Bruce, wonderful articulation of the world we live in and why we need to stop trying to conquer it. I trained as a scientist and thought every question in the universe had an answer; I just needed to unlock it. Then I discovered art and theology and realized that this world was here for my enjoyment, joy, and wonder and didn’t require conquering. It was a bold leap to think that I could enjoy humans, nature, and other creatures without having to understand everything about them. There was joy in experiencing everything with the freedom of relationship rather than possession. Thanks for your art and your insights.
Thanks Agatha -- it's wonderful that you, as a trained scientist, also found yourself seeing the world through other lenses -- theology and the arts. I think truly good scientists have the same sense of wonder and joy in the mystery of Being as do artists, philosophers, poets, and theologians. My son is a medical doctor and a true scientist who loves the body, loves the world of vascular systems, cellular design and function and rejoices in the mystery of Creation.
I wanted to write a response this morning, but it's been a race horse day. Glad I waited because the images you wrote about of the magnificence of the world have stayed with me all day!
yes! thank you, Bruce. not sure I get what you mean by the idolatry of explanation, but I like how it rolls off the tongue. and speaking of experiencing art, when an art piece is made wholly of words—each having definitions and connotations and denotations and rhythm and intonation and relationships with all the other words in the piece fore and aft—the human mind’s first desire is to discover a plausible meaning, grasp some intuitional or rational sense that makes sense of the piece's parts and the whole. it is so hard to simply experience a poem, to see a particular shape of letters and words and lines on a (usually) white sheet of paper and then begin at the beginning to let the interplay of words and phrases and line breaks unfold, from title and first line through to the poem’s end—and develop a satisfying relationship with it. how does one enjoy the experience of a poem without any sense of how the parts fit together, or how the parts press toward something greater than their sum? as a maker of poems, do the received meanings of the words I choose to use even matter? or am I composing a different kind of music, and the “meaning“ of a poem is wholly in the sound of it? can a poem inhere without cohering? (my brain hurts) what is it with chickens and roads and wanting to get across?
Brad and Greg — I think I’ll probably need to write a “part 2” for this one — and to explain my phrase idolatry of explanation. Part of me wants to leave it alone and let it steep a bit. But here in distilled form: idols are a veiled attempt to control God—make God manageable, answerable to us. To insist on abolishing all mystery is an attempt at playing god.
yes, let it steep. But thanks for the thumbnail. This morning I’m thinking such explanation as you are critiquing is more a form of sorcery than idolatry, of creating a false hermeneutical system for manipulating the thinking (and action) of others. But who knows what I’ll be thinking tomorrow morning? Love you, brother.
Bruce, wonderful articulation of the world we live in and why we need to stop trying to conquer it. I trained as a scientist and thought every question in the universe had an answer; I just needed to unlock it. Then I discovered art and theology and realized that this world was here for my enjoyment, joy, and wonder and didn’t require conquering. It was a bold leap to think that I could enjoy humans, nature, and other creatures without having to understand everything about them. There was joy in experiencing everything with the freedom of relationship rather than possession. Thanks for your art and your insights.
Thanks Agatha -- it's wonderful that you, as a trained scientist, also found yourself seeing the world through other lenses -- theology and the arts. I think truly good scientists have the same sense of wonder and joy in the mystery of Being as do artists, philosophers, poets, and theologians. My son is a medical doctor and a true scientist who loves the body, loves the world of vascular systems, cellular design and function and rejoices in the mystery of Creation.
I wanted to write a response this morning, but it's been a race horse day. Glad I waited because the images you wrote about of the magnificence of the world have stayed with me all day!
yes! thank you, Bruce. not sure I get what you mean by the idolatry of explanation, but I like how it rolls off the tongue. and speaking of experiencing art, when an art piece is made wholly of words—each having definitions and connotations and denotations and rhythm and intonation and relationships with all the other words in the piece fore and aft—the human mind’s first desire is to discover a plausible meaning, grasp some intuitional or rational sense that makes sense of the piece's parts and the whole. it is so hard to simply experience a poem, to see a particular shape of letters and words and lines on a (usually) white sheet of paper and then begin at the beginning to let the interplay of words and phrases and line breaks unfold, from title and first line through to the poem’s end—and develop a satisfying relationship with it. how does one enjoy the experience of a poem without any sense of how the parts fit together, or how the parts press toward something greater than their sum? as a maker of poems, do the received meanings of the words I choose to use even matter? or am I composing a different kind of music, and the “meaning“ of a poem is wholly in the sound of it? can a poem inhere without cohering? (my brain hurts) what is it with chickens and roads and wanting to get across?
Brad and Greg — I think I’ll probably need to write a “part 2” for this one — and to explain my phrase idolatry of explanation. Part of me wants to leave it alone and let it steep a bit. But here in distilled form: idols are a veiled attempt to control God—make God manageable, answerable to us. To insist on abolishing all mystery is an attempt at playing god.
yes, let it steep. But thanks for the thumbnail. This morning I’m thinking such explanation as you are critiquing is more a form of sorcery than idolatry, of creating a false hermeneutical system for manipulating the thinking (and action) of others. But who knows what I’ll be thinking tomorrow morning? Love you, brother.
I find the comparison to idolatry fascinating. I am going to be thinking about the ramifications of that comparison for a long time. Thank you!