Science and spirituality have historically sought understanding and meaning, whether in the analysis of a cell, the cosmos, or the human being’s spiritual dimension.
They both share an essential drive that Erich Fromm describes as biophilia: an unconditional love and a fascination with life. “”The person who truly loves life is drawn to the vital process and growth in all its dimensions. They prefer to create rather than preserve, to discover the new rather than seek validation of the old.”
Science and spirituality each have their own way of observing, describing and understanding the mysteries that reality presents and the meaning of existence.
Science uses technical and rational language based on evidence. In contrast, spirituality uses symbolic and experiential language. If they remain cut off from each other, using their own vocabulary without establishing intercommunication, they run the risk of distorting what each of them considers “the truth”. Together, they represent complementary forms of wisdom that invite us to understand and value life.
Despite the periods of tension and rivalry between them, a transdisciplinary and institutional dialogue began in the second half of the 20th century. A notable example is the founding of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) in the USA in 1954.
This essential dialogue links the scientific community to various mystical traditions and spiritual leaders. Several universities have begun an academic dialogue between science and spirituality. Non-profit organizations like The Mind and Life Institute, under the direction of the Dalai Lama and Francisco Varela, have made important contributions.
Spirituality and Science: The Ancestral Origin of Dialogue
This exchange is nothing new. In ancient traditions like Hinduism, it was fundamental to integrate objective reality with inner wisdom. It is estimated that during the Vedic Period (from approximately 1500 BC), the Rishis (wise seers) performed this mediating role between science and spirituality. They were not the ones who produced the Vedas, but rather the ones who interpreted them, acting as essential bridges between the material world and transcendent knowledge.
Spirituality: A Personal Exploration of the Being
Spirituality is known for being free from dogmas. It is an intrinsic experience that motivates the individual towards self-exploration.
Spirituality initiates—through individualized daily habits—a much broader path than a purely intellectual one.
It explores how one thinks, feels, and acts in order to foster a more conscious connection with one’s personal reality. And, without intermediaries, it also explores the transcendental dimension of one´s being.
This experience is characterized by its lack of fear: it is not based on worries over natural phenomena nor does it need rewards or punishments to achieve ethical or moral values.
While preserving its fundamental principles, spirituality is always open to change. It promotes internal transformations such as greater empathy and compassion, mental clarity and a strong sense of purpose in the present.
Historically, spiritual traditions have deeply influenced human civilizations.
Modern science, based on empirical observations and rational inferences, arose during the Renaissance. Science has explored fields that were previously reserved for mysticism. It has shown that some beliefs lack logic or evidence. At the same time, it confirms or reinterprets various spiritual principles by giving them observational support.
Correlation between Science and Spirituality
Contemporary techniques not only seek to understand brain processes, but they also open a channel of communication between empirical evidence and the internal aspects of our existence.
- Neuroscience and Consciousness: Studies on meditation indicate how contemplative practices alter brain structures (neuroplasticity), generating neural correlates linked to mystical states. Even though these changes are well documented, the implications of mystical experiences continue to be debated within the scientific community.
- Neuroscience and Epigenetics: They reveal how thoughts, emotions, and mental states affect both our physical health and our genetic expression.
- Transpersonal Psychology: It analyzes subjective experiences (such as unitary perceptions with nature or the absolute), as well as profound internal transformations, allowing them to be integrated within clinical contexts.
- Quantum physics: It has dismantled separate materialist notions by suggesting a deeply interconnected reality.
- Ecology: It has demonstrated our vital interdependence, reinforcing spiritual notions of unity.
- Evolutionary Biology: It maintains that cooperation and empathy favor social survival. Religious teachings have promoted these concepts for centuries through compassion and altruism.
- Physics, Biology and Cosmology: They confirm that nothing remains static: everything is constantly changing or evolving. Many spiritual traditions refer to the concept of living with disattachment. This means knowing how to receive and enjoy without clinging onto, and letting go without unnecessary suffering.
Areas of Uncertainty
Many spiritual practices involve experiencing a connection with something loftier, where the individual sense of “self” disappears. Regressive hypnosis is a technique used in medicine to treat emotional disorders. Some patients report experiences related to past or future lives, as well as post-mortem existence.
Near-death experiences have revealed conscious episodes even when there is an absence of electrical brain activity along with peaceful sensations or luminous encounters with loved ones.
Some schools of thought propose that there is an informational energy field where all existential history is recorded, like a virtual disk accessible through specific spiritual abilities.
Quantum physics describes non-local and non-deterministic phenomena at the level of matter (quantum entanglement).
Similarly, these spiritual experiences could be associated with a “non-local consciousness,”, meaning that the mind would not be limited to the brain, but could extend beyond space and time.
There is still no firm scientific evidence to prove the existence of consciousness outside the brain.
There is a lack of evidence to demonstrate that life presents itself as a process of the mind´s adaptation to increasingly complex forms of connection, one which can transcend the concept of perceived reality.
Scientific Contributions to Spiritual Practices
Within spiritual practices, modulating personal discipline through effective techniques is worth evaluating, while ensuring continued precision and avoiding dependence solely on luck or momentary enthusiasm.
Those who are genuinely committed to a spiritual experience need mentorship to guide their personal development through a method of life. The role of support, accompaniment and understanding is enhanced on multiple levels when the support of new scientific knowledge is incorporated.
Without underestimating the importance of individual genius, collaborative work is the driving force behind science. Scientific institutions are crucial intellectual platforms that transform ideas and are sources of verifiable, impactful discoveries with lasting effects.
Likewise, the spiritual ideas put forth by their founders are put into practice by participants in groups. Their own international institutions exemplify these ideas in modern society and avoid falling into a subculture of suspicion. This step has been fundamental in spreading their ideas through transparency regarding their foundations, methodologies and use of resources, thereby gaining access to social credibility.
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Bibliography
- Fromm, Erich. El Corazón del Hombre, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2000 (The Heart of Man, 1964.)
- Bioelectromagnetic and subtle energy medicine: the interface between mind and matter. Paul J Rosch. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Aug: 1172:297-311 doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04535.x.
- Science 1 Oct 1954 Vol 120 Issue 3118 pp522–533
- Carl Gustav Jung et al., *Quantum Physics and the Spiritual Mind*: A Mystical Vision of the Twenty-First Century by Diogo Valadas Ponte & Lothar Schäfer Behav Sci 2013 Vol 3(4):601–618 https://doi.org/10.3390/bs3040601.
- Weiss B. Muchas vidas muchos maestros. Google Books.
- van Lommel P et al., *Near-death experiences in survivors of cardiac arrest*: A prospective study in the Netherlands Lancet Dec 15 2001 Vol 358(9298):2039–45 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)07100-8
