From the time the first human looked up to the night sky with wonder, science and mysticism have been incontrovertably linked. Today as always, there are questions to which both scientists and mystics seek the answer - "How and why are we here and where are we going?", "What is the nature of the universe?", "What happened at the moment the universe was created?".

So, why, when we Yogi-types think of 'science', do we immediately tend to think of all things 'anti-nature' and therefore anti-mysticism?

In Western civilization, we can go back to the time of the Greek philosphers to see the origins of the schism between mystic and scientific thought. Plato was a proponent of the theory that all true knowledge comes from within, while Aristotle proposed that empirical evidence was needed to 'prove' that what we thought was true in our mind was really true in the physical world.

The Aristotlian view, combined with the Cartesian separation of 'matter' from 'mind', has enabled scientists to be extremely successful in describing certain phenomenon in nature in terms of predictable laws using repeatable experiments. We see this culminating in our scientifically based society where any concept of 'God' may seem muddled by our ability (for example) to manipulate the human genome.

Most Eastern schools of thought did not see a dichotomy between mysticism and science. Their inquiries into the deeper nature of existence resulted in the direct experience that everything in the universe is connected in a basic way to everything else, the scientific method included.

In the last century, the dual discoveries of the Theory of Relativity and the advent of Quantum physics have once again brought synergies between science and mysticism back into Western thought. Physicist, founder of quantum theory and 1922 Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr so identifed with these synchronicities that when he was knighted in Denmark, he chose the Tao Yin/Yang symbol for his coat-of-arms!

Remember the Zen koan, "If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one there to see it, did it really fall?" According to the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics espoused by Niels Bohr, the answer may be both yes, no, and everything in between! While there is no observer, all possibilities still exist for the tree. When there is an observer, the outcome of the question is altered by the method in which the event is observed.

Students of Yoga know that holding onto a particular perception and viewing it as reality keeps you in the illusion that your perceptions are reality. Many scientists, when confronted by phenomenon in the 'new physics' have shifted their perception dramatically from the view of a mechanistic universe to that of a participatory one.

Fueling this train of thought is a mathematical proof of Quantum physics known as Bell's Theorem, which shows that the universe is connected at a fundamental level. In fact, every particle in the universe is in faster-than-light communication with every other particle in the universe!

The concept that we are all connected at the most basic level is not an unfamiliar one to practicing Yogi's. To have it proven mathematically and with replicable experiments may seem superfluous to an adept. Yet, it is wise to remember that there are many paths to enlightenment.

The theme of inter-relatedness extends to Big Bang Theory, (where the entire universe rapidly manifests from the explosion of a 'nugget' with a density so great that it defies descriptive language in other than mathematical terms).

Physicist John Gribbon describes the universe at about a hundreth of a second before Big Bang occurs, then states, "The atoms in my body are made of particles that once jostled in close proximity in the cosmic fireball with particles that are now part of a distant star...indeed, the particles that make up my body once jostled in close proximity and interacted with the particles that now make up your body." (In Search of Schrodinger's Cat, Bantam Books,1984, p. 229)

So, how does the 'new physics' address quandries such as those in the first paragraph? You'd have to read a good deal more about recent developments than can be relayed in this article, and it's somewhat of a moving target, as new theories replace outmoded ones. Perhaps science cannot ultimately provide the answer to many basic human questions. However, like many a journey, the ride, and not the destination is 'the thing', and there is much wonder and beauty to be experienced along the way, whatever path is taken.

Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (Shambhala Publications, 2000) - Parallels the world of Taoism, Confucianism and Hinduism to principles of modern physics. Originally published in 1974 and revised for the millenium, this is a classic.

Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters - An Overview of the New Physics (Bantam Books, 1979). Author of the more recent best-seller, Seat of the Soul, Zukav presents truly understandable explanations of the new physics in a Zen-like manner, admirably side-stepping the need to draw conclusions!

Brian Greene, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. (Vintage Books, 2000) Comprehensible overview of recent developments in Quantum Mechanics, Big Bang, Super String and M-Theories. Enough technical information for the more scientifically inclined reader, but understandable to the layman. Real beauty in descriptions of superstrings.