The reception of a new paradigm often necessitates a redefinition of the corresponding science. Some old problems may be relegated to another science or declared entirely "unscientific." Others that were previously non-existent or trivial may, with a new paradigm, become the very archetypes of significant scientific achievement.

We are at one of those crises in human history in which once again we must sacrifice one thing if we want the full enjoyment of another...There seems to be a spiritual law whereby nothing can be wholly won or enjoyed without something being given up or sacrificed for it.

Who would dare to speak of a renaissance in our times? Is it a bourgeois dream of an armchair theologian, a romantic cop-out from an academician? Who in their right mind would look at the suffering in today's world and suggest that the human race is, in fact, on the verge of a vast, global renaissance? I suppose it is the mystic in me that dares to suggest such a vision. And why? Because the mystic teaches us to trust all bottoming out, all emptying, all nothingness experiences as the matrix and patrix of new birth. It is precisely the despair of our times that convinces me that a renaissance is right around the corner, that a renaissance is the only answer to the depths of our dilemma. It is either renaissance or planetary extinction. There is no middle ground.