The New Millennium …

We have come a long way since a long distant ancestor gingerly stretched out a paw and plunked it on solid ground, with a certain smug self satisfaction. We have come a long way since Homeric heroes plied the wine-dark sea en route the battlements of Troy. A long way, even, since Einstein first envisioned relativity.

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The Twentieth Century

Marvelous discoveries were made during the century just ended. Our view of the universe was inexorably altered. The very magnitude of the strides taken by mankind makes integration with our spiritual adventure the more daunting. We cannot move ahead without appreciating to some extent what happened to the consciousness of man during the century just over.

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Dialogue

We are in the midst of a distinct third millennium phenomenon: there has arisen a very active Dialogue between Religion and the Sciences. This is an activation and extension of an old phenomenon, but with a new vigor and a new impact on culture.

Towards a Synthesis

A Knotty Problem

The view we have our ourselves and our universe at the beginning of the 21st Century is a far cry from the way things looked at the beginning of the 20th. But how can we integrate modern empiricism with our spiritual heritage throughout the ages?

Paradox … Homo Sorta Sapiens

Human intelligence appeared because it was a better way to interact with the environment. If we are so very smart, why is it taking us so long really to understand ourselves and our place in the general scheme of things? If we are so smart, why are we so dumb?

Alienation … the Basic Human Disquietude

Even though we have been in the midst of our experience, and totally present to ourselves since the beginning of history, we are nonetheless alienated from ourselves, and always have been. We stretch towards understanding the world, but we are thwarted at every turn. Odd.

First Try: Moral and Spiritual Solutions

Man grappled with his moral place in the Universe long before he knew much about the real nature of the world he inhabited. The Ten Commandments antedated considerably Newton’s Laws of Physics. We stuggled with our spirituality long before we understood much about the frame in which that spirituality found itself.

Empirical Discovery

Christendom achieved a culturally shared general acceptance of the shape and purpose of human life … but couldn’t stop there. Galileo began to study the stars, and from there developed the explosion of empirical knowledge and discovery in the midst of which we now find ourselves.

Clash: Fact and Fancy

Our homework is not complete. For millennia Western Man lived with the Biblical account of Creation and The Fall of Man. Perhaps that had moral and spiritual cogency … but it limped in terms of factual basis. We understand now a great deal more about where we came from and whereon we stand.

Metaview: Synthesis and Integration … and Beyond

It is an unsatisfactory position to say that spiritual things are a matter of faith and personal belief; and that empirical discoveries are in a different area of knowledge. Man is one “thing” in a single universe … the game is to integrate knowledges, and move gradually towards a unified view of how different knowledge relate to each other in a real universe. We’re not there yet.

The large question of PsyQuest is: what is the place of intelligence in the Universe? We are our primary paradigm of intelligence. But the universe is at least potentially intelligent in the sense that it has produced us. Does that mean the universe is consciously intelligent? Where does the idea of God in history fit into this? Are there other intelligent beings in the Universe? Don’t laugh. We know more than we used to, less than we need.extension of an old phenomenon, but with a new vigor and a new impact on culture.