Science, the Bible address separate worlds

Every day, the sun rises, travels across the sky, then sets. We see it with our own eyes.

We take “sunrise” for granted as a fact of nature, even though this expression is not literally true. In fact, the rising is an illusion created by the Earth’s spinning – it seems like the sun travels overhead every day, but actually it’s us turning under the sun.

There’s no scientific doubt about this theory. And it is a theory – no one has ever stood back far enough to witness the Earth orbiting the sun.

But virtually all the physical evidence – the minute mathematics of gravity and motion, the predictions of what the sky will look like and when, the spacecraft sent to other planets based on solar system measurements – proves the theory is, essentially, a fact.

Why am I explaining this – everybody knows the sun doesn’t travel around the Earth, even though the Bible itself says “the sun rises and the sun goes down.” In the 1600s, Galileo got into trouble with the church for insisting on this fact of nature that appears to contradict the Bible.

So, are the scientists right and the Bible wrong?

The answer is: No.

The scientists and the Bible are talking about two different orders of reality. One order, the natural world, is fixed, and because of this it’s observable, analyzable and predictable. The other order, the inner, psychic world, is – as far as we can tell – unfixed; its contents cannot be isolated in laboratories and objectively observed.

Science talks about the physical, natural world. Scientists observe and catalog physical facts, analyze them, and draw conclusions, such as the Earth travels around the sun, or dinosaurs lived 100 million years ago. These are not guesses, but are conclusions drawn from detailed analysis of all available physical evidence. They are fixed physical realities that can be demonstrated.

The Bible talks about the inner world of human beings – the emotional, mental and moral realities you experience every day. It assumes your inner experiences are as real as your body. In fact, the scripture of most religions take it for granted that your inner life is more real than your physical life. Thoughts, emotions and feelings change shape from moment to moment in any individual person. They are impossible to observe directly because they’re immaterial.

Because of this, science has almost nothing to say about the inner life. A scientist can observe what your body is doing when you tell him certain thoughts or images are happening in your mind. But beyond observing brain waves, eye movement, changes in body chemicals, a scientist can tell you nothing about a dream.

Nor can he tell you anything about your sense of humor or your sense of right and wrong. These are unfixed realities that everyone experiences every day, and which we all agree we share, even though they are beyond scientific observation.

And yet, it has been known since time immemorial that the way we think about the world profoundly affects how it develops around us, and so each of us needs to take care of his inner world. This is difficult, more difficult than observing, cataloging and analyzing.

The Bible – and the scripture of all religions – offer guidance for taking care of the inner world. But because inner experiences are unfixed, and some of them are literally beyond rational comprehension, they’re nearly impossible to talk about without referring to the things of the physical world.

And so the Bible – and all scripture – use images and stories, some of which actually happened, others not, to represent the unfixed inner events. The stories convey not facts about the physical world, but truths about the inner world.

Whether any given event depicted in the Bible actually happened can be debated by historians. It seems likely the major events of Christ’s Passion actually happened. It seems unlikely that Jesus’ parables depicted true-life adventures. But by and large, it doesn’t matter. What matters are the inner truths they reveal.

The Bible’s sentence “the sun rises and the sun goes down” does not express a literal fact of nature. And it doesn’t matter. In its context, it reveals a profound intuitive sense of the inner life of the universe, like dawn in the mind.

BDN staff member and amateur naturalist Dana Wilde holds a doctorate and has written, taught and lectured internationally on contemplative literature. He may be reached at dwilde@bangordailynews.net. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.