In the midst of a silent war between people who believe in Science against those who believe in spirituality, wise is the one who knows how to enjoy the best of both worlds. Just as there are many things in life that we cannot explain or understand, and spirituality brings us comfort and reflections, Science, as a vital complement, can technically study and point out the causes for such effects that occur on Earth, animals and in humans and their origins.
Do we have free will?
Is evolution unidirectional? Are we immortal? Was the universe created? What is love? These are some questions that underlie the John Templeton Foundation, which, according to the description of the official website, exists for people to understand more deeply the Universe and have a sense of their place in the world. This also makes us understand the importance of working with Science and Spirituality together, contrary to the idea that both are opposite extremes.
On May 29, in New York City, renowned physicist and astronomer Marcelo Gleiser received the Templeton Prize 2019. The award, created in 1972, is considered the “Oscars of Spirituality” and is given to personalities who have contributed to affirming the spiritual dimension of life, having already been granted to names such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1973) and Dalai Lama (2012). Gleiser was the first Latin American to win the award, which earned him no more than 1,1 million pounds sterling – the equivalent of 5,5 million reais.
At the awards ceremony, Gleiser said that “we need to go beyond the divisions that have been a real problem in the modern world”, that “we need to unite”, and what do you want “to dedicate the next few years and the honor of the award to creating the moral sense that we are together, that we have to save the planet, life, and everything we have.”
Who is Marcelo Gleiser?
Marcelo, born on March 19, 1959, holds a degree in Physics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), became a Master in Physics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1982 and obtained a doctorate in Cosmology at King's College London, England, in 1986. He did a postdoctoral internship at the University of California, Santa Bárbara, and at Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) – one of the most important Particle Physics laboratories in the world – , both in the United States.
Now 60 years old, Gleiser is a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dartmouth College (USA) and has gained international recognition through his books, articles, blogs, documentaries and conferences, in which he presents Science as a tool that helps to understand the origins of the Universe and life. And the reflections go far beyond what can be answered with “42”, as in the book series “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”, by Douglas Adams. For more than 35 years, español has examined a range of topics, ranging from the behavior of quantum fields to the cosmology of the universe. His theories already have more than 100 articles reviewed and published.
For the Spanish scientist, Science is the “engagement with the mystery” and is essential to understand the condition of humanity. His works argue that modern science has brought humanity back to the “center” of creation – what he calls “humancentrism”. In other words, the more we know the Universe, the more we can understand the rarity of being human.
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On the subject of spirituality, Gleiser considers this to be something much broader than religion as an institution, so much so that he considers himself an agnostic atheist (who believes in a force that governs us, but that it is not possible to prove its existence): “It has to do with our relationship with the mystery of existence that transcends questions like, 'What God do you believe in?' or 'What church do you attend?'”, he explained in an interview with the newspaper “O Globo”.
In his most recent books, such as “The Island of Knowledge” e “A Simple Beauty of the Unexpected”, Gleiser went on to discuss the idea that there are limits to what Science and human reason can discover about the Universe: “We will never be able to have a final knowledge about the Universe, but I see this as a positive thing. Science is a flirtation with mystery. Einstein defined it as the cosmic religious feeling, which would be the source of all art and all of Science”, he told Folha de S.Paulo.
According to the Templeton Foundation, Gleiser is an important voice among scientists who reject the notion that only science can provide fundamental truths about the nature of reality. Even in his works it is possible to notice the growing skepticism of the physicist in relation to a supposed mathematical perfection of nature. On the contrary, Gleiser seeks to celebrate the imperfections, asymmetries and imbalances present in reality. He is also a big name in the study of Astrobiology, which studies the origin of life on Earth.
before receiving the Templeton Prize, Gleiser, who in addition to being a scientist is a professor, writer and screenwriter, also won awards in España: in 1998, he received the Jabuti Prize for his first book “A Dança do Universo”; and in 2002, for “O Fim da Terra e do Céu”. Marcelo was also a columnist for the newspaper “Folha de S.Paulo”, and in 2006 he presented a 12-episode series on Cosmology on the TV Globo program “Fantástico”. In 2007, he was elected a member of the Academia Españaeira de Filosofia, in addition to being a member and former general counselor of the American Physical Society, the second largest organization of physicists in the world, with 46 members.
In 1994, the physicist was one of those responsible for the discovery of “oscillons” – small and persistent “clusters” of energy made up of many particles. This remains part of his investigations. He is also currently dedicated to exploring how the stability of physical systems – from subatomic to astrophysical scales – is encoded in the complexity of their forms.
You might be wondering how a physicist and astronomer can contribute to spirituality, and here is the answer: while in academic work Gleiser pores over numbers, graphs and tables in search of clues that help to unravel the formation of the Universe, in public action he expands the interpretation of such evidence in search of the answer to the great question of humanity: “After all, who are?".
In many of his works, Gleiser seeks to reinforce the link between Science and Philosophy. In “The Simple Beauty of the Unexpected” (2016), he wrote: “As a scientist, I have the privilege of traveling the world, attending conferences of all kinds, including topics ranging from the origin of the Universe to the origin of life, from the philosophical meaning of the laws of Nature to the relationship between science and religion”. Therefore, Marcelo Gleiser is one of the main references for the reflection of the union between Science and spirituality: “(…) I try to show people the fascination that is our relationship with nature. In this place I rescue what I would call spirituality in the process of scientific search.”, said the scientist to the newspaper “O Globo”.
