We are facing a Universe that
is filled with emotional wonder. A Universe that is trying to
explain who we are. A Universe that offers us examples of how
we can change, to do better. The Universe is the most powerful
tool for human growth and development. The sky challenges us
to see and discover new possibilities. The Universe teaches us
to share what we have learned. It transmits knowledge, it creates
a sense of shared experience and common purpose. Looking up lifts
our spirits, raises our consciousness and deepens our understanding
of ourselves and each other, connecting all of us to the creative
powers we possess. But we have become blinded by a technological
curtain of abstract mathematical theorems and complex astronomical
machinery.  We forget to feel the wonder
of infinite space. We are failing to communicate with loquacious
celestial objects. We fall into the 20th century trap of believing
that the only knowledge we can gain from the universe is objective
facts and not poetic truths about our lives. It was centuries
ago when science separated from philosophy to become a purely
empirical enterprise that examined objects, measured them, charted
their movements and predicted their future behavior. Astronomy
was separate from purely human concerns. From that point on studying
the stars had to be done dispassionately. After all, this was
science -- we dare not let our feelings, yearnings and personal
quandries become entangled in examining these celestial phenomena.
We must be objective, the new scientists told us. Our job is
to master the universe, not commune with it. Yet there I sat,
strapped to a giant, state-of-the-art telescope convinced we
could do both -- objectively learn about the universe and commune
with it. As the 20th Century draws to a close, I believe it is
high time we started some serious (and joyful) communing with
the universe. Perhaps it will take a woman scientist to show
us how to combine these opposite approaches of gazing at the
stars. If you look around, you will see how the science of Mars
has given us a materialistic world view, with celestial objects
reduced only to objects of study and not subjects with which
we can also commune. The science of Mars has isolated humankind
in a world of Things. Everything gets reduced to Us and Them.
Our relationship to these Things out there is about possession,
even if this means only possesing knowledge about them. However,
the Science of Venus aims toward a dynamic relationship with
data, a dance between the knower and the known, giving a human
perspective to our work, creating a science which aspires to
cooperate and converse with Nature rather than to only quantify
or dominate it. If we indulge in metaphors drawn from what we observe, and find lessons and poetry and music in what we see in the lenses of our microscopes and telescopes, we are not less devoted to scientific truth. There is a growing campaign among my female colleagues in all of the sciences to give a human perspective to our work; to create a science which aspires to cooperate and converse with Nature. We seek a science of Venus rather than a science of Mars. |
