Abstract

My paper aims to discuss the approach between the mystic’s experience and the experiment of the scientist. The mystic experience is closer to what is proper to the scientific experiment: both are, finally, ways of tryout. This also means that both are ways to come closer to a deeper understanding of Reality. Raising the problem of the relation between religion and science requires a series of precautions, especially related to the underlying meanings of what we call “religion” or “science”. What is meant by religion and religious? The terms are too vague, and on the other hand, the differences among religions are so important that it is almost impossible to use the term religion without an abstract meaning. Even the overall invocation of Christianity is improper, as the report of Eastern Christianity to the Western, one reveals different perspectives on some issues that determine the relationship with science. There must be also taken into account the history of the religious doctrines after Enlightenment, as they underwent secular influences that sometimes left tracks in their discourse, the most aggressive factor being the ideological one. And when speaking about the possibility of religion getting open to science it is necessary to specify what type of religious discourse is concerned. Since a generic report of religion to science is slippery, we should rather count on the identification of those types of religious experience and of those religious horizons that can offer a real openness to science. These statements are also true for science: for such a dialogue, there is need of identifying those aspects of science that are not contaminated by ideology or by assumptions alien to its experimental nature.