R Chandrasoma

In the world of physical knowledge an overarching law is that called the Second Law of Thermodynamics (The Law of Increasing Entropy) which says that in a closed physical system, disorder or chaoticity alone can increase with the passage of time. Any overall initial organization can only weaken as the system ages. Note the important caveat – given by the words ‘overall’ and ‘closed’. Within a closed system there can be subsystems that are anti-entropic – in which order increases at the expense of the general trend of disorder in the system as a whole. Life – and living systems – are oases of ant-entropic complexity in a physical universe that is running down. Indeed, this is the striking fact – that life (and complexity in general) has prevailed in a universe governed by physical laws that do not give any hint of this potential. The rise of complexity and organization in a universe governed by physical laws that predict the very opposite is the central mystery of the universe as we know it. To suggest (as does Prof. Suwanda H J Sugunasiri in a recent contribution to LankaWeb) that perishibility and decay constitute the essence that unites science and religion is a misdirection in both areas of knowledge. Let us note, first, that religion and science are ‘non-overlapping magisteriaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and the concepts of the one are not readily transferable to the other. Thus, the three cardinal attributes of all that exists are anicca, anatta and dukkha according to the grounding metaphysics of Buddhism. Of these, the first (anicca – the process or fluxional nature of all aspects of nature) and the second (anatta – the denial of enduring essences) can link with basic notions of science such as system dynamicity and integration – but dukkha is a purely religious term and hinges upon the metaphysical reaction of a conscious agent to the inexorably fluxional nature of things and events. When the Buddha reflected sadly on the fact that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”all component things are subject to decayƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ he did not have in mind the Law of Increasing Entropy ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” he alluded to the fact that the Eternal must be Unchanging and final ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”releaseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of a karmic being comes with the total cessation of the Birth-Death cycle that enslaves us. (Nirvana). This vision goes well beyond science and its understanding of the dynamics of change. The numinous is categorically different from the mundane.

Let me conclude with a few words about the metaphysics of decay that is hugely over-emphasized in ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”popularƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ versions of Buddhism. It is true that we are finite beings living briefly and, perhaps, dying ingloriously. Yet there is burgeoning and beauty in nature that briefly defies the universal law of decay. A beautiful flower, a young prancing animal or a haunting melody bespeak of an aspect of nature that rises above the ugly reality of time and decay. Its brevity and transience does not diminish its importance as a glorious aspect of the puzzling reality in which we are trapped as mortal beings. This must be celebrated even when the metaphysics of sorrow seem to overwhelm us.