Raynor Johnson here attempts the hazardous task of answering those many questions about life which we often ponder but then shelve. He recognises that all religions gather to themselves dogmas and doctrines that often obscure the essential truth. He tries, with the logical mind of a physicist, to 'present a sound attitude to the experience of human life'. 'I have formed the conviction that certain basic things in religion are true, important, and relevant to life .. (and) the essence of religion is something to be experienced in living rather than something to be believed'. He affirms that man, in seeking to discover the enormous resources of his inner self, embarks on a quest that is not easy of achievement yet is the only satisfying way in which 'he may ride out the storms of this modern age with inner serenity, in the assurance that come what may, there is nothing really to fear.' For Raynor Johnson questing for truth is necessarily endless, but we can share in the spirit of Socrates when he said 'The adventure is noble and our hope is high'.
Raynor Johnson, born in Leeds 1901, graduated from Balliol College, Oxford with a First in Arts. He then took a First in Science at London before becoming a Doctor of Science specialising in spectroscopy. For eleven years until 1934 he lectured first at Queen's University, Belfast and then Kings College, London before becoming Master of Queen's College, University of Melbourne. There he remained for thirty years until his retirement in 1964. When Raynor Johnson died in 1987 at the age of 86 much was written about this remarkable physicist, mystic, and former Master of Queen's College Melbourne University. Perhaps the most telling obituary comment was the portrayal by an ex-student of a gentle, humorous and modest man of the utmost integrity and sincerity whose thinking, although most profound, was always subjected to a rigorous appraisal. He had a gift for making his students feel on equal terms and was possessed of 'a humility and openness that left a lasting impression on those fortunate enough to have known him'.
