Faith renewed
I must admit my faith, though very important to me, is at times very weak. When I read about extraterrestrial life, I immediately wonder if they were made in God’s image and likeness. I also wonder if Jesus had to die on the cross for them and whether they suffer the effects of original sin. It seems unlikely.
That always leads me further down the rabbit hole and I think of the similarities between our beliefs in the Virgin birth, being born without the effects of original sin, being taken up to heaven body and soul, the Resurrection and many of the Greek and Egyptian myths. It seems pretty common for people of that time to believe in a shared divine and human existence.
Inevitably I run across something that reinforces my belief and or disproves the reason behind my doubt. Recently I read how terribly unlikely it is that there is extraterrestrial life. So that erased that doubt and let me settle back into my very ego-centric belief that we are the only ones in the universe.
We just moved into Lent and so faith is a very worthy consideration. I enjoy seeing Mark Wahlberg pop up on my phone advertising a prayer app. Despite some of his movie roles, that man has faith and shares it with the world. It doesn’t seem to me that he wears it on his shirt sleeve but he is obviously not afraid or ashamed to advertise it. Living by it — that is the challenge.
I have been struggling with illness for more than 40 days that at times placed me in bed most of the day. At my age, one naturally wonders will they find out what’s wrong and how serious it is. That leads to “Am I ready to die?” The answer is always the same: Yes. That is an easy answer when one has not been told “it is terminal.” I wonder: Will I be ready to die if I know it’s happening in the near future?
So as I travel this rather morbid path, I put my will, POA, and healthcare directive where they are easy to find, telling those named where the documents are. I began the difficult discussion, with a couple of my children, about what I expect of them in handling affairs when I am incapacitated or dead and what medical care I want in the face of serious illness. I have found that talking about it now, when the end is not necessarily in sight, takes much of the sting out of it for them and can be more just a conversation about some distant event. I was extremely impressed with how casual the conversation was.
It might seem that as I experience this lapse of faith, this doubt, that I would be troubled where I am also experiencing illness that at times has
been severe with rather dire possible diagnosis. I have either been so sick that I could not become alarmed or I am at peace with illness and doubt. I think it is the latter.
As I mentioned in past columns, I am rereading Michael Singer’s recent book, “Living Untethered.” The first two times I read the book, I admit I glossed over his explanation of the creation of the galaxy and his description of the stars. It seemed to me he was broadcasting his knowledge of Physics and Quantum theory to let the reader know he had been studying these topics and now had a pretty good understanding of them. I was wrong.
Singer writes: “Mindfulness is a natural, effortless process once you let go of personal distractions. Instead of thinking that the moment in front of you has to be a certain way, you start thinking that it is pretty awesome the way it is, it’s amazing that it even exists … the stars ... are the furnaces of the universe. … The moment in front of you is special. You might want to practice appreciating it …”
He traces the beginning of the universe from the Big Bang. He writes “all mass and matter of the universe, fit into a space smaller than an atom.” After the Big Bang, there was “unbridled radiation” without form for 380,000 years.
He then notes that in Genesis, the author says: ”In the beginning … the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep … Let there be light and there was light.”
The similarity of what science now tells us about creation and the description of the chain of events in Genesis, written thousands of years ago, strikes me with total amazement. The author of Genesis had no idea of the Big Bang. It is moments like these that renew my faith.
— This is the opinion of Times Writers Group member Peter Donohue, who has been involved in the arts in Central Minnesota for more than 35 years. His column is published the third Sunday of the month.