I have just finished reading James A. Michener’s book, Space . Published in 1982, the semi-historical novel follows the development of America’s space program from the acquisition of the German rocket scientists at Peenemünde in 1945 to the flyby of the planet Saturn by Voyager 1 in 1980. After the highly successful moon landings of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the public’s interest in science waned, and was replaced by a wide-spread return to fundamental religion. In my opinion it is regrettable that the interest in science was replaced ; I believe that science and religion can flourish in complementary harmony. The biblical writers were performing exactly the same sort of activities as those of today’s scientists. Using the resources at their command, they were looking at the ongoing flow of the Universe, and trying to make sense of it. Their tools for physical measurement consisted of a straight edge and a compass – there were no clocks, thermometers, or telescopes.
My alarm clock goes off every morning at eight, except for the few times when I have a breakfast date. Usually I wake up about an hour before that, or at least I partly wake up. It is important that I remain in a “not quite awake but not quite asleep” state, because I consider that time as the germination period for whatever seeds happen to have blown into my head.