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Book tackles science, spirituality issues |
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Saturday, 16 May 2009 |
By PAUL SIMS
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A Starkville resident who had been an agnostic for about 15 years recently published a book on his thoughts about how science and a spiritual world view can be compatible.
Joseph Schrock, who has lived in the area since 1977 and is an Aberdeen native, has been keeping a daily journal since about 1985. He obtained a philosophy degree from Mississippi State University in 1987.
He says he was really interested in mathematics and physics, especially math, and his interest in physics “sort of waned over the years.”
Around 2000, he began pursuing a mathematics undergraduate degree. Then, around 2001, he decided to try writing and wrote two manuscripts, one of which he hopes to publish eventually dealing strictly with spiritual issues. The second manuscript is now a published book.
Schrock chose the self-publishing route.
“I did not attempt to publish through a regular publisher because it’s so difficult for an author who has never published to get a foot in the door,” he said. “If you self-publish it, whether or not people buy the book will determine its success. The readers are the ones who are your judge ultimately in self-publishing,” Schrock said.
He began pursuing the math degree again in 2003 and “pretty much called it quits” around 2007, Schrock said. “I’ve pretty much set my heart on being an author – at least I can do something I can enjoy.”
The book is entitled “Metaphysics Reclaimed: How Religion and Science Can Be Partners.”
Schrock provided a synopsis of the book’s content.
“It is more or less a discussion of the fundamentals of science, logic and mathematics and how I regard these to be compatible with a spiritual world view,” Schrock said in providing a synopsis on the book. “It’s a highly philosophical approach to the fundamental principles of the fields of science and related issues.”
Schrock says: “If I wish for the book to have any impact, it would be to convince scientific thinkers that they can embrace both science and spirituality without conflict or contraction.”
He further explained his thoughts on the book.
“It is the fact that I believe science is an extremely important method for acquiring knowledge and it is highly valid. However, one does not have to reject spirituality or religion based on his conviction that the scientific method is valid,” Schrock said.
“The book emphasizes the primal importance of consciousness for humanity and for a proper world view. In modern science, consciousness is devalued as insignificant by the scientific materialist philosophy,” he said. “The materialist world view regards consciousness as an inconsequential artifact in the universe and I’m convinced that this is dead wrong.”
Schrock says he had been an agnostic for about 15 years. “In 1993, I became aware of a presence or reality that inspires individuals. This is perfectly in harmony with what a lot of religious mystics have reported experiencing,” Schrock said.
“ ... It is, in part, the project of this book to help relatively unbiased and moderately open-minded individuals to see the pure, pristine and clear vista of single-minded devotion to genuine reality and truth (truth being a much-disparaged and relativized concept in contemporary philosophy), such that they might perchance be infused with the glorious Divine Love and a profound inner peace that is grounded upon a confidence and faith in Ultimate Reality,” Schrock writes in the book’s preface.
The book was published through Dog Ear Publishing and is available at a large number of retail book outlets, he said. It is specifically available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders books. Plus, the Book Mart has the title available locally, Schrock said.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 May 2009 )
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