Scientists-Physicists
Teilhard de Chardin
Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – May 24, 2021
I remember the paper I submitted to Fr. Mike Cinches was titled The Phenomenon of Man.
Fr. Teilhard maintains that from the very beginning Man's journey was already oriented towards the Super-Consciousness, aided by the forces--air, fire, earth, water, atmosphere--in the Cosmos, which God created from nothing, including the laws and principles governing all creatures.
He was a theologian, a paleontologist, geologist, and anthropologist who taught physics and cosmology in the University of Cairo.
To my limited knowledge of his works, Fr. Teilhard, a Jesuit, views these concepts from the perspective of a Catholic philosopher and theologian on one hand.
On the other, he was a paleontologist, with an interest on geology, already a Professor for three years at the Jesuit College in Cairo, at the age of 24. All through the years, his works were aimed at integrating Christian philosophy-theology and science. He was viewing reality within the purview of Christianity and science.
The piece of work written above is not therefore a work of Chardin but, to me, an interpretation of how Christianity ought to view the world amidst the circumstances obtaining in society, politics, etc., especially on the issues of justice, peace, liberation, etc.
Notwithstanding all this, Catholicism etymologically means universalism and holism, a perspective which is deeper and broader than itself and its teachings. This is a perspective which is clearly reflected in the writings of the Popes and in the Post-Vatican pronouncements.
I think, its only weakness is when in uses the terms Christian faith, Christian justice, Christian love, or in general, attaching the terms "Christian" or "Catholic" before its teachings and faiths. This is where the isolationist and separatist stance of religion comes in.
What is the difference between Christian or Catholic faith and non-Christian or non-Catholic faith? The challenge is confronting the basic differences with the view of arriving at an inclusivist, while at the same time, a pluralist perspective in both theories and praxis. This is different from today's inter-faith dialogue or inter-religious conferences.
Anyway, I will to be talking about concepts that emerge from the discussions in the past here like Freedom, Consciousness, God, and the role of world events.
The Philosophers of Science: A New Breed of Thinkers
Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – July 7, 2021
The philosophers of science emerged in the middle of the 20th century. It all stared and blossomed in the minds of the great thinkers, especially:
René Descartes (1596–1650);
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662);
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677);
Theologian Isaac Newton (1643–1727);
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716); and
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804).
They all contributed to the birthing of the modern branch called "Philosophy of Science". They were concerned with the relationship between theology, philosophy, and religion on the one hand and science on the other in their search for truth.
These philosophers started by focusing their research on quantum physics, astrophysics, cosmology, and neuroscience. These disciplines resonate very well with metaphysics, ontology and epistemology insofar as they were concerned with investigating the very essence if things and nature.
They even went beyond science and religion by venturing into the study of the invisible, unknown, nonphysical and nonmaterial as well as the spiritual and the divine.
My favorites of today's philosophers of science includes:
Thomas Nagel;
John Chalmers;
Bertrand Russell;
Noam Chomsky;
Daniel Denneth;
Jurgen Habermas;
John Searle;
Sal Kripke;
Edward Witten;
Leonard Susskind;
John Henry Schwarz; and
Laud Lovelace.
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Among us XVDs and SVDs, I know of a few and can even name them. I will only mention one here because of time and space limitations. Others may be featured in the future.
I can be wrong, of course, in my readings of their minds even to the person whose mind I am reading. Nonetheless, it's my personal interpretation. It can change as the individual concerned changes its views.
Fr. Benigno P. Beltran , SVD, Licentiate and Ph.D in Systematic Theology at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome. Beltran also studied Electronics Engineering at the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas, but left to join the Divine Word Missionaries and was ordained on 23 June, 1973.
Fr. Ben, as he is fondly called, views reality from the perspective of both science and religion and examines how each of these disciplines applies their respective views in relation to our daily lives.
Nevertheless, in the final analysis, Fr. Ben chooses to take the metaphysical perspective and a priori approach of religion as his take-off point, deducing everything to the physical and material realm, while respecting the inductive and a posteriori approach of science.
He acknowledges at the same time, though, that religion needs the informed knowledge of science to discern religious truths from myths and legends, as has been demonstrated in the case of the discoveries of Galileo Galilei and Nikolaus Copernicus.
But, in his view, science needs to work under the umbrella of religion, resonating Albert Einstein's view that without religion, the world would be soulless and spiritless, where people walk aimlessly, like Zombies, not knowing where they came from, what their role in society and politics is, as well as their future and destiny.
It's more than worthwhile for me attending his daily celebration of the Holy Eucharist online at 8:00 a.m. in the Holy Shrine of Christ the King Seminary in Quezon City.
People attending and tuning in to it are increasing by the numbers, but still only a few. It's fine with me because even Christians nowadays no longer attend Holy Masses even if it is celebrated online.
The Scientists of Hinduism
Paul J. Dejillas, Ph.D. – June 28, 2021
That there are scientists in India is no news today. They're even high-profiled, celebrity figures associated with Albert Einstein and Max Planck.
What I didn't know is that there are groups of remarkable individuals living thousands of years ago in a remote region of the Himalayas who are called spiritualists who had been frequented by devotees across the globe because of their ability to see the past, present, and future as well as their gift of inner vision.
They are called today as Rishis, scientists, yet spiritual, an attribute common to saints, sages, mystics, mediums like Edgar Cayce.
According to Hindu scriptures, it's to them that the Gods revealed the Vedas (Knowledge), equivalent to the Akashic Records to which mediums could access and harvest information. They are human beings, yet, according to Vedic literature, they could go to the realms of the gods and demons.
Their unusual ability to describe events that would take place in the near future is similar to the theory of quantum physics in which the past, present, and future all exist at once.
This is posted here for additional information only. If the readers are interested, they can simply do research in any search engine.
Yet many often think of India now as a land of poverty, where a great majority of the people are wallowing in mud, bathing in a muddy water of the Ganges, where industry wastes are thrown, and where people even throw their funeral ashes. Yet, come to think of this. It's from this filthy, toxic water and mud of Earth that the beautiful lotus flowers blooms, as if lifting the entire of humanity to the realm of the gods and goddesses.