Science and mysticism

[okulele]

I just watched Leo's "What is God" and he mentioned the possibility of science and mysticism blending in the future. Sounds great to me and I can intuitively sense that there is great value in that, but I don't know so much about science.

What is really the core of science? The greatest gift of science, so to say? That special something it brings to the table? Is science synonymous with rationality? What could science add to mysticism? Do you guys have any idea or resources to look into that?

Edited September 17, 2020 by okulele

[LastThursday]

The greatest gift of science is that it gets around delusion and self bias. It does it by performing experiments and having consensus. If two people perform the same experiment and get the same results, then it's a lot harder to be deluded about what you're experiencing.

Because science forces you to face your own delusion and self bias, it helps you to keep an open mind. 

The ideas of science are not incompatible with mysticism, because mysticism is a shared experience.

Edited September 17, 2020 by LastThursday

[Fadl]

I think it is possible that science and mysticism will blend in the future but for what reason? Enlightenment? Can we create an experiment with a specific equation that makes the people reach enlightenment whether they believed in it or not?

Hmm I don’t think so.

Anyway I think mysticism has a scientific element within it, for example if a number of people repeated some well-known meditation method some of them could reach enlightenment or have the same experience.

[okulele]

@LastThursday @Fadl Ok, thanks for your responses.

It's certainly a lot to think about. I guess science brings into the picture 'relative truth' while mystisicm brings in 'Absolute truth'.

Absolute truth is awesome, obviously, as it sets us free.

What about relative truth? What good is that? Usefulness for survival? More enjoyable living of the life that we will live even if we are enlightened?

That's really the point here, maybe. Where do these to truths, relative (scientific) and Absolute (mystical) meet and what are the ramifications?

[LastThursday]

On 17/09/2020 at 10:42 AM, Fadl said:

Can we create an experiment with a specific equation that makes the people reach enlightenment whether they believed in it or not?

Hmm I don’t think so.

Has a scientist tried this? Not yet. It's unscientific to give an answer without experiment. The more correct answer to your question is: "Hmm I don't know yet."

11 hours ago, okulele said:

What about relative truth? What good is that?

Why not use absolute truth to ground relative truth?  Then use the absolute truth to do relative science with. Then use science to uncover further absolute truths.

Edited September 21, 2020 by LastThursday

[okulele]

8 hours ago, LastThursday said:

Why not use absolute truth to ground relative truth?

ok, you can basically do that - see the essential impermanence of relative truths. That's for sure what mysticism can bring to science.

8 hours ago, LastThursday said:

Then use science to uncover further absolute truths.

Yeah I am not sure about this. This is kind of my question. Science can't uncover absolute truth. Science is relative, it works within existence. Absolute is only by itself.

The way I see it now, is that the best and only thing that science can do is discover the infinite relative truths, which are actually what absolute truth is made of (meaning it's essentially the same).