science.spirituality.literature/ part 2

“Science, spirituality, and literature—we need all three to get through the day, the life, the universe.” –j.w.schlack

Spirituality.

Maybe God doesn’t “fit” into how we “view” the universe. Isn’t it funny how those little quotes make us question what’s really being said? Maybe God doesn’t have to fit at all because maybe the way we view the universe isn’t simply based on our intellect distorted by senses. This is tricky because in thinking about it too hard, I start to get away from myself—if I’m all atoms, then how do they spark into thoughts, words, language? Isn’t that simply the beauty of it? Science.

In the previous post, I mentioned how the world seems as if it were made for us. Don’t expect me to quote the Bible or anything—I believe there is more to spirituality, especially when translating into the modern day when we “know” so much.

I think we base all knowledge after the preconception that we don’t know much of anything, at least not for certain.

In Travelling Mercies, Anne Lamott writes a response to Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling (nothing like literature leading into more and more literature):

…And since this side of the grave you could never know for sure if there was a God, you had to make a leap of faith, if you could, leaping across the abyss of doubt with fear and trembling…

She references this in the middle of telling the story of Abraham as he is preparing to sacrifice his only son. Why risk losing what is most precious for something entirely unguaranteed? Faith: this is a big gap in science, yet a cornerstone in knowledge. Even botanists have faith—faith that plant cells will continue to reproduce and grow, allowing a whole process to breath out oxygen for us to subsist, and without that simple act – reproducing cells – life would be thrown entirely off-balance.

“And since this side of the grave…”  If we only believed what we thought we knew from experience, what would that leave for death? For God? I do believe in God, and well, undeniably, experience forces me to believe in death, but what happens then, when this uncapturable element leaves in an exhale, and our bodies are lifeless?

Faith. Faith happens. Faith that the abyss isn’t quite as empty as it seems. Faith that the leap will take you into something greater than you’ve “known”. Faith happens.

Now what? Science, spirituality…literature? How does literature impact either of those or those impact it?

Word count: 421

science.spirituality.literature/ part 1

“Science, spirituality, and literature—we need all three to get through the day, the life, the universe.” –j.w.schlack

I feel obligated to explain my delay in posting; I did promise a twice-weekly blog. This week’s quote comes from the essay “Mindfulness and Memoir” from the December issue of The Writer’s Chronicle. The quote has been lingering above my head for weeks now, and I just haven’t been able to figure out what to do with it. A series—my first thought, but at the time, I didn’t have this space to talk it out.

Now I do, and for the next week, you can look forward to a three-part (maybe even four!) series on this quote. I tried to jam it into one, but it felt only right to give each its own, particularly because other quotes have been floating in and out of my brain, quotes that envelop this notion of all three factions of knowledge.

Science.

How often do you really think about science? About the way nothing ever truly touches because we’re all just a bunch of charged atoms, zipping around to avoid collision. About the way the Earth looks like a spec from Jupiter. About the way the universe is so much bigger than us, yet our surroundings feel so personal, as if the world were made for us (more on that later). But really, how often do you think about it?

One of my favorite quotes on the topic comes from the very beginning of Hawking’s A Brief History of Time:

At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: ‘What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of giant tortoise.’ The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, ‘What is the tortoise standing on?’ ‘You’re very clever, young man, very clever,’ said the old lady. ‘But it’s turtles all the way down!’

I’m constantly amazed by how much we think we know, just because we’ve come to the realization that the world is not flat and is (unfortunately) not held by giant tortoises. We use what we know to shape what we believe, and the more we know, the less we believe in ideas contrary to our own experiences.

This is why children stop believing in Santa Claus and why, personally, believing in Jesus is really hard when you start to think about science and matter and what defines life and death and God.

Just like with the turtles, the universe is simple matter; we shape a mental image that allows no room for God. We push him out. In our current, scientific blanket view of the universe, where is he? Who tugs the strings & keeps an ever-watchful eye? How often have you thought about it?

Science shapes spirituality by either opening or closing our imagination to what we know versus what we believe. Metaphysics 101…if only…

Word count: 497

jefferson/ a need for books

“I cannot live without books.” –t. jefferson

Neither can I. Really. I tried to move from Pennsylvania to Seattle taking only what could fit in my little Subaru (plus two passengers & their luggage). I squeezed in one, maybe two boxes of books, but it wasn’t enough. I haven’t even read them all, yet I’ve found myself frequenting used bookstores, always scanning for the next title.

Within a few months, I had my parents send me more books from my shelves back East. Books for Christmas. Books just because I needed them. Yes, needed. I understand that there are physical needs, and books certainly aren’t one of them, but mentally, emotionally, psychologically, we all need to be transported into a world beyond our own in order to both find haven away and learn to navigate a place full of people who are writing, reading, and gaining influence from the written word.

So this is my latest blog- to bring snippets of literature into interaction with the this-is-life-at-present by taking quotes from books, magazines, articles that I’ve recently read and spending 500 words or less to write about them.

Why a word limit? While to some people, 500 words seems like a small novel, to me (and others of the talkative sort), 500 words can be punched out in 15 minutes. Just like how the very short-winded folk use Twitter (140 characters or less), I am challenging myself to be more selective in what I share through easily digestible one-page, twice-a-week entries.

My reading list is on-going. I try to read at least two magazines a month, one to two books a month (depending on length and time available), as well as daily Bible reading, online “researching”, and pages of poetry. Additionally, of course, comes the writing.

Maybe I’m in over my head, but reading + writing = a healthy heart, in case you didn’t know (contrary to Cheerios’ slogan—come on, tasteless grain circles or rich text? your choice).

Here we are: day one. Post one. I’ll be checking in twice a week to ramble, wonder, and talk through some really great literature.

Join the conversation. Send some feedback. Tell a friend. Happy reading.

Word count: 367