Customer Reviews

The Sacred Depths of Nature

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Few voices are as forceful or as eloquent as that of the convert. This account of personal awe in the face of Nature is a passionate example. From the centre of Christian America, Goodenough explains why ideas of divine forces driving Nature must be replaced. Her replacement, trying to mediate between "cold" science and misleading traditional dogma, is called "natural religion". Astonished by the wonders of cosmology and life, Goodenough became a scientist and shed her monotheistic background. What wasn't thrown out with the theology was her sense of wonder. Having once buried her head beneath a pillow out of despair over her inability to comprehend the cosmos, she relates how she emerged to study science. She chose biology, and it's well for us she did. Her description of protein construction is unmatched in science writing.

In this work, she opens at the beginning, explaining how physics underlies everything, including life. She relates how "life from non-life" can and does occur. She moves to a description of the origins and later development of life's processes. Cell mechanisms are portrayed. In this topic, she creates a wonderful idea - the Mozart Metaphor. We listen to a Mozart sonata with a sense of awe and veneration. Those feelings, she urges, aren't diminished by the knowledge that the music is reducible to blobs of ink on a page. Any musician can read those dots and restore the wonder by playing the music. In life, our knowledge of life's processes doesn't diminish the marvel of them. Goodenough translates that feeling into a "Mystery" which she wishes to share. If you need to understand how much of life functions, but fear abandoning "traditional" beliefs, this book is a fine first step.

A second step is one Goodenough regrettably omits. While her "natural religion" comes accompanied by a wealth of poetic, Biblical and other religious messages, the voice of science itself is silent in this book. Charles Darwin's own "grandeur of this view of life" is a serious omission in a book so descriptive of evolution. While some would resist pairing Darwin with Mozart, the evolutionist's reach extends beyond our tiny world. The same is unlikely to be the case for the composer. It's not enough to turn what science has shown us about life into a new "faith". Practitioners of science deserve hearing, especially when an author is speaking in their name. The information she uses has taken many years, much hard work and no little inspiration. Goodenough might have given that foundation a bit more ink. Some fine chapter illustrations grace the text, but the bibliography is limited. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

"But there must be something more" is a common refrain among those who believe that science robs the world of its meaning; those who cannot countenance that we are ultimately elaborate biochemical reactions, that life emerged from non-life, that stars are nuclear furnaces, that the universe began with a Big Bang. Ursula Goodenough answers this refrain with compassion, patience, poetry, and above all, a command of science and a gift for communicating its achievements and its excitement. In "The Sacred Depths of Nature", Ursula Goodenough, a research biologist, presents a series of meditations on the mysteries of nature. She argues passionately that there are mysteries aplenty within us and about us, and that we needn't invent a supernatural realm. How can one contemplate the exquisite workings of a signal transduction cascade within a living cell, or the grandeur of stellar evolution, or the complexity of biological evolution without a sense of awe? As Carl Sagan was fond of pointing out, these stories have far greater richness and beauty than do any religious myths, no matter how richly embellished.

As Ms. Goodenough amply demonstrates in this unique little book, science needn't be devoid of awe; its language needn't be dry and unpoetic; its students needn't be deprived of feeling. In fact, quite the contrary. The intricacy and grandeur or nature, as revealed by science, is every bit as awe-inspiring as the greatest religious myths; indeed, even more so. Ms. Goodenough argues that understanding life is like understanding a Mozart sonata. As she puts it, "The biochemistry and biophysics are the notes of life; they conspire, collectively, to generate the real unit of life, the organism."

Building on this theme, each chapter explores some aspect of biology, embracing the intrinsic beauty of some complex process, never shying away from accurate terminology, and always employing apt metaphors and analogies that make the concepts accessible to virtually anyone. For example, as Ms. Goodenough explains, "Patterns of gene expression are to organisms as melodies and harmonies are to sonatas. It's all about which sets of proteins appear in a cell at the same time (the chords) and which sets come before or after other sets (the themes) and at what rate they appear (the tempos) and how they modulate one another (the developments and transitions)." Each chapter ends with "reflections", in which the author grants herself greater poetic license to interpret the lessons of the chapter in a personal way, and to explore common intuitions about life, even as they have been sanctified in religious rituals. In one such reflection, Ms. Goodenough's declares "I have come to understand that the self, my self, is inherently sacred. By virtue of its own improbability, its own miracle, its own emergence."

Even if the reader does not come away with the same sense of awe at the workings of nature as the author, there is one observation that will surely be impressed upon him/her; that it is indeed possible for a scientist, a reductionist, a non-believer, to be filled with wonder, gratitude, and awe. These things are not antithetical to science; for some, they are integral to science. Those of us who are scientists typically have appreciated this fact in some way since childhood, although perhaps not as poetically or poignantly as Ms. Goodenough. For those who insist that there must be something more, Ms. Goodenough's reflections may begin to persuade you that there is wonder enough within a single cell to rival any liturgy, and any cathedral. How can anyone who even begins to grasp their inner workings ask for more?

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to appreciate the poetry and awe of science. It takes a small but significant step toward bridging a chasm between science, which is too often perceived as suffocatingly impersonal and dispassionate, and the sacred, which is mistaken for the exclusive domain of religion. My hat is off to Ursula Goodenough. I suspect that she will help to bring a good many talented young people into science who may not have otherwise ventured to go there, and just as importantly, help to remove some of the stigma associated with science and its practitioners.

This book is a gem. Not only are the science passages an exquisite introduction to astronomy, cell biology (Goodenough's field of expertise), and evolution, but her reflections on the meaning she personally derives from such knowledge leave the reader yearning for more. Her passage on the meaning of death--indeed, a celebration of death, for the kind of life and love only it can call forth--is unsurpassed by all the outpourings of those who have ever written on this subject from the standpoint of the humanities. Most poignant are the places in which Goodenough transcends the innate human urge to find (or make) meaning--when she surrenders to the purest of all religious responses: simple assent. Taking science as far as it can go toward understanding the cosmos, life, and consciousness, she is moved by the wonder of it all to demand no more insight. She is fully, intimately, restfully at home in the universe, in her version of divinity: the sacred depths of nature. At these moments of surrender, the words she offers bring tears to this reader's eyes in their spare beauty. And then, able to draw no more from either the science or her own soul, she offers up a poem or psalm from various of the world's wisdom traditions. Some day, some day, this reader hopes--centuries from now, at best--a new wisdom tradition expressed in the time-tested artisty of poems and psalms will have emerged for those, like Goodenough, on the path of religious naturalism. But the words that will be metered will not be limited to those of Lao Tsu or the Hebrew sages. They will be drawn from the revered works of Eiseley, Leopold, and Goodenough.

This book is a series of meditations. Each one begins with a well-informed, concise lecture on some aspect of biology. These come together for a charming overview of the subject actually; you can tell that she loves biology and you can feel why.

Then, she shifts directly into spiritual reflection. Surprisingly, she was just as insightful in this area! She really has deeply considered the spiritual significance of biology, and her insights were inspiring and refreshing for me. She doesn't over-extend herself either; even as someone with a world-class education in philosophy and religion I found no weaknesses in her thought (and that is very, very unusual).

Whether you are depressed by or afraid of science and naturalism, or if you are in love with them, this is a beautiful, profound (yet simple) book for you.

Famous astrophysicist Fred Hoyle once said: "I have always thought it curious that, while most scientists claim to eschew religion, it actually dominates their thoughts more than it does the clergy." Ursula Goodenought is certainly amongst them! She is an international recognized cell biologist. Her book "The Sacred Depths of Nature," is a positive constructive contribution to the dialogue between science and religion, a bridge that brings reason and faith together. Using a simple (crash course in life sciences), direct style, and beautiful metaphors she explains the origins of live, evolution, sex, sexuality, cosmos, consciousness and death. Each chapter is divided into two sections: first, she stretches scientific explanations as far as she can possible go, and then she goes into a metaphysical meditation, into the Mystery of existence. Mystery is the realm beyond science, the home of emotions, wonder, gratitude, joy and awe, elicited by the beauty of nature, by Mozart's music, by hymns, prayers, and liturgy. The beauty of Goodenough is that she rejects nihilism, her scientifc mind answers "What," without bothering to answer "Why!" She emancipates herself by means of a "covenant with Mystery," whereby scientific knowledge brings hope and solace.

This is indeed a most beautiful approach to both science and metaphysics, an attempt to work in unison in the quest to understand the Mystery. The mathematical quest to understand infinity parallels mystical attempts to understand God. There is no claim to supplant existent traditions but a plight for coexistence between science and religion. Many universities and theological institutions now offer courses interfacing science and religion. As Stephen Jay (President of AAAS - American Association for the Advancement of Science) said: "Science and religion should be equal, mutually respecting partners, each the master of its own domain and each domain vital to human life in a different way."

Goodenough touches on the concept of planetary ethic rooted in a universal religion based on scientific knowledge. It is a utopian concept in a world characterized by significant social and economical differences and where only a tiny minority has access to advanced levels of education. But merit goes to her, for having brought some light at the end of the tunnel!

I found this book deeply thoughtful and greatly moving. Since reading it whenever I see a picture of the Earth from space I am filled with great awe and love. The wording is slightly advanced but if you understand what an amoebae is you will do ok. I recommend this for those who ask "What purpose do you find in life without a "God"? ". I also recommend for those that want to connect to every other life-form on this Mother Earth.

This book comes closer than any other religious or philosophical meditation I have read to achieving some of art's most exalted functions -- to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable and to give voice to possibilities of response that may otherwise be only dimly perceived. How to sacralize the world, perceived and understood with rigorous intellectual honesty in light of the progressing, recondite complexities of modern science, is a matter that calls to us at the core of our humanity, at the places where rationalism quails at what is impenetrable but nevertheless, for many of us, simply will not be silenced. We must feel at home in the world; we must find motivation and meaning; we have no choice but to seek the solace, somehow, that religions have traditionally provided; but we will not -- cannot -- cashier our intellects for any end, even these.

This book shows how we can respond, to our depths, with vibrant emotional intensity to the beauty of nature perceived through that most complex of our senses, our intelligence itself, and then say, yes, I affirm my place here, on this planet, at this time, a uniquely complex child of the universe in thrilling communion with what has made me. It does so by offering rigorously accurate, beautifully written, fully reductionistic accounts of the scientific story of the evolution of the the universe and life on earth, as well as life as it now works, followed by reflections that tie those accounts to the author's religious responses. Her reflections draw on traditional religious frameworks, particularly Christianity, but are not tied to those frameworks and do not require, or sponsor, standard or accepted religious beliefs as a basis for seeking or appreciating the power and depth of religion's draw.

While the author, who is a respected molecular and cell biologist and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, is not a theist, she feels a deep kinship for the need of traditional believers for religious connection that is repelled by unemotional rationalism of the kind that has come to be associated (perhaps unfairly) with classic humanism and "mechanistic" science. She does not insult such believers, does not say that there is something wrong with their heart's desire, and beautifully respects their traditions even while honestly and clearly disagreeing with significant parts of their doctrines and opening up whole vistas of scientific understanding and exploration. In short, I believe this book will help many down the long road to understanding the true magic of their existence and the necessity of preserving that which makes it possible.

It is refreshing to find a brilliant scientist who is willing to turn nature into poetry and spirituality. It shouldn't matter if you are an atheist or a deist, the description of the common bonds we have with the earth and the different species of the animal kingdom brings tears to your eyes. At the same time, we can have reverence and feeling for the profound desires of humans to communicate and feel intimacy with God who may well be a metaphor for the beauty of the gorgeous biological process.

I found myself saying, "Yes, this is what I feel, too." Thank you Ms. Goodenough for your gift of explanation, your kind understanding of the need for religious belief, and your uncompromising acceptance that there is probably no more reason for humanity's existence than there is for a fruitfly's. But we are AWARE of our existence and can ponder it. And for that I am as profoundly grateful to nature and evolution as Ms. Goodenough is. This is a must read for thoughtful people. Also try "Unweaving the Rainbow" by Richard Dawkins for a more unflinchingly atheistic view of existence. Excellent boo k.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I like the layout, with the science first and then the religion, as it were. The science was very pleasant to read, and the reflections were thought-provoking, though in my case Ursula is preaching to the choir to a large extent. I was a little disconcerted by the use of Christianity as a point of reference in many of the discussions, but I suppose a point of reference needs to be familiar to the majority of people (at least, in some areas of the world), and since the ultimate message of the book is environmental, I can't complain about that. I especially like the final section (appendix?) on Emergent Religious Principles, as it brought together many of the themes in a nicely compact fashion, and Patterson's drawings are a nice complement to the text. (On a technical note, a couple of the longer figure captions seem to have been truncated, but this will be fixed, I'm told, in the second printing.)

I'll have to read it again (and certainly intend to do so) to get the most out of it, and I'll be recommending it to people who I think will appreciate it. (My parents? Hmmm... We'll have to see.)

It strikes me that the book would be a natural for a course on science and religion, particularly where religious naturalism fits into the scheme of things.