Science Meets Spirits

I had a very interesting conversation with a friend the other day. He defines himself as a "science man" and anyone who knows me well knows I am a very spiritual person. Now don't get me wrong, I completely believe in science as well. I believe in evolution and global warming and so on. However, I have always found that there is something in me that yearns for more. I don't need more explanation, just more essence. Those tiny moments in life that touch you deeply or send shivers down your spine, those are the spiritual moments I yearn for.

Even though I am Jewish, that side of me is more for the fulfillment of community, family, and tradition. My spiritual thoughts are slightly different. I do not necessarily believe in a g-d. I believe in spirituality. I believe there is an energy flow throughout the world, throughout life. This is similar to the belief of reike. In reike, it is believed that the body has a chi, a flow, and if there is a rut somewhere it manifests itself physically. A reike practitioner uses the forces of the universe to open up the flow. (Oh I know, this all makes me sound completely zany. I don't care). While I don't really believe in a g-d or almighty ruler, I have to believe there are spirits and energy that we cannot explain.

Then I got to thinking, why is it that humans, for the longest time, have this yearning to feel something else or believe in a divine? My "science man" friend believes it is all just to help accept things we can't explain. But I've never had a problem with that. I openly accept that there are things that I can't explain and that has never bothered me. However, I still love the spiritual feeling I get when I look at a beautiful sunset and smell the lilacs on the breeze, or when I hear shrilling harmony performed perfectly by a 500 person chorus. I yearn for these feelings and wonder what natural drive in humans make us crave for such things. And I stumbled upon this possible conclusion. Science can always explain the how, but never the why. Sure science can tell me exactly how human beings have developed over the years, but it could never explain to me why humans were put on this earth to begin with. That is left for us to ponder. And ponder away we do.