Last week I talked about the chasm that appears to exist between religious beliefs and scientific explanation of the origins of our world and everything around it. This relationship has troubled me for years. It seems ironic that religion and science, both having the same goal of discovering the “truth,” are often viewed in this adversarial light. Throughout history, scientists who discovered anything that was outside the realm of religious explanation were labeled heretics, lunatics, or rabble rousers. And yet, they were usually correct. And in many cases, the scientists were not trying to disprove a Creator, but only to gain a better understanding of what was created. The most famous example of this for me is Charles Darwin. I was dumbstruck to learn that Darwin’s first drafts of “The Origin of Species,” mentioned God and gave credit to the process of adaptation to God. Here is a quote from Darwin in a letter he wrote while working on the book: “In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.” Only later, after the firestorm of controversy and the demonization of Darwin was he persuaded to remove these references. He was, after all, the son of a Pastor who had originally intended to become a religious leader as well.
And Darwin is just one example of what happens too often when it comes to science and religion – they just can’t seem to “get along”. And religious leaders are not always to blame for this – sometimes it’s the scientists who break the olive branch or refuse to allow the concept of God into their studies. If we go back to Darwin’s research, he openly struggled with eyeballs – he simply could not explain them. They never seemed to really “evolve” in many species. They just stayed the same – they were perfectly adapted “as is”. Darwin had no problem mentioning this abnormality in his research and in early drafts of “Origin,” but the same scientific influences who encouraged him to drop the “God thing,” also convinced him to quiet down about the eyeballs, because, well because it really didn’t fit with their agenda of shaking up the religious beliefs of the time. Here is another Darwin quote about the controversy around his book: “I hardly see how religion & science can be kept as distinct as [Edward Pusey] desires… But I most wholly agree… that there is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness.” (Letter to J. Brodie Innes, November 27 1878)
And Darwin wasn’t the only one who struggled with trying to balance his spiritual beliefs and scientific research. Albert Einstein believed in God and once stated “God doesn’t shoot dice,” when asked about his confidence in an ordered pattern of things that run our world and the universe. Another great mind, although much less discussed, was Leonardo da Pisa – better known as Fibonacci. Fibonacci was more of a mathematician than a scientist, and his accomplishments from the 13th century have paved the way for much of modern mathematics. Besides being instrumental in convincing most of Europe to drop the use of Roman numerals, and to use our current decimal system, Fibonacci is best known for discovering what continues to be considered as the closest evidence to a plan behind much of what we see here on earth and out in space.
In order to understand what Fibonacci found, you will need to watch this link. My apologies for this, but this short video does a far better job than I could ever do of explaining how this pattern of numbers that he discovered exists over and over again in nature, and how it has become known as “The Golden Ratio”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ibc8sD5sgw&feature=email
How are you feeling after watching that? Are you amazed? Surprised? Relieved? Skeptical? I encourage you to dig deeper about any of the names, research, or spiritual beliefs of the people I have mentioned. It really isn’t that difficult, everything is about “three clicks” away these days, and I think that these ideas are important – important enough for each of us to decide for ourselves what is really going on, and has been going on, all around us. My grandfather, a stubborn man of few words who did not enter any established religious building during the course of my lifetime once told me: “I never realized how many people around here owned a wheelbarrow until mine broke and I needed another one. I guess we don’t see what’s right in front of us until we need it bad enough.” After he died, I found a magnet stuck over the sun visor in his car. It read “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” I guess that was all he needed. That worked for him. And if your spiritual “wheelbarrow” is feeling creaky, or weak, or no longer working effectively, or if in fact it broke years ago and you’ve simply been doing without one, I encourage you to look around and see what is right in front of you.
A few last words on “The Golden Ratio”: Isn’t it beautiful? Look at the shells, or the waves in the ocean, or the pattern of the constellations above us. Amazing. And unbelievable. But not really. It makes sense. The design is there. Undeniable. Last week I ranted about the seemingly endless battle between science and religion. I did that because I really don’t understand the adversarial relationship between the two. Why haven’t some people on either side of these foolish arguments realized that the ultimate goals are the same? If we are not meant to use this miraculous technology that has been developed to answer questions about our past, what good is it? To get more cable channels and make better cell phones? I don’t think so. I think we are meant to use our minds, and inventions, and curious, inquisitive natures to find answers to things that really matter. The answers are out there. I believe that scientists can and will and are finding the answers. And I also believe that many of the people answering these questions have faith, and ask for God’s guidance, and know that somehow, everything fits together. Things may not be as we have thought they were, but they make sense – there is a design, a pattern, a “Golden Ratio” behind the fabric of all that we see.
This week, as spring continues and nature comes alive all around us, I invite you to look for the patterns and cycles and signs all around us that show a design and an order to which each of us is an integral part…
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