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Defiant faith

By Scott MacInnes - posted Thursday, 20 July 2017


Such a person believes the Universe rightly evokes a sense of wonder and awe. During heightened experiences, they sense the presence of some kind of greater power at work, beyond our limited comprehension.

It is this experience of 'the Numinous' that we are responding to when we look up into the night sky ablaze with stars. It is this sense of 'the Other' that we are most aware of when we hold our child at the moment of birth or the hand of a long-lived family member or friend as they die. It is this experience of 'Grace' that strikes us at those moments of profound forgiveness and reconciliation after deep hurt and estrangement.

Indeed, the mere presence of another person heralds something greater than the sum of all that person's parts. And a quiet moment's inner reflection on the infinite and inexhaustible depths within our own limited being points to the same conclusion.

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At such precious moments, life is recognised intuitively as some kind of sacred mystery. It is a gift from above and beyond, the proper response to which is one of humility, reverence and gratitude.

Idealists believe it is this transcendental power which grounds all our best endeavours to contribute to the highest Good. For them, such things as Beauty, Truth and Justice are ideals worth aspiring to. They believe that what we most love and value in people, nature, ethics, morality, science, literature, art, music etc derives ultimately from this mysterious, inexplicable power.

The faith of the idealist is the affirmation that their deepest experience is valid and that the power they are attracted to is not an illusion but something real, notwithstanding that they cannot adequately account for it.

Many people live with the intimation that this temporal, finite existence which we inhabit is but one dimension of an eternal, infinite ultimate reality-a reality which some believe is grounded in the mystery of Love. Like the twin in the story, they place their trust in this: we come from God and to God we shall return.

Further along the continuum are those who, in a sense, come 'after' religion. They do not believe in the existence of a God out there. They do not regard the Scriptures as God-given revelation. But they do regard them as powerful historical narratives, which explain to us the nature of the human condition in all its glory and horror-like great works of art.

At the other end of the continuum are those people for whom religion is nonsense. For atheists, like Richard Dawkins, God is an illusion and religion needs to be consigned to the scrapheap. Its answers have become totally discredited by science. It is dangerously dysfunctional and antithetical to the moral good it once claimed to serve. The sooner we get rid of it the better.

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For atheists, the big questions may still be worth trying to answer but religion has nothing to offer in response to them. While there is truth to be had, only science will lead us to it. They are quite certain that there is no 'mystery' that science cannot account for. There is nothing beyond this finite, material reality to encounter-they ridicule all religious or mystical experiences as fanciful.

At the tip of this continuum-or perhaps off the scale-are those people for whom these big questions have no meaning whatsoever in their lives. For nihilists nothing matters, so why bother about anything other than having a good time?

Just where we situate ourselves along this continuum of belief is more likely than not to depend on factors which are largely beyond our control-our temperament, our upbringing, the hand we have been dealt by Fate, our community of significant others etc. And it is clear that these positions are fluid: at different times, or at any one time, a person might occupy several positions. For example, Phillip Adams is a lifelong atheist, yet believes passionately in 'the Numinous' and is fond of asking questions about 'life after death'.

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About the Author

Scott MacInnes has a background in teaching, law and conflict resolution. He is now retired and lives in Tasmania.

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