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Apologia Report 16:18 (1,068)
May 26, 2011
Subject: The Race to Discover the Rest of Reality
In this issue:
ASTRONOMY - fully 96% of the universe has yet to be detected, raising questions of human insignificance
ETHICS/MORALITY - rights v. values: polygamy and prostitution considered in Canadian courts
OSHO (RAJNEESH) - his toxic legacy revealed by extensive, "long-secret government files"
SECULARISM - "a far greater threat to the integrity of faith than secularization ever was"
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ASTRONOMY
Leading scientists in the field now believe that the universe "consists of only a miniscule fraction of what we had always assumed it did - the material that makes up you and me and my laptop and all those moons and planets and stars and galaxies. The rest - the overwhelming majority of the universe - is ... who knows?
"'Dark,' cosmologists call it, in what could go down in history as the ultimate semantic surrender. This is not 'dark' as in distant or invisible. This is not 'dark' as in black holes or deep space. This is 'dark' as in unknown for now, and possibly forever: 23 percent something mysterious that they call dark matter, 73 percent something even more mysterious that they call dark energy. Which leaves only 4 percent the stuff of us. As one theorist likes to say at public lectures, 'we're just a bit of pollution.' Get rid of us and of everything else we've ever thought of as the universe, and very little would change. 'We're completely irrelevant,' he adds, cheerfully." So reads the prologue (page xv) of Richard Panek's recent book, The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality [1]. After a long buildup, Panek eventually explains this new dark science in terms non-astronomers can begin to appreciate.
I (RP) recently finished this fascinating historical survey of astronomy. If you've felt overwhelmed by the "billions of galaxies" often associated with the Hubble Space Telescope's "deep field" snapshot of the universe, this book will drag you another magnitude further in that direction.
Perspective assumes a whole new role in this discussion. Here a worldview that leaves out the Creator brings new understandings of human insignificance, while God's choice to make us in His image miraculously populates a void which only grows as science seeks to explain His creation without His presence.
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ETHICS/MORALITY
"Court cases pit rights against societal values" by Daphne Bramham -- on Canada's docket: "Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the [British Columbia] Supreme Court must decide whether having multiple, conjugal partners is so inherently harmful to individuals and society it overrides an individual's right to act on 'sincerely held beliefs,' the right to liberty and freedom of association. He must decide whether those individual rights trump the equality rights guarantee and he will, no doubt, be cognizant of the fact that the majority of Canadians oppose polygamy.
"In June, justices of the Ontario Court of Appeal will determine whether a lower court judge was correct in striking down the criminal prohibition on pimping, keeping a brothel and communicating for the purposes of prostitution.
"They will weigh the right to security of person, free speech and association against the perceived societal harms of prostitution." Bramham explains at length. Vancouver Sun, Mar 26 '11, n.p.
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OSHO (RAJNEESH)
The "mystical" element of eastern philosophy (similar to mysticism's presence in many other belief systems) often lends a timeless quality to its message. This may be due not so much to its significance, but rather a consequence of its message having an obscure nature. Too often the hope of discovery in the quest for spiritual enlightenment tempts seekers to forego critical thought. A classic example of this can be seen in the legacy of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, now known worldwide as "Osho" (the last of his earthly identities).
Books by Rajneesh (said to number over 650 titles in 55 languages) and his devotees continue to be consumed by many who remain unaware of the man's true history and unsavory influence. The Oregonian has done us all a service by documenting the dark past of this false messiah.
"The tale is stranger than fiction. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, a guru from India, gathered 2,000 followers at a remote Eastern Oregon ranch. Arriving in search of enlightenment, the Rajneeshees became a political and social force that collided with traditional Oregon. Ultimately, the conflict led to attempted murder, global manhunts and prison time. Twenty-five years later, long-secret government files and now-talkative participants make it clear that things were far worse at Rancho Rajneesh than many realized.
• "Part one: 25 years after the Rajneesh commune collapsed, truth spills out
• "Part two: Thwarted commune goes on the attack
• "Part three: Mystery sickness, suspicions spread
• "Part four: Rajneeshee leaders see enemies everywhere as questions compound
• "Part five: Utopian dreams die in murderous mood"
This substantial feature includes photos and much more:
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SECULARISM
Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways, by Olivier Roy [2] -- the commentary of reviewer Daniel J. Mahoney outshines the book he reviews. "It has long been assumed that Western society in the modern age - with the rise of science and the broad intellectual legacy of the Enlightenment - must become increasingly secular. What is modernity if not the movement from the authority of tradition to the authority of reason? In this view, made famous by the German sociologist Max Weber, the 'disenchantment' of the world is the price one pays for leaving the charms and consolations of religion behind.
The non-believing Weber was himself nostalgic for an age when faith imbued life with meaning and purpose. But he never ceased to identify secular thinking with a decisive advance in human self-understanding.
"In Holy Ignorance, the French social theorist Olivier Roy sets out to modify this secularization theory and to overturn its triumphalist message. [Yet, Roy] doesn't seem to recognize that churches cannot uncritically accommodate [the new paganisms] and new paradigms without transforming themselves beyond recognition.
"Part of the problem is that, for Mr. Roy, culture is not the deep inheritance of a civilization guided by higher values. It is the 'production of symbolic systems,' as he puts it - that is, a kind of neutral matrix of habits and beliefs and impulses. He cannot tell us what is most valuable about culture because culture rests, for him, on the shifting sands of symbol creation itself. Whether he intends to do so or not, he provides plenty of evidence that secular 'ignorance' and dogmatism rival 'holy ignorance' as a cultural force in the modern world.
"Above all else, Mr. Roy is able to show us vividly how much has changed with the secularization that Weber predicted - how formerly Christian societies have lost a sense of their own religious foundation. As religion has floated free of culture, he notes, it has not only turned inward; it has also made desperate attempts to go to market, turning to everything from the Internet to popular music to sell itself to generations that have lost even an elementary religious literacy. By transforming itself into another instrument of 'therapeutic' satisfaction, Mr. Roy observes, religion risks losing its soul.
"Holy Ignorance ends with a profound set of questions: How can religion be passed along to children when it is no longer a reliable part of the culture they will inherit? What hold can religion have on the souls of human beings when it increasingly becomes a 'consumer' choice - or, as Mr. Roy emphasizes, an intensely personal, inward experience - and when people dispose of the faith of their fathers as they might dispose of clothes that are no longer fashionable? The tendency of modern society to trivialize the most important decision a human being can make is arguably a far greater threat to the integrity of faith than secularization ever was." Wall Street Journal, Mar 22 '11, pA13. <www.j.mp/iejRpZ>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - The 4 Percent Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality, by Richard Panek (Houghton Mifflin, 2011, hardcover, 320 pages) <www.j.mp/kCCBc5>
2 - Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways, by Olivier Roy (Columbia Univ Prs, 2010, hardcover, 288 pages) <www.j.mp/lMU77M>
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