We Are All Scientists

You are a scientist. I am a scientist. In fact, I have a framed piece of paper from a major university on my office wall declaring I am a scientist. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that I am a Freemason. Have you ever considered that as Freemasons we are all scientists? You are, indeed, a scientist. Welcome to the club.

Consider the Winding Staircase. The closer you get to the top, the closer you get to the natural sciences and their tools. Logic: Science cannot survive without logic. Arithmetic: mathematics is the basis of many branches of science. It is the language of the study of the universe. Geometry: the root of our craft upon which our skills are developed and based. Astronomy: the fabric of the universe and the science which reveals its grandeur.

You are a spiritual individual. I am a spiritual individual. And just as before, I'm talking about the fact we are Freemasons. We were asked in whom we put our trust. And our answers revealed our spirituality.

You may have heard there is some sort of conflict between spirituality or, if you will, religion and science. Well, it can't exist within the hearts of millions of Freemasons… Through symbolism, observation and study we understand they are related and compliment each other.

I am intrigued by the experience of Dr Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon, no less, who admitted to being a marginal, skeptical Christian. He clinically died of meningitis and was revived into a comatose state. Doctors claim near-death experiences are a function of the dying brain. But Dr. Alexander was measured to have no brain activity at all and yet had an amazing journey through what he calls "the realms of heaven." The journey couldn't have been a hallucination in his brain since it was completely inactive. After a week, he returned to consciousness and told his story in his book, Map of Heaven.

In it, as he vividly describes heaven, he says, "Nothing is isolated in Heaven... Nothing is disconnected. Everything is one… Everything is connected to everything else.

He is almost describing a phenomenon scientists call "quantum entanglement," whereby quantum particles that have had previous interaction will continue to instantly interact no matter the distance between them, even if it is millions of light years. They are connected. They are one. An interaction on one will be sensed by the other… instantly. This is no pipe dream. This has been observed and proven by experiment. Einstein himself couldn't explain it, calling it "spooky action at a distance." If Einstein couldn't explain it, I'm sure none of us can.

There is so much we don't know that rests on the threshold of the physical universe and heaven. A conflict between science and spirituality? Not at all. By our science we may curiously trace nature through her various windings to her most concealed recesses. By it, we discover the wisdom, power and goodness of the Grand Architect of the Universe and view with delight the proportions which connect this vast machine.