Science and the Sacred

Book excerpt: Einstein said the best scientists have always approached science as a sacred activity that could yield "the secrets of the Old One," Ravi Ravindra points out. This eloquent book at once affirms scientific exploration and addresses the failure of science to deal with the inner life. We all want to know why things happen and how we can control certain outcomes; but we also rightly wonder about meaning and purpose: Does the earth need people? What about me personally? What is my place? Why am I here? Coming from the East, this Western physicist offers a rare hybrid view on such topics as: Perception in yoga and physics; The moral responsibility of scientific power; Science as a spiritual path; Healing the soul: truth, love, and God. "Each of us is an artist of our own life," Ravindra says. "Starting from the raw material of our self, we sculpt something which corresponds to our aspirations, our understanding, our skill and sensitivity...This work of transformation is an imperative of our human existence."