clay feet aspiring to heaven

"Created half to rise, and half to fall;
Great lord of all things, yet prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world!"

Alexander Pope 18th century british poet
was driven in his work to articulate
the paradox of human being

and thus i set about tonight to convey
something of a recent preoccupation-

is it inherent in the fibre and spirit of man
to seek out the Absolute?

i use the word Absolute here in the hegelian sense

what i really wish to say in bolder language
"do we have it in us to seek god, naturally?"

my thinking of late has been formed by reading
a great book by henri de lubac sj
"the mystery of the supernatural"
wherein he traces arguments in a very
systematic fashion pertaining to the issue
of what can be known by observation and reason
of man's inclinations to attain the ultimate

in a previous post i quoted from the TV program
a few weeks ago the three part series hosted by
jonathan miller
on more than one occasion miller stated that he
could determine no reason whatsoever that would
make it desireable for the human being to seek god
his belief is that darwin's theory and genetic theory
can both explain the development of the human intellect
and there is nothing observable in mankind to lend itself
to having been created by a DIVINE INTELLECT
it appears that for him and others
some basic common sense and some scientific education
would suffice to lead the human mind to a resignation
that life as it reveals itself to us is all that there is
and the inclinations that are expressed by religiously minded people
are little more than well stated historically imposed
superstitions and legends
made up by people at various times so that
human beings would behave themselves

once a cetain intellectual self confidence is attained
then it seems logical that reliance on anything but ones own
ability to think through the various problems of life
is nothing short of superfluous

yet it must be admitted that most all peoples of the world
all those who developed without the "benefit" of the enlightenment
display religious character which cannot be explained in any other
way than the intuition for something greateer than themsleves

de lubac utilizing primarily the thinking of thomas aquinas
states that it should be obvious that human nature
is inherently religious inherently reflective to the point of
acknowledging that the human soul is immortal
and that there is a natural drive to be linked to
a milieu in which that self understanding can flourish
or at least find security of purpose

this being the case
i am perplexed at what seems to be
a fundamental denial of human nature
to say
"i do not need god"
is in effect to say
"there is nothing in me that is godlike
or god-directed. my qualities and my nature
are sufficient for my being in the world....these qualities are but
the long genetic workings of the accidents of time"

and indeed that is that basic tenet of the
school of EXISTENTIALISM
what we see what we can discern by reason
what we experience in this world with others
is all there is
plants die animals die humans die
we are simply biological neighbors to
all else living on the planet
it is for us to make the best of it

history would seem to suggest that
an extraodinary theme has been responsible
for the development of western culture
it is easy to point to the flaws in the theme
it is easy to point to the wars of religion in europe
to the inquisition to the cultural disruptions
with all their complex and convoluted ramifications

it is much more difficult for the humanist atheist positivist
to point to the "glories" of the development of man
the creation of libraries
the amazing poetic works
the development of education systems
the devotion to the needs of the poorest and the needy
the articualtion through the ages of ever higher standards
of justice
so that humans might transcend the baser inclination
for violence and revenge
the unquestionable aesthetic standards
for the creation of art in music painting literature
sculpture
all of which derives from souls whose lives were focussed on
the search for the divine the search for god

there is a statement some have made
"he is closer to us than we are to ourselves"

the earliest recognition as it is stated in the genesis
account "he made man in his image. male and female he made them"
became a religious standard which carried with it the understanding
that despite that oftentimes wretched state of affaires ordained
by human agendas
there is something in human nature that seems to
transcend even itself

a lakotah saying-
"to see god look into the eyes of a child"
indicates an awareness of a quality
that only humans possess

so the question then becomes
what is at stake if we deny that quality?
or
if we deny the essential character of being human
are we then left with working things out in a
relatively animal fashion

de lubac in one of his astounding
summary statements puts it thus:

"christians know that 'god lives in inaccesible light'-
but they also know more profoundly
that "god bestows some of that light upon them" -
To the extent that they humbly believe in the first,
to the same extent they trust, in the darkness of this world,
in the second. It is one and the same faith which makes them
certain both that the depths of god are inscrutable
to the mind of man, and that they are known to the Spirit of God
who wills to communicate himself to man; for the "WORD"
only son of the father, imparts to the saints (all of us)
a kind of kinship with the nature of god the father
and with his own nature by giving them
the SPIRIT."

our thinking
our imagining
our creating
our speaking
our hoping
our belief in the goodness
of people
our amazement at the
accomplishments of the collective
human mind
and those individual
displays of genius
even the detours and deviations
(as expressed by those who cannot believe in god)
that we can reflect on the truly astounding nature
of mans march through time

all of this would indicate to me
that something more profound than mere reason
is at work in the human drama

it should give us pause to fear
what would happen in a world
devoid of the understanding of faith
"brave new world"
would be a childrens story i think
compared to the schemes humans would
devise purely on their own

i sing and i like very much
the song by john lennon "imagine"
wherein he wrote
"and no religion too"
but i think he is saying
that if religion would be perfect
it would make itself obsolete
that the ideals of christianity
might in fact be attainable
we might be able to live in peace

but it would mean that everyone would have to be
considered sacred a child of god

that seems a far cry from merely stating
the every human is but a biological entity
culturally determined and finite
and that is it

the question i leave a reader with then is this
not - "did god create me?"
but-
"is what i know of my soul, my mind. my very person
a reflection of the one who created me? and do i properly regard
that "soul"? do i see myself as like unto god?"

in his image and likeness
give thanks for what little light there is