TM07.
Copyright © 2002 by Kevin Sharpe. All rights reserved.
In Quodlibet 4:1 (Winter 2002).
by
Kevin Sharpe and Rebecca
Bryant
ABSTRACT. We propose the camellia model for the integration of science and
religion, in which each accepts the knowledge of the other, and they together
build a flourishing bush of energetic, inquiring, life-directing, and truthful
knowledge. The nature of happiness provides an example of how this model
integrates scientific and religious knowledge.
‘The first major challenge to religion in an age of science is the success
of the methods of science.’[1]
So writes Ian Barbour in his book, Religion and Science: Historical and
Contemporary Issues. The challenge becomes one of relating science and
religion − two apparently diverse disciplines that sometimes speak very
differently about the same phenomena. Barbour suggests four options for meeting
this challenge: Conflict,
Because this paper examines a method of integrating science and
religion, we can ignore Conflict − with its image of warfare − and
What of Integration? ‘The final group...holds that some sort of integration
is possible between the content of theology and the content of science,’ claims
Barbour. In this model ‘the relationships between theological doctrines and
particular scientific theories are more direct than in any forms of Dialogue,’
he continues.[3] Our approach to the reconciliation of science and religion −
the camellia model − falls within Barbour’s Integration option.
More specifically, the camellia model embraces what Barbour refers to as a
‘systematic synthesis’ of science and religion, in which both disciplines
‘contribute to a coherent world view elaborated in a comprehensive
metaphysics.’[4]
For a successful amalgamation of scientific and spiritual thought (or
theology), we propose that any model must:
These five facets incorporate the basic assumption that science and religion
can and should work together to produce a richer understanding of our world.
They ensure that we treat science and religion on an even playing field while
respecting their differences. They allow science and religion the space to grow
together, to adapt to one another. And they ensure that any model for the
integration of science and religion must reflect reality, rather than
theoretical allegiances.
A seminar student once offered a horticultural model for the integration of
science and religion: the sunflower. The petals, he wrote, represent the
various cultures, mythologies, sciences, spiritual approaches, and
philosophies, all centered in the flower head. The flower grows on the ground
of human experience. The petals represent the models and systems of thought
which we build from our experience to understand that experience, while the
central stamen head of the flower stands for the knowledge and assumptions that
these thought systems share; in this case, what science and spiritual thought
hold in common. The sunflower’s petals continuously change in interaction with
the head that nourishes them. This sunflower model not only allows for many
systems of thought, but also spawns a living and growing dynamic.
A petal connects to other petals through the central head of the flower. The
head represents what all petals − the various sciences, spiritual
traditions, mythologies, cultures, philosophies − possess in common. But
it doesn’t represent all possible connections between them. Different belief
systems understand the same event in different ways. Consider the emergence of
the universe, for example. Some staunch Christians take God’s seven-day act of
creation, as told in Genesis, quite literally. Others take it less literally −
God brought the universe into being gradually, over time. Still others take it
as a metaphor − they do not accept that the universe emerged through an
act of creation at all, rather it evolved over eons to reach its current state
and is evolving still. These radically different world views all acknowledge
that the universe exists. Yet they share much more that this. Some share a
belief in the creation of the universe; others share a belief in spontaneous
emergence. Some take the Genesis story as temporally true, others do not. Some
share a belief in the order of creation cited in Genesis, others do not. The
sunflower model thus oversimplifies the myriad of links and movements between
science and spiritual thought.
The sunflower model:
We still seek a sufficiently rich form for the relationship. The problem for
the sunflower model is its single flower. It has too few petals and only a
single connection between them. It lacks the bounty necessary to stand for the
many facets of our knowledge and the numerous connections running between them.
A camellia tree with an abundance of flowers and leaves grew in the front
lawn of my (Kevin Sharpe’s) childhood home, and suggests another image, the
camellia model. The leaves and petals of each flower represent aspects of
science or spiritual thought. Some connect through the center of the flower to
which they belong, while others connect through the twigs and branches between
them. Each relates to, feeds, and depends on the others. Though each petal and
each leaf and each stalk is separate from the others, they form an intricate
whole which eclipses the parts.
My father and I once dug closely around the camellia and rolled it about
twenty feet to another spot. It settled in quickly, not a blush on its pink
blossoms. The tree embodies energy and life. Cutting the camellia back soon
results in new growth and fresh flowers (whereas pruning disables a sunflower).
If aspects of the system of scientific-spiritual thought wither, cut them back;
with the camellia as a prototype, life soon reappears.
The camellia model bars the creationist submersion of the scientific to the
spiritual. It also blocks the submission of the spiritual to the scientific,
where religion becomes consonant with all that science says. Rather, the
camellia approach supports the interaction between the strengths of each. The prophetic
voice of a spiritual tradition stands and faces science. The camellia model
also emphasizes growth in the relationship between scientific and spiritual
thought, not only over particular topics, but also in the number of points of
contact. New branches sprout and old ones change their size.
The camellia model:
A strong, large, lush, and vigorously integrated system of knowledge
develops with the camellia model. Both spiritual thought and science grow
organically with input from the other. Each part of the two endeavors relates
in content and method to every other part. The camellia relationship promotes
and achieves the mutual relevance of scientific and spiritual thought. But we still
seek to put the model into effect, to give existence to the camellia vision.
And this is where the nature of human happiness comes in.
Happiness, and how we might attain it, has traditionally fallen within the
remit of spiritual or philosophical thought. Many religions and their
philosophies focus on happiness and advise us to seek out spiritual happiness
in everyday life:
Several spiritual traditions and churches also emphasize the promise of
happiness to come in the afterlife:
Yet, much more recently, the sciences of behavioral genetics and
neurochemistry have painted quite a different picture of the nature of human
happiness.
For each of us, our happiness fluctuates within a small range called a
‘set-point’ that our genes largely determine. So concludes molecular biologist
Dean Hamer of the National Cancer Institute in his review of studies on the
role of genes in happiness or misery.
‘So many people plan their lives for a distant goal,’ says David Lykken.
‘They believe that if they become C.E.O. or win a gold medal, their lives will
rise out of humdrum ordinariness. This isn’t so. There’s a rush of glory and
then it fades.’[9] The
sting of tragedy disperses equally as fast. Christopher Reeve, Lykken adds,
probably now feels just as happy as he did before his mishap. Job loss or lottery winning influence happiness only over the short
term. People may feel an initial euphoria when good fortune visits them,
or a sadness when tragedy strikes unexpectedly, but in time they usually revert
to how they felt and saw life before fate popped in. ‘The “slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune” clearly influence mood,’ says Greg Carey, a behavioral
geneticist at the University of Colorado, ‘but long-term equilibration to
life’s ups and downs is partly a function of the slings and arrows of genetic
fortune.’[10]
Identical twins (those with the same genetic makeup) attain the same level
of happiness 44 percent of the time, according to research by Lykken and Auke
Tellegen of the
Other studies show that a person’s level of happiness remains stable over
many years. Inherited genes account for the majority of this level, though
diseases like depression can override the set-point for well-being over the
long term.
‘How you feel right now is about equally genetic and circumstantial,’
concludes Hamer, ‘but how you will feel on average over the next ten years is
fully 80% because of your genes.’[12]
Hamer continues by directing our attention to two of the more than 300 known
neurotransmitters, dopamine − the brain’s chemical for pleasure −
and serotonin, the neurochemical with whose reduced activity misery appears.
Neurotransmitters pass information from the synapse or junction between a nerve
cell and another nerve cell or a muscle. The nerve cell’s bulbous end releases
them from storage when an electrical impulse moving along the nerve reaches it.
Then they cross the junction to dock at the other nerve cell’s receptor, and
either prompt or inhibit the impulses along the second cell. The first nerve
cell reabsorbs excess neurotransmitters, but not necessarily all of them. Those
that remain free-floating, according to biology, help create our happy or
miserable states of being.
Genes carry the instructions for the construction of neurotransmitters,
their receptor and reabsorption portals. They also impart information on such
things as their storage and release rates. Hence, genes can influence the
prevalence, scarcity, and activity of serotonin and dopamine, and, in turn,
whatever behaviors and feelings these neurotransmitters induce. Researchers
have found, for instance, that people who differ in the gene that produces part
of the D4 dopamine receptor − the part that controls the amount of
dopamine binding there − differ in a parallel way in their moods.
Psychologist Richard Davidson at the
Other developments in neuroscience may shed further light on the biology of
happiness. For instance, some scientists think they have located the part of
the brain that registers happiness and where the set-point mechanism works.
A clash looms between spiritual and scientific accounts of the nature of
human happiness. Scientists define happiness as physical well-being, while
theologians define it as spiritual or intellectual satisfaction. Religious
thinkers seek to understand happiness in the future as well as the present,
while scientists concentrate firmly on the here and now.
Journalist Sharon Begley emphasizes that several claims for the genetic
roots of various behaviors run into trouble because follow-up studies fail to replicate
the original research. She points out that one recent claim − the
connection between a condition of the gene D4DR and an adventurous, excitable
personality − fails to find support. But she does not mention other
claims. Researchers have linked a specific gene to an aspect of thought, for
instance: the deletion of the chromosome 7 gene, called LIM-Kinase 1, which
disrupts a person’s ability to visualize and mentally manipulate parts of
objects. On the other hand, the failure of researchers to replicate a study
does sound against it. And we should approach with caution those studies for
which follow-ups have yet to appear. But it is incorrect that genetic-basis
research carries a poor track record and merits skepticism. Begley also refers
to an often-raised suspicion of twin studies, which some of the happiness
research draws on. Identical twins frequently dress alike and create a private
world for just the two of them. People treat them alike too. Fraternal twins,
on the other hand, typically behave no more alike than other siblings.
Identicals thus share more influences from their environment, according to
biologist Marcus Feldman from
Most of the other objections Begley reports are either incorrect, or
trivial. For instance:
Grant Steen, a medical researcher at the Saint Jude Children’s
Other critics say that behavioral geneticists like Hamer try to reduce the
holistic human experience of happiness to nothing but the actions of genes, electrical
activity, and chemicals. Walter Freeman, for example, says, ‘Joy comes with
activities that we share with people we have learned to trust, and that enable
us to share meaning across the existential barrier that separates each of us
from all others. So happiness is not made by a chemical.’[14]
Writes Mark Epstein, ‘True happiness is the ability to
receive pleasure without grasping and displeasure without condemning, confident
in the knowledge that pain and disappointment can be tolerated.’[15] ‘It’s worse to
wake up in the morning without having a larger purpose in life,’ says
developmental psychologist Carol Ryff of the
By taking the camellia as our model, we can avoid this clash over the nature
of human happiness. Philosophy, theology, behavioral genetics, and
neurochemistry represent numerous leaves and petals on the camellia tree. Human
happiness represents one of their many points of contact. The experience of
happiness, the human quest for joy, and our search for an explanation of our
happiness form the common ground on which both science and spiritual thought
operate in this instance.
The requisite parts exist, and, with the camellia model, so does the fundamental
integration between them. Remember that Hamer’s work suggests genes provide
only a percentage of input into behavior. If 80 percent of
happiness is, in the long term, due to genes, what about the other 20 percent?
And we still can move up and down the 80 percent range of our personal set
points. ‘Though genes may determine our average set point for happiness, they
don’t specify where we are within our individual range at any particular point
in time.’[17]
Behavioral genetics and neurochemistry tell us much about happiness, but they
don’t tell us the whole story. Room still exists for a spiritual story, with
our minds, our moods, and our environments all playing their roles. Accepting
the genetic basis of happiness does not mean drawing a deterministic conclusion
from the research.
In his new book, Living with our Genes, Hamer distinguishes between
temperament and character, explaining that, ‘Temperament is what you are born
with. Character is what you’ve learned.’[18]
We arrive in this world with our genetic set-points for happiness intact. But,
as we flourish and grow, we develop our own characters which influence every
aspect of our lives, including our happiness levels. Our characters mold our
experience and, through that action, we add meaning to our lives. Perhaps our
characters lead us toward the pursuit of knowledge, or a belief in the
spiritual, which enhances our happiness. Or, in some cases, our characters may
lead us toward more destructive paths (hard drugs, for example) which, in the
long run, destroy happiness. Temperament always works in concert with
character; the scientific always works in concert with the spiritual. We are
not materialistic puppets, worked by the strings of our genes alone. Choices
remain open to us, and, through those choices, we exercise control over our
future and our happiness.
In the instance of happiness, we see how the camellia model supports the
integration of science and spiritual thought, emphasizing the strengths of
each. Such integration results in a richer, more coherent, and ever expanding
bush of knowledge and inquiry. Knowledge of the nature of human happiness
comprises a recent point of contact between scientific and spiritual thought.
Let’s hope this bud flourishes further and that many new ones sprout.
[1] Barbour
1998, p. 77.
[2]
Barbour 1998, p. 90.
[3]
Barbour 1998, p. 98.
[4]
Barbour 1998, p. 103.
[5]
Myers and Diener 1995, p. 10.
[6] van Biema 1997, p. 72.
[7] van Biema 1997, p. 77.
[8]
Kaplan 1951, pp. 80-83, 301.
[9]
Gose 1996, p. A9.
[10] Holden 1996, pp. 1593-1594.
[11] Hamer 1996, p. 125.
[12] Hamer 1996, p. 125.
[13]
Goleman 1996, p. B9.
[14]
Freeman 1997, p. 70.
[15] Epstein 1995, p. 42.
[16] Goleman 1996, p. B9.
[17]
Hamer 1996, p. 126.
[18]
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Copyright © 2002 by Kevin
Sharpe. All rights reserved. Published in Quodlibet 4 (1) Winter 2002.