If you've come looking for a simple answer to the question in the title of this article, it's “yes”. Yes, it is possible to believe in science and spirituality at the same time.
For a long time, and still today, many people believed that science and spirituality were opposites and rivals, like football clubs that have fans who hate each other. But the truth is, even though there are points of disagreement, you might as well believe one and believe the other.
First of all, what is science?
To get things straightened out before we move on, it's worth clarifying this concept. What we call science in this article is the following: all knowledge that explains phenomena and has been proven by scientific methods.
Scientific methods are based on experiments and observation. We know that a certain drug fights a certain pain because several substances have been tested to relieve that pain and that medication has been found to work. This conclusion was subjected to another dozen tests to prove it.
Therefore, science is the logical explanation behind a situation. Oh, and importantly: there is no “the” science, something like an institute that defines what is right or wrong. Scientific knowledge is always deconstructing and modernizing.
And what is spirituality?
Spirituality is the search for explanations that transcend our senses and our ability to test and observe, that is, scientific methods.
There are people who believe that meditation harmonizes the energies of our body. This is impossible to measure, right? How to measure such energies? Just as there are people who believe that when we die, we will go to heaven or hell; but how to prove the existence of these places? Impossible.
Therefore, spirituality is everything that tries to explain or make sense of everything that we cannot prove or for which we do not find a logical sense. Science, for example, will probably never be able to deduce the meaning of life. There is no way to do this. Spirituality, in turn, can do this.
It is important to say that spirituality is not synonymous with religion. Religions are sets of established beliefs that follow cults, rituals, rules, etc. Spirituality is wide: you can believe in the Christian God, in the power of Buddhist meditation and participate in events in a Candomblé terreiro. Spirituality is individual.
some simple examples
Using some simple and even a little silly examples, we are going to show you that science and religion are not mutually exclusive. Come on:
Does it seem absurd for a person to be waiting for the coronavirus vaccine, but still, every day bending their knees and asking God to protect their family and their life? No, right? Because science is there, in the vaccine, and spirituality is there, in God.
Another example: is it absurd to be experiencing an anxiety disorder, taking medication to control this problem, but practicing meditation every day, with the aim of harmonizing spiritual energies? Does medication (science) get in the way of meditation (spirituality, in this case) or vice versa?
And one last illustrative case: is it absurd for a person fighting a drug addiction to seek psychiatric and psychological help, but at the same time seek the advice and spiritual help of an imam in his city's mosque? There's nothing wrong with that, is there?
As you can see from the examples, spirituality and religion do not get in the way of belief in science and medical and scientific procedures.
When trouble starts...
Problems can start when there are conflicts between spirituality and science, which can happen. Yes, it is possible to maintain a harmony between the two and, with wisdom, it can be done, but there are inflexible points that can generate problematic situations.
There are people, for example, who give up medical medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, in the hope that God or whatever their belief is will cure them of this health problem.
Another example, this one linked to a religion: those who consider themselves Jehovah's Witnesses are prohibited by their belief from having blood transfusions. So, if they have an accident or go through a condition in which they need blood donation, they will bear the consequences of giving up this treatment.
It would be flippant and arrogant to say what you should do with your life, and we're not here for that, but we recommend that you put your health and the health of your loved ones above your beliefs whenever possible. Even if you are certain about what you believe, we cannot know anything about spirituality, we can only guess.
So the recommended thing is always to be careful and do everything possible to take care of yourself, whether taking care of your body or mind, or doing psychological and psychiatric treatments, if necessary.
And pseudoscience?
Many confuse spirituality with pseudoscience and, based on this prejudice, classify any belief as antiscience, but this is not quite the case.
Spirituality, when true, is humble. What does that mean? That we believe what we believe, but we know, deep down, that we can't be sure it's true. Even so, we believe. One of the definitions of faith is this: “belief in the existence of something”. See: belief, not certainty.
Pseudoscience, on the other hand, lacks the humility of spirituality. It misrepresents scientific methods and knowledge to pass itself off as the truth, most often in order to deceive people and often to make money out of it.
An example of pseudoscience. Believing that we have spiritual energies in our bodies is not wrong. Science has never proved their existence or non-existence, and it never will, because that is a topic for spirituality.
But when someone comes along saying they can manipulate those energies to make you happier, that's pseudoscience. Because? Because manipulation, medication, among others, are scientific concepts. If a practice mixes spirituality (energies) and science (healing), it is a pseudoscience.
Two simple tips for differentiating spirituality from pseudoscience:
The. Does the belief promise anything like certainty (eg, a cure)? If so, be suspicious, because not even religions promise;
B. Does the belief charge any money from you to offer something that is spiritual and cannot be measured/evaluated? be suspicious.
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Gone are the days when spirituality and science were antagonists. In the time in which we live, we know that the two can coexist harmoniously, as long as they do not prevent us from taking care of ourselves, our health and our mind, for example. Other than that, exercise your spirituality as you want and how you feel good!
