Reflections on Understanding
Today’s thoughts and theories are tossed into tomorrow’s rubbish heap; but one might yet hope that some day a tramp will pick through all that rubbish and uncover something of true value.
Truth is one indivisible entity; it is the sum total of everything in the cosmos—every atom, every burst of energy and pulse of light, every thought and every feeling of every living thing throughout the entirety of time. Every part of the truth is connected to every other part. You can not understand anything completely unless you understand everything. The truth, therefore, is contained in the fulness of all things. Because the unity of the whole is broken, true understanding is impossible. No one can discern the whole truth about anything on his own. The discernment of each person is meant to complement the discernment of all the others. However, sin has destroyed the unity of the whole of the cosmos. No person is connected to the whole. Each person’s discernment is limited by disconnectedness and by the misunderstanding which this causes. If all people were connected by respect and by appreciation for each others’ gifts as well as for God and the creation, then a collective understanding of truth could arise, and many things could be discerned which now remain matters of dispute.
In order for us to understand things better, we should strengthen our connections to as much of the cosmos as possible, and we should train ourselves to be aware of the interconnectedness of the people and things around us. I have found it to be beneficial to meditate on the possibilities of connectedness in simple objects around the house, or in a park. Who made them? Who used them, and who will? How might these objects have related to these people, and how does this tie all these people to me? We can foster our connectedness to others relationally. By serving other people in Christian love, we come to appreciate them and learn from them, and we can share in their discernment and they in ours.
Today’s thoughts and theories are tossed into tomorrow’s rubbish heap; but one might yet hope that some day a tramp will pick through all that rubbish and uncover something of true value.
Truth is one indivisible entity; it is the sum total of everything in the cosmos—every atom, every burst of energy and pulse of light, every thought and every feeling of every living thing throughout the entirety of time. Every part of the truth is connected to every other part. You can not understand anything completely unless you understand everything. The truth, therefore, is contained in the fulness of all things. Because the unity of the whole is broken, true understanding is impossible. No one can discern the whole truth about anything on his own. The discernment of each person is meant to complement the discernment of all the others. However, sin has destroyed the unity of the whole of the cosmos. No person is connected to the whole. Each person’s discernment is limited by disconnectedness and by the misunderstanding which this causes. If all people were connected by respect and by appreciation for each others’ gifts as well as for God and the creation, then a collective understanding of truth could arise, and many things could be discerned which now remain matters of dispute.
In order for us to understand things better, we should strengthen our connections to as much of the cosmos as possible, and we should train ourselves to be aware of the interconnectedness of the people and things around us. I have found it to be beneficial to meditate on the possibilities of connectedness in simple objects around the house, or in a park. Who made them? Who used them, and who will? How might these objects have related to these people, and how does this tie all these people to me? We can foster our connectedness to others relationally. By serving other people in Christian love, we come to appreciate them and learn from them, and we can share in their discernment and they in ours.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home