Our Curiosity and Spirituality Discussion

We had a good discussion on June 15. Most everyone felt that curiosity is part of their spiritual seeking, providing energy and direction. Books mentioned in the discussion included:

• Joseph Banks: A Life, by Patrick O'Brian (the same author who wrote Master and Commander and other books in that series about life in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars). Banks was a naturalist who served on Capt. Cook's voyages of exploration.
• Shift: The Beginning of War, The Ending of War, by Judith Hand. A book about scientific research on how humanity can end the practice of war.
• Curious Naturalists, by Niko Tinbergen. As a young graduate student, Tinbergen began studying the behavior of "bee-killer" wasps in the sand dunes of Holland. His account of the work is one of the classics of the process of scientific inquiry.
• Male Brain and Female Brain, by Louann Brizendine. These two books describe new understandings of how the human brain works in men and women.
• Origins of the Human Mind, by Stephen Hinshaw. This is a fascinating audio book about how the human mind works. It is available from The Great Courses at http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1663. Its regular price is quite high but it goes on sale now and then. 
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, by Daniel Amen

Is Curiosity Part of Your Spirituality?

The query for our next meeting on Sunday, June 15. 12:30 in the UFM social hall is...

Is Curiosity Part of Your Spirituality?

John Bartram, a Quaker naturalist, cofounder with Benjamin Franklin of the American Philosophical Society, and who eventually was designated the King's Botanist in the colonies, mused in one of his letters how he became interested in plants:

"One day I was very busy in holding my plough (for thee seest I am but a ploughman), and being weary, I ran under the shade of a tree to repose myself. I cast my eyes on a daisy ; I plucked it mechanically, and viewed it with more curiosity than common country farmers are wont to do, and observed therein very many distinct parts, some perpendicular some horizontal. What a shame, said my mind, or something that inspired my mind, that thee shouldst have employed so many years in tilling the earth, and destroying so many flowers and plants, without being acquainted with their structures and their uses! This seeming inspiration suddenly awakened my curiosity, for these were not thoughts to which I had been accustomed. I returned to my team, but this new desire did not quit my mind ; I mentioned it to my wife, who greatly discouraged me from prosecuting my new scheme, as she called it."

His wife's disinterest may be because at the time they had a small farm and were raising 11 children.

Later, when he was successful botanist, he wrote:

"I am continually impelled by a restless spirit of curiosity in pursuit of new productions of nature, my chief happiness consists in tracing and admiring the infinite power, majesty, and perfection of the great almighty Creator, and in the contemplation, that through divine aid and permission, I might be instrumental in discovering, and introducing into my native country, some original productions of nature, which might become useful to society."

What role does curiosity play in the growth and nurture of your personal spiritual life and in the spiritual life of your family and community?

Science and Scientism

Polly Knox sent this to me and asked me to post it on the blog:

Here's the quote about science/spirituality I found in Doug Gwyn's But Who Do You say that I am? Quakers and Christ Today - Pendle Hill Pamphlet #426

"...some nontheist and other universalist Friends still hold to a modernist sense of progress, an ever-upward-and-onward human destiny.  This view is often couched in a scientistic outlook.  By this I mean science as an ideological  world-view, rather than a rigorous method of investigating the world. Scientism often views Christianity and all premodern religions as superstitions to be cast off and outgrown.  By contrast, science itself can complement religious faith, investigating how the world works, without needing to confirm or deny religious covictions regarding divine wisdom and purpose." P.24-25.  (Underlining mine  - Polly)

 

What do you think?