One year, after discussing “The Big Bang Theory” in the Biodesign Class, unbeknown to me, a quiet, thoughtful Latina girl went to church the following Sunday. After the service, she approached her priest and asked, “Father, if God made the universe, who made God?” The priest’s face turned red, he stooped down and whispered sharply … [Read more…]
In an increasingly secular society, it is intriguing to wonder how people respond to Pierre Chardin’s observation: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Do they agree or disagree? Are they shocked, offended or inspired? Dr. Albert Schweitzer must have agreed by suggesting that many … [Read more…]
Zora Hurston (“There Eyes Were Watching God”) is credited with coining the phrase, “You got to go there to know there.” While I have found her axiom to be generally true, it is paradoxically true and untrue regarding Grand Canyon. Although, in order to experience “The Canyon,” one must “go there,” it is humanly impossible … [Read more…]
My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man; And I could wish my days to be Bound … [Read more…]
An old English proverb suggests: “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good” The recent fires throughout Napa and Sonoma Counties qualify as Ill Winds. It is common practice for California Dept. of Forestry officials to name fires by their place of origin. Ergo, the fire that destroyed over 3,500 Santa Rosa homes and businesses … [Read more…]
Even though I am not a Biblical scholar, I don’t think it is possible to find single Old Testament reference to God as having a sense of humor. Michelangelo’s dour image of God, painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, reflects the pre-renaissance pessimism common at that time, however, I fear that countless millions … [Read more…]
“Loren Eiseley is less concerned about man conquering nature than nature, in the form of God, conquering the human heart.” Time Magazine. AFTER nearly 75 years, I have concluded that life is mostly (if not totally) a journey into mystery. E.g. how could I have possibly guessed that a simple, innocent question from a student … [Read more…]
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/07/12/buckminster-fuller-ever-rethinking-the-lords-prayer/ Buckminster Fuller is described in Wikipedia as a: “designer, inventor, engineer, mathematician, architect, cartographer, philosopher, poet, cosmogonist and visionary.” He wrote over 30 books and qualifies as a true renaissance thinker. Among his many inventions is the “geodesic dome,” which inspired scientists who discovered “Carbon 60” (hollow carbon molecules) to name them “Buckminsterfullerenes,” or … [Read more…]
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain This is a wonderfully interconnected triad that gifted naturalist Annie Dillard would regard as a “bright snarl.” Without a Creator there would be no “astronomy” or evolution. Without evolution the universe … [Read more…]
In his own words, “The Autobiography of Charles Darwin:” “When thus reflecting [‘on the universe, including man’] I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man’ and I deserve to be called a Theist.” Shame on Richard Dawkins, and other science atheists who … [Read more…]