The angel with the flaming sword
Fri, 12/05/2008 - 13:32 | rlp
Human beings have always gazed with wonder at the world around us. Whatever people in the past saw was their reality. What we see now is ours.
The best instrument ancient humans had was their eyes. They lived in a flat world, a world probably no larger than a hundred miles in any direction. Most would never travel to those borders, and anything beyond that was in the realm of the unknown and unknowable.
Above them were lights. A large light by day and thousands of smaller ones by night. They watched these lights carefully. They were obviously embedded in some sort of dome that covered the earth. The patterns of movement they saw in the night sky were helpful. One star always pointed in a direction that came to be known as North. Other stars indicated by their rising and setting what seasons were coming. The moon also marked the passing of time in its own way.
This was their reality. It was a reality that worked perfectly well for them. Any knowledge beyond that reality was impossible to attain. They couldn’t see any farther than the human eye can see on a cold, clear night. There was, you might say, an angel with a flaming sword guarding the way to the tree of knowledge.
In time humans began to travel the planet. People noticed what seemed to be a curvature of the earth on the horizon of the sea. Ships dropped as they departed until only the mast could be seen. Greeks used advanced mathematics, and with others came to understand that the earth was round. New ideas about the stars and the planets arose. Clearly these heavenly objects were revolving around earth.
Then the telescope was invented. It came to be understood that the Sun was the center of the universe. Everything, including the earth, revolved around it. This was hard news for some, but “truth” eventually won the day.
This was their reality. It was a reality that worked perfectly well for them. Any knowledge beyond that reality was impossible to attain. They couldn’t see any further than the human eye can see with a telescope on a cold, clear night. There was, you might say, an angel with a flaming sword guarding the way to the tree of knowledge.
Time passed. Einstein’s ideas of relativity took hold. Powerful microscopes and telescopes opened up larger and smaller worlds. Soon it became clear that our sun and indeed our entire solar system were part of a larger galaxy. With telescopes in space and advanced radio telescopes on the planet, we came to understand more about the nature of the universe. Our galaxy turned out to be just one of many. The universe itself appears to be rapidly expanding from an explosive point of origin 13 or 14 billion light years away and therefore 13 or 14 billion light years ago.
But where once our eyes and then our telescopes were our limiting factors, now the speed of light stands firm against our seeing and knowing things. What reality we can see toward the center of the universe is many billions of years old. What is happening right now outside of our own corner of the Milky Way galaxy is completely unknown to us. Worse, it appears to be unknowable.
This is our reality. It is a reality that works perfectly well for us. Any knowledge beyond that reality is impossible to attain. We can’t see any further than the speed of light allows us to see. There is, you might say, an angel with a flaming sword guarding the way to the tree of knowledge.
And if you and I could imagine some future reality where the limitations of the speed of light have been overcome, we’ll never see that reality. And even then I believe some further limiting factor would reveal itself.
The angel with the flaming sword will always be with us.
So I ask you - what is objective reality? What is truth? Do you mean the truth that works well for us today? And if you speak of ancient truths, are they less true now or just less helpful? And what of truth that is beyond our capacity to know?
Can truth be known? Or do we all simply worship the closest god at hand?
Religions also seek reality and truth, though in very old ways. That’s hard for modern people to deal with. But religion is a very old thing. Very very very old. Its origins are impossible to trace, lost as they are in the mists of human history. Participating in an ancient religion is like handling a valuable antique, or dealing with a fragile culture, or looking with wonder through a telescope back into the past at a new-born nebula, which is in the present moment an aging star, if you could see the present moment. Each of these require an artistic sense of standing outside of time and participating in reality while understanding that reality is always beyond us.
Some would drag religion, kicking and screaming, into a modern worldview. Where is their respect for their elders? They do great damage to our faith. They treat faith like science and end up with neither faith nor science. They end up angry at the modern world and convinced the earth is only 4000 years old. Why stop there? Why not claim the sky is a dome only a few hundred miles above us? Why not build a tower and try to reach it?
Some would laugh at religion, thinking it filled with silly, ignorant, out-dated notions, while they, in their modern wisdom, have discovered real truth. What they call wisdom ends up being a short-sighted, sophomoric arrogance. Where is their respect for their elders? Where is their humility? Where is their primitive desire for worship that was handed down from the history before there was history? They have cut themselves off from the dreams of humanity. And like those who cannot sleep or dream, they are missing something essential and walk the earth seeking it always.
But I believe there is a sweet spot between these two. To find that sweet spot is to love old words and old ideas and old things and old people. It is to cherish those among us who, for one reason or another, participate fully in our myths. They are a dying breed. Stare at them in wonder. Listen to their old stories. Stand up on the bus and offer them your seat.
Finding that sweet spot means sharing the raw and fresh excitement that science brings to the search for truth. It means embracing the human journey of curiosity. It means finding a way to love your ancient spiritual books while celebrating our newfound knowledge. It means loving what we have learned about the Cosmos while being unashamed to walk in the Spirit, following the ancient paths of enlightenment.
I have searched for this sweet spot for many years. Sometimes I think I’ve found it. Sometimes I think I never will. But I tell you that I celebrate everyone who seeks that sweet spot and who will sit with me, pointing at the sky, reading scripture poetry, sharing bread and wine, and loving the journey. These I count as my brothers and sisters.
Brothers and sisters of science and faith.
rlp
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well said brother
The real challenge is not in finding the sweet spot, but faithfully and honestly dealing with those on each end of the spectrum. As we seek to know the truth,we are challenged by those who believe they already know it.
I have the opposite problem.
I have the opposite problem. Constantly pulled toward skepticism, I find the balance between faith and reason to be very hard to find. As for those who believe they already know truth...I have no trouble ignoring them. I just don't deal with them. I don't have to.
My struggle with faith and
My struggle with faith and skepticism is personal, but as a pastor I am challenged to find meaningful ways to address those on each end of the belief spectrum.
Some days I wonder why I am in this business. Am I just a big fraud? Then there are days like yesterday as I sat in a hospital waiting room with a family as their loved one was in surgery. I knew I was there as Christ's representative, and that was very humbling.
Gordon, as you know well, I
Gordon, as you know well, I have no capacity for faith. The ancient drive to worship seems to be non-existent within. Nevertheless, I respect those for whom it is alive, and take from them what wisdom I can. I unfortunately am unable to conceive of a God who needs to be worshiped, or a reason to worship one whether he requires it or not.
My loss, I guess.
Yeah but, Chuck, we've known
Yeah but, Chuck, we've known each other for a long time. You are seeking truth, right? With respect for others? Sincerely? Not certain you know absolute truth?
Well then, that's why I've always seen you as a brother.
Gordon, certainly I seek
Gordon, certainly I seek truth. That's why I keep coming here, and why one of my best friends is a professor of theology. I continue to seek, but it's difficult to continue to be hopeful.
We are certainly brothers on the path. I'm glad we met.
Love these...
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RLP, I always stare afterward, in a sort of daze of awe and wonder, when you pen your few posts on the potential of mingling the worlds of faith and science. You manage to capture my sentiment so much more accurately than I could.
Thanks for these.
faith and science
I found a good book I would recommend to you, "The God Theory" by Bernard Haisch. Traditional science and traditional religion. Can the two be reconciled?
The Sweet Spot of Worship
When I was younger, much younger, I enjoyed playing the game of tennis alot. I was never very good at it, but it brought me a good deal of exercise and reward nonetheless. I remember how each tennis racket had a sweet spot, a place in the racket where the ball could be returned back with the most power and control.
Maybe life is about finding a similar sweet spot. I love Carl Sagan's book about religion where he describes how we exist above the microverse but below the macroverse. The microverse shows few signs of self-consciousness, mostly instinct. And the macroverse shows no signs of self-consciousness, mostly the result of cosmic forces that we are only now beginning to understand. But here in the middle of those two are beings that are able to contemplate both. The micro makes us feel so big and significant. The macro makes us feel the inverse.
The point, it seems to me, is finding that sweet spot where we are able to return life to the rest of creation. Worship, to me, is not about sitting in a pew singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Rather, it is about being in awe of what exists (including God) and being flat out amazed that we have some measure of perceptibility, and even a capability that we can return some of ourselves to the "God" from which we came. We can do it willingly now to the microverse and to those we love and feel compassion for. We do it later to the macroverse as we become, once again, star-stuff.
So for me, the sweet spot of life is being in that place where I can give back what I've been given. I don't tend to reside there much, I am still a selfish creature. But Jesus' words remind me that true worship is about giving our lives for the sake of others. Something in that rings true for me.
Preacher, I think you have
Preacher,
I think you have found that sweet spot pretty well. You love science, and you dont run from it, but you still see that angel that God put at the Graden of Eded standing with his flaming sword at the ready, ever vigelent in his duty.
I loved this essay.
Religion not just faith,
Religion not just faith, it's community, ritual and therapy, all wrapped up into one, with faith thrown in as well, and who knows what else. Just one of those things on it's own is not enough. If you want angels with flaming swords, have them.
I'm content with imagining that some guy named Prince Siddhartha eventually got enlightened, and passed on the trick of it. The events surrounding it are nice to think about, but even if they never happened, it's the core of it that really maters. Heck even if there never was a Buddha, it doesn't matter. The teaching are still there, no mater who wrote them.
I suspect the same is true for you.
I like this reality check.
I like this reality check. Religion is everywhere...rituals, ceremony, habits. The trick is to learn to discern the balance of faith and the use of the tools of faith.
Tripp Hudgins
www.anglobaptist.org
hey brother-- I like how you
hey brother--
I like how you talk about giving up our seats on the bus for the wise ones. It makes me think of Rosa Parks, and how somebody should've just given her that seat and just how right she was to insist it was hers.
Some of us sin with arrogance and others sin by letting our seats be taken from us.
Anyway, thanks.
Amen!
And amen again.
Good stuff.
RLP,
I echo the thanks of others. I'm sharing this with others in my congregation. It's interesting and somewhat frustrating that we still have to navigate this kind of skepticism. Lately I have simply not had the energy. I am glad that you have taken this moment to do so....I'll keep sharing it.
Tripp Hudgins
www.anglobaptist.org
Amen. A.m.e.n. And once
Amen. A.m.e.n. And once again AMEN.
Christian denominations are dying because the people who are running the churches do not understand or cherish the sacredness of the antiquity of their faith, the holiness of the process that brought it into being or the experiences of the millions of our ancestors in faith. The churches are dying because the "faithful" are, like some kind of giant python, squeezing them to death while trying to "hold onto" them.
I never thought of the place I seek to inhabit as a "sweet spot" so much as I have thought of it as the Communion of Saints...or, perhaps, even better: the Cloud of Unknowing.
Angels with flaming swords. Burning bushes. Gods, demons, signs, portents. They are all around us. We can acknowledge them (or not). Explain them away (or not). Surrender to the awe and glory of it all (or not).
What we can't do is hold onto them. The sweet spot in tennis, baseball, and, um, sex, is something you happen across occasionally. It is an experience to celebrate and surrender to, and then cherish the memory when it's over. The trick is to go through life looking for angels and burning bushes, and to be willing to stop and cherish a numinous moment whenever and wherever it comes. Psychologists call it "flow". I personally like the word "ecstasy" better.
Jesus wouldn't let the disciples build booths at the scene of the Transfiguration. He wouldn't let Mary cling to him in the Garden on that first Easter. The lesson in that for me is to cherish, honor, love and respect the past and those who handed down our faith (and our history, art and science, too, for that matter), without clinging or building Idols.
For me that means traveling the Journey knowing that millions have trod the path before me and I can learn much from them, but my journey will be my own because this is a new place, new time, and the Holy One is always doing a new thing with us. The Holy One teaches us using religion, science, history, art, physical experiences and direct mystical encounters. We need to be open to the sacredness of all of those aspects of our humanity. None is any "better" than any other. I like the idea of seeking some kind of "sweet spot" that holds all of them in some kind of balance.
I agree with the commenter, above, that the hard part is dealing with others who don't understand: the skeptics who mock our openness to faith as well as the "religionists" who would have us all believe as they do. They are threats not only to the very faiths they would "conserve", but to our planet! Personally, I deal with them by ignoring them both and seeking out the company and comfort of other seekers, wanderers and misfits. That is why it's always a treat to visit this place and find so many kindred souls.
amazed
I am amazed at your ability to love and cherish those who “participate fully in our myths,” when you do not believe the myths. In fact, you say that you believe that the newfound knowledge replaces the old truths. The reason I am amazed is that when I once believed with all my scientific knowledge (by the way, the manner in which we date the earth is still very controversial) and spiritual wisdom, in these myths, I was mocked by those who did not believe the myths. I am truly amazed at your ability to do this. I also wonder why you are so accepting of the scientific answers. Most are questions still waiting for answers, just as in our spiritual quests.
First, I haven't stopped
First, I haven't stopped believing in all the myths. I give my belief to the central Christian myths. You have to understand that I use the term myth in a classic sense, not as a pejorative. Second, I learned to appreciate people who follow faiths from Joseph Campbell. And finally, I'm very critical of science. I think there is a lot of faith in science. BUT I do trust our senses and the data that we humans have found through science.
Preacher, a clarification please?
Preacher, you said "I use the term myth in a classic sense, not as a pejorative." Can you please elaborate on that? What do you mean by the "classic sense"?
Thanks to you and everyone who has posted here. Reading your words has been very moving for me. I'd be lost tonight without you all. I have a lot of reflecting to do now.
Well, that was probably not
Well, that was probably not the best way to say it. Everything humans say is myth. All of our stories, everything we say about God. Maybe I would say I have a "high" view of myth.
Some people use the term to refer to something that is not true, or some ancient story that isn't as good as our story. I use the term to refer to any ancient stories that develop naturally over time and reflect archetype, etc.
Consider this: How can any human description of God be anything except an approximation based on ancient ideas and traditions. A myth, you might say.
glad
glad to hear you are critical about science because i don't always get that from you, prob because of your passion for the questions they ask. i totally get what you mean by myth (only a recent discovery of mine having read J Campbell) but i must admit i had to look up the word pejorative, coming from spanish pejor, meaning worse. Ok, but still, perhaps the better word is not amazed, as that sounds smug and disbelieving, but awed. perhaps i was less honoring to those who did not believe the old myths and that is what i now see more as i grow in my understanding of the "myths."
i think you don't even see what a gift you have in honoring those who don't believe the things you do. Honoring and responding so tenderly. i'm still trying. reading your blog helps so much.
Very eloquent, you give me
Very eloquent, you give me much to thing about.
What a grand consideration...
Regarding science that addresses origins: I am convinced God is more than willing to let mankind in on the divine how’s. He is not a stingy God intent on keeping us in the dark just because He wants to comes off as omniscient...
He is indeed creative. Intricate. A marvelous designer. Incredible in detail. Wondrous in execution...
I am amazed that any serious scientist would not be lost in the awe of how little is really known. How much more mystery there is. And how marvelous it all is. I think it would be hard to be both a serious scientist & an atheist...
I sense the joy of God in the discoveries mankind makes. There are those religious types that pooh-pooh such discoveries or theories or assumptions. They treat scientific study as man's wisdom (spit) as if he were capable of creating his own capacity to comprehend or dream or search out mysteries too wondrous to fully unveil...
I cannot cannot believe in God (I know, bad English). It is no great stretch of imagination or leap of faith for me. It does not always provide me the canned Protestant evangelical bible answers others claim as 'absolute truth', but it is sufficient for me to appreciate the grandness of the universe I populate for but a brief cosmic moment...
I don't believe God to be deliberately devious in His revealing. In other words, He is not deliberately fooling scientific curiosity by creating a grand universe we measure by the speed of light only to make it appear ancient & majestic. He is not trying to mask its age through smoke & mirrors simply to make the Genesis chapter 1 & 2 accounts the litmus test for truth in orthodoxy/doctrine. If it's an old universe then the fact that we can only go back maybe 10,000 years with human recorded history makes for some deeper rumination. If Jesus invaded human history just a short 2,000 years ago, the fact that God has concentrated His most focused attention on such a very, very, very short cosmic timeline in this grand architectural design even more worthy of consideration. Time then a luxury God can be generous with, but used carefully when recording His dealings with His most curious creation...
And if we can only contemplate these grand musings at the most maybe 100 years in a single lifespan, then we should be humbled by our inability to comprehend billions of bits of data let alone how they interrelate & what accurate conclusions can be made with them. As knowledge increases our capacity to utilize it on an individual basis no way mirrors such exponential growth. The ancients may have been better prepared to deal with life at the daily level than we claim in our modern, information saturated one. Their wisdom then to be revisited, respected & heeded. The increase in knowledge not making me any smarter. Or wiser. Or more capable of dealing with the unknown that Gordon implies will be with us until the end of the age. That is the grandness of God I suppose. Never able to acquire the nth degree of knowledge or the truth that we associate with it. And in keeping with this time of year maybe can better appreciate the simplicity of St. John's perspective when he penned:
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Maybe that is all I am able capable of concluding. For me that could be a sweet spot of sorts as I navigate the mad rush of holiday busyness. As usual, enjoyed the post rlp...
Excellently written article,
Excellently written article, if only all bloggers offered the same content as you, the internet would be a much better place. Please keep it up! Cheers.
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