The Rational Mystic
Stuart Fickler, Ph.D.
The mind can proceed only so far upon what it knows and can prove. There comes a point where the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge, but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap.– Einstein
Einstein’s statement is a “mystical statement”. How can a serious scientist talk about an unprovable “higher plane of knowledge”? Isn’t provability an absolute requirement of good science? The answer, of course, is yes. But, the more fundamental question is, when is the requirement of provability to be applied? At the end! This is a case where the ends do justify the means.
The scientific approach is to allow imagination and intuition to take theory beyond the realm of the known. Then, the theory must be tested through experiment in the realm of the measurable. No theory is considered valid until it passes that test.
This can be illustrated by something that happened to me a number of years ago. I was director of a research group in General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory. Professor Nathan Rosen, a former associate of Albert Einstein and highly esteemed physicist, was visiting. During our research discussions, I remarked, half jokingly, that, in approaching the acquisition of knowledge, I was a “mystic”. Nathan looked at me in shock, and said that I couldn’t be a mystic since I was one of the most rational people that he knew. Goaded by his response, I replied that one had to be a “mystic” to be a theoretical physicist. That ended that conversation, and we got back to work.
In the afternoon Professor Rosen gave a brilliant lecture on cosmology. During the question period that followed, one the scientists asked how he could speak with such confidence about his work. He argued that the standards of scientific inquiry required reproducible experiments. In the case of cosmology, there is only one universe and no hope of reproducing it in any laboratory. With only the briefest hesitation, Nathan replied that he was part of that universe, and as such his mind was capable of comprehending it.
Later, as I drove him to the airport, I said, “Nathan, you didn’t tell me that you are also a ‘mystic’.” In a profoundly offended voice he replied, “What do you mean?” I reminded him of his earlier remark about being capable of understanding the universe because he was part of it.
The questioner at the lecture was quite right. Professor Rosen was stretching the limits of an essential discipline of science: the independently reproducible experiment. In his response, Professor Rosen placed himself at the boundary of science and religion.
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Prophecy is, in truth and reality, an emanation sent forth by the Divine Being through the medium of the Active Intellect, in the first instance to man's rational faculty, and then to his imaginative faculty; it is the highest degree and greatest perfection man can attain: it consists in the most Perfect development of the imaginative faculty. -- Maimonides
As I explained to Professor Rosen, when I used the word “mystic”, I did not use it in its most general meaning. I totally concur with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel: "Religious thought cannot afford to associate closely with the powers of fantasy." A more precise statement on my part would have been “pragmatic mystic”. This may sound paradoxical (which is the nature of mysticism), but it is contained within Kabbalah and Zen. The broader, more popular use of the word mysticism carries the danger of launching an adherent into fantasy. The true purpose of the mystic, and the scientist, is the discovery of reality.
I am an unremittingly rational person. Every one of my emotions, every imagining, every intuition is filtered through my reasoning faculty. The perfection of that capability is what Maimonides demands of us in the statement cited above. What many people do not appreciate is that the mystical and the rational share a very strong common bond.
My research in cosmology, and elementary particle theory provided me with a view of creation, from the infinitesimal to the infinite. I truly appreciated the words of Jacob, indeed “how awesome is this place”. But, in time, I discovered that the knowledge of the scientist was not enough.
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Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind. –Einstein
Science, in practice, is a very strict discipline. It demands that the scientist, when working as a scientist, focus only on the description of process. “How?” is the operant question. “Why?” lies outside the domain of science. But, “Why?” is the question of purpose. Scientists are human, and like every human are driven by purpose. They are driven by an insatiable hunger for knowledge. But, the knowledge they acquire does not fully satisfy the quest for purpose. That is the wisdom behind Einstein’s brilliant insight.
Einstein’s statement may be illustrated by the following parable. There was once a cruel king who enjoyed watching prisoners suffer. He built an extremely complex maze on the royal grounds. Every path and turn of the maze was visible from the tower of his palace. He would tell each prisoner brought to him that if they successfully ran the maze they would be pardoned and richly rewarded, if not they would be left to die in the maze. For many years this provided the king with great amusement. He was further delighted that he never released a prisoner. One day a blind man and a lame man were brought to him. Seeing the condition of the prisoners, he decided that it would be doubly amusing to put them in the maze together. At first, his expectations were fulfilled as he watched the lame man struggling and crawling and the blind man bouncing off the walls. Then, the men shouted, came together and spoke. To the king’s horror the lame man climbed on the shoulders of the blind man. He could now see over the hedges and easily guided the blind man to the exit.
Science is the acquisition, organization and application of knowledge of observable reality. Religion is the acquisition, organization and application of knowledge of God. Although these definitions would seem to separate the domains of science and religion, they do not. Like the blind man and the lame man, we need both. Humanity’s quest for purpose can only be achieved by science and religion working in concert.
At this critical moment in time, is there reason to expect that science and religion, particularly Judaism, can achieve the harmony needed to continue the quest that began when Abraham heard the words, “Lech lecha”?
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