The Meaningfulness
of the Universe
The essence of religion is to believe in the meaningfulness of the universe, meaningfulness which is yet unseen, for in this world, all higher realities lie hidden.
Arthur Koestler quoted Albert Einstein: “I maintain that cosmic religiousness is the strongest and most noble driving force of scientific research. A contemporary has said, not unrightly, that the serious research scholar in our generally materialistic age is the only deeply religious human being”. (The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler, 1967, p. 262)
The meaning of religiousness in the above saying means belief in unseen meaningfulness. When a scientist sets about his research, the driving force in his work then is this hidden belief in him that there is unity and meaning in the universe. If he is bereft of this belief, he can never be serious in his research.
Thus, there is no difference between a scientist and a religious-minded person. A religious person performs certain acts of devotion with the object of pleasing God or of finding a reward in the Hereafter. The religious person neither sees God nor the Hereafter, yet he engages in his religious acts with extreme devotion and concentration. This devotion is his absolute faith in the unseen realities. Precisely similar is the case of the scientist. He devotes his whole life to investigating and researching a certain reality. The reality lies hidden in the unknown world. Nevertheless, the scientist has this prior belief and conviction that what he wants to discover lies hidden in the universe, although it has yet to come within his purview.
The essence of religion is to believe in the meaningfulness of the universe, meaningfulness which has yet to come before our eyes, for, in this world, all higher realities lie hidden. In his quest for knowledge, the scientist then stands on the same ground as the man of religion, for, in this world, all higher realities remain in the unseen. Therefore, those serious in their pursuit must believe in the hidden realities.
