Experts came together Thursday to discuss professor Bahram Elahi's latest book about spirituality and science.

Spirituality transcends its religious and meditative boundaries and finds a place for itself in science within surgeon and medical professor Bahram Elahi's latest book "Spirituality is a Science." A panel composed of a scientist, a doctor and a judge came together last Thursday at the School of Law's Tischman Auditorium to review the book and discuss its impact on their professions.
Praveen Chaudhuri, former vice president of science at IBM began the panel presentations.

"The science of the spirit, to some people, is an oxymoron," he said, "[but]there are things in physical sciences that are just as hard to believe as [it is to believe in] God."

Chaudhuri talked about the peculiar nature of light as both a wave and a particle and the unpredictability of quantum mechanics, as well as theories relating to the behavior of atoms, molecules and subatomic particles. Chaudhuri said that much of quantum mechanics relies on chance and statistics. He described Einstein's frustrations with the idea that the universe was based on probability and that the behavior of individual atoms depended on chance. He quoted Einstein as saying, "God does not play dice."

"Einstein spent the rest of his life trying to find some underlying hidden variable to make sense of [quantum mechanics]," Chaudhuri said.
"I think spirituality tells you that there are things inside of you that are so wonderful and you just have to [tap] into them," Chaudhuri said. "I think that's what Dr. Elahi's book is about."
Judge Michael A. Corriero, of the New York State Court of Claims, began his presentation with a story of a mother who brings her child to a guru who is known for his spontaneous ability to solve problems. The child has a compulsion for eating sweets. However, instead of giving the mother a quick remedy to the problem, the guru tells her to come back in three months. When she returns, the mother asks why she had to wait three months for a resolution and the guru says:" I, too, am addicted to sweets and I had to figure [the problem] out for myself before I could talk to you about it." Corriero's story pointed to his argument that, "we have to overcome the evil within us in order to deal intelligently with the demons in others."

Corriero described the difficulty of his job: judging and sentencing young criminals. "I have the responsibility of resolving the most violent cases committed by 14 and 15-year-olds," Corriero said. "Every decision I make effects their destiny, their future... I need to have support in this effort... the principles outlines by Dr. Elahi give me that support... As long as I am consented with those principles then I can judge with a clear conscience."

Corriero concluded with his assessment of "Spirituality is a Science."
"Dr. Elahi's book is inspirational, useful. It justifies what I do each day." he said.
The last panelist to speak was the associate director of Royal Brompton Hospital in London, Dr. Joan LaRovere. "What is medicine?" LaRovere asked.
"It is the art and science of the prevention and treatment of disease." LaRovere described prevention as the maintenance of our health, hygiene, and nutrition. "The body is a living organism that must be cared for and protected in order to continue physical life."

"The soul is also a living organism." LaRovere said. She described how it, too, must be cared for and nourished. LaRovere used one of her patients, an 18-month-old girl with an anatomical defect in her heart, to illustrate a person with an undernourished body and soul. The girl's heart cannot adequately oxygenate her body, and so the child is blue and weighs only seven or eight pounds. The child was born in a country that did not have access to the proper knowledge about her condition, and as a result, she underwent an unnecessary and incorrect surgery. Only now is she undergoing the correct surgery for the heart.
LaRovere talked about the food necessary for the soul. She identified one source as divine principles. "Not all spirituality can nourish us," she said. "We have to be selective of what we ingest into our soul."

The idea of nourishing the soul, and of the soul being born and having a life, just as a human body, struck LaRovere as being undeniable.

"It is so logical to me as a physician" she said.

"The more I read, the more rational, and logical [this idea] appeared.

LaRovere addressed her difficulty to reconcile the idea of an omnipotent and just God with all the injustices in the world.

"The clergy... can't give you one word that is rational and logical [about this matter]," she said. "But Dr. Elahi's book is rational and logical. And there are no contradictions [in it]."

Elahi spoke for several minutes following the panel discussion. He spoke in French, and was provided with a translator.

"No human being can say that spirituality does not regard them," he said. "If they did, it would be like saying, 'the problems of myself and my soul do not regard me."

Elahi compared the soul to the electricity which powers a television.
"When you cut the electricity, the television dies, but if [the television is plugged in] it continues to live. When you are dead, the soul leaves [your body], but the soul always exists."