Other Ancient and Sc

Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science

There is a deep connection between some of the ‘ancient wisdom’ and ‘modern theories’. I particularly see connections between Gita’s philosophy, the expression ‘Inshah Allah’, and modern perspectives of science and systems theory. I write this with trepidation that it may be construed as obscurantist. Nevertheless, I do see the connections, so here we go.

This is perhaps the most well known, controversial, and misunderstood (including by me, perhaps) quotation from Gita.

“Karmanye badhikaraste ma phalesu kadachana. Bhagavad Gita 2:47 'You have the right to practice Kriya, perform Karmas, but don't expect results.'

For a long time, I saw this as a contradicting goal orientation. But this is not so. Arjuna, Krishna’s pupil, is the most goal-focused individual in mythology. Remember his focus on the ‘eye of the fish’. And Krishna is addressing the Arjun’s dilemma on the battlefield and extolling him to fight and win. So Krishna’s advice is obviously not inaction. So what is the central message?

I believe the central message is humility. The message is to accept the fact that there are forces and constraints larger than us. That we alone cannot deliver results. That the World is interconnected, and that we should neither be proud that ‘I’ have achieved a result on my own, nor be despondent about failing to get the expected objective.

This, to me, is similar to what ‘Inshah Allah’ says. Do not be arrogant to say 'I will do this', or 'This will happen'. Always remember that there are powers beyond your control. Whether we call the power Allah, or Parmatma, or God, or Nature, we need the humility to be realistic and sane.

So far so good. So what does this have to do with modern science? The reason I relate this to modern science is because I believe that despite revolutionary shifts in the Sciences, we still cling to the Newtonian view of cause and effect and the Engineering dream of conquering nature.

Three major lessons for fostering humility come from the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem.

Second Law tells us that energy spontaneously dissipates and that available energy is reducing. A convoluted but insightful example of this principle is that if you open the door of a refrigerator, the room will become hotter. So while we can temporarily cool the freezer, it is at the cost of the World heating up more than how much we have cooled it. Second Law cautions us against grandeurs of omnipotence.

So what! Even if we cannot do everything, we can at least ‘know it all’ and then predict the future. No, we cannot. For Heisenberg showed us that ‘More precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known, and vice versa.’ I understand this by considering the influence measurement has on reality. The act of measurement changes reality, and so it cannot be precisely measured. There goes our grandeur of omniscience.

So what! Even if we cannot know everything, we can at least construct mathematical models that are perfect. No, we cannot. For Godel demonstrated that every mathematical model is Incomplete, as it has to borrow assumptions from outside to avoid contradictions. One way of understanding this is that our eyes cannot see our faces. We need a mirror and can only see an image.

So some of the not so modern ideas of modern science seem to suggest that we should be more humble, and avoid illusions of grandeur.

Finally, Systems Theory tells us that the World is interconnected in many complex ways. And that analytical rigor in examining the parts does not lead to understanding the holistic nuances. Even if we understand all the trees, we do not understand the forest.

These are some fundamental connections between teaching of Gita, Inshah Allah, and modern science.