HS #63 2020.10.8
This I Believe
Recently a reader asked me to provide my underlying beliefs. He was referring to political beliefs, but I agree with G.K. Chesterton, “The most practical and important thing about a person is his view of the universe.” The philosopher Wittgenstein claimed that we all have core beliefs. These form the stationary hinge around which our other beliefs can then move. For twenty-five years, teaching senior seminars at Hope College, I challenged students to identify and reflect critically on their core beliefs. After all, none other than Socrates observed that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” So in the remaining space I give an overview of my beliefs, and challenge readers to do the same.
My father liked to say, “All Indians walk in single file – at least the one I saw did.” That humorous line captures two important points: We learn by making generalizations from what we experience. However, those generalizations may be wrong. If a growling dog bites me, I should stay away from growling dogs. However, I shouldn’t avoid ALL dogs. So making correct generalizations from our experiences is important.
First, I learn about the universe by experiencing it directly via my five senses. I gain wonder and awe from sunsets over Lake Michigan. I learned multiplication by playing with blocks. I learned about forces from teeter totters and merry-go-rounds and bicycles. I discover what makes people happy and angry by interacting with friends and siblings.
I also experience the universe directly through an internal sense. Immanuel Kant said, “Two things fill the mind with admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” I agree. Even though I lose out on the fun of spending the money, something inside (possibly God’s imprint) compels me that I should return a lost wallet to its owner. As the physicist-priest John Polkinghorne said, “I know, as certainly as I know anything, that love is better than hate.”
Finally, as the above paragraphs suggest, I learn about the universe through the testimony of others. Indeed, most that I know has come that way. I have experienced sixty years of history, but I know thousands of years of it. Via my eyes I see specks of light in the night sky, but via the testimony of others, I know that some of those specks are huge fusion furnaces like our sun and others are swirling swarms of billions of suns. All of this from the testimony of others – historians, biographers, scientists.
But this is where things get tricky. I have learned from experience that the testimony of others is unreliable. Some are mistaken or deceitful, while others, including myself, are easily fooled. I recently learned via NPR that I have been sorting plastic in vain. Recycling numbers was a gimmick to get Americans to use more plastic – guilt free. I bought in. That is, unless I am being sold a false story by NPR. How do I know?
Religious claims are especially problematic. There may be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. However, if anyone claimed they were abducted by extra-terrestrials, I would doubt the veracity. Similarly, although a personal God or spiritual dimension may exist, I doubt those who claim to have personal information or experience with it. Just too many varied and contrary claims amongst the 4000 religions. Obviously, most – possibly all - are mistaken.
Personally, I put scientists high on my “trustworthy” list. Why? Not because they are better than the rest of us, but because they are engaged in a career where gaining truth is the primary objective and is robustly and critically sought. I am presently peer-reviewing a mathematics article for a journal. Before it’s printed, several mathematicians will scour it for mistakes. Any major scientific finding is reviewed by hundreds. There’s a plumb for anyone who finds flaws in another’s discovery. Additionally, others repeat the experiments.
Recently I watched Francis Collins (physicist, physician, director of Human Genome Project, NIH Director, founder of BioLogos, and author of “The Language of God”) receive the Templeton Prize which is given to a person who “harnesses the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.”
An atheist who became a Christian at age 27 after being challenged by one of his patients to examine his own world view, Collins is presently searching for a coronavirus antidote, warning about human-caused global warming, and advocating for truth and harmony. That’s an examined life worth living.
