About Science Abbey
Any honest worldview today must be above sectarian ideologies. We all must be skeptical, unbiased observers and critical thinkers to look after ourselves and our loved ones. We each can be a benevolent part of our community and of the greater world as a whole including, of course, the natural environment; our forests, our water, our air.
Science Abbey is an East-meets-West forum for a secular global community. The Science Abbey perspective is evidence-based and examines the world’s spiritual traditions in the light of evolving contemporary knowledge and wisdom. Much of the world is ready for a global community based on secular meditation, holistic health, science, education, and an ethical framework of universal human rights.
Buddhism has nurtured this kind of skepticism and goodwill for several thousand years. The practice is epitomized in Japanese Soto Zen Buddhism. American Zen continues this tradition. We can hope to positively benefit the world by making our practice known to the local community and the world at large.
Note, this is not a Zen just for Americans, but this is a face of Zen that knows no national, racial, or religious bounds. It is a Zen for everybody. Old Zen, new Zen.
Indeed, this style of Zen is not just an American Zen: Buddhism has its roots in India, China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. America has its roots in the United Kingdom and the European continent, and in Freemasonry, the touchstone of Western mysticism and secular spirituality. This international Zen is a marriage of East and West: a global Zen.
This style of Zen is emerging from what is called Silent Illumination by the Soto Zen community, so it is properly called Illumination Meditation. This is Illuminati Zen.
Illuminati Zen is real. It’s a real thing. We have a real practice and it is far and above the best practice in the world today, all in all, and this is what we need to pass on to future generations for the welfare and enlightenment of the human race. So let’s do it – and let’s do it well.
The greatest benefit to all occurs when there is a free trade of ideas and goods. This is the importance of international organizations and institutions like the United Nations, World Bank, and World Economic Forum.
Buddhists should support these efforts just by keeping an eye on them, as through news on social media or elsewhere. We should be active members of the global community and represent our practice in places where people are educated or informed. Every Buddhist in every little town around the world should do this – reach out – connect – share ideas and practices.
As author of the Science Abbey content, I am just an advocate of meditation, science and global community. I am not a Zen priest. I am ordained as a layperson and I can say this about the priesthood: the priesthood is unlike any other role in society. The best priest doesn’t march around instructing people. The best priest retires and practices Illumination and a simple life. The people must go to the priest; not the other way around.
The Way of the Priest is to constantly turn inwards, to observe the inner self, not to remain looking outward at material things and matters of wealth, social standing, and pleasure. The priest sees and attends to these matters both from the self-centered point-of-view and the greater perspective of the whole cosmos. Laypeople should do this, too, but it is the speciality of the priest.
Visualize this:
Mathematics: the study of the most essential universal principles as they appear to the human mind.
Physics: the study of how those basic principles apply to the physical world, the realm of movement and time, of empty space, heat and light.
Chemistry: the study of the most fundamental elements of the physical universe, the building blocks of our world.
Astronomy: the study of the largest elements of the physical world, including the stars, the galaxies, the sun and the solar system that includes our planet, Earth.
Climatology and Meteorology: the studies of the interaction of the basic elements upon the planet Earth.
Biology: the study of all life upon the earth.
History, Government/Politics, Law, Sociology, Anthropology, Medicine, Psychology and so on, study the movements of the human beings upon the earth.
This is the importance of the sciences: such intellectual pursuits align the mind with reality, dispelling illusions along the way. A clear and complete worldview gives a necessary greater perspective. Along with the sciences, we also study the liberal arts as fundamental to human life.
Finally, the highest study has always been Religion which, according to an evidence-based worldview, must align with reality rather than tradition, speculation or imagination.
Whatever our religious affiliations and beliefs, we can see in current affairs that everyone must have religious freedom, and freedom of speech, as basic universal human rights. We have to behave civilly with our neighbors, embracing religious differences. The only thing that we cannot tolerate is intolerance.
This is a tit-for-tat game. The highest benefit occurs when all parties are cooperating instead of defecting. So, inter-religious dialogue is very important, and national laws should all support this process.
Science Abbey is centered around meditation, science and community: local community and global community, together as one. Working together we can do a lot more than anything we can do alone. Science Abbey is a forum for change – for advancement.
Anyone can benefit from supporting Science Abbey and taking advantage of its considerable resources. Please use it to educate yourself and those around you. Become a leader for the future of the world and realize in this life your full potential as a human being.