Jane Goodall on Science and Spirit. A Conversation With Bill Moyers

Jane Goodall on Science and Spirit: The Iconic Primatologist Talks to Bill Moyers and Reads Her Poem "The Old Wisdom"

Alan Lightman's superb recent meditation on science and religion reminded me of a 2009 Bill Moyers conversation with legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, in which the celebrated scientist contemplates the question of science and spirit -- a question previously pondered by such great minds as Galileo in 1615, Ada Lovelace in 1844, Albert Einstein in 1936,Isaac Asimov throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and perhaps most famously Carl Sagan in 1985.

As human beings, we can encompass a vague feeling of what the universe is, and all in this funny little brain here -- so there has to be something more than just brain, it has to be something to do with spirit as well.

THE OLD WISDOM

When the night wind makes the pine trees creak

And the pale clouds glide across the dark sky,

Go out my child, go out and seek

Your soul: The Eternal I.

For all the grasses rustling at your feet

And every flaming star that glitters high

Above you, close up and meet

In you: The Eternal I.

Yes, my child, go out into the world; walk slow

And silent, comprehending all, and by and by

Your soul, the Universe, will know

Itself: the Eternal I.