The Porous Boundary Between Science And The Mysterious

"Sometimes things seem to happen for a reason. Some people call these events happy coincidences, others call them the work of God, or of many gods, while yet others see them as manifestations of one's karma."

"I prefer the happy-coincidence choice, finding supernatural maneuvering a far-fetched hypothesis. In fact, the whole notion of a supernatural influence doesn't quite make sense, at least from a scientific perspective. After all, an "influence" denotes a physical occurrence or an event. And an occurrence is something that happens in the physical world through some kind of energy exchange. Any kind of energy exchange or force is very natural and requires a very natural cause. In other words, as soon as the supernatural becomes physical enough to be noticed or detected in some way, it can't remain supernatural anymore. A 'supernatural influence' is an oxymoron. At most, it could mean something currently beyond our scientific understanding."

"That said, there have been a few events in my life that defy logical explanation; or, at any rate, that defy any logical explanation that I can come up with. Although my position may sound somewhat shocking — especially coming from a scientist — to those who bet on our ability to explain everything, I'd argue that some things are unexplainable. In fact, I'll go further and argue that the unexplainable — to be distinguished from the not-yet-explained, which is the province of science — is unavoidable. And should be welcomed."