Back in the days when we lived life at a more human scale, we committed ourselves to spiritual search with heart and mind, adding eyes, ears, and all our senses to our study of creation.

As time went on our methods of investigation diverged into spiritual and scientific specialization.

In this present age, the time has come for us to be whole again. We can become investigators of one reality, both seen and unseen; and love that reality with one mind. We can be scientifically spiritual.

In our attempts to achieve this wholeness, we often discuss the differences between science and religion. But these conversations usually fail to produce much enlightenment, because the two topics are not of a comparable order. The topic of science concerns knowledge creation (epistemology) or the body of knowledge it produces (cosmology); while the topic of religion concerns belief systems (theology) and group behavior (sociology)—and can sometimes draw instinctive, irate detractors citing the historic crimes of religious cultures.

Which conversation are we having?

To get our conversations on an even keel, first we have to decide which topic we want to discuss:

Sociology: Here we ask questions about group and mass behavior such as:  who is doing this scientific or religious activity? Is it meant only for an elite? Or does everyone participate? To what end or purpose are they engaged? For personal advantage? Or to benefit all humanity?

Theology: This concerns the big existential questions: Is there a God? How does God communicate with humanity? What is the purpose of life?

Cosmology: Here we can address the spiritual implications of scientific knowledge:  How awesome is the scale of the known cosmos? What worlds of God are implied by multiple universes? How infinitesimally improbable it is that the universe happened by chance?

Epistemology: This concerns the essence of knowledge-making itself. How is scientific knowledge expanded? How does spiritual knowledge grow? Are there really two distinct realms of knowledge referred to as:  five-sense empiricism vs mysticism, physical vs metaphysical, or phenomena vs the noumena behind them?

So how can we reconcile the scientific and spiritual paths to knowledge-making? Well, the Latin root of the word science is “scio,” meaning “I know.” We produce the content of science through the rational method of scientific search.

The comparable root of the word spiritual is “spiro,” meaning “I breathe” or even “I live.” The human spirit produces something we call “inspiration” through the method of spiritual search.

This series of essays details how scientific and spiritual search can be equally rational, both acting as parallel, interweaving paths to truth and knowledge.

What do these paths have in common? Both are rational; both require the seeker to explore actively for themselves; and both are impotent to reveal the final Reality.

What is distinctive about these paths? Scientific search tells us how to do things, by expanding our sensory experience and competence. Spiritual search tells us why we do things, by inspiring souls and civilizations to pursue excellence in unfolding human potential.

Let’s look more closely at these two paths to knowledge, and explore some of the steps on each path.

Step 1 – Nature of Each Path of Search

Scientific search, by nature, will be collective and very public, no matter how much private investigation is involved. The nature of scientific knowledge is its universal validity.

Spiritual search, by nature, will be independent and solitary, no matter how much consultation takes place among seekers. The soul is designed to investigate for itself; and in this age, the Baha’i teachings call on humanity to give up merely imitating its ancestors or blindly following anyone:

…God has created in man the power of reason whereby man is enabled to investigate reality…  Each soul must seek intelligently and independently, arriving at a real conclusion and bound only by that reality. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 291.

Step 2 – Type of Knowledge Produced

Scientific search acknowledges that it must hold current scientific knowledge lightly, in a tentative way, because it is never final. New scientific knowledge will always arrive tomorrow; and sometimes it even produces a scientific revolution, transforming the dominant paradigm into a totally new view of reality. Matter itself has dissolved into a fleeting idea.

Spiritual search also produces tentative knowledge that we lightly hold. That’s because the individual soul deepens gradually, maturing in its spiritual realization while never attaining the final Reality. While less commonly recognized, the same is true of humanity as a whole. Historically, the human race has been limited in what it could bear to hear from its divine educators and prophets, as they often remarked. So while spiritual knowledge of our human race progresses from age to age, we also know that it will never reach to the final Reality, which is beyond the limitation of any qualities:

Every man of insight is far astray in his attempt to recognize Thee, and every man of consummate learning is sore perplexed in his search after Thee…  Every evidence falleth short of Thine unknowable Essence… – The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 208.

Step 3 – Literature Explored

Scientific search does not want to waste time repeating what it already knows, so seekers start by reviewing the most current science news in scientific publications. Unfortunately, these studies may vary in validity, since their authors are other fallible scientific researchers.

Spiritual search follows a different logic in the literature it reviews. Deeply spiritual texts, with their enduring value to humanity and their continuing relevance, become mystical classics over time. The true seeker carefully reads the sacred writings of those mystical classics, their authors unlike ordinary seekers. These rare divine educators and messengers reveal profound insights, unveil fundamental new aspects to reality, and produce spiritual revolutions in human life. Such revelations generate growth in a transcendent flame of divine wisdom, in a tree of divine truth:

That which is intended by ‘Revelation of God’ is the Tree of divine Truth that betokeneth none but Him… and in every age is made manifest through whomsoever He pleaseth. – Ibid., p. 112.

…no earthly water can quench the flames of Divine wisdom, nor mortal blasts extinguish the lamp of everlasting dominion. Nay, rather, such water cannot but intensify the burning of the flame, and such blasts cannot but ensure the preservation of the lamp, were ye to observe with the eye of discernment… – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 19.

The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BahaiTeachings.org or any institution of the Baha’i Faith.