Certainties

I saw a clip from the old show All in the Family. Meathead is putting on his socks and shoes. He puts on one sock then puts on that shoe. Archie, who is watching, goes ballistic because he believes it is only acceptable to put on both socks before putting on a shoe. The debate is ridiculous. The point made is not ridiculous. Archie, in his supreme narcissism and narrow mindedness, cannot conceive of anyone doing anything that doesn’t conform to his idea of how things should be.

If social media has taught us anything, it is some folks will become outraged over even tiny differences of opinion. I’m a firm believer in democracy and soliciting the opinions of every possible member of the electorate but, when we’re navigating smaller situations, soliciting the opinions of the group is often disastrous. The pastor of a church consulted with me years ago. He believed in soliciting the opinion of the congregation on almost every point. After something like the seventh schism he came to me asking what he was doing wrong. The obvious answer was simple, he was supposed to lead the congregation, at least on matters of theology and scripture, not invite everyone’s opinion. No matter how solicitous we are of everyone’s feelings, we can not please everybody all the time.

With the exception of the hopelessly narcissistic or very young, almost all of us would readily agree we don’t know everything. There are lots of things about which we know virtually nothing.

As a practical matter though, we all have to operate as if we are certain. Without the assumption of certainty we risk becoming so neurotic we can’t function. We do, however, walk a fine line when it comes to spiritual matters.

There are those who profess absolute belief in strict systematic religious formulations. There are also those who reject all religion and spirituality and then declare absolute faith in pure science. Both reject the agnosticism of simply admitting we don’t know, really know, all there is to know about either one.

To reject science is to reject the experience of human existence which strives for certainties. To reject spirituality is to also reject the experience of human existence which has a long history of authentically spiritual experiences.

There is a famous line in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” By philosophy, Shakespeare evidently meant the entirety of human knowledge. Shakespeare had it exactly right. We simply do not have all the answers about everything except the most mundane realities subject to repeated scientific experiment.

Most eminent scientists readily agree to not having all the answers. Most serious theologians agree. We ordinary humans are condemned to live in the mist of some uncertainties about both. That makes some folks nervous but it is truly a blessing. Life is more interesting not having all the answers and even allowing some folks to put their shoes and socks on “incorrectly”.