Spirituality in the Age of Science: Event and Pop-ups

Gazing at the stars, falling in love, or listening to music, we sometimes feel a transcendent connection to something larger than ourselves. But these experiences are hard for science to explain, since science holds that everything can be understood in terms of atoms and molecules. Is there room in our scientific worldview for spiritual experience?

Helium World’s creative director, Kari Mulholland, created a public conversation at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn bridging physics, philosophy, and lived experience. Physicist and novelist Alan Lightman joined Tim McHenry of the Rubin Museum of Art to introduce audiences to the idea of “spiritual materialism,” the belief that we can embrace spiritual experience without letting go of science. Kari worked with the PW science team to curate the event, book the guests, research and script the conversation, and produce it, along with a companion pop-up featuring a screening of Lightman’s public television series SEARCHING and a typewriter poet who wrote poetic dedications to the universe.