The first appears in a discussion between Robert Langdon and Ambra Vidal and the difference between patterns and codes. Langdon explains that patterns are "any distinctly organized system" and "occur everywhere in nature," whereas codes "must carry information" and "do more than simply form a pattern—codes must transmit data and convey meaning" (pg. 602) The implication being that patterns can be found in nature and form independently from the laws of nature while an intelligence must be behind codes. The discussion then turns towards DNA, which Langdon says is the paradox—is DNA just a pattern naturally found in nature or a code? Because DNA carries genetic data, Ambra excitedly offers, "You think DNA was created by an intelligence!" But Langdon's response offers a cautious yet meaningful disclaimer that I feel reflects my own personal feelings and point of view on the matter:
Langdon held up a hand in mock self-defense. "Easy tiger!" he said. "You're treading on dangerous ground. Let me just say this. Ever since I was a child, I've had the gut sense that there's a consciousness behind the universe. When I witness the precision of mathematics, the reliability of physics, and the symmetrics of the cosmos, I don't feel like I'm observing cold science; I feel as if I'm seeing a living footprint...the shadow of some greater force that is just beyond our grasp." (pg. 603)
The second occurs in a conversation between Langdon and Fr. Bena, a priest in charge of Sagrada Familia, while discussing a major new scientific discovery of sorts and the historical conflict between science and religion, which again reflects my own personal feelings and point of view on the matter:
"It is very obvious to me," Bena said as they walked, "that there is only one way Christianity will survive the coming age of science. We must stop denouncing provable facts. We must become a spiritual partner of science, using our vast experience—millennia of philosophy, personal inquiry, meditation, soul-searching—to help humanity build a moral framework and ensure that the coming technologies will unify, illuminate, and raise us up...rather than destroy us." (pg. 630)
At the end of this exchange, in discussing the concluding line from William Blake's work Vala, or The Four Zoas, "The dark religions are departed and sweet science reigns," which Fr. Bena has some trepidations displaying prominently in one of the most famous basilicas in the world, Langdon reassuringly suggests that the line could "just as easily say: 'Sweet science will banish the dark religions...so the enlightened religions can flourish'" (pg. 631). And I find myself holding onto the same hope.
For example, it brings to mind Stephen Hawking's answer to a question about technological advancements and 'technological unemployment':
If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.
In contrast, my heart burns for justice and equality, and recalls for inspiration and nourishment the words and actions of others whose hearts burn with the same fire, from labour organizers and socialists like Eugene Debs to spiritual teachers like Jesus, who, reading a scroll from the prophet Isaiah, summarized his own spiritual mission thusly:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19)
As well as the words of the apostle James, Jesus' younger brother:
Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure during the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. (James 5:1-6)
But only a mature and rational yet mystical (i.e., contemplative) religion has a chance to be this kind of voice, this 'spiritual partner' to science. And if it isn't, or can't evolve to be, then it's empty, hollow, and surely doomed to die, Christian or otherwise.
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