Science and spirituality are sometimes pictured as opposites. Yet many pioneering scientists held a deep sense of wonder, faith or spiritual curiosity alongside their work. Their lives don’t prove any belief, but they show that careful thinking and a sense of mystery can live in the same person.

Albert Einstein

Einstein didn’t believe in a personal God, but he spoke often of a sense of awe at the order of the universe. In 1941 he wrote, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

Isaac Newton

Newton is remembered for his laws of motion and gravity. He also wrote more about theology and scripture than about physics, and his faith was central to his life.

Max Planck

Planck, a founder of quantum theory, wrote, “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.”

Georges Lemaître

Lemaître was a Catholic priest and a physicist. He was among the first to propose that the universe is expanding from an early, dense state, the idea that grew into the Big Bang theory.

David Bohm

The physicist David Bohm wrote about wholeness and held long conversations with the spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti about thought, perception and meaning.

Wonder belongs to everyone

You don’t need to be a scientist or a mystic to feel wonder. Looking at the night sky, a leaf or a newborn can be enough.

How little is enough

Tonight, step outside and look up at the sky for one minute, simply noticing.

For more, read Max Planck on science, mystery and mind: 5 lines to reflect on.

If you’d like a gentle companion for finding your way through change, there’s a guided journal for it on the Guides page.