How Science and Religion
Come Together

THERE has always been science, and there has always been religion as long as the human race has walked on this mother Earth. In fact, these two are not only related to each other, but they are really, in essence, identical.

Examining the meaning of the word "science" we can see that it is derived from the Latin "sciens" which is the present participle of "scire' " which means "to know or to understand". Many people completely misunderstand the word 'religion' It comes from the Latin word ' ligare' ' which means to tie or fasten. It is the same root as the word ligature or ligament. It means to be connected, tied. So the actual meaning of religion is to experience that state of being connected or tied to the One - to our origin and our Infinity.

In sum, science is the technology of knowing or understanding the essence of the universe, and religion is the actual experience of one's own identity with that essence.

The Nature of Religion

We must fundamentally understand that true religion is experiential. That is, religion is not what we usually consider it to be, i.e., a set of beliefs or ideals, or even a philosophy or manner of behavior, but it is, in fact, the moment to moment experience of one' s origin, the source of one's being, God.

Where can this experience be found? The answer is: everywhere! for it is not really a question of where at all but one of how. Obviously if one is experiencing the living presence of God, which is by nature infinite and inexpressible, the experience can only be that, an experience. It cannot be written or told. Over and over in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib we hear the phrase:

Both science and religion are the attempt to tell "that story which can never be told", to share the experience of the infinite and inexpressible with our fellow travellers on this beautiful spaceship we call Earth. Science and religion are identical in purpose, but they are opposite in method. In fact, one might almost say that science is religion without a heart, and religion is science without a head; two opposite approaches to the identical task: to express the inexpressible so that others may share it.

The Nature of Science

The task that science has set itself is to describe the essential nature of the entire universe precisely and mathematically in the totality of its creation. The irony of this task is that it is endless in nature. The supposed ultimate goal of science, to propose a theory that explains neatly and logically how everything in the universe operates and fits together into a whole, is actually an impossible task. The reason that it is impossible is that science itself is part of our constantly growing and evolving, moving, and ecstatic universe. The very act of scientific observation affects not only the specific process under observation, but also the entire creation.

When, at the dawn of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein proposed his general theory of relativity, and Max Planck proposed his principle of uncertainty, the world was stood on its ear. Suddenly the seemingly explainable, mechanical nature of the world as understood by science until then, was dissolved in a sea of uncertainty. The sudden and unexpected announcement by Einstein that everything in the universe is connected to everything else, and that every action no matter how seemingly small affects the whole, and Planck's discovery that absolute measurements within the realm of time and space were impossible because both could not be measured simultaneously, made the hard facts of science suddenly seem a lot less solid. The realization that all scientific models and theories are only approximate, and that their verbal interpretations always suffer from the inaccuracy of language itself was now inescapable.

It now seems that the totality of science' s accomplishments is asymptotic in nature. An asymptotic function, of course, is one that approaches a limit without ever reaching it. In other words, while the scientific method can approach closer and closer to its goal of describing the essential nature of the universe, it can never actually get there. It is like Zeno' s bridge, crossing it takes forever. The discovery and exploration of the subatomic world of modern physics has revealed a reality that transcends both language and reasoning. At the dawn of the twentieth century science and religion entered the common ground of inexpressibility.

The Image of the Infinite

All religions seem to have begun with the transcendental experience of a single individual or a small group in individuals. Let' s take as our example here, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith.

As a young man, Guru Nanak underwent an ecstatic and transforming experience; an experience in which he understood the essential nature of existence. It is said that after undergoing this experience, his first Impulse was to express in words what had happened to him. The great poem we call "Japji"' was the product of that effort. The first part of the Japji, known as the root or "Mool" mantra is the expression, in as few words as possible, of Guru Nanak' s experience of reality.

The utter simplicity of the Mool Mantra is striking. It is the very essence of which all religions are made. It is interesting to realize that the very first line of it. Expresses exactly the same concept which is the foundation of all modern relativistic science: E=MC²

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