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November 08, 2005
Refinement
I am very attached to ideas and rather enjoy discussing them. But what is an idea? Do they exist prior to human thought? Are they like matter in that they can be neither created nor destroyed; only discovered, repackaged and altered? If one believes in truth than ideas must preexist, for without the acceptance of that fact can one even begin the process of debate and have it move anywhere profitable. So how does one 'discover' an idea and how does one know if an idea is in fact 'truth'? These questions plague me, they make it difficult for me to sleep at night and bring forth numerous headaches, in-shower monologues and impassioned pleas for others around me to take seriously the life of the mind.
I am a thoroughly post-modern Christian which from the outset appears to be the forced abutment of two mutually exclusive mental states. The Christian in me acknowledges that absolute truth exists but, the post modernist insists that, as a human being, I don't have access to it. It is self-imposed lifestyle that forces me to stay humble, an attribute I am naturally bereft of. If I go on trying to justify my actions without serious thought because 'the Holy Spirit revealed it to me' my secular humanist perspective hurls callous statements directed at my staggering ignorance all the while reminding me of such events as the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades. And if I let my mind wallow too long in the helpless wastes of over-intellectualization the inherent spirituality that exists within reminds me that my brain is incapable of sating it's own rabid appetite for truth. For that I must look elsewhere.
An analogy that I have assigned to my life is that of a jigsaw puzzle that I have set out to complete. It has an overwhelming amount of pieces and no lid with which to show me what the end picture will look like. This puzzle has been worked on by many hands and the partial image it currently displays has been viewed by many. Some are content to view the fragmented landscape and walk away scoffing at all who attempt to take on a task that is impossible to complete individually while others, such as myself, are absolutely smitten: unable to walk away and wholly dedicated to the discovery of the final image, even if never get a chance to actually see it.
The reward is not viewing the finished image it is the process of gradual discovery inherent in the act. We had it in our minds that the green pieces must be some form of vegetation when it turns out they combine to form the virescent fabric of a beautiful gown. We don't know quite how the gown fits into the finished image: why would such formal dress be in the midst of such a remote expanse? We only know that we see it, that it is there and that both seem to coexist....and now the task of connecting them. When I set out to find these appending fragments my fellow puzzle workers assure me that they must be from a different puzzle, I am coerced into returning to the larger parts of the image that have already been completed. They explain that it is best to just enjoy the sections we have completed and that it's OK that the image has a ragged edge but, no matter how hard I try to accept this comfortable ideal, I am left unsatisfied as I see the other's who aren't a part of my group searching and working on their own tiny sections, scouring through the infinite pieces convinced they'll find a handful that fit.
My group again tries to persuade me that all these others are working on different puzzles, that it is impossible for all our pieces to fit together and that any time we spend away from our completed image is wasted. I argue that perhaps these extra hands could be of help and my group agrees on one condition: that they drop the fragments they have discovered and promise to only pick up and examine the sections that match the image they see. For it would be foolish to assume that we are all working on the same puzzle, right?
I believe this analogy has strong parallels to the modern American church. When did our halls of worship become places where debate and the questioning of blindly accepted doctrines are not welcome? Where have we gotten the idea that there is an immovable 'Christian' way to vote, raise children, consume and think all the while being absolutely certain that we have found it? Certainly there are still some things up for debate, right? And if we have discovered absolute truth shouldn't we be willing to discuss patiently and with an open mind to those who claim to have unearthed otherwise?
The church forced Galileo to drink hemlock because he claimed the earth wasn't the center of the universe (that in time proved to be truth) so what of those Christians who exist today who vote Democrat, support gay marriage and believe the earth is millions of years old? Will we ostracize them from our communities of worship; withholding our embrace and claiming they have no right to gaze into the puzzle pieces we have thus far completed? I am of the opinion that the more hands we get working on the puzzle the better and a little uncertainty won't threaten the truth that has already come to light. The discovery and refinement of truth isn't exclusive to the 'saved' but, exists with equal voracity in the realm of the secular. Perhaps we should put our differences aside and start sharing, in love, our personal discoveries all the while being open to the thought that maybe, just maybe, we had been wrong.
"According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." -1 Corinthians 3:10-13
Posted by Jon at November 8, 2005 03:46 PM