Aeltri

Contemporary science, by and large, has devolved into nothing more than another bankrupt belief system; a substitute religion for individuals who believe spiritual fundamentalism is somehow more dangerous and damaging than scientific fundamentalism. In the words of Terence McKenna, “Science has great pretensions about itself; it basically regards itself as a meta-theory capable of passing judgment on all other theories. [These theories] are supposed to submit themselves to science to be told whether they are right or not.”

As Rupert Sheldrake, an accomplished biochemist, points out: “There is a kind of materialist ethos in science…when cosmologists come up with the idea that there are multiple universes, billions of actual universes besides our own for which there’s no evidence at all, instead of this causing outrage, it becomes totally mainstream…no one suffers an attack as a result…The reason that gets past the filters is it doesn’t overturn a particular ideology. What’s at stake is not science itself but ideology.”

This entrenched dogmatism that McKenna and Sheldrake refer to is most noticeable in scientists such as Richard Dawkins, who consistently scapegoat supernatural belief for the world’s shortcomings. They outright ignore the more decisive role that egotism, disconnection, and self-deception have played in perpetuating strife. Despite possessing tremendous intellect, Dawkins and others like him are clearly mistaking the map for the terrain. It is of little consequence to them that atrocities committed by Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia were carried out under an empirical regime guided by a cold, calculated scientific protocol. They cannot sense, let alone acknowledge, their own cognitive dissonance. What is worse, without much thought, we choose to place these people and the flawed belief systems they espouse on pedestals. We elevate them to positions of cultural prominence, and mistakenly label their ideas as worthy of organizing an entire social-order around. We conflate their intelligence with wisdom at our own peril.

We need to realize that this brand of self-defeating extremism, whether scientific or religious, is a byproduct of a deeply flawed cultural psyche. We have become alienated from nature, from ourselves, and in the process become totally deranged.