Great Construction

The Frightening Superstition That Is Science


     These days science is extolled to the hilt and nothing is considered anything unless it has the stamp of science. Human beings have become the slaves of science. Is this truly the way the world should be? Can all our problems be solved exclusively by science? When we think of the possibility of society becoming peaceful, happy, and good through the power of science, there is much that just does not make sense. We do not even have to entertain the possibility that happiness, humankind’s greatest wish, can be had with the power of science alone, because, in fact, the opposite is true. The more science progresses, the more unhappiness seems to increase.
     Some would like to think that religion is a solution to our problems, but as we look at the world about us, we see that not much can be expected from that direction. It is quite clear that the number of unhappy people greatly exceeds that of happy ones. All that can be done is to be resigned to the fact that the possibility of happiness, even after a lifetime of struggle, is simply the dream of fools. Most individuals live aimlessly one day at a time bound in the ropes of both suffering and joy. A new, great power of salvation, greater than either religion or science, must appear.
     Look at the issue from a different perspective. The wonders of our world today are breathtaking, for which we must thank the progress of science. That we are absolutely certain the continued development of science will lead to great happiness for all humanity is our current situation. Whether in the newspapers, magazines, or on the radio, people nowadays will not believe in anything unless it has the imprint of material science. To turn a phrase from a period in Japanese history to describe the present, “if it is not science, it is not civilization,” such has science assumed an almost divine mantle. But I have come to learn that most of science is superstition, and although there are some who may doubt the soundness of my thinking, I am confident that if you read my explanation to the very end, you cannot help but nod in agreement.
     It is truly terrifying that as a result of people’s religious belief in the omnipotence of science, our world has progressed so far without understanding the distinction between the problems that material science can solve and those that it cannot. People today are not aware of the breakdown that has come about, and it is quite distressing that the world has come to an impasse, simply floundering in chaos. Let me mention the issues that material science cannot resolve: health, morals, art, human love, and happiness.
     As far as health is concerned, human beings were not fashioned by science, so it is an error to try to cure disease through the application of science. I teach about this principle at length elsewhere, so I will not go into it here. Morals deal with spiritual aspects, so they have nothing to do with science. Put in scientific terms, morals are the product of ideas that are inherently formless. People think they can do whatever they want as long as they do not impinge on or can evade the forms called statues and laws that human beings have created, so we can see why all around us scandals of corruption in politics and business continue on end. That the arts and science have no connection is also so clear as to make an explanation unnecessary. Science may contribute indirectly to the arts but not enough to matter. Romantic love has the least of all to do with science. That man loves woman and woman loves man has been predestined since antiquity. Science has nothing whatsoever to add.
     Happiness is an important issue, however, which deserves attention. Science has been seen as the primary condition for happiness, but science is not everything. Science has only had a supplementary effect, and it has been our shortcoming to think that science could contribute completely to happiness. Bewitched by science, people assumed that happiness would naturally follow scientific development. But the reality has been that happiness has not accompanied science, rather science has led to the increase of unhappiness.
     Accompanying the growth of industry, for example, the lives and behavior of human beings have become mechanized, their daily lives have lost joy, and people now live merely to work, hounded within a truly colorless environment. Some workers may even lose their lives, in addition to the threat of disease, the unease that stems from general economic conditions, difficulties in making and maintaining a livelihood, and the fear of war that all face. Recently the world has witnessed an astonishing event, the development of the hydrogen bomb. This invention surpasses anything that humanity could ever have imagined and we feel we are truly in the center of a cauldron of strife, threatened with destruction. Science seems to have reached the peak of its progress. In such a state, winding the earth backwards seems desirable.
     Scientific civilization has reached the last stage of development. Its future is black and since there is no reason it can continue as it has, clearly the curtain has come down on our old civilization. The great worldwide transition that I advocate has started. I consider this great transition ordained. There is nothing mysterious about it at all. It will be the change from the old civilization to the new, and I have been selected to be in charge of this great undertaking that is a part of God’s plan. In order to escape the dangers I have discussed here, I strongly recommend that all join World Messianity as soon as possible. I declare that there is no other way.
     The result of the unfolding of this phase of God’s plan will be a world that embodies the motto of World Messianity, a world of absolutely no sickness, no disease, and no conflict, a paradise on earth where atomic or hydrogen bombs are not feared. Those who dwell in this world will possess true happiness, bathed in God great love.


Unpublished manuscript, read at meetings on 15, 16, and 17 April 1954.
translated by cynndd