The courage to not know

A common theme throughout history has been the embarrassment of those in authority who claim a static grasp of the truth. The medieval Catholic church is perhaps the most famous victim of this phenomenon, but modern scientists – particularly archeologists – are regularly putting their collective feet in their mouth and have done so for over a century. And who can forget Bill Gates’ notion that 640k of Random Access Memory is all that anyone could possibly need!

The beauty of Christianity, in my opinion, is that it is almost perfectly open to the concept of a constantly fluctuating knowledge base. As layers of the onion are unwrapped, what is known to be true is learned not to be true, and the subsequent assumptions are often doomed to be overturned as well. The constants of Christianity, in truth, are very few; the fact that they are impossible to human understanding should not trouble the imaginative mind at all. Both Paul and Jesus told us we would not – could not – understand. The human mind is too small.

It is the possibilities of Christianity that I find most exciting. If this is a test, designed to separate the wheat from the chaff and the sheep from the goats, then there is surely a purpose behind it. And if the simulation, the shadow, are this wonderfully vivid, one cannot even begin to imagine what may only be the next step in the most fascinating adventure of all.

lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt