A talk by Adi Da Samraj, 1991
Scientific Materialism, Power, Technology, Politics
and
Religious Illiteracy
ADI DA SAMRAJ: Scientific materialism is creating a great problem in the world, and it will continue to do so. In My examination of the writings of many scientists, I observe that, in almost all cases, scientists are suffering from what I call “religious illiteracy’’. They have little, if any, depth of appreciation for or understanding of the real content of religion. They tend almost invariably to adhere to a “Westernized”, conventional view of religion. Some scientists, it is true, are able to look at existence from a broader philosophical point of view and even a general understanding of religious and Spiritual matters, such scientists as Rupert Sheldrake and Fritjof Capra, for example.
Most scientists, however, fit into two categories. The first category consists of those who are positively disposed toward religion but most of whom have no more than a Sunday-school knowledge of religion. When they refer to religion, they quote the Bible. Their knowledge of religion is limited to the Bible and the Judeo-Christian tradition. I call this limited understanding “religious illiteracy”.
Scientists in the second category are more or less anti-religious, even though they talk about God. Such scientists talk about the so- called “Creator-God”, and they take a kind of pleasure in constantly undermining the “Creator-God” idea. Yet some of them are touted as among the great minds of the twentieth century.
Both the provincial religionists and the religious conventionalists are religiously illiterate. In both cases, they are generally opposed to anything that is not an established religion. They are almost universally opposed to religions originating in the East, Gurus, mysticism, and occultism. In fact, the whole world is at this time controlled by scientific materialism, and, therefore, religion is suppressed and allowed only in its conventional forms.
Since religious illiteracy is a universal problem, it is important that voices be raised to proclaim the greater matters of true religion, beyond conventional religion and materialism. One of the purposes of the Free Daist Communion is to raise its voice in praise of My Wisdom-Teaching and to produce educational materials and programs to educate the general public, and the scientific culture in particular, about the great matters of religion and, in particular, about the Way of the Heart.
Scientists tend to be involved in the game of the mind, which attempts to abstract the observer from the observed. In general, however, scientists are not involved in a pure application of the scientific method. They are championing pseudo-religion. In the realm of physics, for example, the fundamental goal of physicists is the discovery of the unified field theory, the grand, universal theory that will account for all aspects of objectified reality andfor all the forces that may be observed. Such a pursuit is a form of pseudoreligion, a subversion of religion that results when the egoic, or separate, point of view is made the basis of philosophy. By contrast, the perennial goal of true religion is the Realization of Unity Itself, or Perfect Oneness with the Transcendental, and Inherently Spiritual, Divine Reality.
Scientific materialism is an anti-mystical pursuit of the perennial, ego-based religious goal via the pursuit of objective knowledge for the purpose of gaining power and control over objective reality.
Traditional religious cults have always placed taboos on knowing too much and owning too much, because it has always been observed that when there is too much objective knowledge and too much objective ownership, such groups become dissociative and grossly manipulative, destroying the bond between human beings and all other beings, and between human beings and all aspects of life.
Scientific materialism does not pursue knowledge for its own sake or for the sake of Liberation. Scientific materialism pursues knowledge for the sake of power. Therefore, its end result is technology and politics, rather than mysticism and religious celebration and Divine Enlightenment. The culture of scientific materialism is a process very much like having someone in your neighborhood who owns too much, or who knows too much, or who is manipulating people too much, and who, therefore, needs to learn some lessons about the Ultimate Reality.
It is part of the mission of My devotees to address the errors and the prejudices of scientism and to educate people about true religion, freely, intelligently, and with tolerance.
My Wisdom-Teaching, including all My Source-Texts, is filled with My Instruction and the philosophical Profundities of My Teaching Revelation, which go far beyond conventional religious views. My devotees must make My unique Wisdom-Teaching clear to the world. And you must not allow the suppressive forces in the world to view Me and My Work as just another addition to the “soup” of religious conventionalism.
In several chapters of The Dawn Horse Testament, for instance, I address the prevalent ideas about God, specifically indicating that God is not the Creator. The “Creator-God” is a primitive idea. The real religious process is based on and reveals a different understanding of the Divine than tends to be the naive basis for conventional religion. My Ecstatic Statements about the Divine Being, Truth, and Reality, and My Revelation of the Divine Being, Truth, and Reality to My devotees, must be communicated to the world to serve people’s understanding of the purpose and Divine Source-Condition of their lives. God is not the Creator of the world. God is the Context of the world. You do not Find God by going back to the beginning or by going forward to the end. You Realize God through inherently Perfect self-transcendence in the present.
In fact, My Descriptions and Revelations of the Divine Reality are generally compatible with many of the descriptions of science. They just are not compatible with scientific materialism. One cannot dismiss the Way of the Heart simply because the idea of the “Creator- God” can be dismissed. Basically, the “Creator-God” idea is a simplistic philosophical idea based on a very primitive and naive point of view. It appeals to ordinary people who have not yet profoundly “considered” its implications. The “Creator-God” idea certainly must be outgrown by anyone who embraces religion, philosophy, or science most profoundly. God is not the Maker. God Is.
People are concerned about themselves. Therefore, they conceive of God in terms of causes and effects. But those who understand and transcend themselves Realize God beyond egoic attachment to the body-mind and the conditional world. Even so, the Divine, thus Realized, is not ultimately associated with the motive to dissociate from the world, because Divine Self-Realization is not world-negative. Nonetheless, Divine Self-Realization utterly Transcends the world and, Ultimately, Outshines it. (August 6,1991)