I stumbled across this in a BBC interview with Arthur C.Clarke, the chap who wrote the paper in '45 about the use of satellites for communications - and a deep deep influence on most of today's generation of senior scientists (i.e. those above about 30 or 40 years of age. Dunno if he's so popular or well known with a younger lot).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4309586.stm Anyway, right at the end came up a quote which is one of Clarke's guiding maxims, which really hit the spot for me. (at bottom of ramblings!) I stand slack-jawed in utter incomprehension of people who claim there is a God directing our world (or the universe) or sons of god or prophets or whatever. Mind-boggling. And then I start getting angry. But the squalid emptiness of modern materialism wasn't part of the enlightenment outcomes we wanted to see, was it? Something is missing (yeah, Great Revelations of our Time, eh). 25 odd years ago I spent a fair bit of time hanging around teravadha (sp??) buddhism, which I found gave me much peace and a supportive circle, as a young man from a poverty stricken, neglected childhood background (etc. cue strings) who'd suddenly found himself catapulted out of the underclass into university (via some unexpected very high exam marks through correspondence courses as I'd set out to "improve myself a bit" after engagement with the old union movements tradition of "talent seeking") and into the world of heavy duty pressure group campaigning and policy work in environmental and inner-city politics in London. Rather unsettling...! Buddhism - or my atheistic use of the techniques and often very wise philosophies, provided a deeply needed core that had been lacking in the total chaos and insecurity of my upbringing (I think I'll take it up again if I can find the right group!). In short, I found the "spiritual" element that had been non-existent in the possibilities of my childhood through to early adulthood. And I found it wasn't "out there" but within, and out there in the community of care that extended from the within. I think Clarke is right - this quote captures the essence of the challenge in our world, if we are to avoid sliding back into the evil devilworshipping excremental insanity of "religion" (prejudiced? Moi?) like seems to be occurring in America. ""Politics and religion are obsolete; the time has come for science and spirituality." Pandit Nehru. Yeah, right on. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
