I love windy days. They remind me to have faith in the beauty of things
I can’t see. Though the wind is intangible I can feel it all around me, and
though I can’t see it I can see continual evidence of its presence. I believe
the same is true of God.
The wind can easily be explained using a basic knowledge of
temperature, geography and air pressure, but that wasn’t always the case. There
was once a time in history when stories, mythologies and theories arose trying
to explain the mystical force of wind. Today, with modern science, the numinous
nature of the wind has subsided, but it hasn’t taken away its beauty. Is the
wind any more or less real because our understanding of it has changed? Is the
wind still not governed by the same laws of physics even though our
explanations are more sophisticated?
I don’t think we are much different than our ancestors. We still use
mythologies, theories, religion and a narrow understanding of science to
explain what we don’t know. We scramble around trying to make sense of our
world and quickly come to definitive conclusions based on our imperfect data.
Why do we pretend to “know” science or God when our knowledge of both is so
incomplete?
Perhaps there will be a time when religion catches up to science, or
rather science catches up with God. Maybe there will be a time when we could
live in a post-theist and postsecular world, and our understanding of all
things mystical, spiritual, secular, and scientific will seamlessly merge into
a single comprehensive understanding of our existence.
I don’t “know” when or if that day will occur, but for now, I choose
faith—faith in all the things I do not know, but bring joy and beauty to my
life. I have faith in science, religion, history, theories, technology,
mythology, ideas, the future and God.
I won’t pretend to know what I clearly do not, but I won’t lose faith
in what I hope to know either.
*Published at The Transfigurist on Saturday July 11, 2015
*Published at The Transfigurist on Saturday July 11, 2015
