Logic and spirituality

Logic is a branch of philosophy/mathematics that deals with making inference. As a computer science major, I've had several classes in formal logic, and am well acquainted with its power. However, logic has its limitations. At a fundamental level, the assumptions of logic break down.

A good example for me is the constitution of the material world around us. In the earliest days, people believed that there were five basic elements - panchamahabhuta: Water, Fire, Air, Earth, Ether.

Science was able to break this framework down further and come up with 108 elements (the periodic table). A basic unit of an elements was an atom, which was then believed to be the fundamental object that makes up the universe. Atoms were then found to consist of protons, neutrons and electrons. These themselves were found to be made up of quarks.

Finally, you will find that quarks are made up of something. And that something is made up of something else. And so on, and so on...

If you follow this line of reasoning, it is clear that everything is made up of something, and therefore nothing is indivisible. The chain is infinite, this is where logic breaks down. That unknowable base, that by which everything else is known, is deemed as true knowledge by the great spiritual traditions of the East. At some point, logic simply breaks down, because it deals with concepts, which are built on top of other concepts, and so on. Where logic ends, spirituality begins.