Of science and spirituality

 Fritjof Capra
 
 
■ By Vijay Phanshikar :
Quantum theory thus reveals a basic
oneness of the universe. It shows that we
cannot decompose the world into
independently existing smallest units. As
we penetrate into matter, nature does not
show us any isolated “building blocks”, but
rather appears as a complicated web of
relations between the various parts of the
whole. These relations always include the
observer in an essential way. The human
observer constitutes the final link in the
chain of observational processes, and the
properties of any atomic object can be
understood only in terms of the object’s
interaction with the observer.
- Fritjof Capra,
Theoretical physicist,
author of iconic books such as
‘The Tao Of Physics’,
and philosopher 

 

 

 

QUITE a complex and deep observation linking science and spirituality! But why Fritjof Capra alone, countless other scientists also have reached more or less similar conclusions about oneness of the universe that cannot be understood by segmenting it into different parts. But Fritjof Capra takes the comprehension to another level -- including the observer as integral to the complex web of the universe. In his deep and lifelong consideration of physics, Capra arrives at an invariable conclusion that there is no separation between the process and its observer. Though many scientists have reached this point in their supreme comprehension of the process of creation and its subsequent expansion, modern science as such appeared to take a different view of the universal activity. It tended to consider the universe as a collage of many different and seemingly diverse parts.

 

Ancient Indian (and even eastern) science did not subscribe to this view and looked at the universe as a superbly and vastly expanded unity expressed in diverse manners. Eventually, modern science, too, started taking its researchers to that invariable point of UNITY -- the Brahman ! Fritjof Capra even talked of a spiritual experience he had once as he sat on a Mediterranean Sea shore. He sensed that millions of ions were descending upon the water surface and then returning to the skies in sort of a convection current or flow. That cosmic phenomenon so excited Capra that he sensed that what he saw was the Dance of Shiva. Based on that spiritual visualisation, Capra then created a painting titled ‘The Dance Of Shiva’ (which later became internationally famous) in a way demonstrating unity of science and spirituality. The most important aspect of Fritjof Capra’s finding, however, was that he found the observer of various processes of the universe as not something or somebody different or separated. Instead, he realised that even the observer is integral to the process he is (so called) observing.

 

In other words, Fritjof Capra realised that even the observer is an integral part of the harmonious world that expresses itself in different ways and forms that are linked inseparably to one another. But of course, the ‘point’ of view (or angle) is different. So came into existence a fine observation in Sanskrit, Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti (The truth is the same, but wise people arrive at it from different angles or directions). Fritjof Capra realised it so very well -- so much so that he observed at another point: The mystic and the physicist arrive at the same conclusion; one starting from the inner realm, the other from the outer world. The harmony between their views confirms the ancient Indian wisdom that Brahman, the ultimate reality without, is identical to Atman, the reality within. Thus, the Brahman reflects itself in every form -- animate or inanimate -- which the mystic and physicist realise from two different angles. Science and spirituality are thus engaged in a continuum whose decomposition is not possible.