Science and Spirituality - a quick note regarding Newton's laws of physics

        Science has some marvelous applications and I don’t mean just in the classification of knowledge in the physical world. The laws of physics, especially those delineated by Newton, have some very apropos applications in the spiritual world as well. Even so I do not accept the judgement of the scientific community as to the truth or validity of my spiritual view. It isn’t the scientific community, itself, that is in a position to speak about the spiritual path. Rather, it is the application of the laws of physics to my understanding of the path and the greater universe beyond the physical that is most useful. There are some wonderful things that science has done for the advancement of our understanding of the spiritual world as well as the material although most scientists seem to be unaware of it. That is, the laws of physics are directly applicable to the spiritual realms, when we apply them to our understanding of that which we cannot directly perceive through the application of only physical criteria.

        Let me give you some examples. The most familiar example is Newton’s third law of motion which simply put states that, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. This is the most often used example of a law of physics being applied to the path because it is a perfectly clear statement of the law of karma, also stated by Jesus when he said, “As you give so shall you receive and as you mete so shall it be meted unto you”. The fact that science can show that it is a law upon which the physical universe organizes itself is a means of understanding how the spiritual realm functions as well. The spiritual realm may work according to laws not so much instituted by God as a conscious choice, reflecting capricious feelings of vengeance or pleasure, but rather as an unavoidable extension of His very being, inexorably stamped on the fabric of the universe by the nature and personality of its’ Creator.

        Another example, less commonly referred to but equally applicable is Newton’s first law of motion. A body at rest, (if you can find one), will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Conversely, a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. This is a very clear statement of the action of habit. The law manifests in the physical plane as inertia but in the emotional plane as habit and in the mental belt as what we often refer to as ‘thinking inside the box’ or preconceived ideas. A personal paradigm might be said to be a habitual way of thinking that we become so set in that we can't see outside of it. Setting aside for a moment the things that we think of as physical habits, like narcotics, (although the comparison even there is still quite apt), think for a moment of people you have met who tend to be ‘angry’ people, or controlling people, or are addicted to eating, sex, or lying. Aren’t these ‘habits’? We usually write our personality traits off by saying, ‘well, that’s just who I am…, I can’t change’, and let it go at that. This is because our habitual way of acting has become so set that we have come to see it as who we are rather than how we act. What people usually mean when they say that they can’t change is that the trait they are speaking of is too ingrained. They mean that it would be so hard to change that it becomes who they see themselves to be. Therefore, they can’t imagine putting forth the level of energy it would take to overcome the momentum of their behavior and they don’t see a good enough reason to try.

        Regardless, I am always skeptical of the statement, “I can’t change”. I would think that the fact that not everyone is like ‘that’, (whatever ‘that’ is), would be evidence of the fact that we CAN change. If you set up a particular vibration within the emotional makeup of a being, (like anger or sexual gratification), that vibration will tend to maintain itself especially if it is continually fed energy as habits so often are. This is especially true if its' action gives rise to a rush of energy that reinforces our desire for its' continued existence by creating a feeling of pleasure much as we see in the Skinnerian model of behavioral modification.