Saturday, January 12, 2013

Fear, Myths, and Faith

Humanity is prone to fear of the unknown. This is usually a result of poor understanding of something and inability to create an action plan for dealing with the root of our fears. Sailors were justifiably afraid of fog in the days before satellite navigation systems. They could not anticipate what lay ahead, which may lead to their demise. They created myths to give them a sense of power over the unknown. The myths were probably based on the storyteller's comfort level in having the skills to deal with whatever lay beyond the mists.

Scientists, too, make up myths, which they call theories. As theories are tested, scientists come to conclusions that help them plan progress in the physical world. When a theory is tested enough to satisfy the statistics by which scientists predict events, we think of the prevailing findings as facts. These are actually the prevailing theories that seem to be factual. Great scientists never lose their sense of wonder about the unknown. They never lose their awe in attempting answers to mysteries.

There is a huge difference between fear and awe, but our religious traditions often interchange the two concepts. The Psalms speak eloquently of awe, but much of scripture speaks in fear of that which cannot be seen or understood on a physical level. Myths are created by the storytellers to assuage their own fears and those of their communities. The only tools the tellers had were words describing what surrounded them. They used the known as metaphors for the unknown. Their fear and awe were real, but not the words that could not begin to describe, in earthly terms, Infinite Power.

When scientists began understanding the nature of the unseen power that we call energy, and ascertained that all matter is manifestations of energy, this opened a whole new way to experience Divinity. The masses of energy that we call stars can be seen with telescopes long after these stars have burned out. How is this possible? The same way that we still see the faces and hear the voices of those we love long after their bodies have died. Energy never really dies; it simply goes into other manifestations.

The concept of a Holy Spirit being part of every human may be as old as humankind. The belief that this Divine Energy is the same in The Holy Spirit and in humans was codified in the book of Genesis. Isn't it possible that, by all the names that we call god, The Big Bang is, in fact, an explosion of The Holy Spirit? Isn't it possible that this holy energy has been free for the taking ever since the beginning? Isn't it possible that free will gives us the ability to manifest as much, or as little, of this Holy Energy as we choose? Isn't it possible that peace on earth is actually achievable if each of us commits to focusing our "Force" on responsible compassion?

This concept certainly gives me a greater sense of awe that the thought of god as a jealous, vengeful, war lord creating a soldiers and a son for enforcing his bloody will. I don't need to understand it to have faith in it, but this is what I believe.