THE MICHIGAN RAITY
SUTNAY. MAY 25. 1OA1
,,
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-66-*' ",
E MICHIGAN DAILY
i .
* A Letter To
4,350 Students
By TOM THUMB
Modern Science Discovers God
As Others Cites refutation of mechanistic approach; energy is the
See It .common denominator and the dynamic aspect of the Uni.
versal Mind-science and religion can bury the hatchet.
Edward J. Bing, Ph.D. in the American Mercury, June, 1941
i
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eicAe o"BOSTON LoS ANGELES rSAN FRANCISCO
!tmber, Associated Collegiate Press, 1940-41
Edit'orial Staff
lie Ge6 . .
ert Speckhard
ert P. Blaustein
'id Lachenbruch,
nard Dober
in Dann
Wilson
hiur Hill
et Hiatt
te Miller
. . . . Managing Editor
Editorial Director
* . . . . . City Editor
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
Associate Editor
. . . . Sports Editor
Assistant Sports Editor
. . Women's Editor
. . Assistant Women's Editor
(The opinions of this, writer are his own, and
in no way reflect the views of his mother, father,
grandparents, Political Science prof. Joe Stalin,
or Adolf Hitler.)
An Open Letter to 4,350 Students:
A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO we of the Daily,
Garg and 'Ensian staffs came around with
neatly-printed petitions and asked you to sign
on the dotted line if you wanted The Daily to
continue to be a student publication. In the
two and a half days we canvassed, we obtained
your signatures-much more than one-third of
the student body. In another two days We prob-
ably could have gotten eight or nine thousand.
We presented your signatures to President
Ruthven and they were, in turn, presented be-
fore the Board of Regents. And what happened?
Read the front page of yesterday's Daily,
REGENTS STAND PAT ON BOARD INCREASE.
And the lead: Disregarding the expressed oppo-
sition of more than 4,350 students, the Regents
Iof the University went ahead yesterday in their
determination to increase faculty control of the
Board in Control of Student Publications.
O.K.-You wasted your fountain-pen ink.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that the stu-
dents have nothing to say in this University.
You should have known that the students don't
know what's good for them. You should have
known that there are certain things you
shouldn't know.
We're sorry. We're sorry, we can't return your
fountain-penrink or your pencil lead. The Uni-
versity, we are told, is run for and by the citi-
zens of the state. The students are guests of
the state and if they don't like it they can very
well go back where they came from.
Apparently education no longer includes de-
mocracy. Apparently they don't wish to let us
practice this thing called democracy. Maybe it's
un-American. I can't figure it out.
All of the reasons for the Board change seem
spurious. First, it is said that the enlarged board
will be more mature than the present one. But
it has been pointed out time and time again
that decisions of the Board are very rarely -along
faculty-student lines, and that some faculty men
side with some students and vice versa.
ANOTHER ARGUMENT advanced, is that The
Daily property is University-owned and
therefore the faculty should have more say in
the running of the University. I was of the
impression that the University was composed
of students and faculty and perhaps alumni, no
one faction representing the University, but all
sharing together in the University. Can it hon-
estly be said that the University should not rep-
resent the 11,000 students who compose it?
Isn't the University's first duty toward the
students? Or can the Regents merely do as they
like, completely disregarding these students, who
supply the school's raison d'etre?
Another reason for enlarging the Board is that
new faculty members would "achieve additional
Ael H. Huyett
ies B. Collins
ise Carpenter
!ln Wright '
Business Stafff
S. . . Business Manager
Assistant Business Manager.
Women's Advertising Manager
* .Women's Business Manager.
NIGHT EDITOR: CHARLES THATCHER
The editorials published in The Michi-
gan Daily are written by members of The
Daily staff and represent the views of the
writers only.
There Is
A Difference .
AVERY COMMON ARGUMENT ad-
vanced by those opposed to inter-
vention in the present conflict is that Britain's
record is as bad as Germany's and that therefore
the United States should aid neither country.
Such a conclusion is certainly not the product of
serious, rational thought. Everyone realizes that
both nations have at times engaged in unscrup-
ulous ventures; but history makes Britain's worst
crimes appear to be very minor when they are
compared to certain deeds of the Third Reich.
The issue in itself may seem relatively un-
important at this stage of events. But many of
those who oppose intervention still resort to a
;comparison of Britain's and Germany's records
in their arguments, and as long as they continue
to do so, clarification of the issue will be de-
sirable.
The story of India holds what is probably the
blackest page in the hitory of England, and the
conquest and subjugation of Poland holds what is
probably the corresponding position for Germany.
Both acts are, in the least, subject for criticism.
A comparison of the circumstances involved re-
veals that German's venture was much more in-
famous than was Britain's.
EESTINGfacts are disclosed by consider-
ing the two countries, India and Poland, as
they were at the time of conquest. The natives of
India, in light of Western culture, were uncivilized,
uneducated and undemocratic; they were not,
as has been claimed, a helpless, unarmed mob;
historical records 'proved that those natives re-
slsted~the British with cannon supplied by French
troops in India. The country itself was little
more than "a medley of jealous, warring petty
states, the broken fragments of the once great
Mongol Empire." The Poles, on the other hand,
were highly cultured, very religious, one of the
most respected peoples of Europe, and their
cou~Atry was an independent nation which
showed increasing tendencies toward democracy.
The most important factor to be considered
in this comparison is the results of British and
1erman activity in the two respective countries.
India,, although still striving for independence, or
at least, dominion status, is nevertheless a much
more educated, religious and generally useful
country than she was before the coming of Ro-
bert Clive and the East India Company. If'
England had not conquered India, France most
eertainly would have. And it is important to note
that the British have permitted a vigorous move-
ment for independence to be carried on in India,
whereas any such activity in a Nazi-dominated
country would be ruthlessly suppressed.
HE APPEARANCE of Hitler in Poland has
meant the disappearance of not only personal
liberty, but also culture, religion and freedom
of thought. Senator Wheeler admits that the
British rule which has been forced upon various
colonies has been, not a destructive, but a stab-
ilizing influence; surely he cannot say the same
for Nazi Germany! At no place in the whole
realm of German colonization can be found one
example of government which can even approach
Canada or Australia as products of just, effic-
ient administration.
Britain has committed crimes, indeed; but
the conquest of India cannot be compared with
he subjugation of Poland! Such a comparison
viewpoints." Pardon me while I snicker. I just
can't understand why six faculty men are needed
to represent the viewpoints of the school's 800
faculty members when the committee is willing
to let three student members represent all 11,000
students. Does The Daily express the views of
one "clique" and does it need this compulsory
adopting of other "viewpoints?" Well, inr case
you didn't know it, anyone who can write well
and is willing to put in some hard work can get
an appointment to the Daily editorial staff, no
matter what his political views. The present
Board in Control is not supposed to examine the
political viewpoints of applicants for Daily jobs.
Ability and effort are supposed to be the deter-
mining factors.
O what would this new Board do? Will it
make appointments on the basis of "view-
points?" Or does it intend to enforce these
"additional viewpoints" upon us in some other
manner? Would enforced views help to give The
Daily additional viewpoints or would it lead to
insincere regimentation of thought?
But logical reasoning doesn't seem to work in
questions like these. The Regents are elected
by the citizens of the state and the students are
guests of the state as I've said before. If they
don't like it they can go back to Russia or Kala-
mazoo or East St. Louis. Why should the stu-
dents have anything to say about running their
own enterprises? -
I'm sorry you had to waste your pencil lead
and fountain-pen ink on those petitions. The
students, you know, have no right to express any
opinions on how student enterprises are to be
run
On Leaving The%;
CadmpusooHaufle r
IN EVERY UNIVERSITY there is a
struggle-varying in its intensity,
but apparently always present-between the
students to rely upon their own minds and the
older generation to pull them into the molds of
convention. The fight over the packing,of the
Board in Control of Student Publications is an
instance of that struggle. It is an attempt of a
smug older generation to bring the younger
willfully into line, forcing them to conform de-
spite their loud-and very reasonable-protests.
The University of Michigan student body is
losing, step by step, its right to think for itself.
This University is making rapid progress toward
that type of institution in which any thinking
professor lives in fear of his promotion and his
.job, in which the textbooks are scoured with the
good strong soap of Americanism, in which the
students are afraid to say what they think, and
in which the student newspaper is nothing more
than a sterile house-organ.
The University of Detroit is such an institu-
tion. Michigan State comes close to the ideal.
The University of Michigan is taking long strides
toward catching up.
A LOT OF US REGRET THIS. Most of us are
saying nothing, for there is already a horri-
ble 'fear on this campus of antagonizing the
powers that be. Any instructor looking for
advancement does not dare to speak. Many
students in high positions express their sympa-
thy for those who get stepped on; but they do it
off the record. Others allow their names to be
used, but they are nervous about it.
That this is an unhealthy situation is realized
by others than us of The Daily. the fight that
has just ended has not been a fight restricted
to a few hair-pulling liberals, a couple of irate
Daily editors. The staffs of other publicatons
opposed the measure to a man. There were
Betas and Dekes, Tri-belts and Kappas who
signed their names and who began to feel hot
under their collars for the first time in their
college careers.
Students who never questioned the dismissal
of the thirteen students or the banning of the
American Student Union have begun to wonder
why it is that students can be pushed around,
their protests overlooked, their petitions un-
heard.
Students are beginning to wonder what sort
of a role students play in this University.
NOONE seems to know what to do about this
latest action of the Regents. The packing
of the publications board is generally considered
to be a closed incident, another bit in a very
black year of University history. I regret that
this passive attitude has been adopted. I do
not believe I could have taken it so calmly, for
I believe that the administration must be shown
in some way that this pell-mell rush toward
complete subordination of student interests must
be stopped.
A vigorous fight might have made the pack-
ing proposal the last incident in an unwholesome
series.
- Hervie Haufler
Skim ings -
by the edit director
NO ONE feels more deeply that the Regents
have flagrantly disregarded student and fac-
ulty opinion in their decision to reaffirm the
Publications Board change. We believe they,
have. shown a very shallow conception of the
function of a university.
* * *
Tf two fplt thsat nnvthino- Pnnnid hi dnna fn
THE TUMULT OF WAR and social change is eclips-
ing temporarily another revolution at least equally
important. Science has become God-conscious. Be-
hind this epoch-making upheaval in scientific thought,
which will inevitably have profound repercussions in
practically every branch of human culture, are no
dreamers or fanatics, but the ranking physicists, as-
tronomers and mathematicians of the Twentieth Cen-
tury. In their objective observation of the universe,
these hard-headed research men have reached a point
where science and religion meet, at last, in the master
concept of a universal mind, one great Cosmic Intelli-
gence of which everything is part.
To understand this revolutionary change and some
of its. tremendous implications, let us first look back-
ward. When Napoleon asked Pierre Laplace, the
great astronomer and mathematician of his time, why
God was nowhere mentioned in his works, the famous
scientist replied, "Sire, I do not need that hypothesis."
Laplace's remark summed up the scientific attitude
of the eighteenth century, and of the nineteenth, in
which the purely rationalistic, mechanistic approach
to the problems of the Universe became general. Basic
in this older type of scientific thought was the Law
of Causation-the doctrine that in principle every
happening in the Cosmos is predetermined by "laws
of nature." Even today, dogmatic rationalism still
dominates almost every field of Western thought.
Refuted By Quantum Theory
YET just one generation ago, the approach to nature
in terms of airtight determination, rationalism
and materialism got its first shock through the
Quantum Theory, enunciated by Professor Max
Planck, famed Nobel Prize winner in physics. Planck's
Theory of Radiation has culminated in the assertion,
now generally accepted by science, that the operation
of the Universe is not one sustained, uninterrupted
process ....
The original form of the Quantum Theory was mere-
ly the first rumbling of the earthquake which was to
shake scientific thought to its foundations. In 1917,
Albert Einstein showed that the Law of Causation did
not entirely guide the operation of the Cosmos. Soon
afterward Prince Louis de Broglie, member of the
French Academy and another Nobel Prize winner in
physics, published his theory of Wave Mechanics. In
this theory, de Broglie tried to explain the reason
for the apparently erratic, behavior of electrons in
joining protons to form atoms of no particular ele-
ment, as distinct from atoms of another. The only
possible explanation of that erratic behavoir seemed
to be that, as various physicists expressed it, "the elec-
tron chooses to make one partiular jump and not an-
other." Let's call a spade a spade. To say that an
electron "chooses" to do anything is to attribute free
will to the electron.
BUT this development in physical science merely
set off the avalanche of amazing discoveries that
followed . . . . In a lecture entitled- "What is a Law
of Nature,", Schrodinger refers to the former belief
that the behavior of the molecules is determined by
absolute causality. The widespread conviction that
anything else would be unthinkable, he pointed out,
arose from our age-old habit of assuming a cause for
everything. This inherited custom of "casual think-
ing" made the idea of undetermined events-of abso-
lute, primary casualness-seem complete nonsense, a
logical absurdity. But actually, the famous physicist
went on:
..from what source was this habit of casual
thinking derived? Why, from observing for hun-
dreds and thousands of years precisely those regu-
larities in the natural course of events which, in
the light of oUr present knowledge, are most cer-
tainly not governed by causality . . . Therewith
this traditional habit of thinking loses its rational
foundation.
Doom Of Mechanistic Approach'
THEN, five years' after Schrodinger, another inter-
national celebrity, Professor Werner Heisenberg,
published the modern form of the Quantum Theory.
It officially sealed the doom of physical science's tra-
ditional mechanistic and deterministic approach to
Nature. -Its most important aspect is the now gener-
ally accepted Principle of Indeterminacy.
We used to visualize Nature as a kind of factory
operating with hundred per cent precision. Yet, as
Sir James Jeans, one of the world's greatest physicists,
expresses it, Heisenberg's Principle of Indeterminacy
"now makes it appear that nature abhors accuracy
and precision above all things." .. .
Heisenberg's discovery has demonstrated that the
future of the universe cannot be foretold under any
circumstances. Contrary to hitherto sacrosanct scien-
tific belief, it is impossible to foretell what a particular
electron will do at a particular moment. All that sci-
ence is able to predict is what is most likely to happen.
The determinism of physical science, applied to the
past and future of the universe, has been superseded
by the Theory of Probabilities ..
In other words, "exact" science now frankly admits
that it is not exact. This admission is a sign of great-
ness, just as the absence of self-criticism is a symptom
of pettiness ...
Energy Is Common Base
MODERN PHYSICISTS consider energy to be the
common denominator of the Cosmos. Jeans calls
energy the fundamental entity of the Universe. And
Professor Carl Gustav Jung, the world-famous Swiss
psychologist and thinker, writes, "We might be tempted
to call energy God, and thus blend into one spirit
and nature." A book published last fall by the dis-
tinguished astro-physicist, Dr. Gustav Stromberg of
Mount Wilson Observatory, echoes the scientists' af-
firmation of that statement. Stromberg writes in his
latest work, The Soul of the Universe:" The (present)
study leads to the inevitable conclusion that there
exists a World Soul or God."
What is this? What has come over the leading
;physicists of our generation? What has happened to
scientific thought? A revolution. That revolution
has remained practically unnoticed. Yet, it is many
times greater, and liable to be more far reaching in its
effects, than the French Revolution. In its scope it
may dwarf. the communist, fascist and Nazi revolu-
tions. It is no exaggeration to say that in cultural
significance this spiritual revolution is paralleled only
by the Reformation. We are witnessing the birth of
the Scientific Revolution.
Pure Thought And Energy
WE HAVE SEEN that various contemporary scien-
tists conceive of the Universal Mind or Logos as
pure thought. Others, like Professor Jung, define it
as energy. It is important to note that this is only an
apparent contradiction. In this connection I wrote
in my autobiography, Of the Meek and the Mighty:
During the past ten or twenty years the physi-
cists of the, Western world have' arrived at the
recognition that there is only energy and no mat-
ter . . . In other words the latest Western scien-
tific conception of the Universe is one of energy,
in the form of electro-magnetic vibration. Energy
is merely a vehicle-the vehicle of which creative
and perceptive thought, existing both within and
without the ganglions of the brains of living
creatures, avails itself. Energy is the dynamic as-
pect of the Universal Mind. Aid conversely, the
Universal Mind, which manifests itself through
energy, and through energy alone, not only movs
the Universe; it is the Universe; it is the spiritual
aspect of energy, that is, of the Cosmos.
In my opinion, this conception of the one and indi-
visible Universal Mind, with its twin aspects as pure
thought and as pure energy, can fully satisfy the
modern scientist, the philosopher and the religious
thinker. It can serve equally well the mystic's urge
for spiritual at-one-ness with the Deity.
I realize, of course, that many people feel they ob-
tain greater spiritual support and ethical guidance
from a belief ,in a personal God who is distinct from
the Universe and therefore from themselves. In this
connection I wrote in the book already referred to:
Those who prefer to believe in a personal God,
distinct from the Cosmos, will find it quite com-
patible with their convictions to look upon the
Universal mind, i.e., upon the Cosmos, as the
manifestation, the active principle, the dynamics,
of the Godhead.
*t*i*
We are facing the significant fact that scientific
and religious thought, in their higher aspects, now
can be brought down to a common denominator. The
new era is characterized by a return to the highest
metaphysical concepts of the ancient past, and by
the fundamental readjustment and reformation of sci-
entific thought. That is why I am inclined to call
the birth of the new era in science the Scientific
Reformation.
Bury The Hatchet
SCIENCE AND RELIGION, I believe, can now bury
the hatchet. They benefit alike from science's
discovery of God. The man of science can no longer
be looked upon as an "unimaginative agnostic." On
the other hand, his discovery of the new, and yet old,
all-embracing, key hypothesis of the Universe as pure
thought, as a divine thinking force, leads him out of
the impasse in which his dogmatic mechanistic ap-
proach had landed him. The concept of Universal
Mind in its twin aspects-pure thought and pure
energy-is not merely the common denominator of
religious and scientific thought. It is also the "Open
Sesame" to new triumphs of scientific research.
ART
By JOHN MAXON
THE CERAMICS DEPARTMENT of the Col-
'lege of Architecture is /now holding in the
main corridor of its building an exhibition of its
year's work done under the supervision of Mary
Chase Stratton; the direct instruction has been
given by Grover Cole, instructor in ceramics. Be-
sides the students' work are show pieces by var-
ious faculty members and a large group of Mr.
Cole's own work. The show demonstrates con-
clusively that the University is sponsoring ceram-
ic work of the first order upon which it may pride
itself.'It is an exhibition that should prove inter-
esting to educators from outside Ann Arbor.
The students' wares show a large measure of
individual capacities, including that most prec-
ious one of teachability. There are various bowls,
pots, and ornaments of good quality. And, while
one may seriously question the ultimate advisa-
bility of showing student work alongside that
of the teacher, thus placing each at a disad-
vantage, the show hangs together very well, in-
deed. Among individual potters are some worthy
of note: Betty Dice shows neatness of taste in
forms and glazes; Lois MacDonald has a feeling
for the potentialities of materials; Walter Lok
presents sturdy craftmanship; and there are
others.
T IS Professor Walter Gores who takes prime
honors in the faculty group. His choices of
shape, the pleasantness of his glazes, and the
extreme care bestowed on them reward both eye
and hand. Ernst Mundt, also of the faculty, dem-
onstrates the application of both feeling and in-
tellect to the potter's problems. His tea-set in'
deepest brown is eminently appealing.
But the show is really Mr. Cole's. It is ob-
viously the result of his efforts, and his work
constitutes the impressive part of the exhibition.;
From the terra cotta horses to the potter's
traditional creation, wares thrown on the wheel,
Mr. Cole provides continuing delight. In the
matter of color and glaze texture, he is most
ingenious. His shapes are obviously those from
the mind and hands of the potter, not from the
'designer' who does not practice the craft. And
the work is blessedly free from artiness, show-
ing a substantial wit. This potter communicates
a love for his work and materials that is re-
freshing.
ONE FEELS THAT, between them, Mrs. Strat-
ton and Mr. Cole have done a major deed
in making the ceramics department significant
this year. In addition, the exhibition they hold
is the only one held this season in Ann Arbor
- i
Donine Says
ONE of our ablest theologians, Ro-
bert L. Calhoun of Yale, calls
attention to the fact that "individuals
and minority groups from time to
time consciously oppose the dominant
social currents, and become growing
points through which new habits and
new ideas arise." The Quakers prowl-
ing about war-torn Europe just
now, evacuating the homeless vic-
tims; those lost missionaries going
to. Africa across lanes of the
war; Dr. Robert Ellsworth -Brown
returning from the Michigan Med-
ical School to establish public
health centers in West China; or Dr.
Paul Harrison from our University
Hospital staff just now arriving at
Busra to continue his missionary hos-
pital in Arabia in spite of the war;
like the Quaker Service Camps con-
ducted as a method for teaching stu-
agencies as statesmen manage state
affairs; and those physicians who
keep abreast of science and go to re-
mote countries to study disease, and
serve where doctors are scarce. For
them to be crossing the ocean now
causes one to say, "Those -- mis-
sionaries should remain at home so
the war can go on." The pacifist
would say, "Why not stop the war
so the good work can go on?" If
these points of view and others relat-
ing religion to civilization, to free-
dom of the seas, to the destiny
of man and the goal of human striv-
ing, get discussed and millions learn
because of the strange actions of these
missionaries then the "growing point"
referred to by Calhoun will have been
served.
BUT WHAT has that to do with re-
ligion? Is not religion a sort of
decorum? Should we not think of re-
ligion as what is proper? Should not
the devotee attend his church but
let politics, economics and state af-
fairs alone? That depends upon your
idea of religion. If you make no dis-
tinction between morals and religion
was ideal. Religion of this high type
is on the outs with everything which
dulls the ideal, or hides the goal,
'or belittles perfection, or obscures
one's belongings for the best, or
weakens the valor, or compromises
the soul.
HE WHO CAN become a growing
point in our heavy, complex,
highly technical, over associated and
under differentiated life, has to stand
out from the crowd, think better,
be habitually thorough, know more
about a certain problem than any
other living being knows, understand
the forces about him as others do
not. While he stands apart, lives
aloft, dwells alone on the one pri-
Imary' thesis, he will know the joy
of leadership, and understand the
serenity through which our men of
research, explorers, greatest poets
and saints have passed enroute to im-
mortality.
Edward W.,Blakeman,
Counselor in Religion Educati n
Laxity In The House
When the roll was called in the na-