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 Honestly, we do not know much and even what we think we know, we know not well. To be human is to swim in a sea of uncertainty, grasping only occassionally this or that truth to hold onto. Somtimes we find false help — they sink as soon as they are gripped, or hold some hidden malice or danger. Others sustain us long and well. But ever we are looking for that country which is dry land from our weary drifting.
There are many voices that cry out that they know the way to land. They sell maps. Not to mention many books on the way. And there are few of us who have not tested these wares…and found them wanting. If there is one thing we are sure of. It is that uncertainty remains. Here I am, taunted by what we think we know. The myth of facts overwelms we. It seems God and faith are debunked. Hasn’t it all been explained? Are not all the wonders and miracles of life reducable to a few interactions of molecules? Surely the only purpose is the accidental maintainence of an eons-long reaction proceeding from a primordial source. I am. But I am just a phenomenon of my cerbral cortext. Conciousness serves no purpose beyond survival. Beautiful and perplexing though it is, it is no more than an adaptation of wise cells marching ever on. There is no meaing to anything except to fill the universe of uncertainty with cold facts and simple math and the bordedom of an endless library of “what simply is” devoid, we think, of “what ought to be”. But really, I am torn. I would rather the cold and menacing waters of uncertainty than that false land of no meaning, no purpose, nothing but endless churning machinery. Newton gave us much, but he also took much. He reduced us all to cogs and replacable components. More compelling for me is the promise of a firmer country. One imbued with light and green life, purpose, hope, and above all conciousness everywhere. But this is the territory, I am told, of rediculous and superstitious religion. All religions are myths, aren’t they? Endless in variety but devoid of truth. Simpeton’s graspings in the face of fear and doubt. Much more noble is the sober, rational way that faces fearlessly the road of firm physics, hope on fragile human-kind alone, and cold mortality. But that road is neither brave nor beautiful to me. Puffed up, arrogant, full of talk but not of action, self-absorbed in thinking grand things that have no final purpose and no true meaning. An exploration without a journey. You cannot always be torn in two. Eventaully you must make for some imagined shore far beyond any horizon. I have found a ship in Christ that has proven effective against the waves of this ocean, and it has rescued many who are adrift. It seems a sure and fast vessel, it’s captain is like none other I have ever met. I feel full and complete here in they joy of the wind, trusting the captains sure hand is leading us to that hoped-for shore. There are those in the water who call our craft a false hope. They would rather soak and bob than stand on our swaying deck. And there are other ships — those made of metal churning out choking black smoke or powered by glowing nuclear hearts. When they pass us by, they snear at the antiquity of our sails and rigging and the slowness of our progress. But they do not hear the sound of the sea over their engines. Nor do they know the partnership we have with the wind. They cannot imagine the thrill of storms they do not weather, or of our old intimacy with all deep waters. So I will voyage on, content in the risk all voyagers take when they set out on the sea. This journey will be the proving of our vessel and of our quality and identity. It is a way not for all, but for those who feel the wind and long to ride it, and who have left behind the arrogance the marches over waters without a nod or a dance. Jesus may seem a fool of a captain compared to those who steam the most modern ships. But they seem to me to have forgotten about the sea from bow to stern. But he knows it like a brother and has taught me the art and life of it, and that seems to me home until we find our shore.
Original content by: http://blog.thetruthtree.com/?p=16.
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Scott Bartchy is a radical. He believes in a subversive system that embraces those on the fringes of our society and seeks to establish a new way of life that goes against the status quo.