field and were reputed to be
monumental. Even in his seventies there were years when Erdos published fifty
papers, which is more than most good mathematicians write in a lifetime.
If you love something as much as Erdos loved Maths, it’s
worth the sacrifice.
There has been many controversies raised regarding the entitled question and it has finally been answered with the help of physics! The answer will certainly astonish you...try to keep up and don't forget to comment and share. Here goes:
