Science is my first religion

"Science is my first religion" is a short essay by Karl Jones.

Science is my first religion

Just between you and me and anyone else who reads this:

Science is my first Religion.

My parents were both non-religious intellectuals who cherished reading; we had books in the house on science, technology, art, history, war and peace, religions, philosophy, cooking, herbalism — all very eclectic.

By age five, maybe six, I was confidently saying things like "E equals Em See Squared" and "matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only converted to energy and back again" and "Two plus two divided by two is *still two!*", etc.

That is my bedrock, my foundational self, still informing my mind. Science; reason; rational thought: these are vessels which deliver my prayers, so to speak.

Now, when I say that "the human condition is my religion," I am entirely sincere, and serious: this is no mere figure of speech.

As I approach the age of sixty, while I have my health, I find my thoughts gradually turning from science, with its implicit determinism, towards the human condition, with its bewildering variety of uncertainty and contradiction.

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles
• My Orbit
• The Human Condition
• The Human Condition 2

External links

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