Life’s Persistent Questions
I heard an ad on NPR the other day that confused me. It began by asking if you were tired of all the politics and opinions that you hear on the radio. If so, they had the cure: Listen to Science Friday where, for one hour a week, you could listen to “facts.” Science, they were suggesting, dealt in only “facts,” unlike politics. One topic to be discussed, the ad said, was “how global warming affects your daily life.” (Now there is an “opinion free” topic!) But what really confused me was—after highlighting the factual nature of science–their show would further discuss the many still unknowns of the universe. Here is wonderful irony of modern science so beautifully captured: To rely purely empirical foundations on the one hand, while having to admit that with all research, rigorous observation and study, there is still so much about life and the universe that still remains a mystery. I found this admission refreshing, that even with our huge advances in modern scientific knowledge, even Science Friday has to admit that there is still much that we don’t know. In short: There are many questions still unanswered!
This seems to be the theme of the Raeper and Edward’s book A Brief Guide to Ideas. It suggests that questions about life, God, society, knowledge and the universe have been asked for centuries, and many of these questions are still seeking answers today. In fact, what I find so stunning in this book are the persistent flood of questions by the authors; hundreds of questions that – even after 3000 years of the smartest minds pouring over them– are still being asked by philosophers and every day people. Here are only a few of the hundreds of questions:
- Is there a point to the universe? Is there order behind nature?
- How do I know who I am? How can I know I am the same person today as I was yesterday? What is it in me that causes me to be alive?
- What can we know? How well can we know it? What are the limits to what we can know?
- Is justice a God-given or eternal value that is absolutely true for all people at all times and in all places?
- Can human beings know someone’s thoughts or actions by non0sensory means? Can the future be foretold?
- Have you ever wondered why you exist at all?
Why so many questions? The authors suggest that “philosophy is about everyday life.”[i] It is our nature as humans to ask questions, to seek answers. Life itself challenges us to ask questions. Which means we all do philosophy, but on very different levels. The poorest person suffering in the inner city ghetto will be asking important questions just as much (if not more so) than those in the most privilege position.
This study reminds us of three important points. First, that so many of these questions we ask have been asked for centuries by some of the smartest people. We are in good company if we are seeking answers to life. Second, these questions cannot be reduced to easy answers, to the mere accumulation of facts, or mathematical or scientific formulas. Tough questions resist easy, pat answers. Third, people are still asking many of same questions. Recently, it was believed that our modern, enlightened minds would provide all the answers to life’s hardest questions. The failure of modernism to do this has resulted, I believe, in a world even more hungering for answers, finding life just a frustrating and mysterious. Modernism didn’t figure it all out!
I have long been captivated by this search for answers about life, society, the universe. My approach to philosophy though is one of great humility. I have stacks of philosophy books that I have yet to read. It takes me a few weeks to physic myself up to start into a new book, because I know that 90 percent of what I will read will go right over my head. I figure that if these questions have been argued and sweated over for centuries, they should be a challenge to understand. Life is about seeking, discovering, growing; not necessarily about arriving. What the Brief Guide reminds us is that even great Christian thinkers have also been pouring over these very same questions. That encourages me to keep pursuing, to keep slowly plowing along, to keep wrestling.
We Christians live in paradox, where we have definitively found and proclaim Truth, but we still seek truth. Because the ultimate truth is a person, and that person is a conundrum (divine and human), we must admit that we will never fully grasp the truth now, but by seeking Jesus, we have a guide into all truth. Therefore, learning becomes a life-long process, where Jesus lightens our path as we seek answers about all areas of life. I guess that is why I keep taking up these books of philosophy–no matter how frustrating and challenging–it is an adventure into deeper understanding of my life in Christ and in the world…and it keeps me humble. We can admit, like Science Friday, that we to have certain “facts” about our faith, but the world our God created and God Himself are still great mysteries that are worth exploring.
[i] William Raeper and Linda Edwards, A Brief Guide to Idea. Grand Rapids, MI Zondervan Publishing House, 1997, 14.
About the Author
John Woodward
Associate Director of For God's Children International. Member of George Fox Evangelical Seminary's LGP4.7 responses to “Life’s Persistent Questions”
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How were you researching Thailand AND writing your blog?! Overachiever! 🙂 Did it give you the slightest bit of comfort that we’re still asking the same questions we did hundreds, even thousands, of years ago? I thought to myself, well, if THEY couldn’t come to conclusive answers, maybe I’m not so far behind after all! Like you, I love questions. I find myself asking questions to those I know the answers to and those I don’t know the answers to, simply because I like hearing others’ responses. Questions lead us down conversation trails that I would never be able to imagine on my own… Questions keep me humble and valuing the opinions of others. Maybe I’m starting to like this mystery and philosophy after all! 🙂 Thanks, John!
No over achiever here! Just needing to find aways to keep up…that is all. (By the way, bought a travel book of Thailand! Very pretty place!) Yes, philosophy can both be frustrating and fun…lots of ways to think about life! But, it is going to take me a couple life times to get it all figured out! Thanks Ashely!
John…
Such good work and thought in your writing. As always (really) you have drawn out critical aspects, even the essence for reflection. As I was reading your words I began to think about the correlation that in asking questions it is not so much the right answer that matters, but perhaps even more importantly philosophy wonders at how we should live. This reminds me of Isaiah 2:3 (from the Message): “They’ll say, ‘Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain, go to the House of God of Jacob. He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.” Maybe, just maybe that is what we are really trying to figure out, how do we live, how are we supposed to live? Your questions and your synthesis are so very helpful!
Yes Carol…trying to figure out how we live! That is really what it comes down to. There are times I wish God would have made it crystal clear for us, then I wouldn’t have to worry about getting it wrong (and I do…so many sensitive issues in the world today, that I don’t want to get it wrong). Yet, isn’t there a sense of adventure, joy in the journey of learning and seeking God, of never fully arriving so the journey never ends. There are times I am totally frustrated and want answers, and other times I love the process. So, I am conflicted…and I keep on trying to learn, hoping I get some of it right along the way! Thanks for your kind comments, Carol!
John, thanks for consolidating the questions that are highlighted in this book. It should be sobering or humbling to realize that the questions that we are asking, are the same that have been asked for much of history. I appreciate this statement: ” The failure of modernism to (find answers) has resulted, I believe, in a world even more hungering for answers, finding life just a frustrating and mysterious.” This is an important observation. And I am forced to wonder if our lack of answers has helped perpetuate the rapid expansion of the information age, where we have a greater volume of information yet with little depth or merely fragments of truth?
Deve, I had not thought of that particular idea that our information age is a result of our hungering for answers. There might be truth in that, especially if our modern age requires that whatever answers we find have to be without reference to God. It would seem that that one change would open up so many more options for coming to terms with life’s questions and a strong necessity to find answers (since we’ve thrown away the old answers!). That might be part of it! Interesting thoughts, Deve!
John, living in this paradox is hard, but all these question don’t seem to overwhelm me, but they tend to cause a sense of awe in me. When I’m faced with how much I don’t know… and just how much I don’t understand, I’m in awe of a God who holds all these things together…. and it remindes me of just how small I am in the great scheme of things. Some might get discouraged by this, but knowing this encourages me in my faith.