Occasionally psychiatrists encounter patients with a strange disturbance(障碍) of vision; these patients are able to see only a very narrow area directly in front of them. They cannot see anything to the left or to the right, above or below their narrow focus. They cannot see two objects adjacent(邻近的) to each other at the same time, they can see only one thing at a time and must turn their heads if they are to see another. They liken this symptom to looking down a tunnel being able to see only a small circle of light and clarity at the end. No physical disturbance in their visual system can be found to account for the symptom. It is as if for some reason they do not want to see more than immediately meets the eye, more than what they choose to focus their attention upon.
Another major reason that scientists are prone to throw the baby out with the bath water is that they do not see the baby. Many scientists simply do not look at the evidence of the reality of God. They suffer from a kind of tunnel vision, a psychologically self-imposed(自己强加的) psychological set of blinders(眼罩) which prevents them from turning their attention to the realm of the spirit.
Among the cause of this scientific tunnel vision I would like to discuss two that result from the nature of scientific tradition. The fist of these is an issue of methodology. In its laudable(值得赞赏的) insistence upon experience, accurate observation and verifiability(可验证性), science has placed great emphasis upon measurement. To measure something is to experience it in a certain dimension, a dimension in which we can make observations of great accuracy which are repeatable by others. The use of measurement has enabled science to make enormous strides(大步) in the understanding of the material universe. But by virtue of its success, measurement has become a kind of scientific idol(偶像). The result is an attitude on the part of many scientists of not only skepticism but outright rejection(彻底的) of what cannot be measured. It is as if they were to say, “What we cannot measure, we cannot know; there is no point in worrying about what we cannot know; therefore, what cannot be measured is unimportant and unworthy of our observation.” Because of this attitude many scientists exclude from their serious consideration all matters that are-or seem to be-intangible(不可捉摸的). Including, of course, the matter of God.
This strange but remarkably(不寻常地) common assumption that things that are not easy to study do not merit(值得) study is beginning to be challenged by several relatively recent developments within science itself. One is the development of increasingly sophisticated methods of study. Through the use of hardware such as electron microscopes, spectrophotometers(分光光度计) and computers, and software such as statistical techniques we are now able to make measurements of increasingly complex phenomena which a few decades ago were unmeasurable. The range of scientific vision is consequently expanding. As it continues to expand, perhaps we shall soon be able to say: “There is nothing beyond the limits of our vision. If we decide to study something, we can always find the methodology with which to do it.”
The other development that is assisting us to escape from scientific tunnel vision is the relatively recent discovery by science of the reality of paradox. A hundred years ago paradox meant error to the scientific mind. But exploring such phenomena as the nature of light, electromagnetism(电磁学), quantum mechanics(量子力学) and relativity theory(相对论), physical science has matured over the past century to the point where it is increasingly recognized that at a certain level reality is paradoxical. Thus J. Robert Oppenheimer wrote:
To what appear to be the simplest questions, we will tend to give either no answer or an answer which will at first sight be reminiscent(怀旧的) more of a strange catechism(问答集) than of the straightforward affirmatives(肯定) of physical science. If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say “no”; if we ask whether the electron’s position changes with time, we must say “no”; if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say “no.” The Buddha has given such answers when interrogated(询问) as to the conditions of a man’s self after his death; but they are not the familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century science.
Mystics have spoken to us through the ages in terms of paradox. Is it possible that we are beginning to see a meeting ground between science and religion? When we are able to say that “a human is both mortal(终有一死的) and eternal(永恒的) at the same time” and “light is both a wave and a particle at the same time,” we have begun to speak the same language. Is it possible that the path of spiritual growth that proceeds from religious superstition to scientific skepticism may indeed ultimately lead us to a genuine, religious reality?
This beginning possibility of unification of religion and science is the most significant and exciting happening in our intellectual life today. But it is only just beginning. For the most part both the religious and the scientific remain in self-imposed narrow frames of reference, each still largely blinded by its own particular type of tunnel vision. Examine, for instance, the behavior of both in regard to the question of miracles. Even the idea of a miracle is anathema(诅咒) to most scientists. Over the past four hundred years of so science has elucidated(阐明) a number of “natural laws,” such as “Two objects attract each other in proportion to their mass(质量) and in inverse proportion to(成反比) the distance between them” or “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.” But having been successful in discovering natural laws, scientists in their world view had made an idol out of the concept of natural law, just as they made an idol out of the notion of measurement. The result is that any event that cannot be explained by currently understood natural law is assumed to be unreal by the scientific establishment. In regard to methodology, science has tended to say, “What is very difficult to study doesn’t merit study.” And in regard to natural law, science tends to say, “What is very difficult to understand doesn’t exist.”
The church has been a bit more broad-minded. To the religious establishment what cannot be understood in terms of knows natural law is a miracle, and miracles do exist. But beyond authenticating their existence, the church has not been anxious to look at miracles very closely. “Miracles need not be scientifically examined” has been the prevailing(流行的) religious attitude. “They should simply be accepted as acts of God.” The religious have not wanted their religion shaken by science, just as the scientific have not wanted their science to be shaken by religion. Events of miraculous healing, for instance, have been used by the Catholic Church to authenticate its saints, and they are almost standard fare(标配) for many Protestant(新教的) denominations(教派). Yet the churches have never said to physicians, “Would you join with us to study these most fascinating phenomena?” Nor have physicians said, “May we get together with you to examine scientifically these occurrences which should be of such interest to our profession?” Instead the attitude of the medical profession has been that miracle cures are nonexistent, that the disease of which a person was cured did not exist in the first place, either because it was an imaginary disorder, such as a hysterical(歇斯底里的) conversion reaction, or else because it was a misdiagnosis. Fortunately, however, a few serious scientists, physicians and religious truth-seekers are currently in the process of beginning to examine the nature of such phenomena as spontaneous remissions(自动缓解) in cancer patients and apparently successful examples of psychic(超自然的) healing.
Fifteen years ago, when I graduated from medical school, I was certain that there were no miracles. Today I am certain that miracles abound. This change in my consciousness has been the result of two factors working hand in hand. One factor is a whole variety of experiences I have had as a psychiatrist which initially seemed quite commonplace(不足为奇的) but which, when I thought about them more deeply, seemed to indicate that my work with patients toward their growth was being remarkably assisted in ways for which I had no logical explanation-that is, was that were miraculous. These experiences, some of which I shall be recounting, led me to question my previous assumption that miraculous occurrences were impossible. Once I questioned this assumption I became open to the possible existence of the miraculous. This openness, which was the second factor causing my change in consciousness, then allowed me to begin routinely looking at ordinary existence with an eye for the miraculous. The more I looked, the more I found. If there were but one thing I could hope for from the reader of the remainder of this book, it would be that he or she possesses the capacity to perceive the miraculous. Of this capacity it has recently been written:
Self-realization(自我实现) is born and matures in a distinctive(独特的) kind of awareness, an awareness that has been described in many different ways by many different people. The mystics, for example, have spoken of it as the perception of the divinity(神学) and perfection of the world. Richard Bucke referred to it as cosmic consciousness; Buber described it in terms of the I-Thou relationship; and Maslow gave it the label “Begin cognition.” We shall use Ouspensky’s term call it the perception of the miraculous. “Miraculous” here refers not only to extraordinary phenomena but also to the commonplace, for absolutely anything can evoke(唤起) this special awareness provided that close enough attention is paid to it. Once perception is disengaged(脱离的) from the domination of preconception(先入之见) and personal interest, it is free to experience the world as it is in itself and to behold( 目睹) its inherent magnificence(宏大)… Perception of the miraculous requires no faith or assumptions. It is simply a matter of paying full and close attention to the givens of life, i.e., to what is so ever-present that it is usually taken for granted. The true wonder of the world is available everywhere, in the minutest(微小的) parts of our bodies, in the vast expanses of the cosmos, and in the intimate interconnectedness(互联性) of these and all things… We are part of a finely balanced ecosystem in which interdependency goes hand-in-hand with individuation. We are all individuals, but we are also parts of a greater whole, united in something vast and beautiful beyond description. Perception of the miraculous is the subjective essence of seal-realization, the root from which man’s highest features and experiences grow.
In thinking about miracles, I believe that our frame of reference has been too dramatic. We have been looking for the burning bush, the parting of he sea, the bellowing(吼叫) voice from heaven. Instead we should be looking at the ordinary day-to-day events in our lives for evidence of the miraculous, maintaining at the same time a scientific orientation(目标). This is what I shall be doing in the next section as I examine ordinary occurrences in the practice of psychiatry which have led me to an understanding of the extraordinary phenomenon of grace.
But I would like to conclude on another note of caution. This interface between science and religion can be shaky(不牢靠的), dangerous ground. We shall be dealing with extrasensory(超感官的) perception and “psychic(超自然的)” or “paranormal(超常的)” phenomena as well as other varieties of the miraculous. It is essential that we keep our wits about us. I recently attended a conference on the subject of faith healing at which a number of well-educated speakers presented anecdotal(轶事的) evidence to indicate that they or others were possessors of healing power in such a manner as to suggest their evidence to be rigorous(严密的) and scientific when it was not. If a healer lays hands on a patient’s inflamed joint and the next day the joint is no longer inflamed, this does not mean that the patient has been healed by the healer. Inflamed joints usually become uninflamed sooner or later, slowly or suddenly, no matter what is done unto them. The fact that two events occur together in time does not necessarily mean that they are causally(原因地) related. Because this whole area is so murky and ambiguous, it is all the more important that we approach it with healthy skepticism lest(以免) we mislead ourselves and others. Among the ways that others may be misled, for instance, is by perceiving the lack of skepticism and rigorous reality-testing so often present in those individuals who are public proponents(支持者) of the reality of psychic phenomena. Such individuals give the field a bad name. Because the field of psychic phenomena attracts so many people with poor reality testing, it is tempting for more realistic observers to conclude that psychic phenomena themselves are unreal although such is not the case. There are many who attempt to find simple answers to hard questions, marrying popular scientific and religious concepts with high hopes but little thought. The fact that many such marriages fail should not be taken to mean that marriage is either impossible or inadvisable(不明智的). But just as it is essential that our sight not be crippled(使残疾) by scientific tunnel vision, so also is it essential that our critical faculties(能力) and capacity for skepticism not be blinded by the brilliant beauty of the spiritual realm.