Combining humility of intellect and spirit
Richard Feynman is known as a cheerful eccentric who liked to “play bongos, chase women, and solve advanced problems in theoretical physics.” He is one of the most famous physicists of the post-Einstein era. After his studies at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Princeton in 1942, he worked during World War II at the Army research centre at Los Alamos, helping design the first atomic bomb of the United States. After the war he became closely associated with the celebrated California Institute of Technology, where he was a professor from 1951 until his death in 1988. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics. Physics students remember him even today for creating a visual representation of subatomic particles and pioneering work in quantum computing.
His first memoir, written in 1985, was quite whimsical, hilarious and anecdotal with the apt title: Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman. A second Feynman memoir, What Do You Care What Other People Think? was published after his death in 1988. The Feynman Lectures on Physics remain both a popular and classical text in the field.
He was both a serious researcher and a jovial human being. Typically, he is not considered a religious man, but a questioner and searcher. That is why his quote on the western civilisation, which we can easily adapt to our Indian culture, is insightful. He holds: “Western civilisation, it seems to me, stands by two great heritages. One is the scientific spirit of adventure — the adventure into the unknown, an unknown which must be recognised as being unknown in order to be explored; the demand that the unanswerable mysteries of the universe remain unanswered; the attitude that all is uncertain; to summarise it — the humility of the intellect. The other great heritage is Christian ethics — the basis of action on love, the brotherhood of all men, the value of the individual — the humility of the spirit.” Such an evaluation by an “avowed atheist”, as he called himself, is both an opportunity and challenge for religion in contemporary India. For in contemporary India more and more people are naturally turning to logic, beginning to doubt and pose serious questions.
So his comment is: “These two heritages are logically, thoroughly consistent. But logic is not all; one needs one’s heart to follow an idea.” Then he asks about the place of religion today: “If people are going back to religion, what are they going back to? Is the modern church a place to give comfort to a man who doubts god — more, one who disbelieves in God? Is the modern church a place to give comfort and encouragement to the value of such doubts?”
His ardent desire is that “the humility of the intellect”, with its scientific quest and “the humility of the spirit” with its spiritual openness will critique and reinforce each other. These two heritages are the prized possession of contemporary humans. So he asks: “How can we draw inspiration to support these two pillars of western civilisation so that they may stand together in full vigour, mutually unafraid? Is this not the central problem of our time?”
These two heritages drive our human quest forward. Respecting the distinction of these two searches, humans today need to support both these heritages and thus we can shape our collective destiny.
(The writer is a professor of science and religion)
