A clarity that is not free of confusion

Nowadays we are beginning to see different kinds of science existing simultaneously. In addition to the new science and the classical science, or the new physics and the classical physics, we have one science for the specialists and one for the average man. This is because many of the concepts spoken of in science are completely beyond the ability of the average man to visualize. Not only can he not verify them for himself, he can't even grasp the concepts at all. And this applies not only to the average man: some of the concepts of science are even beyond the ability of most scientists to visualize! One can only take their word for it.

Let's take an example. According to science, light is at once a wave and a particle. Scientists were trying to define the nature of light itself: is it a wave or is it a particle? it's a component, a particle, right? One group said, “Yes, that's right. It's a particle, a stream of photons”. But another group said, “No, light is a wave”. In the end it seems that it is both ... light is both a particle and a wave. Hmm. But what's that? It has to be proven with mathematics. This kind of thing is beyond the grasp of the ordinary human being.

Let's look at some more examples. Take the black holes, for instance: astronomers tell us that there are black holes scattered throughout the universe. These are stars from which even light cannot escape, they are absolutely dark. In fact, nothing at all can escape from their extremely high gravitational pulls. Even light cannot be emitted by them. Now what does the average man make of that? Something that even light cannot escape from?!

Now they say that in these black holes both matter and energy are compacted to terrific densities, There's nothing to compare with them on this earth of ours. To give some idea, they say that if all the empty space were somehow pressed out of a skyscraper, like the Empire State Building, 102 stories high, its mass and energy would be compacted into the size of a needle! A skyscraper! Take all the empty space out of it and all that's left is the size of one needle. Now what are the villagers going to make of that?

The scientists say that this is how a black hole is. In fact it's even stranger, because, apart from being the size of a needle, at the same time it would still weigh as much as the original Empire State Building. It's inconceivable – all we can do is believe them. We've trusted the scientists for so long, we give them the benefit of the doubt. But deep inside we're all wondering, “Huh? Is that possible?”

Science is not yet able to provide an answer that explains the totality of life and the world, it is still engaged in the process of collecting and verifying pieces of data. Science is still unable to explain many of the basic questions of the universe, such as the nature of, or even existence of, the basic particle, Science has gone beyond the point where it can be proven with the five senses. Hypotheses are proven through mathematics, which is then interpreted by physicists. The truth is reduced to algebraic equations, which are not in themselves the truth, and don't really clarify the truth in a convincing way. It has become a matter of belief in these mathematical symbols. These symbols are interpreted without a direct awareness of reality, which is very nearly the condition that Sir Arthur Eddington spoke of.

Sir Arthur Eddington was an English scientist, credited with being the first person to fully understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity. He was also the first person to devise a way to prove the Theory of Relativity, on account of which he was knighted.

These are his words – “a shadow world of symbols” – a world of symbols and signs. These are the words of one of the world's leading scientists.

Even observable phenomena are not a certainty. Scientists use the scientific method as a means of testing their observations. The main factors of this method are observation and experiment, which must be carried out until there is no longer room for doubt. But, even then, the matter is not closed, because of the limitations of the experimental method and the instruments used.

Let's take as an example Newton's Law of Gravitation. This was a universally accepted truth, a Law, but Einstein came along and said it was not entirely correct. On the subatomic level, the Law of Gravity no longer applies, but in Newton's time there weren't the instruments to observe the sub-atomic level. Mankind had to wait until the twentieth century and Einstein, using mathematical equations and reasoning, to arrive at this truth. So we must be careful. You cannot ultimately believe even experimentation.

At this point I would like to insert a little story used to tease the scientists. It's the story of the chicken and Farmer Brown. Every morning that the chicken sees Farmer Brown, Farmer Brown is carrying some food for him. He sees this every single morning, so it follows that whenever he sees Farmer Brown the chicken gets fed. Chicken sees Farmer Brown = gets fed . .. this is the equation. But there comes a morning when the chicken sees Farmer Brown and doesn't get fed, because Farmer Brown isn't carrying food in his hand, he's carrying a knife. The equation “chicken sees Farmer Brown = gets fed”, becomes “Chicken sees Farmer Brown = gets throat cut”. So it seems that even verification based on repeated observation cannot be completely trusted, it's still not a sure thing.

What I would like to point out here is that science has distanced itself more and more from the average person through the sophistication of its experimental methods. Scientists have become a very select group, an elite, one that is highly specialized, whereas religion is available to the masses. This is a major difference between the two disciplines.