God Arises
Religion and Society
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is not capable of discovering them. In the book,
Man
the Unknown
, Dr. Alexis Carrel has shown that the
question of values requires complete acquaintance
with the different branches of knowledge, but that
owing to man’s limitations, this is an impossibility.
He has even rejected the idea of a committee of
experts reaching any sound conclusions because
while “a superior art comes into being by one mind,
it has never been produced by an academy.”
The fact that only partial knowledge has been
granted to man is a reality which must be accepted.
It is a fact supported by modern science,
particularly since the time of the First World War,
that man is subject to certain biological and
psychological limitations and cannot, therefore,
apprehend all facts through his senses. To borrow
Locke’s phrase, “the real essence of substances” is
forever unknowable. Even Einstein advocated
scientific contemplation, and not just observation, if
the more profound aspects of the universe were to
be understood. Einstein’s view is thus summed up
by a colleague:
