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Many ideas expressed in my work explore the conflicts and connections between scientific knowledge and religious belief. Based on logical rigor that is driven by boundless human curiosity, science has produced tangible proofs and products. In contrast, the realm of religion and myth tends to interpret the universe according to human needs and wishes but it has also been referred to as the language of curiosity. Since magical thinking does not require the verification of science, it is often less esteemed. But mythical viewpoints can also embody important intuitive truths about the place of humans in the overall scheme of things. In my work, I attempt to create a fictional setting where these two points of view—the scientific and the magical—can coexist and interact.
Although the origin of science can be traced back to the pre-Socratic philosophers who conducted the first experiments in natural philosophy, the larger history of humankind has been dominated by supernatural or mystical interpretations of physical and cosmological phenomenon. There is something very natural about the human tendency to tell stories and create imaginative myths about the origin of things. Looking from a historical perspective, one can easily see how, over time, tribal myths became consolidated into belief systems and shamans were replaced by a priest class dedicated to interpreting events in the world. Various ancient belief systems often exhibited high levels of empirical skill when observing the heavens—even though the interpretation of the data was supernatural. Pre-industrial civilizations understood geological and cosmological activity—in particular the catastrophic kind—through the filter of religion because in our early history it was the only frame of reference available to understand physical events such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and falling meteors. Early mystical practices show the human mind struggling to understand and influence nature.
The scientific method may initially seem to be very different from magical thinking but similarities between the two sometimes crop up unexpectedly. Only as recently as the eighteenth century did science become more specialized and subdivided into the disciplines we now know as astronomy, chemistry, biology, etc. During the Renaissance, however, many proto-scientists still retained philosophical or imaginative approaches within the newly evolving sciences. Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton and other early practitioners engaged in mystical activities that had not yet been defined as separate from science. For example, in his lifetime, Kepler was more famous as an astrologer than an astronomer and indeed the separation between the two areas was hardly recognized. Before the publication of his Principia, Newton was mired in alchemical practices. This early mixture of philosophical speculation and burgeoning scientific method before the Enlightenment interests me the most because it represents a time when the rigors of new science coexisted with ancient practices.
Certain questions arise by examining our current separation of science and religion. Carl Sagan and many others have described the mystical/religious mindset as essentially hostile to the evolution of science in the West. One case in point is the reaction of the Catholic Church to Galileo’s heliocentric view of our solar system. So, why would anyone valorize the dogma and fuzzy thinking of the mystics and religionists? There are several answers to this question. The confluence of science, human ambition, and hubris has also produced its own monsters. Science is today driven by the political economy and its applications are not always in the best interests of the average person. Science has also become compartmentalized due to specialization. In the West, science used to be a part of philosophy and the study of the physical world and ethics were part of a philosopher’s body of knowledge. Scientific research is now usually conducted independently of philosophical considerations. The sheer persistence of magical thinking throughout history indicates that this is an inherent part of the human condition because for thousands of years humans engaged in imaginative speculation to understand their world and to create a universe with purpose. It is a compelling impulse that I feel deserves to be examined.
As an artist, I can explore the gray and overlapping areas between science and magical thinking. Using images that can only be seen with a microscope or telescope, I refer to worlds that are available through technology but I present them in a way that combines fantasy, children’s books, mythology and comparative religion.
(Medium: oil on panel)
