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decline, to the point that it is now remembered as a strange and misguided aberration in
the rich history of Indian philosophy.
Modern Western civilization, on the other hand, has largely turned its back on its
own contemplative heritage and, under the influence of scientific materialism, adopted a
worldview and ideals closely akin to those of Carvaka. A major difference, however, is
that modern materialism has been accompanied by a rapid growth of science and
technology. This has greatly enriched humanity s knowledge of and control over the
natural world, and many believe it has enhanced our individual chances of survival, as
well as our physical security and well-being. However, during the past Century of
Scientific Materialism, we have also witnessed an accelerating growth in the world s
population, rampant exploitation of the earth s natural resources, and the mass
destruction of entire human communities by means of modern technology. Scientific
materialism, like the materialism of Carvaka, encourages everyone to pursue the ideal of
ever higher physical living standards, and with the aid of modern technology, this has
resulted in a disastrous deterioration of our entire natural environment. It has become
obvious that the continuing pursuit of endlessly increasing material consumption is a sure
route to ecological, economic, and social collapse.
The rise of science has been an extraordinary episode in the history of humanity
in which people have sought to discover the nature of reality and the way to happiness by
looking outward to the physical world instead of inward, as many of the traditional
religions of the world encourage. In terms of the human pursuit of happiness, traditional
religions characteristically encourage satisfaction with merely adequate physical well-
being, while emphasizing the quest for ever-increasing spiritual well-being. Scientific
materialism, on the other hand, at least implicitly encourages satisfaction with merely
adequate mental well-being while promoting the ideal of ever-increasing physical
prosperity. Thus, even the subjective experiences of peace and happiness are objectified
as people become fixated on the external signs of security and enjoyment. It is human
nature to seek greater happiness and security, but the ideals of traditional religions and
not the ideals associated with scientific materialism may be the only ones that can be
pursued in the long run without ruining our own physical environment.
In the early days of the Scientific Revolution, pure science was conceived by
many natural philosophers as the pursuit of knowledge of the natural world as a means of
indirectly knowing the mind of God. This quest may be seen as a pursuit of a kind of
apotheosis, in which scientists thought God s thoughts and saw with God s own vision.
But now scientific inquiry has become disengaged from the pursuit of knowledge of God,
and its quest for knowledge has been reduced to a pursuit of a kind of dehuman-ization,
in which the ideal knowledge is a view from nowhere, unrelated to human subjectivity
and well-being.
Applied science is regarded as the pursuit of knowledge about the natural world in
order to provide humanity with creature comforts by means of gaining control of the
environment, providing protection from disease, and supporting the acquisition of power
and wealth. Scientific materialism assumes that when the environment and the body, and
specifically the brain, are brought under control, the mind is brought under control.
Hence, in order to bring about a sense of comfort and well-being and freedom from
suffering and fear, scientists have sought techniques to control the environment and
maintain physical health. For those situations in which these measures prove inadequate,
chemists have produced a stunning array of drugs to control the mind, such as those to
enable people to relax, to become mentally aroused and alert, to sleep, to relieve anxiety,
to overcome depression, to counteract attentional disorders, to improve the memory, and
to experience euphoria, bliss, and even alleged mystical states of consciousness. But the
vast majority of such drugs cure nothing, and their desired effects on the mind last only
as long as one continues to ingest them a point hardly lost on the pharmaceutical
industry, which profits enormously from this fact. With the mainstream acceptance of
legal drugs for coping with psychological problems, it should hardly come as a surprise
that a sizable portion of the population in the industrially developed world avails itself of
illegal drugs in its pursuit of happiness and even spiritual enlightenment.
The value system that is implicit in the worldview of scientific materialism is
consumerism, and the way of life motivated by that value system centers on the amassing
of wealth in order to be able to consume more and more. Tragically, the overconsumption
by the industrialized world, where scientific materialism is most dominant, together with
its massive proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, is endangering our
very survival as a species, which scientific materialism presents as the central driving
force of life itself.
Religions have sought to cultivate in their followers faith, love, compassion, and
hope and have thereby provided millions of people throughout history with a sense of
meaning and a deeper, more abiding sense of inner well-being than the more transient
pleasures and sense of security provided by science and technology. According to many
of the contemplative traditions of the world, a yet deeper sense of inner well-being arises [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]