2. Mysterium Tremendum

2. In the magazine MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM (and in the film feature), it is argued that the reason many individuals have a problem with a purely scientific exploration in philosophy and religion is because of a misunderstanding of the term “matter.” Explain his argument and feel free to either support it with additional material or critique it. 


A lot of individuals today have a problem with a purely scientific exploration in philosophy and religion is because of a misunderstanding of term "matter." Although many religious people feel that the term "matter" contradicts the Bible nor insults their religion, they feel that the term demoralize humans as just objects. In the short film, "Mysterium Tremendum," Prof. Lane asked a group of undergraduate and graduate students, "how would you hypothetically feel if someone did indeed inform you that you were a body of pure unalloyed light?"  The majority of the students agreed that they would feel "boundless and happy." The thought of us all becoming "beams of light" gives all of us a sense that we are all alike and uniform. The theory of us all being "beams of light" makes everyone equal. Although we may look different, physically, and behave differently, we are made of the same material. Later on, Prof. Lane asked another question, "how do we feel when we are told that we are just this stuff, just this body, just the re-composition of this world?" The students answered, saying they would feel like they are basically nothing and feel utterly depressed. If we are just "stuff", then we are not important as we thought. In the end, we are nothing more than just bodies. 
Prof. Lane stated, "we tend to think that matter and spirit are opposites and that focusing on one discount the other and vice versa." This idea may be very confusing to may people as it was with me. Instead of trying to find a scientific definition for the term, we need to focus on grasping the idea first. Prof. Lane uses a tree to explain the term "matter." In the dictionary, a tree is described as, "a plant having a permanently woody main stem or trunk, ordinarily growing to a considerable height, and usually developing branches at some distance from the ground." In a scientific sense, a tree is made up of millions of cells, which are made of molecules that are made of atoms. But in a more religious and philosophical sense, a tree can be called the giver of life. Just like that religion and science look at things with different perspectives. Because of this fault that we have, people will often have trouble connecting religion and science. 
According to the dictionary, a matter is any substance of which any physical object consists or is composed of. With this linguistic definition, it is quite hard to grasp the idea of "matter" in a religious sense.
Prof. Lane stated, "even when we get to the very core of matter, we find yet another layer and our understanding of what is actually going on turns indeterminate." We do not fully understood what is going on around us because there are things that are just inexplicable. Many things are invisible to our human eyes. However, as time progresses, we will be able to see the invisible through instruments and technical advances.
The film, "The Quantum Thinking,"  asks a simple yet complex question, "what is real?" When we observe objects you do not sufficiently define it because we do not fully understand it. As the film states, we are "invariably altering what we are examining." We form our own opinions that differs from others of what we are seeing because we have different perceptions. So in the end, the way we define an idea or understanding all depends on our perspective and the way we look at it.