Science [from Latin scientia from scire to know]

In its widest sense formulated knowledge, a knowledge of structure, laws, and operations. The unity of human knowledge may be artificially divided into religion, philosophy, and science. Science and philosophy, as presently understood, have in common the quality of being speculative, as opposed to religion, which in the West is supposed to be founded merely on faith and moral sentiments.

The present distinction between science and philosophy lies largely in their respective fields of speculation. What is known as modern science investigates the phenomena of physical nature and by inferential reasoning formulates general laws therefrom. Its method is called inductive and its data are so-called facts -- i.e., sensory observations; whereas deductive philosophy starts from axioms. Yet a scientist, in order to reason from his data at all, must necessarily use both induction and deduction.

Modern science has limited its field of study to the laws of physical nature; but in the 20th century the illusive and entirely phenomenal nature of matter and energy, formerly assumed to be eternal and indestructible, is better realized by scientists who have traced the chain of physical causation to a point beyond physical limits altogether and admit that the physical world consists of phenomena occurring in an ultraphysical substance.

In modern sciences dealing with biology, evolution, and anthropology, legitimate inference from facts has been much interfered with by preconceived ideas. Modern science suffers from its failure to see the necessity of postulating an astral or formative world behind the physical, this astral world being in itself but one stage in a rising scale or ladder of invisible worlds. To ascertain the facts upon which to build a true inductive system, we must admit the existence in man of means of direct perception other than those afforded by the physical senses.

(See also: Science , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » Spirituality And Science Dictionary

Vedic Science: integral spiritual science of the Vedas

(See also: Vedic Science , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

For more dictionary entries, see » Spirituality And Science Dictionary

Forgive and move forward

Forgiving in the way Jesus did, brings healing to body and soul in this day and age.

Forgiveness, whether you�re asking for it or are expressing it to someone else, promotes reconciliation. It�s like removing a roadblock so you can freely enjoy life�s normal state: goodness.

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The walk with God

The steps you take with God render you better able to hear the divine voice and to trust it.

Life often presents hard choices, whether they affect thousands of city residents or are made around the kitchen table. Sometimes things don�t go as expected. The child who seemed so promising suddenly takes up with a bad crowd. Changes in a city�s economy make it hard to keep the household going. A senior parent needs care, but there�s nowhere to turn. The car breaks down, and there�s no money for repairs.

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Divine music, when you experience it, brings with it intense and lasting bliss. How can one who has heard this divine melody describe it to one who has not? Anyone who attempts to describe it would have to use pale analogies. If we think of the most beautiful music we have ever heard in this world, it still does not compare with the music known as the Voice of God.

The divine music is playing within us all the time. We dont hear it because no one has shown us the way to listen to this inner music.

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From perfectionism to perfection

Everything had to be perfect.

My perfect life was filled with homemaking, committee work and a never-ending to-do list. Immaculately organized, the home I shared with my husband and kids was lovely-but, as they could tell you, it was impossible to relax in.

All I wanted was to be appreciated. All I accomplished was a hectic lifestyle that no one understood. I cleaned the house every day except weekends, going so far as to pick up lint off the carpet every time I climbed the stairs. Potato chips were counted out equally for each of my children so no one would feel shortchanged. For picnics, paper products had to be color-coded; food had to be 100% nutritional, planned weeks ahead and prepared for days.

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Christian Science (Science): Religion founded in 1879 by Mary (Morse) Baker Eddy (1821-1910).

Christian Science basic principle is: mind is the only reality; illness, pain, and death are illusory. Christian Science practitioners engage in absent healing and can bring about resurrections. Members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist generally choose Christianly scientific prayer over medical treatment. Church officials accept their religion's association with alternative healthcare.

(See also: Christian Science , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » Spirituality And Science Dictionary

The scientific method is carried out with a constant interaction between scientific laws (theory) and empirical measurements, which are constantly compared to one another. Approximation also refers to using a simpler process. This model is used to make predictions easier. The most common versions of philosophy of science accept that empirical measurements are always approximations — they do not perfectly represent what is being measured. The history of science indicates that the scientific laws commonly felt to be true at any time in history are only appro ...

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Approximation, Approximation - Science, Approximation - Mathematics

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In computer science, "Tabula Rasa" refers to the development of autonomous agents which are provided with a mechanism to reason and plan toward their goal, but no "built-in" knowledge-base of their environment. They are thus truly a "blank slate". In reality autonomous agents are provided with an initial data-set or knowledge-base, but this should not be immutable or it will hamper autonomy and heuristic ability. Even if the data-set is empty, it can usually be argued that there is an in-built bias in the reasoning and planning mechanisms. Either intentionally or unintentionally placed there by the human designer, it thus ...

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Tabula rasa, Tabula rasa - Science, Tabula rasa - Politics

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Egypt's cultural contributions have included great works of science dating from antiquity to modern times. Culture of Egypt - Ptolemy. Ptolemy is one of the most famous scientists associated with Egypt. Although he was born in Greece, he is famous for his work in Alexandria. Born Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: Κλαύδιος Πτολεμαίος; c. 85 – c. 165),he was a Greek geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. He is consi ...

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Culture of Egypt, Culture of Egypt - Language, Culture of Egypt -
Literature, Culture of Egypt - Religion, Culture of Egypt - Visual art, Culture of Egypt - Egyptian art in antiquity, Culture of Egypt - Egyptian art in modern times, Culture of Egypt - Science, Culture of Egypt - Ptolemy, Culture of Egypt - Eratosthenes, Culture of Egypt - Library of Alexandria, Culture of Egypt - Ahmed Hasan Zewail, Culture of Egypt - Egyptology, Culture of Egypt - Music and dance, Culture of Egypt - Cuisine

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Concepts are extremely useful for the development of science. It would be difficult to imagine science without the concepts like: energy, force, acceleration, time, charge, gravity, field ( The list can be almost endless). Some illustrative examples of concepts in physical science are: absorption, acid, acceleration, activation, activity, adsorption, atmosphere, alkali, amorphous, angular, anisotropy aromatic, atom, azeotrope, ballast, bandwidth, base, baryons, bond, body, capacitance, catalyst, choke, circuit, color, conductor, covalent, cr ...

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Concept, Concept - Locke, Concept - Kant's Definition, Concept - Schopenhauer, Concept - John Stuart Mill's Conceptions, Concept - William James's Truth, Concept - Ayn Rand, Concept - Concepts in science

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Sri Aurobindo's insight and analysis of evolution are now part of the scientific and cultural landscape. But few scientists and artists know his evolutionary theories that are being proved true by modern science.

While probing frontiers of science, physicists have discovered the limitation of the Newtonian mechanistic model at the level of galaxies and electrons. These discoveries have no doubt given the first glimmering of the new paradigm that matter and consciousness are the primary forces in the universe.

(See also: Sri Aurobindo , Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

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Spirituality is, in a narrow sense, a concern with matters of the spirit, however that may be defined; but it is also a wide term with many available readings. It may include belief in supernatural powers, as in religion, but the emphasis is on personal experience. It may be an expression for life perceived as higher, more complex or more integrated with one's worldview, as contrasted with the merely sensual. Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious. An important distinction needs to be made between s ...

Including:

• Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious
• Spirituality - Directed spirituality
• Spirituality - Spirituality and personal well-being
• Spirituality - The Spiritual and Science
• Spirituality - Spiritual traditions and communities

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Cognitive science has much to its credit. Among other accomplishments, it has given rise to models of human cognitive bias and risk perception, and has been influential in the development of behavioral finance, part of economics. It has also given rise to a new theory of the philosophy of mathematics, and many theories of artificial intelligence, persuasion and coercion. It has made its presence firmly known in philosophy of language and epistemology - a modern revival of rationalism - as well as cons ...

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Cognitive science, Cognitive science - History, Cognitive science - Principles of Cognitive Science, Cognitive science - Approaches, Cognitive science - Levels of analysis, Cognitive science - Interdisciplinary nature, Cognitive science - Cognitive science - The term, Cognitive science - Scope of cognitive science, Cognitive science - Artificial intelligence, Cognitive science - Attention, Cognitive science - Language processing, Cognitive science - Learning and development, Cognitive science - Memory, Cognitive science - Perception and action, Cognitive science - Research methods, Cognitive science - Behavioral experiments, Cognitive science - Brain imaging, Cognitive science - Computational modeling, Cognitive science - Neurobiological methods, Cognitive science - Key findings, Cognitive science - Notable researchers in cognitive science and related fields

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How I found the holy in the holidays

Merry Christmas. The very words used to make me want to run and hide.

All my life, the holiday season has been a time of wishing for something I never got-and what it seemed like everyone else around me had. Suffice it to say mine was not an Ozzie and Harriet childhood. As an adult, I grew resentful about the holidays. I couldn�t stand pretending I liked Christmas when it was just a reminder to me of the happy family I never had.

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An important distinction needs to be made between spirituality in religion and spirituality as opposed to religion. In recent years, spirituality in religion often carries connotations of the believer's faith being more personal, less dogmatic, more open to new ideas and myriad influences, and more pluralistic than the faiths of established religions. It also can connote the nature of a believer's personal relationship with God, as opposed to the general relationship ...

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Spirituality, Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious, Spirituality - Directed spirituality, Spirituality - Spirituality and personal well-being, Spirituality - The Spiritual and Science, Spirituality - Spiritual traditions and communities

Read more here: » Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Spirituality - The spiritual and the religious

In scientific usage, a theory does not mean an unsubstantiated guess or hunch, as it does in other contexts. Neither is a scientific theory a fact. Scientific theories are never proven to be true, but can be disproven. All scientific understanding takes the form of hypotheses, theories, or laws. Theories are typically ways of explaining why things happen, often, but not always after their occurrence is no longer in scientific dispute. In referring to the "theory of global warming" for example, the worldwide ...

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Theory, Theory - Etymology, Theory - Science, Theory - Models, Theory - Types of theories, Theory - Further explanation of a scientific theory, Theory - Characteristics, Theory - Mathematics, Theory - Other fields, Theory - List of famous theories, Theory - Reference

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Although some transhumanists report a strong sense of spirituality, they are for the most part secular. In fact, many transhumanists are either agnostics or atheists. There are, however, a number of transhumanists who follow liberal forms of Eastern philosophical traditions, and a minority of transhumanists who have merged their beliefs with established religions (see Christian transhumanism). Some transhumanists also look to the Simulation ...

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Transhumanism, Transhumanism - Overview, Transhumanism - Enlightenment and humanistic roots, Transhumanism - History of transhumanism, Transhumanism - Currents within transhumanism, Transhumanism - Practical transhumanism, Transhumanism - Transhumanism and spirituality, Transhumanism - Criticisms, Transhumanism - Practical criticisms, Transhumanism - Ethical criticisms

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In 1981, Sheldrake trailed his hypothesis of formative causation in an article in New Scientist magazine. The piece was provocatively headlined: "Scientific proof that science has got it all wrong". An editorial introduction admitted that, to modern science, an idea such as Sheldrake’s was "completely scatty", but justified its publication on the grounds that first, "Sheldrake is an excellent scientist; the proper, imaginative kind that in an earlier age discovered continents and mirrored the world in sonnets," and secondly, "the science in his ideas is goo ...

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Rupert Sheldrake, Rupert Sheldrake - New Science of Life controversy, Rupert Sheldrake - Later work, Rupert Sheldrake - Bibliography

Read more here: » Rupert Sheldrake: Encyclopedia II - Rupert Sheldrake - New Science of Life controversy

Gaia theory science - The Second Gaia Conference. By the time of the 2nd Chapman Conference on the Gaia Hypothesis, held at Valencia, in Spain on the 23 June 2000, the situation had developed significantly in accordance with the developing science of Bio-geophysiology. Rather than a discussion of the Gaian teleological views, or "types" of Gaia Theory, the focus was upon the specific mechanisms by which basic short term homeostasis was maintained within a framework of significant evolutionary long ...

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Gaia theory science, Gaia theory science - Range of views, Gaia theory science - Gaia theories, Gaia theory science - Early modern parallels, Gaia theory science - Lovelock initial hypothesis, Gaia theory science - Critical analysis, Gaia theory science - Basis, Gaia theory science - Criticism, Gaia theory science - DaisyWorld simulations, Gaia theory science - The First Gaia Conference, Gaia theory science - Strong Gaia theories, Gaia theory science - Semantic debate, Gaia theory science - Recent Developments, Gaia theory science - The Second Gaia Conference, Gaia theory science - Gaia hypothesis in ecology

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Main article: Greek philosophy The tradition of philosophy in Ancient Greece also added to the literary works. Greek learning has had a profound influence on Western and Middle Eastern civilisation. The works of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers profoundly influenced Classical thought, the Islamic Golden Age, and the Renaissance. In medicine, doctors still refer to the Hippocratic oath, instituted by Hippocrates, who is also credited with laying the foundations of medicine as a science. Galen built ...

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Culture of Greece, Culture of Greece - Art and architecture, Culture of Greece - Architecture, Culture of Greece - Painting and sculpture, Culture of Greece - Pottery and coins, Culture of Greece - Literature, Culture of Greece - Religion, Culture of Greece - Philosophy science and mathematics, Culture of Greece - Music, Culture of Greece - Cuisine, Culture of Greece - Sports

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Western science and medicine do recognize the concept of soul or the idea of a soul entity, though many practitioners regard it as an element of Folk psychology. In contrast, Traditional Chinese medicine accepts the existence of a soul as more than just an idea (see Shen). The two dominant scientific approaches to study of the soul can be distinguished by the emphasis they place on two alternative hypotheses: Materialistic accounts of human brain function and scientific study of cultural belief systems will ultimately tell us ev ...

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Soul, Soul - Etymologies, Soul - Philosophical views, Soul - Socrates and Plato, Soul - Aristotle, Soul - Religious views, Soul - Bahá'í beliefs, Soul - Buddhist beliefs, Soul - Christian beliefs, Soul - Hindu beliefs, Soul - Islamic beliefs, Soul - Jainist beliefs, Soul - Jewish beliefs, Soul - Other religious beliefs and views, Soul - Science and the soul, Soul - Materialistic Science and the Soul, Soul - Scientific approaches for study of a non-material soul, Soul - Other uses of the term, Soul - Movie, Soul - External references and links

Read more here: » Soul: Encyclopedia II - Soul - Science and the soul