Musings

I'm fascinated by history, psychology, religion, science, sociology, philosophy, literature, and art (among other things) and how they illuminate that which makes people (individually and collectively) do what they do. My brother-in-law, Mike, often says (I'm paraphrasing) that our belief systems --political, moral, and spiritual--are formed around deep-seated emotional responses to stimuli from the early years of our lives, and that much of the young adulthood is spent developing ideologies that justify those deeply-held beliefs.

There is truth to Mike's theory, I think. But, anyone who walks through a Borders Bookstore knows that there are as many theories on the human condition, as well as its development and potential, as there are stars in the sky. Many of these theories are mutually exclusive, which can be maddening.

Nevertheless, I'm intrigued by people and what makes them tick. Perhaps my love of learning about others is somehow related to understanding myself. Introspection is healthy in the proper doses, but not so good if done too much or too little. It's good to evaluate your beliefs--testing them against empirical data--efforting to unhook yourself from the purely subjective, but being careful not to dismiss intuitive knowledge. Not an easy task. But, I believe we can reach for the higher goal of attaining Truth. That it is knowable, albeit sometimes only in degrees.

The pursuit of knowlege and wisdom is important, but incomplete. It is love which binds wisdom and knowledge together with faith and hope to unveil the truth within us ourselves and beyond ourselves--reaching up to the Transcendent. We do well to remember the wisdom of the ages:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.