In “Passage to India” Walt Whitman named impressive technology feats that improved communication and travel in the 1800’s. The opening of the
For Whitman… the world of technological advances would inevitably lead to a pause in achievement to embrace values for the soul. He saw the science in humans melding with the artistic and spirit in humans. Do you see any evidence of this in our world today?
New facts about the brain show multiple intelligences alive in each of us and none is pre-eminent. We possess intelligences that touch and cross over between science and soul. Many intelligences related to the soul still wait to be unleashed in a world of science where they could bring spirit and ethics to bear on human engagement with technology. Similarly, other intelligences relate more to science and technology … and could bring reason and logic to the passions related to the human soul. Think of the impact to stop wars of passion on the one side… or to halt the selfish desires of those who manipulate technology for their own ends rather than for the building of healthy communities.
Without this merging of spirit and science … we become like a seesaw where there is weight on one side only for balance. Whitman expressed anxiety for his own soul to begin this journey and set the balance… in what he described as a journey of the soul. He describes waiting for the waters of spirit to nourish his souls as water refreshes “Leaves of Grass.”
While technology has helped us to kill more … Whitman describes a scene where General Washington along with a crowd of officers in
Some people question that this merger is possible as we watch science race past the depth of the human soul. Do you? Others see the philosophic paradox raised by Walt Whitman may be the very paradox that keeps us from a new undiscovered adventure in both science and soul. At least until we see the pathway to begin to merge our science and our souls in ways that embrace more of whole in both.
My three suggestions to begin the merge science and soul are:
1. Draw more from Multiple Intelligences as a daily pattern
2. Combine hard and soft skills and apply smart skills instead
3. Learn and practice skillful tone to engage civily and act honorably
What do you think?
Comment Preview