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Humanism, Literature, Religion and Science.
Prof. Ilyas Khattak*
Introduction
Arthur
Clutton Brock in his famous book ‘ The Ultimate Belief ( a
book on Christianity and the philosophy of the spirit)
writes: “Education ought to teach us how to be in love
always and what to be in love with .The great things of
history have been done by the great lovers, by the saints ,
and men of Science and artists , and the problem of
civilization is to give every man a chance of being a saint
,a man of science or an artist. But this problem cannot be
attempted, much less solved, unless men desire to be saints,
men of science and artists”.
These
words abundantly suggest and refer to the force of the
experience, which lies at the very basis of religion,
science and literature. saints, scientist and artists are
men endowed with peculiar gifts and insights. They have
knowledge and awareness of the mystery and beauty of the
universe and the life in it. They feel impelled to
communicate and impart this mysterious beauty to whatever
they say, write or make. Arthur Clutton. Brock relates this
fundamental experience to the aesthetic activity, which in
its essence is an activity of the spirit. It is primarily a
moral activity that has the power to shape things. Einstein
calls this a fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle
of true art, science and religion. It is this emotion that
engendered religions. Einstein writes, “ A Knowledge of the
existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the
manifestation of the profoundest reason and the most radiant
Beauty that constitutes the truly religious attitude.” And
he calls himself a deeply religious man in this and this
sense alone.
Arthur Clutton Brock and Einstein have pointed to the
fundamental commonality (characteristic) shared by the
saints, the men of science and the artists. But before going
ahead it would be in order to explain the words constituting
the title of this paper.
Humanism -The humanistic attitude
The
dictionary meaning of this word is “A non religious
philosophy based on liberal human values” It is a worldly
and secular philosophy. It is anthropocentric - regarding
human beings as the center of existence. It was a European
phenomenon and sought to dignify and ennoble man.
Renaissance and Reformation were its main manifestations. It
liberated thought and brought in complete freedom of
expression. Thomas Moore wrote Utopia, the masterpiece of
English humanism. In Moore we find the happiest blend of the
spirit of Christianity and humanism. Humanists of the
Renaissance period were students of the literature of Greek
and Latin poets, dramatists, philosophers, historians and
rhetoricians. This attitude stood for revival of interest
in classical literature and thought. And this Revival came
but at the expense of medieval Scholasticism. At its best,
humanism helped to civilize man, to make him realize his
potential powers and gifts.
Sir
Thomas More’s humanism was pure and serene. It brought hope
and relief to the English people. Erasmus, a friend of More,
said about More, “When did nature mould a temper more gentle
endearing and happy than the temper of Thomas More”. Moore
stood for freedom of thought. He made fun of scholasticism.
He has nothing but hatred and contempt for wars and war
makers. Soldiers to him are men slayers”. He extols
communism, forbids the acquisition of the property and
discredits gold. He makes work compulsory for all men. He
believes in the goodness of the human heart. To him
tolerance is the general law. His “utopia”
is great literary contribution to pure humanism.
Humanism was a movement that was at once a product of and a
counteraction to a certain prevalent scholasticism. It was a
way of dealing with the disequiluibrium created by the
conflict between belief and doubt. Humanism turned out to be
a form of philosophy that concentrated on the preparation of
a worldly life, rather than on the preparation for an
eternal and spiritual life. In its more extreme form
humanistic attitude regarded man as the crown and glory of
creation, a point of view marvelously expressed by
Shakespeare in Hamlet:
“What a piece of work is man!
How noble in reason, how infinite in
faculty.
In form and moving how express and
admirable in action,
How like an angel in apprehension, how
like a God!
The
beauty of the world. The paragon of animals”
We can distinguish two main forms of
humanism in the modern world;
-
There is a rational and skeptical humanism that stems
from the Enlightenment. This is pessimistic and
depressing in nature. Francis Bacon was a humanist of
this type.
-
An
Imaginative (and often religious) humanism that draws it
sustenance primarily from the Romantic Movement. This
kind of humanism is positive, pleasant and more
sympathetic in appeal. Religion and Literature meet in
this form of humanism. Genuine humanists would always
try to reconcile these two forms. Thomas More,
Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, and Forster quite
successfully attempted to reconcile the rational with
the imaginative in their works. True art is one product
of such a reconciliation.
Science and Scientific Attitude
The scientific attitude of mind insists
on reasoning objectively from facts securely established by
physical evidence. A Scientist never trusts traditional
beliefs. Scientific outlook is the objective outlook that
totally discards bias, prejudices and caprices. The world of
the scientist is not peopled by hopes, assumption, dreams,
longings, ideals, impulses and personal emotions.
Religion and the Religious Attitude
Religion demands total and
unconditional belief in one God and in all the prophets of
God and in their teachings. The religious attitude is the
attitude of blind submission to the Divine will as revealed
through the Holy Scriptures.
Literature and the Literary Attitude.
Literature is the interpretation of
life through imagination and passions. The subject matter of
literature is man and its theme is human life---- its
infinite forms and manifestations. The mind of the artist is
all-free, unrestricted and can take flight in any direction,
can talk of any subject under the sun in a personal way. The
literary attitude is the attitude of freedom, of liberal
humanism. A literary man is the Universal man –a man for all
seasons and climes.
According to Mathew Arnold all knowledge is interesting.
Even the isolated items of Knowledge may offer great
interest. But there is a natural tendency in us to bring
these pieces together and to relate them to certain
principles. Religion, science, literature and humanism all
relate to one experience, one basic experience of wonder and
mystery. They share this commonality at each step and stage.
This experience of wonder is in turn related to the sense of
beauty in all four. “ How to be in love always and what to
be in love with” is the basic principle which integrates the
activities of these apparently diverse disciplines. There is
an artist in every prophet and vice versa. There is an
artist in every scientist and vice versa. There is a
scientist in every prophet and vice versa. Literature,
religion and science all converge at the basic experience
level. They may diverge at some points but they never lose
the basic affinity. The fundamental principle of the sense
of mystery, the sense of beauty, the basic commonality
shared by a man of science, a man of religion and the
artist.
Literature and Religion
Man and man’s life is the concern of
both religion and literature. Religion has brought meaning
and purpose to human life. Life without religion is a
nonentity. Religion caters to man’s Life in this world and
in the hereafter. Welfare of the human soul is one of the
objectives of religion. Man must live a disciplined life in
this world so that he may have a happy life in the next
world. Inculcation of moral discipline is one of the
purposes of religion. Moral activities have their own
beauties and immoral action is disgusting, distasteful and
nauseating. Literature- genuine literature also has this
aim. A true artist is the guiding power and an inspiring
force for the society. Literature sustains life. Literature
deals with the drama of human life as a whole. Literature
stands for the principles of order, symmetry, beauty and
effectiveness. According to Milton “ A good book is the
precious life blood of a master spirit embalmed and
treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life”. Like
religion, literature also deals with the universal and
permanent themes such as love, hatred, jealousy ambition,
human joys and sorrows, the problem of life and destiny as a
whole. Poets, dramatists and novelists always attempt to
reveal the whole truth about life. Goethe, Shakespeare,
Milton, Homer, Dante, Wordsworth, Dickens are all moralists
in this sense.
Shakespeare’s moral influence is profound though silent,
like the influence of nature. We drink him up like water and
are bettered and yet know not how. His morality is as wide
as life itself. And Milton, the truly religious man, wrote
“Paradise lost”
“to justify the ways of God to man”. He was a man fired with
deepest charity to infuse good things into others. Milton
inspires us with his courage, temperance, toil and angelic
devotion, which carried the life of man to new heights of
spiritual grace and dignity. And Dickens’ writings are
thoroughly steeped and pervaded by the true religious spirit
that provide for all those in suffering---- women, labouring
of child, all sick persons, young children, pities all
prisoners and captives, defends and provides for the
fatherless children and widows and all those who are
desolate and oppressed.” This gift of charity motivated
George Santyana to write: “If Christendom should lose every
thing that is now in the melting pot, human life would still
remain amiable and quite adequately human. I draw this
comforting assurance from the pages of Dickens”.
Literature and religious attitude meet
happily in the pages of Shakespeare, Milton, and Dickens.
Shakespeare cares chiefly even when he deals with the beast
of chase, for the suffering of the mind. Can there be any
more wonderful pleading for mercy than the one given by
Shakespeare in the following lines:
“ The
quality of mercy is not strained,
It
dropeth as the gentle rain from heaven
upon
the place beneath, It is twice blessed,
It
blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
It is
mightiest in the mightiest :
it
becomes the throned monarch better than his crown
His
scepter shows the forces of temporal power
the
attribute to awe and majesty
Where
in doth sit the dread and fear of kings
But
mercy is above this sceptred sway ,
It is
enthroned in the hearts of kings ,
It is
an attribute of God himself .
Shakespeare’s charity and sympathy are
not confined to human world only. . He has boundless love
and affection for the hunted deer and the hunted hare in,
“As you like
It” and in “Venus and Adonis”. These descriptions go beyond
the stolid sympathies of average selfish humanity.
E.M.Forster generally condemned for his
atheistical view has abundant sympathies for the oppressed
and the socially deprived people living anywhere in the
world. There is a deep religious emphasis in Forster’s
humanism. Before him Carlyle had shown great concern for the
horrors and terror of the new industrial order .I n one of
his writings,”Signs of the Times ” Carlyle made a plea for
the recognition of the wholeness of man .He speaks of “The
primary, the unmodified forces and energies of man, the
mysterious springs of love and fear and wonder, of
enthusiasm, poetry and religion, all of which have a truly
vital and infinite character”.
for Carlyle,
as for Forster, this includes an element of mystery. But in
the new society man has been belittled and degraded in to
mere getting and spending animal and the bonds, both natural
and supernatural, which at one time joined men together,
have been replaced by the entirely impersonal relationship
of what is called the “Cash-Nexus ”. There is a deep
religious emphasis in what Carlyle, Ruskin, Morris and
Forster comment about the new social order. This new order
“manufactures everything except men.” The modern
civilization has “eyeless vulgarity ” and betrayal of
beauty.
Forster in one of his essays “what
I believe”
made his well known statement “I do not believe in Belief
”.This irreligious statement was provoked perhaps by the
external facts of Christianity ,the ritual ceremonies, that
have failed to protect the western man from the horrors of
the new industrial order .Forster rejects the creed of
Christianity ,not the indwelling spirit of religion . He
accepts the creative force of love as panacea for all human
troubles. Love, for Forster, is the beloved republic. A love
holds out mirror to infinity .He seeks shelter in the holy
affection of the heart. A human being lies nearer to the
unseen than any organization.
The religious attitude, the humanistic
attitude, puts emphasis on the “Inward witness”. It
acknowledges the possibility of a faith beyond the form of
faith. This phrase looks back to what Arnold said in his
“The Study of Poetry”:
“The future of poetry is immense,
because in poetry, where it is worthy of its high destinies,
our race, as time goes on will find an ever surer and surer
stay. There is not a creed that is not shaken, not an
accredited dogma that is not shown to be questioned or
questionable, not a received tradition that does not
threaten to dissolve. Our religion (Christianity) has
materialized itself in the fact, in the supposed fact; it
has attached its emotion to the fact and now the fact in
failing it. But for poetry the idea is everything; the rest
is the world of illusion, of divine illusion. Poetry
attaches its emotions to the idea. The idea is the fact .The
stronger part of our religion (Christianity) today is its
unconscious poetry.”
Literature and religion support one
another. They share the fundamental emotion, the primary
impulses, the holy affection, the desire for meeting with
the invisible, the supreme
Reality, the power that shapes the destinies of men and
women. The great sin for Forster is the sin against
affection. He looks and waits for a breath from the divine
lips of love and beauty. He believes that the spirit of love
will ultimately triumph.
Forster’s humanism is predominantly of
the imaginative and religious kind. He always endeavours to
stop the rational and skeptical humanism from making inroads
into the religious kind. Rather he struggles to unite the
two kinds of humanism. Their combined force will bring
adequacy to human life.
Literature and Science.
It is
not fair to say that the poet has nothing to do with the
scientific knowledge of things. The wider issues of that
knowledge can never be entirely ignored by poets or artists.
A philosopher poet like Wordsworth will take up the
scientific knowledge and relate it to the question and
interests belonging to the higher life of man. He has the
ability and insight to perceive the spiritual meanings of
scientific fact. The new knowledge of the time has an
irresistible fascination for the poet on its emotional and
spiritual side.
Literature and science are the product of the fundamental
emotion, the knowledge and awareness of the mystery of life.
But in view of the rapidly accumulating scientific
discoveries and the vast and far-reaching intellectual
changes we must expect to encounter a certain amount of
antagonism between science and literature. Feelings can
never keep pace with the development of thought. Hence the
conservative character of Literature. The process of
evolution continues. The universe around us is in a state of
flux. Ideas, tastes, values, approaches and attitudes
change. In the 17th century a new attitude
developed. This was the scientific attitude of mind. This
attitude showed its impact in all areas of life. In the
domain of literature, in the 16th century Francis Bacon was
probably the first person to realize that some thing new was
happing around. He saw that a new method of exploring life
was growing up. He felt that inquisitive intelligence and
the spirit of inquiry were challenging the traditional
attitude to life. He defined poetry from the new point of
view and called it an illusion. Surprisingly
shakespeare
remained uninfluenced by this new attitude to life. John
Donne was greatly disturbed by the new learning in science
and astronomy. He was driven to reassert his position. He
wrote a new kind of poetry under the impact of new attitude.
Science led him to a skeptical point of view. The new
learning had thrown man into confusion. The Royal Society
was established and men of letters and men of science had
discussions about the scientific thinking and myths and
superstition. During, the 18th century the
influence of science could be seen in the work of Pope,
Swift and Addison. The first major attack on science came
from Swift. In the “Battle of Books” he defended the
ancients, their traditional method of learning against the
modern method of investigation. But Swift was totally
unaware of the aim and purpose of science. His attack on Sir
Isaac Newton was bred by ignorance and totally uncalled for.
To him the scientific investigation was merely a symptom of
human vanity. Pope respected Newton and he had seized upon
the possibility of Newton’s prism for his poetic imagery.
His language and style was under the control of intellect. A
number of imaginative writers showed great respect for
Newton and one Allan Ramsay wrote an Ode when Newton died.
In the
19th century Newton became the enemy of the imaginative
writers. Blake expressed his antagonism to the scientific
attitude of mind. Wordsworth expressed his desire to
discover mean of cooperation between science and arts. He
tired to reconcile the two attitudes. Coleridge also
expressed his sympathy with the man of science. He
encouraged Wordsworth to take interest in mathematic,
astronomy, and chemistry. Keats was against science and
disapproved of the cold and dissecting method of science.
Toward
the end of the 19th century the happy personal
association between some of the romantic poets and the
scientists broke down completely due to the new industrial
order. Tennyson in his poem, “In Memoriam” confessed the
loneliness and despair that the attitude had imposed upon
him. The biological science had brought spiritual distress
and crisis to writers of the Victorian period. In “Dover
Beach”, Mathew Arnold expressed how the sea of faith had
been damaged and destroyed by the new outlook.
The Victorian age seems quite disturbed due to the fast
growing hostility between science and literature. The
progress of science was visible all around. The interaction
between science and literature was making the age still more
complex. In some areas the dialogue between the two assumed
alarming proportions. The direct and indirect impact of
science upon the literary scene loomed large. The new
temper, the irresistible spirit of science can be seen in
the literature of the age. A large number of books that were
literary as well as scientific appeared. Huxley tried to
popularize science in his writings. He called himself “ The
bulldog of Darwin”. He wrote in a lucid and pleasing style.
The naturalists except Darwin related science to conduct and
beauty. The works of Sir James Thomson, a leading biologist,
offer the literary qualities that one looks for in a work of
art.
But
physical science transformed man’s outlook upon life. The
people of the age adopted a materialistic creed. In spite of
the desperate efforts of some intellectuals to reconcile
religion and morality with science, the two have drifted
further apart. Materialistic attitude has brought a change
in values. The brutality of the age of machine cannot be
ignored. The development of science has brought spiritual
barrenness. It has brought skepticism, melancholy and
pessimism to the present age.
From
this brief survey of the relationship between literature and
science it is quite apparent that these areas of knowledge
and learning are complementary to each other. Some men of
science have appreciated literature. Thomson Huxley
recognized the inherent values of classical learning.
Tyndall tells us how Tennyson inspired him. It is also said
that Darwin showed intense interest in Shakespeare, Milton,
Wordsworth and shelley
when he was young. Humphrey Davy and Rowan Hamilton wrote
poetry. Ptolemy, the great astronomer was a poet. He wrote
several poems in praise of the heavenly bodies.
Conclusion
The
fundamental difference between science and literature is
with respect to their attitude in finding truth. Literature
(poetry) interprets life through the imagination and the
feelings, while science deals with things as they are in
themselves, in a purely objective way. Science gives a
systematic and rational explanation of things. A scientist
while engaged in a scientific study may think of the
universe as a vast aggregation of phenomena to be examined,
catalogued and accounted for, but in everyday human dealings
he does not so think of it. He is a man like us. He feels
impressed by the mystery and beauty of life. This awareness
links him to the world of literature. And out of this mood
springs poetry. Science is thus the antithesis and the
complement of poetry.
The
truth of literature is different from the truth of science.
To a gardener a flower is a lily; to a botanist it is of the
order of Hexandria monogynia. To a poet it is the lady of
the garden. The function of the poetry is to awaken in us a
sense of beauty, a vivid sense of sweetness and splendour.
Science does not give us this intimate sense of wonder and
beauty. Its appeal is to the limited faculty of reasoning
and not to the whole man. Poetic truth is totally different
from the scientific truth. Poetic truth means fidelity to
our emotional apprehension of the facts of life, to the
impression, which they make upon us, to feeling, the
pleasure or pain, hope or fear, wonder or religious
reverence which they arouse. Poetic truth has a human value
whereas scientific truth is based on the rational
explanation of things. According to Wordsworth there is a
pleasure for a poet and for a man of science in the
knowledge they have gained. Knowledge is pleasure for both.
But the knowledge and pleasure for the man of science is
something individual, limited and a personal acquisition
whereas that of the poet is universal. The man of science
seeks truth as a remote and unknown benefactor.
poet sings a song and all human beings join with him.
Poetry
is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge. A poet will
follow the steps of man of science and will be at his side
and will add sensation to the objects of science. Wordsworth
does not hold that poetry will decline with the advance of
science. Poetry has the ability to forge a new idiom for
expressing new thoughts.
Mathew
Arnold has similar views about the future of poetry. Poetry
is worthy of high destinies. Mankind will find an ever-surer
stay in poetry. Poetry consoles us and sustains life.
Without poetry science will appear incomplete. Religion and
Philosophy will be replaced by poetry”. To conclude: “The
aim of science is to put, in ordered relations, the facts of
the physical world; poetry stresses the interpretation of
life in all its aspects which further quickens a wonder
world of mystery, spiritual consciousness, vastness and
beauty. The scientific attitude has influenced the minds of
the men of art in the last three centuries.
the process of
evolution continues. The universe is in a state of
flux.Ideas,values and attitudes change. Contemplation of the
universe inspired Tennyson to write:-
There
rolls the deep where grew the tree
O
Earth!what changes has thou seen!
There
where the long street roars,hath been
The
stillness of the Central Sea.
The
hills are shadows and they flow
From
form to form, and nothing stands;
They
melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like
clouds they shape themselves and go.
In
fact, humanism, religion, science & literature are
interrelated areas. If human life is to be tolerable and if
the world is to be happy, science, religion and literature
have to develop a harmonious working relationship. They can
make the triangle of harmony. The search for knowledge is
the concern of all. All share the fundamental experience of
how to be in love always and what to be in love with. This
is the crux of all creative endeavors.
References
1) “The
Ultimate belief”
- Arthur Clutton-brock.
2) “The
World of Dickens” Arthur Quiller- Couch.
3) “Shakespeare’s
England” Sir Walter Raleigh.
4) “History
of English Literature” Legouis and Cazamian.
5) “Selected
Essays” T.S.Eliot.
6) “Critical
approaches to
literature”
David Daiches.
7) “Literary
terms and
literary
theory”
J.A.Cuddon.
8) “Introduction
to the Study of Literature” W.H.Hudson.
9) “Essays
in Criticism” Mathew Arnold.
10)“Forster’s Humanism and the Nineteenth
century”
H.A.Smith.
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