DIVINITY AND THE UNKNOWABLE
We are genetically programed to believe in a higher power. For the great bulk of humanity to go without a belief system is to go against Nature, and thus may lead to discontent, unhappiness, and fear of the unknown. Before we consider alternatives to religion, consider the fundamental essence of religion from the dawn of human consciousness to the present: the gods always represent what is beyond our knowing.
In the beginning, the gods lived on top of the mountain because the people had never been to the top of the mountain; the top of the mountain was unknown to them. Later, after people had scaled the mountain, they knew that the gods were not there. The gods were, in fact, in the sky and in the heavens; the sky and the heavens were unknown to them. Later, when people better understood the sky and the heavens—and had even flown in them—they knew that the gods were not there either. Perhaps, if we build larger telescopes and look far out into the Universe and far back in time toward the ultimate moment of creation, the Big Bang, we can know God's plan. Perhaps if we continue to subdivide matter into atoms, and from there into protons, electrons, and neutrons, and from there into quarks, we can discover God’s ultimate building blocks, God’s ultimate structure for Creation. But, my guess is that we cannot discover ultimate truth.
No matter how big a telescope we build, and no matter how far out in space or back in time we look, we will never find the face of God staring back at us. This is like building a modern, scientific Tower of Babel; it will not gain us ultimate knowledge. We will always find more unexplored real estate and more unanswered questions. And no matter how big a particle accelerator or atom smasher we build, we will always find finer and finer subdivisions of matter. Quarks will be made of smaller particles, and these will be made of yet smaller particles, and so on and on. We will never be able to discover the ultimate building blocks or the ultimate structure.
We are suspended in a seemingly infinite set of nested Chinese boxes. No matter how far out we look on the scale of the very large, or how far we look down on the scale of the very small, we cannot see the end. There is always another box. No matter how far back in time we look or how far out into the future we project, we can never find the alpha or the omega. These are the true mysteries, and consistent with our human instinct to deify the unknown, it is here that we should look to contemplate divinity. We must, however, bear in mind that if there is a keeper of the infinite Chinese boxes of space and time then such an entity is completely unfathomable to us. Dwelling on this may lead us back into the age-old trap of letting our imaginations create beliefs and personified images of God that are without basis.
Humans have always wanted know all the answers. From prehistory to relatively recently, people made up explanations for natural phenomena based on gods, and pseudo-sciences like alchemy and astrology. One of the most important advances brought about by the scientific revolution of the last few hundred years is the self-confidence and intellectual maturity on the part of scientific professionals to say “I don’t know,” rather than always feeling compelled to give an explanation, even if that explanation has to be fabricated out of guesses and stories. There are many unsolved problems in modern science and technology, and although we are constantly working to expand our knowledge, there will always be unknowns, and that is a good thing.
In the case of ultimate knowledge of the origin, fate, and structure of our universe, we should meditate upon the beauty of the undiscoverable nature of ultimate truth, not simply unknown, but most likely unknowable to us. Unknowablity is “most likely” because to know for sure that something is unknowable is to unjustifiably claim ultimate knowledge.
In the beginning, the gods lived on top of the mountain because the people had never been to the top of the mountain; the top of the mountain was unknown to them. Later, after people had scaled the mountain, they knew that the gods were not there. The gods were, in fact, in the sky and in the heavens; the sky and the heavens were unknown to them. Later, when people better understood the sky and the heavens—and had even flown in them—they knew that the gods were not there either. Perhaps, if we build larger telescopes and look far out into the Universe and far back in time toward the ultimate moment of creation, the Big Bang, we can know God's plan. Perhaps if we continue to subdivide matter into atoms, and from there into protons, electrons, and neutrons, and from there into quarks, we can discover God’s ultimate building blocks, God’s ultimate structure for Creation. But, my guess is that we cannot discover ultimate truth.
No matter how big a telescope we build, and no matter how far out in space or back in time we look, we will never find the face of God staring back at us. This is like building a modern, scientific Tower of Babel; it will not gain us ultimate knowledge. We will always find more unexplored real estate and more unanswered questions. And no matter how big a particle accelerator or atom smasher we build, we will always find finer and finer subdivisions of matter. Quarks will be made of smaller particles, and these will be made of yet smaller particles, and so on and on. We will never be able to discover the ultimate building blocks or the ultimate structure.
We are suspended in a seemingly infinite set of nested Chinese boxes. No matter how far out we look on the scale of the very large, or how far we look down on the scale of the very small, we cannot see the end. There is always another box. No matter how far back in time we look or how far out into the future we project, we can never find the alpha or the omega. These are the true mysteries, and consistent with our human instinct to deify the unknown, it is here that we should look to contemplate divinity. We must, however, bear in mind that if there is a keeper of the infinite Chinese boxes of space and time then such an entity is completely unfathomable to us. Dwelling on this may lead us back into the age-old trap of letting our imaginations create beliefs and personified images of God that are without basis.
Humans have always wanted know all the answers. From prehistory to relatively recently, people made up explanations for natural phenomena based on gods, and pseudo-sciences like alchemy and astrology. One of the most important advances brought about by the scientific revolution of the last few hundred years is the self-confidence and intellectual maturity on the part of scientific professionals to say “I don’t know,” rather than always feeling compelled to give an explanation, even if that explanation has to be fabricated out of guesses and stories. There are many unsolved problems in modern science and technology, and although we are constantly working to expand our knowledge, there will always be unknowns, and that is a good thing.
In the case of ultimate knowledge of the origin, fate, and structure of our universe, we should meditate upon the beauty of the undiscoverable nature of ultimate truth, not simply unknown, but most likely unknowable to us. Unknowablity is “most likely” because to know for sure that something is unknowable is to unjustifiably claim ultimate knowledge.