When Spirituality and Science are the Same (Jeffrey Kripal)

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Mar 7, 2024

Jeffrey Kripal discusses the convergence of science and spirituality, highlighting the importance of reconciling the split between the two fields. The conversation emphasizes the need to bridge the gap between religion and science to understand the mysteries inherent in human understanding.

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INSIGHT

Quantum Physics and Cognition

We may not be equipped to understand quantum physics.
Our cognitive abilities didn't evolve to grasp such complex realities.

ANECDOTE

Mullis' Abduction

Nobel laureate Kary Mullis had an abduction experience.
His daughter and a colleague shared a similar experience on the same property.

INSIGHT

The Role of Imagination

The imagination might not just create fantasies.
It could also translate real phenomena interpreted through cultural lenses.

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“Historically, there's no such thing as a pure tradition. And I also think as human beings, we transcend these religions and we transcend these cultures. And so the cherry picking is an affirmation of our transcendence. It's like, no, you are more than your religious tradition. You are more than your culture. You are more than your body. And you are also your body and your religion and your culture. Yes, yes, yes, all that. But you are also more. So I think, again, the power of the modern period is that we're all so super connected and in communication with everything that we know that, we know that in a way that we didn't know that, you know, four or five-hundred years ago.”

So says Jeffrey Kripal, who holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. Jeff is the author of many, many, many books that span a massive academic career—books on Kali, books on Gnosticism, and books on supernatural phenomena. He’s also the author of a short and immensely readable book called The Flip: Who You Really Are and Why it Matters, which is the focus of our conversation today. As an academic and historian of comparative religion, Jeff writes and speaks beautifully about the way that we’re losing our collective stories, and the way that we’re splitting ourselves apart, divided between the sciences and the humanities. In The Flip, Jeff recounts how both science and spirituality are using different languages to explain and explore the same experiences, and what emerges when “The Flip” happens, those often mystical moments when the minds of scientists across time have cracked open to see the world in a different way. I loved this book and I love Jeff’s wide-ranging and yet imminently approachable and kind mind—I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it.