Towards a Postsecular Society

Physics

Let us examine each of these contexts in turn.

The relationship between physics and mysticism is a contentious one, and my own contribution to this debate (“Against Scientific Magisterial Imperialism” published inNetwork , April 2002) argues forcibly against the idea that physics directly supports the mystical worldview. (We noted too that Ken Wilber was one of the first to point this out in his book ‘Quantum Questions’.) However as a cultural phenomenon, there is no doubt that the stream of writings begun by Capra and Zukav has had an enormous impact in terms of a new receptivity to the spiritual. And there is no doubt that the parallels between the ‘new’ physics and mysticism deserve close scrutiny, though a postsecular interpretation - which makes the spiritual a more equal partner in this debate - may yield quite different insights. What the ‘new’ sciences carry in common is what Stephen Hawking has called the ‘end of physics,’ that is, by analogy with Gödel’s theorem in mathematics, an implication of the limits to understanding as pursued by science. Beyond this is what Tipler and Barrow have called the ‘anthropic’ principle, a quality in the new physics that refers us back to ourselves, indeed which raises what to the philosopher is the spectre of solipsism, but what to the mystic is the bread and butter of spiritual experience.