What do I know? Not much...(Part 2)

“Faith (fãTH) – Complete confidence

in someone or something.”

“Knowledge (‘nälij) – The fact or condition of knowing something

with familiarity gained through experience or association.”

- Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Bill and I continued the chat as it moved into what we feel might happen next.  Next, meaning what happens after life on earth.  This sort of conversation is part of the faith structure each of us has. 

For many, there is nothing after this life.  Socrates, just before drinking the poisonous hemlock, suggested two options at death: Nothing or something.

      1. Nothing would not be so bad, after all, who would not appreciate a long and  uninterrupted sleep?   

        2. Something, on the other hand, would be great.  What an opportunity to mingle with the great minds of history!

“Something” was his belief and fits well into the Christian tradition, where after this life, in Heaven, we interact with the Father Himself…the originator of the intellect of all the great minds!

The Apostle Paul put it this way.  If in this life only we live, let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we die…meaning, if the vapor of our lives is all there is – what’s the point? (1Co 15:32 – Bible)

Questions come honestly…

Among my father’s ministerial gifts, he was a great pastor.  Outside the pulpit, which held him a willing captive, he loved nothing more than visiting people who were ill and those close to the end of their lives.  He was gifted and brought a sense of calmness his parishioners truly appreciated.  I often wondered what it was that drew him to those for whom the “…valley of the shadow of death…” loomed so closely.  I assumed it was to instill in them a few last words of faith to help carry them ‘…through the veil…’ – to find themselves with Christ.

In later years, I came to understand, as with many things in life, it was different than what it seemed. 

In addition to being a standard bearer for Christ, dad was an honest man…honest with himself.  A man for whom faith was key, but also a man for whom questioning was necessary.  It was not enough to ‘put things on the shelf,’ waiting passively for an answer to emerge.  He was compelled to continue searching…hoping for greater insight. 

To his congregation and others he would say some things were a matter of faith…that exacting proof was not necessary “…in this life…” And yet for him, and his son…revisiting, questioning, not settling, prodding and poking around the edges his faith was as important as breath itself.

“…in this life…” is the basis for the importance he placed on being with his flock as they neared the end of their journeys.  As it turns out, in addition to bringing them comfort, he also sought personal insight as to what they perceived or understood as they approached their final breath.  Did they see something richer…deeper?  Might one of these folk share with him and inform his faith?  It was as if he hoped God might give those slipping away a more profound sense of the transition. 

It wasn’t that he doubted…or maybe he did in some respects – surely all of us do.  He simply sought more as he prepared for the inevitable end of his voyage.  In the end, as he acknowledged to me, this illumination never came.  He left this world full of faith, but uncertain…not of his destination, but rather how he might find his way.  The dogmatic theologue, who suggests weakness if there is uncertainty, has probably spent more time thinking than living, or conversely had such a transitional experience that faith alone, is more than enough.  For some it is…for him it was not.

Christ said if one knew the truth, it would set them free, suggesting anything that increases our freedom is that much more truth we have acquired.  Freedom comes from discipline and hard work, as the apostle Paul indicates, “…tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience hope…” (Romans 5:3 – Bible).

The father – the son…

While the ‘belief’ portions of my life have carried the day in many instances, faith in and of itself has not been enough.  I have ‘…asked, sought and knocked…’ looking for evidence…not just to believe, but also to know of some things yet unseen.  This has NOT been driven by doubt, but in defense and confirmation of the things I have believed, and through consistent repetition of the things I have experienced in my life.

In the framework of afterlife…in my heart…there is evidence…enough evidence to bring a sense of greater wonder and longing for the next step.  There is little doubt faith has been the bridge, for faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen…it is the magnetic force that brings the universe to us as surely as gravity (also unseen) pulls us the surface of the earth.  And yet having faith without exercising it…working it…growing it…produces nothing.  This is the story of the scripture.  Whatever we are given must be exercised to be of any value.

What I know…

I have tried to express this in the past, but one’s personal reality, is simply that…personal.  So here is what I know – with no doubt or question.  Informed by the scripture…confirmed by my life experience.

Life – of the soul…us – is a journey of undefined depth and breadth.  It is NOT simply a vapor of a few short decades, coming to a screeching halt at the final expiration of our physical breath.  Falling asleep, as Christ said of Lazarus, or death, as we understand it, is the doorway to the next stage of our growth – growth being the operative word – in a continuum of extended knowledge and experience. 

The Lazarus story and many others are part of the scriptural foundation of the belief that this life is but a “…dressing room…” – a place of preparation for the next stage.

I have been taught that if I have led a life edifying both to myself, and those with whom I come in contact, I will have a place in heaven.  This, in the tradition of my faith, means I will be with and recognize others who have lived similar lives.  I will exist forever in one of “…many mansions.  For if it were not so, I would have told you…” (Christ – John 14:2).

These ideas have comforted me in times of need…in times where I had nowhere to turn…no answers to the questions…nothing but child like faith that tomorrow would be a better day.  These were moments – and there have been too many to count – when faith alone carried me through the crisis.  

Crises, however, are not the best of times for evaluation and thoughtful consideration.  Crises are moments requiring whatever resources are needed simply to survive.  Faith, that unseen resource known only to he or she that believes, is what so often carries the day.  What an incredible thing it is!!

What are the things we know in life?  They begin with a built in curiosity fed with ideas and nurtured by faith.  As we believe ideas and exercise concepts they become routinely recognizable to the extent they become simply “…the way things are…” They become part of our ‘knowing,’ our base of understanding.  Fluent spoken language, simple mathematics, skill in whatever we practice, provides pathways of understanding from which belief is the starting place.  Yet without exercise of that faith, nothing is produced.

This, for me, is where it all begins.

To be continued…

- ted