The Invisible Boundary (Review of ‘The Spiritual Universe’ by Alan Lightman)

The central doctrine of science (as explained by Alan Lightman): all properties of life and matter are governed by laws which are true at any place and at any time in the universe. As he writes in his essay, The Spiritual Universe, these laws – like ones relating to gravity or the conservation of energy – are ubiquitous. 

But if this is true, then how does religion fit in with these laws and this doctrine? Lightman elaborates on a hierarchy of religious beliefs, on a spectrum from altruism (believe that no God does exist) to interventionalism (where God violates the laws of the universe from time to time). From a logical standpoint, “except for a God who sits down after the universe begins, all other Gods conflict with the assumptions of science” (42). 

And yet, many scientists and science teachers believe in religion and believe in God. While science seeks answers, philosophy values the question; both play an equally important role in our lives. Additionally, Lightman describes religion and science as two separate entities, each deserving recognition and distinction. 

As mentioned in The Accidental Universe, life forms on Earth have risen within very specific parameters. If Earth’s distance from the sun were perhaps slightly less, then all water on Earth would be perpetually boiling. If we were farther out, then all of our oceans would freeze. On a grander scale, if there was too much dark matter in the universe, it would expand too rapidly. If there was not enough, it would expand too slowly. Neither outcome would result in favorable conditions for plant Earth. With this in mind, how can there not be a God? With our Earth falling so perfectly within the parameters for life, how can there not be a higher being allowing us to come into being?

Which leaves room for faith alongside science. 

As Lighman puts it, 

“Some people believe that there is no distinction between the spiritual and physical universes, no distinction between the inner and the outer, between the subjective and objective, between the miraculous and the rational. I need such distinctions to make sense of my spiritual and scientific lives. For me, there is room for both a spiritual universe and a physical universe, just as there is room for both religion and science. Each universe has its own power. Each has its own beauty and mystery.”

 Sources:

Popova, Maria. "Godliness in the Known and the Unknowable: Alan Lightman on Science and Spirituality." Brain Pickings. N.p., 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 28 May 2016.

The Accidental Universe by Alan Lightman