We are by nature explorers. The impulse to explore was present long before
any organized religion or science appeared on the planet. The inpulse to
explore is the impulse to know. The biological need to explore and to know
is the seed or kernel of both religion and science. The shape of our
hands, the function of our senses, the struture of our brain demands that
we explore, that we shape, not only the environment, but also ourselves.
We have created science to explore and shape the outer and religion to
explore and shape the inner.
If we see science and religion as different manifestations of this single
and basic biological need, it may be possible for us to get in touch with
the innate intelligence that in indigenous to the very structure of our
organism. This intelligence is called wisdom. In my opinion, to cultivate
and rediscover purity, love and understanding, in short -- wisdom -- is of
utmost importance. It is wisdom which gives us the only possibility we
have to avert a great tragedy. The tragedy I am speaking of is that
although we are in the prasence of a great opportunity, we are losing the
sense of our human ideals. This leads to not functioning true to our
biological base, and because of this, for the first time in history we
teeter on the edge of self-destruction.
Plato cautioned his contemporaries 2500 years ago that if the leaders of
society did not develop a high standard of morality they would lead society
to disaster. This is equally true today. Especially at this time of
increasing complexity, and more importantly at a time when our scientists
are unlocking the secrets of the universe before our very eyes, we need the
fortitude and wisdom which only comes from moral purity. We have surged
ahead in our ability to manipulate and master material but we have left far
behind the conscious training and development of morality so critical to a
dynamic wholesome unfoldment.
An excerpt from
ALTRUISM: CONTEMPLATIONS FOR THE SCIENTIFIC AGE
by Karma Sonam Senge;
The Open Path, Boise, Idaho; 1986
By permission of the author.