Science—developing a scientific thought process

What is science? Whenever we get this question, we answer it like, “Science is a subject that teaches us about how the world around us functions and why does it do so.” This definition is correct as from a grammatical and sensible point of view but is not completely correct from a scientific point of view. This definition is just a part of what science actually is. Science is not a subject in the first place; it is a discipline, or a knowledge, or a skill, or an art. It only talks about factual basis not fictional basis. We learn not only the principles of what this world is and how does it function in science, but also we learn how to stimulate these principles that this science teaches us so that we can develop ourselves further on those principles. Science wants us to question everything that we learn. Whenever we believe something in life, then we try our best to prove it; but, science is the art of disproving what we believe. This is the main thing that differentiates scientific mentality with a normal mentality. Science teaches us that first we discover something new in nature, develop a hypothesis—theory in simple language about it, experiment it to check if our hypothesis/theory is true, check the conditions that makes the experiment true if possible, then change the conditions and then again experiment, and then finally conclude with the result. Only two subjects—mathematics and science, are used throughout life. Any other subject is either maths or science or actually both of them. So, try developing your interest in maths and science, not start hating maths and science more and more just because you score less marks in it.

As we discussed earlier, first we discover something new that exists in nature. Nature not only means the flora, fauna, substances found on the earth but also substances that are found outside our planet. Let’s take the theory of energy given by the Bhagwat Gita and confirmed by Albert Einstein. It says, “Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it just changes from one form to the other.” This is something that we discovered by seeing it happen in nature. Before it was confirmed, it was just a hypothesis/theory. This hypothesis was experimented/observed by us after we created it, and the result came exactly like we thought it would do or the result came exactly as the hypothesis stated. Hence, this was confirmed as a theory and so we believe in it completely after confirming it that it actually exists. So, if something is not confirmed that it exists or it does not exist, it is better not to make any theory about it. We can neither say yes, nor say no in this scenario. So, it is better to say we don’t know. Discovery, hypothesis, experimentation and then finally confirmation of the theory. However, this is not the end of it. We can take experimentation and final confirmation of the theory to a next level. And to do that, we need to try to disprove it.

As discussed before, whenever we believe that something exists, we try and find more and more examples to prove it. But science and thinking scientifically tells us to do the exact opposite. So, when we believe in something, to confirm it, we need to find examples to disprove it, and if we fail to disprove it then we can completely admit that we can believe that it is true. Let’s take the same theory of energy as an example. Whenever we think about it, then our brain automatically finds examples that are in favour of this theory, which is not a scientific behaviour. We need to train our brain to find examples that are trying to disprove it, rather than try to prove it. If something exists, then it will exist even when someone tries to disprove it. And if something does not exist, no matter how much someone tries his best to prove it, it won’t exist. This is the main principle of the universe. For example, life on the planet Mars. Scientists are trying to figure out whether or not life exists or can exist on the Martian surface. To do it, they can also simply find more and more things that are available on the internet that prove that life exists or can exist on the Martian surface like a normal human being would do, but because they are scientists, they have learnt to think scientifically; they want to find more and more about the Martian surface and once some theory is suggested in the favour of the existence of life on Mars, they try their best to disprove it. And if some theory comes out in the future that the scientists fail to disprove, then they can finally confirm that life can exist on Mars.

There are a lot of people around us that think that spirituality and science are the opposite. It is true in some regard as the people who have created this spirituality are also human beings, and where humans exist, rumours exist. However, spirituality and science are also not completely opposite. There are many things that are discussed in spirituality that have existed in real life and science has proven it. We can take the same theory of energy as an example. In the Bhagwat Gita, Lord Krishna says, “Atman/prana can neither be created nor destroyed.  It only changes from one form to the other.” Later, Albert Einstein also proved that “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It only changes from one form to the other.” Atman/prana is the energy that exists in living organisms according to the philosophy shown in Bhagwat Gita. So, the theory stated by Lord Krishna in the Bhagwat Gita is the same as Einstein’s theory. The Bhagwat Gita is the philosophy of spirituality, and this spirituality has a lot of association with science. They are almost one and the same, but have some subtle differences. There might be other kinds of scientific things discussed in other spiritual groups, I have taken just one as an example. There might be a lot of things that the holy books of many religions might teach us that science today is discovering.

So, now that we have seen that how and where we can find scientific ideas, let’s understand how we can make ourselves ready to receive these ideas and to turn our mindset to a scientific mindset. You should stop believing something with your eyes closed. Question everything! It is these questions that force us to experiment, and science is all about experiments. And these questions are what make us aware of how harmful can something be considered for us. An answer has no meaning without a question. This is what we should do to make our mindset very keen for earning more and more knowledge. Another thing is we should also keep expanding our knowledge. Our knowledge will make us ask even more questions and then become more and more scientific. Also, always talk only factually. We should make ourselves factual, not fictional. Talking about what exists can make you as well as the people around you think scientifically. Think and talk only on factual basis, not on fictional basis. So, best of luck developing this thought process! Thank you!