Early one evening in 1865, the German chemist August Kekulé fell asleep in his study after a fruitless struggle to identify the chemical structure of benzene. He dreamt of a snake eating its own tail and awoke instantly. The dream gave him, through the ancient language of symbolism, the circular structure of the benzene ring, which had eluded his conscious mind. The dream may have had its basis in Kekulé’s experiments, but it was the non-rational that brought him his discovery.
This is one of innumerable examples that illustrate that science is often as inexact and intuitive as theology, philosophy, and every other human endeavor.
Many physicists see “string theory”—in which the structure of the universe is made up of resonating, one-dimensional strings—as plausible. Yet no scientist has ever seen a string. No direct experimentation has established a firm ground for them.
Cosmology routinely bases arguments on things that cannot be seen to explain things that can, as in the case of “dark” matter, whose effects can be seen. Quantum physics demolished the assumption that physical elements are governed by fixed laws. This led Werner Heisenberg to formulate his “uncertainty principle.” The principle states that we cannot know everything about a particle. If we can determine a particle’s position, we cannot determine its momentum. We can measure momentum, but in this measurement we lose the particle’s exact position. We can know a particle’s momentum or its position. We cannot know both with definitive accuracy.
“I remember discussions which went through many hours till very late at night, and ended almost in despair,” Heisenberg wrote. “When at the end of the discussion I went alone for a walk in the neighboring park, I repeated to myself again and again the question: ‘Can nature possibly be as absurd as it seemed to us in these atomic experiments?’”
Science is not always directly empirical. Science is not governed by absolute, immutable laws. Science, and especially quantum mechanics, far from telling us we can know everything, tells us there will always be things we cannot know. No one ultimately understands. Science affirms the complexity and mystery of the universe. Science opens us up to a world where we face mystery. There are forces in the universe that will always lie beyond the capacity of the human mind.
The battle between religion and science is better described as the battle between the cult of religion and the cult of science. These cults seek to hold out pure, absolute truths that do not exist. They have bred a class of high priests who speak of human possibility and progress in obscure, specialized jargon. These high priests, who can be religious figures or scientists, talk of miracles. They promise a healthy, long, and wonderful life, one where human suffering will be vanquished and peace and happiness will prevail. Jesus makes this possible for fundamentalists. Science makes this possible for many atheists—the most fervent have built a warped vision of human perfectibility out of the very legitimate theory that human beings are shaped by the laws of heredity and natural selection.
There is nothing in science that implies that our genetic makeup allows us to perfect ourselves. Those who, in the name of science, claim that we can overcome our imperfect human nature make a leap of faith. They operate on a belief system that functions like religion. It gives meaning. It gives purpose and hope. But, like all belief systems, it is based on a myth.
The questions of science are not the questions of religion. Einstein’s quest for a unified field theory explaining subatomic structure or the Big Bang no more undermines religious contemplation than does evolutionary biology. Science, limited to what can be proved and disproved, is a morally neutral discipline. It serves human needs and human ambitions. There are times when it protects and advances life. There are times when it empowers ambitions that are immoral and deadly. Science, like all human endeavors, comes with good and bad, possibilities of hope and possibilities of destruction.
Science does not attempt to address, nor is it capable of addressing, the mystery of our existence, our moments of transcendence, our search for meaning, love, or our mortality. It deals in what can be proved or disproved. But powerful non-rational forces in human life exist that cannot be quantified. To pretend they do not exist is to be as stunted as those who use the Bible to discredit science. Kekulé’s snake is a reminder that many of our greatest and most profound insights often come to us through the intuitive language of symbols, allegories, and dreams.
Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades for the New York Times and other newspapers, and is the bestselling author of American Fascists; War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; What Every Person Should Know About War; and Losing Moses on the Freeway. Hedges graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School. He is now a senior fellow at the Nation Institute. His new book is I Don’t Believe in Atheists.
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