Had a friend send me this video, and before I talk about it, I want you to watch it and really listen to what Feynman has to say.
I totally agree with Feynman that science does not destroy the beauty of the art that is around us, but rather increases it. Being able to imagine the incredible complexity of the things which are around us can only increase the enjoyment. As Feynman says, “Science knowledge only adds to the excitement, mystery, and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts.”
This is important to keep in mind. Asking questions about how the world works, and how things are put together, and how things have developed is an incredibly important, and extremely rewarding thing to do. We should not be content to stick our heads in the sand and ignore what is all around us.
Then, however, Feynman makes an interesting statement about what he calls “mystic answers” to important questions he admits can never be answered by science. Saying that if we expected science to give the answer to all the wonderful questions about who we are, why we are here, where we are going, and so on, you could easily become disillusioned.
Some think that belief in Jesus excludes any kind of desire to examine this world as it is, and learn about it. But those of us who believe in Jesus, believe that he created this world, and is actively working in it today holding, shaping, forming, and guiding it. So to study this world, as it is, is to study what our God has done, and is doing.
Just as the scientific knowledge about the flower increases his appreciation of the flower, so the study of this world increases our understanding, and appreciation for God.
Feynman’s main reason for discounting the mystic answers to these wonderful questions science cannot answer? They are too simple.
“I can’t believe the special stories that have been made up about our relationship to the universe at large, because they seem to be too simple, too connected to …to… too local, too provincial. The earth. He came to the earth. One of the aspects of God came to the earth, mind you. And look at what’s out there. How can… It isn’t in proportion.”
Interestingly enough, one of the main criteria for determining whether a scientific theory is a good one or not is if it is simple; if it explains all the evidence with a minimal amount of explanation.
So, Feynman argues, we have to make room for doubt. We have to push aside these “easy” answers and leave room for doubt. But when “you doubt and ask, it gets a bit harder to believe.”
Doubting, and asking is important, but it does not make it harder to believe. Doubt actually makes room for faith. When we think we have all the answers. When we think we know how everything works and we exclude exploration of any answers to any of the questions then we have certainty, not doubt. Feynman’s exclusion of these so-called “mystic” answers to those wonderful questions, is not doubt but certainty.
He does not know what the answers are, but he is certain that these answers are wrong. He looks at the flower from one dimension, and excludes the other.
But what if they are right? What if there is a God who created this whole thing, and is currently involved in holding it all together? What if that God did take a special interest in this incredibly tiny portion of this immense universe? What if he is a personal God that loves us and came to rescue us from our own stupidity?
The way I see it, is to entertain these answers can only increase our appreciation of the world, not take away from it. Religion, mysticism, faith, whatever you want to call it, creates a sense of depth to our existence that can never be achieved by simply focussing on our scientific knowledge.
Faith “only adds to the excitement, mystery, and awe of a flower. It only adds. I don’t understand how it subtracts.”
