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The separation of mind and matter, which had prevailed in the West since the time of Descartes, seemed arbitrary, and it conflicted with my tradition; by what scientific principle could they be joined? Once I had grasped Einstein’s assertion of the equivalence of mass and energy—by which a “concrete” thing is presumed to consist of an abstract substance—it suddenly made sense to me that body and mind could comprise a whole that was simultaneously material and spiritual. If this were true, then we really might be—as the old rishis had said— souls with bodies rather than bodies with souls. You might ask, “What’s the difference?” After all, the words are simply flip-flopped, aren’t they? But the distinction is critical. If the spiritual aspect is primary and the material secondary, then it is a very different kind of universe indeed, and religious differences are mostly beside the point. With his simple equation, Einstein lit the trailhead of spirituality through science, a path I have been following ever since. “Religion without science,” he said, “is blind” and “science without religion is lame.” As complex organisms grow from a single cell, entire philosophies can develop from a single idea. In the light of my altered worldview, the most dramatic events of my life made a new kind of sense. MKG had not been merely a man of flesh and blood suffering for his nation, but a spirit that hungered for a lasting peace.
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