VII The ‘Religion’ of the Modern Age

The ‘Religion’ of the Modern Ag Thus, according to Dr. Carrel’s diagnosis, the causes of human suffering stem from the fact that the sciences of inanimate matter have become far more developed than the science of man, which is still in a rudimentary state. He sees this as one of the greatest catastrophes ever suffered by humanity. If black, malodorous charcoal can be converted into lovely colour, and ungainly lumps of iron into shapely, moving machines, man and his society can also, by the help of science, become a burgeoning orchard. I again quote Dr. Carrel: We are the victims of the backwardness of the sciences of life over those of matter. The only possible remedy for this evil is a much more profound knowledge of ourselves. Such a knowledge will enable us to understand by what mechanisms modern existence affects our consciousness and our body. We shall thus learn how to adapt ourselves to our surroundings, and how to change them should a revolution become indispensable. In bringing to light our true nature, our potentialities, and the way to actualize them, this science will give us the explanation of our physiological weakening, and of our moral and intellectual diseases. We have no other means of learning inexorable rules of our organic and spiritual activities, of distinguishing the prohibited from the lawful, of realizing that we are not free to modify, according to our fancy, our environment and ourselves. Since the natural conditions of existence have been destroyed by modern civilization, the science of man has become the most necessary of all sciences. (pp. 38-39) What is the way to acquire this science? We learn each year that tremendous progress has been made in eugenics, statistics, ethics, biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, medicine, hygiene, sociology, economics and so on. But for all practical purposes, their results are not very important. This may seem very surprising. Indeed, it is, and this is because, as Carrel puts it: “These sciences will be utilizable only if, instead of being buried in libraries, they animate our intelligence.”