IN THE BEGINNING…
God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. And God said, “Let there be Light.” Gen 1:1
Was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was Life and that Life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:1
This is a beginning of a new phase in my life, a time when a dream of mine is close to fulfillment. Becoming an author of historical fiction books. I have always had a love relationship with history, most particular ancient history. I know the exact moment I fell in love.
Second grade. Teacher’s name escapes me (I’m sorry!) but she used to call me “darling Darlene” on my papers. We learned Ben Franklin’s proverbs that year, we kept a daily diary and there was a boy named Dustin and a boy named Brian in the class. We had a class bunny, and I loved playing with Playschool people outside after school with my neighbor named Kirk. The feelings of freedom, of play, of innocence, of joy at life. I was in America again, after growing up in Japan. I could understand people and was finally learning to read.
Then the teacher read to us the story of Pompeii. It was my first time time-traveling.
She read to us of the daily life of the people of Heraculum and Pompeii. Of the earthquakes and the steaming volcano. Of the eruption of smoke, and the overflow of lava. Of the people running to the sea. Of the ash that covered the people. Then, she read of the archaeologists and anthropologists who uncovered those people. Of how the ash had solidified around the poor people who could not escape Nature. Of how they used plaster to fill in the cavities, and the faces of those people came to light again.
The awe at science, at history, at new knowledge started in me that day and has continued without ceasing.
Saint Augustine said, Credo ut intelligam. This means, “I believe in order that I may understand.” Knowledge is inextricably tied to faith. Faith is the recognition that our senses do not completely tell us everything there is to know about the world.
QUESTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
First of all, the whole question of consciousness is a mystery that no one has yet explained. It is simply jumped to in explanations of how the mind works.
Reason can explain to us three things related to this.
1) Creation We look at creation, and common sense shows us that such an amazing variety and complexity had to originate from laws and rules. In our world, we would not think an iPad could appear out of nothing without reasons for its existence, so it takes less faith to believe in Creator than a random assemblage of molecules creating trees and planets and bacteria and DNA.
2) The Cause The second thing reason explains to us is that either the Cause is personal or impersonal. If the Cause is personal, and we matter, it would communicate with us, since we have a consciousness of that dilemma in the first place.
3) Perfection Reason also leads us to recognize that if there is a Cause and Creator, “IT” would have to be the SOURCE of perfection. Logically “IT” could not be both good and evil, both truth and falsehood, both powerful and weak. So is “IT” all evil, all falsehood, all weak? Or is “IT” all good, all truth, all powerful? We have in us the ideal that strives for the good, the value written into our human consciousness, REGARDLESS OF OUR CULTURE OR RELIGION, is that there is such a thing as PERFECT GOOD. Of course, we strive for it with different standards and rules, but it is a commonly shared part of human consciousness. We commend those who are “good” and shun those who are “evil.”
Without creation, we would see no cause, without the cause we could consider no perfection.
Big Questions: So do we matter? Has the Cause communicated? Is the Cause personal? Is “IT” a “HE”?
QUESTION OF PERCEPTION
The second question to consider, is: can our senses be trusted to guide us into all knowledge?
Watch this video, which shows us just how amazingly accurate our senses are (not)
Back to St. Augustine’s saying, “I believe in order that I may understand.” If we limit ourselves to our own perception of the world, we limit our ability to understand the world of unseen things.
ANSWERS
If this CAUSE is personal, if mankind MATTERS, the Creator Cause would communicate to us in a way that defines Himself with all the perfection that Reason proves he must be. So, is there such a communication?
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was the Word. The Word became flesh.
Yes.
By what name does HE call Himself? This in itself shows us that He encompasses all of what reason says He must be.
I AM. Exodus 3:14
So complete, so thorough, so infinite, any other attributive would diminish him.
This is my philosophy of reason, knowledge and faith. This is my philosophy behind all of my books and stories. May the words I write strengthen your belief and your understanding. Soli Deo Gloria.
