Remembering Galileo And Stephen Hawking, Rationalists With A Scientific Temperament, In Times Of Unreasoning

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 8 January 2024 “I had no desire to share the fate of Galileo, with whom I feel a strong sense of identity, partly because of the coincidence of having been born exactly 300 years after his death!” ― Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time By the way, Stephen Hawking was born on January 8, 1942 and Galileo died on January 8, 1642! (Left Stephen Hawking, Right Galileo ---- Both the geniuses were rationalists with a scientific temperament. In fact, if a person is a rationalist, he's endowed with a scientific temperament. Hawking was a complete non-believer whereas Galileo was an agnostic who said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use " and, ''There are those who reason well, but they are greatly outnumbered by those who reason badly.” Yes, the world is full of those who reason badly and whose reasoning is perennially flawed. Just ponder the life of Stephen Hawking, who spent most of his life on a wheelchair. Yet, his spirit remained indomitable till he breathed his last. Never did he read the Bible or pray to an imaginary god for some relief and respite in his terribly handicapped existence. Nor did he curse himself for the supposed bad karmas (!) in the previous birth/s just the way, majority of indoctrinated easterners believe. Rather, he chose to contemplate on the enigmas and imponderables of the Universe but never dwelt upon the inanities of god and idiocy of hell, heaven and Afterlife. Stephen Hawking's whole life is a living example of a well-lived life sans god, faith and books. The same can be said about Galileo who whispered before death, "I don't know whether there's a god. But I know that I found fault with his book." This is unwavering faith in oneself that needs no bolstering from any damn god, scripture or faith. Today, when reasoning has completely gone from the lives of most of the humans across the globe, when people still believe that a bearded sadist, called god, is angrily looking at us even when we innocuously ogle at a lovely damsel or a well-hung beef-cake, the exemplary lives of these two mavericks Hawking and Galileo become even more awe-inspiring and relevant. But can minds, still stuck in the bygone eras of Ramayana, Mahabharata, Ten Commandments and the desert of Arabia, think like these fearless greats? Impossible. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/galileo-hawking-times-unreasoning/d/131472 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism