The Bottom of Everything
About a month or so ago, I started doing this “bible reading plan.” I heard about it from a pastor in Seattle (@raincitypastor.) I really like his writing and respect his wisdom, so I decided to give a try.
It’s actually a pretty cool deal. Every day, this website sends you links to the chapters you are supposed to read for the day. They even let you pick the translation you want – I’ve been reading The Message lately.
There’ve been some days where I get behind and have to do make-up reading. But for the most part I’ve been keeping up, and really enjoying it. Reading the Bible isn’t always something that I want to do, but lately my heart’s been in it, and I’m thankful for that.
I recently finished Ecclesiastes. I forgot how wild that book is. Solomon is forthright and forward. He’s frustrated and fed up. But he also is learning to find balance. Two of my favorite parts are from chapter 7 - verses 14 and 18.
“On a good day, enjoy yourself; on a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days, so that we won't take anything for granted.”
And – “It’s best to stay in touch with both sides of an issue. A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it.”
He says it’s best. Not, it’s easiest, or most convenient, or most popular, but best.
But then, next chapter over, verses 16 and 17, he admits how tough it is to deal responsibly with all of reality.
“When I determined to load up on wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking, you'll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you're not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won't get to the bottom of it.”
When I was in highschool, I used to sit in class and write things like, “Everything is everything and nothing is nothing and I love/hate all of it.” I used to try and come up with these all-encompassing statements to try and get to the bottom of things. Instead of approaching paradoxes with open arms, I put up my fists and said, “Let’s go.”
There’s a reason I call this site Paradox Point, and that’s because I think we all get to a place where we make a decision to either embrace mystery, paradox, and tension, or to reject those things, and spend our entire lives wrestling with them.
Solomon said that we won’t get to the bottom of it. Now that I’ve stepped out and made a lot of mistakes, I think He was on to something. So I’m doing my best to see both sides of an issue, stay even-tempered, fear God, and take on all of reality, every day.
I'll leave you with the first track off "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning."
July 29th, 2010 - 14:18
Hey Jim,
I’ve read your last couple of posts here and I thought I would throw in my two cents. Obviously you and I are in vastly different philosophical spectrums at this point but I figure getting some advice from the skeptic is always good. While I’m obviously not here to try and persuade you out of you belief in the god of the bible, but I will express my initial concern about the discourse you have been having. I worry that those who have a understanding of reality that a supreme being is “authoring” a story specific to your individual expierence (to use your own terminology) can be a distorted way to process tough struggles during the human expierence. It’s neither here nor there at this point if a god even exists. I think often times religion acts as an easy vessel to use a defense mechanism per example: “Oh man I lost my job this must have been Gods plan what can I learn from what he is trying to show me?” I think this in more serious situations can divorce the individual from responsibility and actually wrestling with personal vices and struggles. For those of us who see this life as being the only existence its ok to not rationalize absurd situations, it takes away the mystery from human suffering its part of the human expierence, its innate. By doing this I feel like it also allows the individual to cope with the reality of what has happened and when he/she has fully dealt with it can come out stronger and not having to rationalize a horrible thing that has happened in their life because bad things happen for no good reason at all. It may from time to time produce future benefits that are in the moment unseen but that is a product of coincidence rather than “design” if you will. I wont keep ranting I just wanted to express my thoughts about what you have been going through, I sympathize with you but I do not think its mentally healthy to try and rationalize absurd situations. I hope you are doing well man.
July 29th, 2010 - 14:27
Hey Jim,
I’ve been reading your posts the past couple of weeks and thought I would throw my two cents in. Obviously you and I are on vastly different philosophical spectrums I figure it doesn’t hurt to hear from the skeptic from time to time. I’m not here to persuade you against your belief in the god of the bible but I’ll just relay my concern about the dialogue you have been having. I worry that the belief that a celestial being is “authoring” (to use your words) a story specific to your individual experience can be problematic when faced with difficult times in life. I think this idea is often envoked as a defense mechanism when something tragic happens in life per example: “Oh man I lost my job today, I guess this is part of God’s plan, what can I learn from this? he must have other ideas in store for me” It’s the whole if he closes one door he opens another idea. I worry this can at times distract the individual from fully grasping the reality of what has happened and even in certain situations divorce entirely the persons responsibility. It forces one to have to try and rationalize absurd situations and I find this to be quite un-healthy. For those of us who do not anticipate an after-life and see life on earth as the only existence, it does not force us to rationalize the absurd. I accepted that human suffering is part of life, there is no mystery or deeper meaning to it, its innate. I think when you can sit back and say a terrible thing happened for no good reason at all it forces you to really grapple with it and you can be at peace with it eventually. Again no need to rationalize absurdities. I’m not accusing you of doing any of these things I’m merely responding to what I have read. I hope you are doing well and things work out.
July 29th, 2010 - 15:35
yo man – i value, love and encourage dissenting opinions… this blog will get old without them! these parts in particular stuck out as incredibly salient…
1. “I worry this can at times distract the individual from fully grasping the reality of what has happened and even in certain situations divorce entirely the persons responsibility.”
2. “I accepted that human suffering is part of life, there is no mystery or deeper meaning to it, its innate.”
i agree with you that, when something heartbreaking happens (i.e. losing a job, a spouse, a dog, a child, a car, whatever), we look for reasons to either, A) rationalize the hurt, or B) escape the reality of the situation, or C) both.
some ways that we do this are: religion, drinking, drugs, TV shows, food, exercise, books, vacations, volunteering, or just accepting that human suffering is an innate part of life, like you said. we could argue the validity of the various options, but i think the main thing to grapple with is this – tragedy has come upon me, i don’t know why it happened (or i do, and just don’t want to think about it), and i don’t know what to do next.
once we get there, what i’m trying to advocate for, is that we say, “what just happened sucks, but i want to accept my responsibility for it, learn what i can from it, and then press on to something new and better. i won’t sit here and blame people, and i won’t sit here and act like nothing is wrong – i’ll feel everything, embrace everything, and then make my next move.”
all of that was pretty stream of consciousness, but i hope it made some sense. please keep visiting and commenting… i value your words a lot – they challenge me intellectually, and keep me sharp.
hope you well too man! senior year is just around the bend… make sure and finish strong for our favorite rollerblading principal…