 |
 
| The Basics of
Behavior Analysis
|
| Parents
|
| Love & Sexuality
|
| Employees & Bosses
|
| OneScience
|
|
 |
 |
Is There a God?
What Science Doesn't Know
Is there a God? Absolutely. Of course there is. People
talk about God constantly. They write about God.
They sing songs to God. People even talk to God.
They must be talking to someone or something, or
else they wouldn't keep doing it. For eons, humans
have acknowledged the presence of something
supernatural in the world; something that effects our
lives and the events that take place around us.
The job of science is to question the ideas people
have to determine if there is any validity to the
ideas. In other words, just because people believe in
something doesn't mean that it actually exists. Science tries to determine
whether or not it actually exists. If people believe that Santa lives at the
North Pole, a scientist would travel to the North Pole with a load of highly
technical equipment designed to detect the presence of life to see if it's
true.
So people have always had an idea that something of a God-like entity
exists and science has been trying to figure out if this is true or not.
Science has attempted to search for God in many places. Quantum
physicists look for God in subatomic particles. Astronomers look for God in
outer space. String theorists look for God in alternative perceptions of
reality. Mathematicians look for God in numbers.
Behaviorists tend to assume that there is no God simply because one hasn't
been discovered yet. Behaviorists also tend to believe that there is no
reason to believe in God since we can explain supposedly supernatural
phenomena in purely natural terms. Science has provided naturalistic
explanations for most of the activities that traditionally get credited to
God.
But for all of its inquiring, Science has failed to answer the question. And,
what's more, science will always fail to answer this question.
If God is supernatural, none of our methods of inquiring about nature can
help us to understand something that exists outside of nature. It's like
trying to measure the weight of a pumpkin with a thermometer. To
measure the weight of a pumpkin we need a scale. A thermometer is
useless to us.
Determining whether or not God actually exists requires a different
method of inquiry, and a different sort of measuring equipment. If there is
such a thing as a supernatural supreme being, knowing this and interacting
with this being would require a supernatural means of detection and
communication. Something supernatural, like a soul or a human spirit, if
such things exist, would be the only means by which humans could
determine the presence of something supernatural. And tools such as
poetry and music would be the proper modes of communication with such
a being.
It would be easier for us perhaps if we could definitively prove the
existence or non-existence of God. The question would be settled and
faith would be unnecessary. But this is not possible. And so it rests with
each individual to make that determination on his or her own, and in his or
her own way.
Doing this requires a great deal of introspection and emotional risk. And it
puts the responsibility of finding the answer on the person who wants to
know. But ultimately, it is the only meaningful way to grasp that which lies
beyond our conventional powers of understanding.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
Seeking the big answers in modern life:
Of mice, men and higher powers. |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
Receive Behavior-related info in your E-mail box free with "Consequently".
|
|
|
|
|
|
