From the most ancient times, human beings have used spiritual beliefs to understand the world. These beliefs have often been dismissed as irrational and untrue. Still, science is recently discovering that there may be something more to them.

Spiritual beliefs and ideas and their scientific basis:

1. Time is an illusion

According to Buddhist philosophy, there is no distinction between past, present and future. Everything that we experience is just a series of present moments, meaning that one time exists within all times. Scientists ridiculed this ancient belief for years until Einstein proved it was actually true.

Physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one. – Albert Einstein

Einstein proved that time is relative. With the proper technology, such as a very fast spaceship, one person would be able to experience several days while another person simultaneously experiences only a few hours or minutes.

We can understand this idea of time being relative by thinking about space. When we look up at the stars we are seeing light that has been travelling for billions of years and observing stars that may have ceased to exist eons ago. In effect, we are viewing the past, though it appears that what we see is happening now.

2. Matter is an illusion

The great spiritual traditions of India commonly teach that the world is Maya, usually translated as ‘illusion’ or ‘unreality’.

This seems at odds with our perception of the world where things seem solid and real. However, the idea that the apparent solidity of objects is actually an illusion is backed up by science.

A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself. – Niels Bohr

Every solid object, including you and me, is made up of atoms. When quantum physicists look closely at atoms, they find smaller and smaller building blocks and more and more empty space. There is nothing solid at the heart of these apparently solid objects. Many scientists note that “matter” seems to consist of tiny vibrating strings of energy.

In other words, the physical world you see around you consists of energy, or more accurately, electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves are fluctuations of electric and magnetic fields, which can transport energy from one location to another. This proves that everything you see is made up of energy. Even your own body is not a solid thing, but actually vibrating energy.

3. Death is merely a change in form

Philosophies and spiritual beliefs around death are numerous, from ideas of heaven to beliefs in reincarnation. However, in modern times, many people believe that death is the ultimate ending leading to complete annihilation of the human body.

But once again, conventional thinking was turned upside down by a scientific genius.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. – Albert Einstein

We can clearly see energy changing from one form to another in the world around us. A candle converts wax into thermal energy (heat) and light, a toaster converts electrical energy into thermal energy and our bodies convert chemical energy from food into mechanical and electrical energy to allow us to move.

Therefore, we know that nothing ever really ceases to exist. So, when we die, rather than disappearing from existence we must actually have just changed form.

4. Our thoughts create our reality

From ancient philosophies and spiritual beliefs to new-age theories, many people have believed that our thoughts create our reality.

Though Newtonian science argued that we lived in a mechanical universe where everything could be reduced to cause and effect, some people still believed in the power of the human mind to change the world. And then the field of quantum physics was born, changing the way scientists thought about objective reality forever.

If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet. Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real. – Niels Bohr

In quantum experiments, subatomic particles appear to exist only as a wave of probability until they are observed. When this happens, the wave collapses into a single place in time. This is known as ‘The Observer Effect’. This means that the observer has created the reality simply by perceiving it. So, our thoughts and perceptions really do change the world.

5. Love really can change the world

The Beatles may have echoed ancient spiritual beliefs when they sang, ‘All you need is love’. But science has indicated that love may actually be able to change the world. Or at least, positively affect our health.

Various studies have shown that loving relationships boost our immune system, reduce pain, and even keep your blood pressure in check!

Science is constantly discovering strange new things in our universe proving that it is a wonderfully mysterious place we live in. Perhaps science and spirituality are not so different after all, and the best approach we can take to all ideas is to keep an open mind.

References:

  1. Niels Bohr
  2. Albert Einstein

Copyright © 2012-2024 Learning Mind. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint, contact us.

power of misfits book banner desktop

Like what you are reading? Subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss new thought-provoking articles!

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Sonja

    This was really wonderful – thanks.

  2. Andrea

    The information contained in this article is mostly incomplete or incorrect. Time actually exists, it is only frame-dependent. String theory has ot been confirmed yet: it is more correct to say that the overwhelming majority of the mass comes from the energy of particles, instead of their rest mass. Death is, as far as we know, irreversible. Mass and energy are conserved, but mind and consciousness die when the brain does. There is a large component of the scientific community which believes that reality is objective: the basic principles of quatum mechanics only say that there are limitations to the objective possibility of knowing the complete state of a system. There are no independent confirmations of the experiments of Masaru Emoto. To conclude: there are many beautiful marvels that science has contributed to uncover, but spirituality is not subject of serious scientific investigation.

  3. David Brooks

    Einstein’s theory proves time is an illusion. As human beings we cannot rise above time while immersed within a material consciousness. A luicid dream consciousness is a 1st step to delving into the spiritual realm of timelessness. Basically it is ever true that science is gradually proving our spiritual existence and it being our real state of being.

  4. Calem

    so… realizing the obvious, isn’t it time to put it all to the test? what can be achieved by the use of such effects? and can we truly say we’ve lived by just living in one way or another alone? perhaps the possibilities are endless. who really knows?

Leave a Reply