Selected Contributors
Seeing the tremendous importance of science and recognizing its inevitable dominance in the modern world fundamentally changed my attitude to it from curiosity to a kind of urgent engagement. I wanted to understand science because it gave me a new area to explore in my personal quest to understand the nature of reality. I also wanted to learn about it because I recognized in it a compelling way to communicate insights gleaned from my own spiritual tradition. The central question—central for the survival and well-being of our world—is how we can make the wonderful developments of science into something that offers altruistic and compassionate service for the needs of humanity and the other sentient beings with whom we share this earth.
— His Holiness the Dalai Lama
It is important to understand that Buddhism itself, as the lived practice of professional monks and nuns, is more than one third "science," beyond "religion," if "science" is defined as the quest for the empirical realization of the true nature of the universe, and "religion" is defined as faith in a belief system about the universe. The lifelong study of science by the Dalai Lama is not just due to a personal affinity he happened to have. It is a natural result of the culture he grew up in and the education he received.
— Robert Thurman
Science does offer a vast corpus of knowledge, but it does not necessarily produce wisdom. While the insights of science can help us change our world, only human thought and kindness can enlighten us about the path we should follow in our life. As a complement to science we must also cultivate a "science of the mind," what we can call spirituality. This spirituality is not a luxury, but a necessity.
— Matthieu Ricard
We are persons whose bodies can be objectively studied according to the impersonal laws of physics but whose minds are subjectively experienced in ways science has not yet been able to fathom. In short, by radically separating science from religion, we are not merely segregating two human institutions; we are fragmenting ourselves as individuals and as a society in ways that lead to deep, unresolved conflicts in terms of our view of the world, our values, and our way of life.
— Alan Wallace
A legitimate conflict between science and religion cannot exist. Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.
— Albert Einstein
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
