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Omega Vol7 No2 Dec2008 OMEGA INDIAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION Vol.7 No.2 December 2008 S I S E H T N Y S N I S I H T U R T “I have a deep interest in the close relationship between modern science and the study of the internal dimensions of the human mind, which I consider to be spirituality [...] The material well-being of human beings, especially now, is an outcome of science and technology [...] However, science and technology have not yet found a way to eliminate the worries and unhappiness or painful experiences on a mental level. Thus I consider warm-heartedness, compassion, karuna as very importat. [...] So obviously we need science and Institute of Science and Religion technology but we also need spirituality.” Little Flower Seminary, Aluva - 683 101, Kerala, India. From the Foreword by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Phone : 0484 2623437, 2626204 ANTHEM PRESS E-mail : [email protected] www.anthempress.com URL: www.lfseminary.org/htm/omega.htm Contents The Editorial 3 The Editorial Articles Between Evolution and Creation: A Forgotten Lesson The year 2009 is the bicentennial of Darwin’s birthday, and Jacek Tomczyk, Grzegorz Bugajak 6 sesquicentennial of the publication of his epoch-making work, The Origin of Species by Natural Selection. Darwin and evolutionary theory are Taking Aurobindo into Science-Religion Dialogue: once again making headlines in the academia as well as in the news Some Preliminary Remarks and Ground-making Searches media. The evolutionary theory has come a long way since its original Martin Sebastian 22 appearance. More than a theory that is concerned with the origination Spiritual and Scientific Perspectives on Evolution: of species and the associated environmental factors, the subsequent Views of Aurobindo, Teilhard and Contemporary Religious Systems developments have been able to situate this theory in a wider scientific František Mikeš, Geraldine Edith Mikes 41 and natural framework, pregnant with several philosophical and theological underpinnings. Metaphysical evolutionists extend the idea of evolution to include the mind, the soul and the entire universe. Evolution is no more limited to the scientific realms but it becomes essential in the C. D. Sebastian 71 context of religion. Evolution becomes, in their hands, a cosmic Bohm’s Holographic Paradigm and Science-Religion Interaction phenomenon shaped either by divine forces or by mysterious emergent Kamladevi R. Kunkolienker 104 tendencies that operate from within the forces themselves. The Undivided Universe Throughout the history of the interaction between science and Richard D’Souza 115 religion, evolutionary theory presented a paradoxical situation whereby The Tractarian Notion of Philosophical Self: the proponents as well as the opponents of the science-religion dialogue An Indian Philosophical Reading exercised their hermeneutical skills to adapt the theory to their theoretical Manoranjan Mallick 138 positions. As for Richard Dawkins, “it was only with Darwin that one could be a fulfilled atheist.”1 In contrast, for Cole Turner “(T)heories of Aristotle, Newton and Aquinas on God: A Study in Contrast evolutionary biology do help us understand more precisely, the shape Joseph Mathew 161 God’s purpose takes in the world.”2 According to Aubrey More, “Darwinism appeared and under the disguise of a foe, did the work of a Review Articles friend...”3 Gone are the days when the claims of evolutionary theory sat Dancing to Diversity: Science-Religion Dialogue in India awkwardly with religious belief. Rather, evolutionary biology paves today S. George Valumkal 184 the way for a revised theological anthropology with its startling assumptions of our intrinsic connectedness to the world, of the vital Science, Spirituality and the Modernization of India processes of the fecund earth, of the complexity, autonomy and self- Shibu K. Jose 190 creativity of matter, etc. By implication, evolutionary biology, disproving the matter-spirit dualism and expounding an elegant, aesthetic and re- by the mystical and spiritual teachings down through the ages, which enchanted universe, spells out the alphabets of an organic theology. speak about the experiential aspect of fundamental interconnectedness of all things and that the microcosm contains the macrocosm. Conversely, Three articles in this issue of Omega focus on an uptodate and Richard D’Souza shows that Bohm’s ideas of wholeness and the contextual discussion on the evolutionary theory from philosophical and implicate order in this undivided universe has all the ingrediants in it to theological points of view. Jacek Tomczyk and Grzegorz Bugajak in the transcend any theory of quantum mechanics and reach out to philosophical opening article contends that although in the course of the last 150 years and religious domains. discussions between proponents of the theory of evolution and advocates of the creationist view of the origin of human being have been frequently The paper titled, “The Tractarian Notion of Philosophical Self: fraught with mutual hostility and accusations, it was all unwarranted. An Indian Philosophical Reading,” by Manoranjan Mallick attempts to Viewing this period with hindsight, it becomes clear, however, that the show that the Wittgensteinian notion of happy life is comparable with theory of evolution prompted both scientists and theologians to address the Vedantic notion of . The self of represents anew the phenomenon of the human. This challenge seems to remain the metaphysical subject – the subject which has transcended the mundane actual still. The second and third papers are rare attempts at the elucidation world while living in the world. In the final paper titled, “Aristotle, Newton of the true insights of the evolutionary worldview of the unique Indian and Aquinas on God: A Study in Contrast,” Joseph Mathew obtains a mystic and philosopher, Sri Aurobindo. The rereading of Aurobindo is all blend of philosophy and science on the perennial problematic religious the more an imperative nowadays given the prime importance he ascribes issue on the nature of God. The paper compares and contrasts the to the idea of evolution. Martin Sebastian shows that Aurobindo’s theory concept of God according to Aristotle and Aquinas and Newton. of integral knowledge and reality can shed new light on contemporary meta-reflections on science-religion theories, though a full justification In general, this issue of Omega, while addressing the historical of this claim is possible only with an examination of his theory of reality. sensitivities in science and religion, also caters to the contextual and Frantisek Mikes and Geraldine Mikes discuss the visions of Sri Aurobindo contemporary challenges posed by them. and Teilhard de Chardin for human development toward a new Prof. Dr. Job Kozhamthadam transcendent level from an emergence standpoint. IISR, Pune. The next three articles dwell on certain hermeneutical domains at the interface between quantum mechanics and religious philosophies. Our authors are careful to avoid superficial parallels and uncritical Notes juxtapositioning of science and religion which are constant temptations 1. Dawkins. Denyse O’ Leary, By Design or By Chance – The Growing of the science-mysticism writers. C. D. Sebastian’s paper unravels the Controversy on the Origins of Life in the Universe (Minneapolis: Augsburg similarities in the concept of reality expounded in Mdhyamika Buddhism Books, 2204), p. 57. and Quantum Physics. The paper attempts an epistemic exploration of 2. Ronald Cole Turner, “Genetic Engineering: Our Role in Creation,” in John the analogical parallelism between Mhyamika Buddhism and Quantum M. Mangum (ed.), The New Faith-Science Debate - Probing Cosmology, Physics in terms of the concepts ofand complementarity. The Technology and Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989), p. 72. author thinks that there is an unforeseen congruence between the philosophical framework of of the Mdhyamika Buddhism and 3. Aubrey Moore, “The Christian Doctrine of God,” in C. Gore (ed.), Lux Mundi complementarity of Quantum Mechanics. and Complementarity (London: Murray, 1891), p. 73. are clearly against philosophical dogmatism. Kamladevi R. Kunkolienker holds that the findings of quantum world as evidenced for Bohm’s concept of “interconnectedness” and “undivided wholeness” is also evidenced 4Omega June 2008 5 Tomczyk, Bugajak Between Evolution and Creation: A Forgotten Lesson Omega feelings about publishing his work. In a letter to Charles Lyell he wrote: VII (2008)2, 6-21 “I treat you as the lord of natural sciences, therefore I beseech you to revise, after reading the whole text, the titles of the last section wherein I recapitulate. With great anxiety I am waiting for your judgement concerning the balance of arguments for and against my book” [back translation from the Polish edition].3 Darwin’s doubts resulted from his awareness of challenging the former vision of the human. In the light of Between Evolution and Creation: his theory, human being was but one of the biological species which was A Forgotten Lesson subject to the same biological laws as other organisms. His anxiety about the possible conflict was then quite well-founded, but it is very unlikely - Jacek Tomczyk1 that in his even most daring thoughts he could foresee the fact that the - Grzegorz Bugajak2 theory of evolution would be the proverbial bone of contention for the following 150 years. Time and again, natural scientists, theologians and Abstract: Heated debates stemming from the confrontation of scientific philosophers
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