Unfortunately, today we live in a world that would make George Orwell squirm and tremble.  As I write, many have been lulled into a full acceptance of a thought police regime ruled over by a set of rigid rules established and known as political correctness.  Sadly, it is so powerful and pervasive that it has permeated and infected science as well.  While the robed officials of religion had a lock on such ideological slavery centuries ago, at least the philosophy of science came along and corrected some of the madness inflicted by the religious elite.  Were it not for the likes of Martin Luther who rescued the minds that genuinely sought faith and set billions of human seekers free from the political taskmasters of the Holy See, now science is likewise plague-ridden with the same ideological rigidity that ruined religion.  And even more profoundly sad, even the revolution of Martin Luther has fallen into the same unbending malaise from which it came.  All in all – we live in a virtual sewer of intellectual freedom and understanding in nearly every philosophical discipline.  Sadly, many accept it as ‘the norm’.  In the words of Shakespeare’s Prince in Romeo and Juliet, because of our lack of response and due attention to our intellectual heritage, “All are punished!”

I open this discussion in this way because of the rampant ignorance of the process of human thought once called “philosophy”.  It is rarely taught in schools and universities that much more resemble trade schools rather than institutes of actual ‘universal’ learning.  We have awoken in the 21^st century given over to university graduates who really only know their narrowly defined trades and little more.  It is no wonder that we are so inflicted with such madness in our culture because so much has been lost and on any given day we awaken to powerful men and women trying to remake a world with little or no knowledge of the science and heritage of human thought and who are largely bereft of all that we have learned in the millennia before. 

For example, I am compelled to write this introduction to these books I have written because in the rather astonishing ignorance of our day, it is actually considered odd that a scientist would break out of his narrow line of diurnal employment and dare to speak of the elements of his faith.  The bondage is rigid and freedoms or real expression without penalty are nearly gone.  Further, somehow scientists who are also outspoken in their faith are considered largely to be ‘non-scientific’ and therefore do not make the grade of the politically correct thought police.  In short – they are mostly shunned.  Hence, if a scientist wishes to voice his faith, he already knows he will likely be unceremoniously rejected.  It has happened to me personally and professionally on several occasions.  Each time I am stunned at the real power manifested by the obliviousness of the act and the shameless confession of a total disregard for our philosophical heritage.  Yes – it actually does have real power.  Even ignorance has the capacity to destroy.  Ignorance is the worst taskmaster.

But human power centers typically repeat the destructive forces that were once released upon them.  For example – when science was in its infancy, the religious often mercilessly persecuted them.  Today science turns the table on persons of faith.  Just as they were persecuted – now they persecute with the same level of and degree of ignorance, absolutely confusing their position of political correctness with actual wisdom and knowledge.  Said Albert Einstein, “Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory.”

And thus there is a greater reality to consider.  In the end, in the true reality, both science and all aspects of faith are defined in their totality by philosophical constructs, period.  If both sets of cheerleaders truly understood this, both groups would have no choice but to back off and consider their own precarious positions.  Both are merely philosophical paradigms and nothing more.  Neither are sacrosanct on their own.  Only actual truth empowers both.  Both define ‘truth’ in a relative sense – in that the final arbitration of ‘truth’ depends on actual real evidence.  Even the Apostle Paul – a man deeply educated in the classic philosophical arts – conceded that point when he said, “Now faith is… the evidence of things not seen.”  Paul here concedes that his faith requires some kind of evidence, even if it is defined by his faith. 

It seems counterintuitive – but it is not – that ‘real evidence’ in science is even more difficult to come by than in matters of faith.  Indeed, the founders of modern science ingeniously built that absolute invariant uncertainty into their philosophic equation.  Science is therefore different than faith in that faith requires absolutes apprehended by the evidence of faith.   In stark contrast, science allows for continuous change in an evolving pool of evidence that points toward successively larger truth.  In effect, science is a philosophy constructed to disprove and correct itself, while ‘religion’ would seem to hang itself on the inevitable snare of claiming the market on absolute truth. This would seem to be ‘religions’ ultimate downfall and for those who believe this – it certainly is.  However, true people of faith understand quite the opposite comprises the day-to-day reality.  They understand that life is a convoluted journey and if there is any expectation day to day – it is learning from the past and correcting the course to the very end, just like their scientific brethren, pointing toward a successively larger truth.  In Christianity this process is called “sanctification”.

One of the most influential men of faith in human history – was also one of its most respected scientists.  Sir Isaac Newton said, as he walked his pathway to eternity, “I don't know what I may seem to the world, but as to myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

This genius in every sense realized that his path both as a scientist and a man of the deepest kind of faith, was one of constant learning and that the wealth of knowledge available to him was so vast that he would never grasp its fullest extent, much less claim any mastery of it at all. 

A good example of how the toxic effects of know-all-things hubris comes into play in both philosophies is over the understanding of ‘evolution’.  Science makes the astonishingly outrageous claim that the process of evolution of the species is not only fully understood - but settled.  Forget the fact that no living scientist can even begin to describe in any detail the most basic biochemical process of this in the sub-nuclear regions in which it actually takes place.  It is as though they have seen the Hobbit series so many times, they have finally declared it a documentary.  And on the other side, ‘religion’ makes the equally astonishing counter claim that ‘evolution’ is a fairy tale.  Forget the fact that the ongoing process of biological evolution of viral species is so settled that these species’ evolutionary changes are actually mapped at the genetic level.  It is as though the religious zealots have thus declared the earth is flat - and never mind the maps!  Both sides are actually arrogant enough to have claimed absolute superiority of knowledge and cornered a truth that has never existed.  Worse still – they teach their adherents their own version of the same worn out fabrications dressed in their individual half-witted brand of counterfeit philosophies.  And their adherents dully nod, jot it perpetually in their thoughts and without deliberately seeking out the inevitable flaws for themselves and then blithely move on having been tattooed with yet another infrangible ‘truth’. 

It occurs to me that the humility of Isaac Newton was ensured by his actual grasp of his carefully understood limits of his philosophical whole.   Isaac Newton was quite at home in his world embracing both science and faith even on a limited basis – because to him, they were both conjoined in a broad reaching philosophical whole that defined exactly who he was and specifically identified his role and ultimate purpose in it all.  It actually functioned quite well despite his politically incorrect confession of a lack of total universal knowledge of all things.  They were not only totally compatible but also synergistic.  The fact that Isaac Newton was a world class scientist also made him a more powerful man of faith – and likewise, the fact that he was a profoundly strong of man of faith – made him a more powerful and competent scientist. 

This all came together in him because, in part, he had a comprehensive education and knowledge of the process of human thought – at that time taught as preeminent essential disciplines in all universities of higher knowledge.  Indeed, one could not call oneself educated without that in-depth knowledge.  Hence, the highest education degrees conferred then and today are called, “PhD” or – “Doctor of Philosophy”.

And so it is as I write and publish these works as a scientist, engineer and man of faith – I do so completely at ease with who I am and the ultimate consistency of my deepest philosophy of being. 

As you read these works, please be aware that I do not fit into anyone’s box by design.  I can say that I am a Christian, and that is all.  I claim no denomination as my own.  In fact, these books are all about freedom from titles and denominations and every doctrine of bondage, both scientific and religious.  I share these works with you so that you can consider your own freedom:  free from the self-appointed religious authorities, from the high priests of science, from the thought police and the politically correct world that enslaves so many.  And as you read, read carefully and compare the dates and see how my own journey has evolved over the years.

I am a scientist.  I am an engineer.  I am an explorer.  I am also a person of faith.  They are entirely consistent.  Indeed, one cannot exist with full integrity without the other.  They build upon one another and make each stronger.  Without my faith - the rest would be empty, futile and; in the end, terribly meaningless.   And without my science, I would understand nothing of the world I was created to change.

And so I leave you with this thought my dear reader – leave this page in freedom, leave in peace and leave with a mind that you belong only to your Creator and no other human has a claim on you or your thoughts whatever direction they choose to take you.   Free your mind, free yourself, and thus fulfill your destiny.

 Dennis Chamberland