Humor and God

All  too often, religious discussions, ceremonies and sermons are very heavy, very somber and deadly serious. Sometimes, we seem to believe that our Creator is a dour, gloomy being, who wants us to be struggling through this World of woe, this veil of tears.

In a word, no. I do not. cannot, and will not, believe that God intended us to go through these very short lives in such a somber state. This World is glorious, beautiful, and full of fun. We should revel in its abundance and beauty and have as much fun as we can possibly have.

Yes, work is important (although, once you get the hang of it, you can look on work as fun, as a game). Yes, life has sorrowful moments. But, these travails just set the stage for times of joy.

If a loved one dies, of course you mourn, but you need not mourn forever. You may iss them for the rest of your life and you may feel a twinge of sadness when you think of them, but why not remember all th good times you had together. All your mourning will not bring them back, but, remembering the good times you had together can, in a way, bring them almost back.

It's your choice. You can go through your life sober and somber, stern and unsmiling. Or, you can put on a smile, have some fun and enjoy your time. Just don't make the mistake of thinking that God does not admire good humor. You want to avoid humor that is overly cruel, but not all humor is mean. You can find a world of things to laugh about that are completely benign.

Look Closely

I want you to try an experiment. Go outside and look at a leaf. It doesn't matter what kind. It can be from a tree, shrub, or grass. Just look at it closely.

Look at the structure, at the intricate design of the veins. Then, get a magnifying glass and look closer and see how even more intricate that design is than it appears to the naked eye. Then look at it through a microscope. (I know, few folks keep one around, but there are countless such pictures in books and on the internet) At every level, the leaf becomes more and more amazing, and, at the cell level, you become aware, that in those tiny specks, there is a whole world of activity.

Then, back away and think. We have a pretty good idea of what goes on in a cell, but only pretty good. We understand the chemistry that is occurring, and a lot of the physics at the mechanical level, but there is much we don't know about the electrical and quantum physics  happening in those cells.

Then, be aware, we have no idea absolutely no idea of the whys of the cells life. Why does this happen? It is obvious to any but the most idiotically hard headed materialists, that this delicate mechanism, is not the result of any sort of accident. Lightening did not strike a chemical rich gob of mud in the distant past and produce this. Science, while useful and important, cannot explain why and cannot understand, in full, what is going on. What's the answer?

God, you say? Okay, I agree, but stop a moment. If we cannot understand this relatively simple bit of Nature, what can we say about God. Hard headed religious believers, of which there are many, are just as foolish as hard headed scientific materialists.

God's Universe is a mystery; God is a greater mystery and all of that is wonderful, but, blessedly, it eliminates any possibilities of hard dogma. Allow God to be that grand mystery and the Universe becomes enchanted.

God Does Play Dice With The Universe

Albert Einstein insisted, when talking to his friend Niels Bohr, that "God does not play dice with the Universe." This was during their discussions of quantum theory, when the Uncertainty Principal was well on its way to becoming certain. Bohr replied, "Albert, you have to stop telling God what he can and cannot do."

Well, much time has passed and Bohr was right, not just about quantum theory, but about everything. Humans are often an arrogant lot and many, scientists, philosophers and theologians, have made careers out of insisting that they have the answers. Since they all have different answers, it would seem that they might be well served by showing a little humility and backing off from absolute statements, but, no.

Instead we have physicists insisting that all theories must be 'elegant,' in that they are balanced and display a unity. We have no real reason to assume that things really work that way, but it seems that it just makes them happy.

We have theologians, from academics to street preachers, who swear that they have all the answers, having consulted their favorite source, be it the Bible, the Upanishads, the Diamond Sutra or the Book of the Tao. Now, each of them say that they have the truth and we should follow them but, when asked for a good reason why, they invariably reply that you must believe them because their particular book is the correct one. This is, I believe, in logic, called a tautology. A is true because A is true. This is fallacious reasoning but, they will then tell you that you only say that because you are human. I guess they believe that God is irrational; I don't.

WE need to back off and admit that we don't really know much. When you admit ignorance, wisdom may enter.