The incredibly astute insights at the heart of spiritual philosophy are not only as forceful as any in contemporary scientific thinking, but in many ways amount to the same thing.

There is no effective difference between "spiritual" ideas such as ’as is the microcosm so is the macrocosm’ (Hinduism), ’as you sow, so shall you reap’ (Christianity) and ’with our thoughts we make the world’ (Buddhism), and the modern "scientific" concept of the quantum relationship between reality and mind.

It’s not "I think, therefore I am", it’s "I think, therefore everything is".

Whilst Dawkins et al. can be forgiven for being ignorant of the real philosophical treasures at the heart of ancient dogmatic religions (that would take require proper research, after all), it beggars belief that these celebrated scientists are also ignorant of the cutting edges of their own disciplines.

Scientists like Dawkins persist in throwing out an important baby with the religious bathwater.

Being scientists, they should be better aware than most of the malignant effect of dogma, surrounding and finally engulfing (as it always does) truly original thought.

© Lee Boyd 2008. All Rights Reserved.