EVER since man has started thinking and speaking his thoughts, there has been the inevitable question ‘Is there God’ if yes, where and if no, who is the master of all that is there in the Universe. We have these questions being raised by curious students in Upanishads and our seers answering them and urging them to go deeper and unravel the answer themselves. We went to the extent of calling ‘aham brahm asmi’ (I am or in me is god).
Peter Atkins is a stubborn atheist. He believes in the power of science to explain all that is mystery in the world and beyond. Says he in his latest book On being, A scientist’s explorations of the great questions of existence: “I stand by my claim that the scientific method is the only means of discovering the nature of reality, and although its current views are open to revision, the approach, making observations and comparing notes, will forever survive as the only way of acquiring reliable knowledge.”
Atkins also questions the need to have a reason for the existence of the universe. Why must we seek a reason, why can’t the universe be there just for the sake of it, he asks? “There is considerable grandeur, I think, in the presence of our spectacularly majestic universe just hanging there, wholly without purpose.”
He author discusses various concepts on beginning, death, creation, progression and destruction. He explains creationism, the antithesis of science. On the whole a thought-provoking book, especially if one is looking for non-religious explanations on the universe. Atkins is the author of 70 books and lectures all over the world.
-VN
(Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6DP)
