Boyd Bushman – A True Scientist

 

Science is not an institution or a body of knowledge, but an approach to learning. It is an approach that proposes to be free of all bias in order to discover underlying truth. For an observer to be free of bias is very difficult in practice, because all observers are human, and all humans are biased, even if unconsciously. We are attached to our beliefs, and we like to be right. These tendencies subvert perception of truth, even for scientists.

 

Boyd was in large measure wonderfully free of bias. He was willing to set aside presuppositions so his mind would be available to discovering what he did not already know. Furthermore, he could tune into his finer perceptual faculties and sense what was outside the range of his normal senses. He said that he simply “listened to nature.” Thus, nature itself was his teacher, rather than what anyone said about nature. In this way, Boyd would see what others could not. And there was a definite glee in the perception.

 

His remarkable ability went still deeper: He loved nature and was extraordinarily curious about it. He wanted to understand it with his heart. So it was that he achieved a sympathetic harmony that allowed nature to reveal itself to him They were in mystical resonance.

 

What an inspiration Boyd has been to us! I honor his memory and aspire to his example.

Thank you, Boyd, for being in our life.

 

Robert Bushman, a cousin