Reality requires an interpretation. [Part 2]
Reality requires an interpretation. [Part 2]
On the nature of philosophy and the wrestle with God
Human reality is entirely interpreted through philosophy. Or, as I’ve started saying to myself: “Reality must be interpreted.”
As someone raised in an egalitarian society, your initial impulse will be to reject this. As someone who is politically right of center, operating on the basis of “rationality” or, as Ben Shapiro likes to say, on “facts and logic,” if you are foolish, you will balk at this, and if you are reasonable, you will reply, “by whom?”
The politics of freedom of choice, liberty, and equality will have you saying that the individual is the one responsible for interpreting his or her reality. Of course, if you’re paying attention, you may notice that this is also the left-wing argument for cultural and moral relativism (with regard to groups) and for tolerance (back when they preached that). Let’s say you backtrack now, and say, “…everyone must interpret reality for themselves but in reference to facts, reason, and truth.”
Yes but now you’ve done something even more complicated…after all, who interprets what is “truth”?
If you know anything about the Theory of Relativity, it is the primary model in the field of Physics that organizes the movements of large spacial bodies and if you know anything about Quantum Mechanics, you should know that it is a model that organizes the smallest bodies that we can measure on the foundation of Bayesian probabilities. If you notice my use of “large” and “small” previously, you will see that I am implicitly referencing these things in comparison to a human or from the perspective of humanity. An atom is small in comparison to a human, but in comparison to a quark, an atom is large. Every measurement must be in reference to something.
The reference point changes everything.
The wise Christian who believes in absolutes would now think, “God’s reference is the ultimate Truth,” and you are correct. Why interpret reality in a way that deviates from God’s perspective? Congratulations, this talk is over, you understand everything you need to know about reality and should be, from here on out, able to understand everything you need for the accomplishment of the divine purposes of your life.
…Don’t you wish it were that easy?
If you know anything about Christianity, you know that there are many ways that the Bible is interpreted even among Christians. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant believers in the divinity of Jesus, the Christ, and accepters of the Trinity (a triune God) have different interpretations of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Most issues arise around the book of Romans specifically but the New Testament more generally.
“What did Paul mean by this?” is the delineating question proposed across branches, sects, and denominations of Christianity. As a Christian, I believe that biblical narratives perfectly model what God desires for us to know about how his creation operates and what He desires for us, but I am still incapable of perfectly organizing the information that he gives us quite plainly in the Bible. Some would say, well the English-speaking Bible is translated, so all one needs to do is go back to the original text (Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew).
Strangely, no one points out that God spoke these words in one language or languages, but they are written down by others. Don’t get me wrong. I believe that the Word of God is the inspired word, but I also understand how I personally use language. I don’t always use language the way one would expect. Most people have their own speech patterns, but also, speech and written language are quite reductive in essence.
Speech has along with it, intonation, emphasis, a flow. When writing speech down, one can have trouble expressing these things. What I’m trying to say is that God taking his Word and writing it down for us is an interpretation of His Truth given to us, but it is not the most pure distillation. The most pure distillation would be for a human to actually experience the mind of God in everything that he or she does. This is often referred to as “Communion,” and it is the primary goal of the Father sending his Son to die for us. If God could just live inside us, then we would be able to possess his living Word inside our very souls. Every Christian who receives Holy Spirit into themselves through confessing Christ as Lord now has the divine will of God living inside of them. We are one in Christ as Jesus prayed for us to be.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
- John 17:20-23 KJV, emphasis added
With 2+ billion Christians in the world, between a quarter and a third of the world population, we should now live in a perfect world, right?
…Sadly, we know this is not yet the case. Though the advent of Christianity has changed the world for the better in many regards, there is still a growing need for Christ’s Truth to penetrate darkness at a greater level.
But why?
Because Reality must be interpreted.
Even with perfect Truth living inside of us, we still have several obstacles to overcome. That number one obstacle being ourselves. Our perceptions. Our perspectives. Our point-of-views. We must pause and meditate on God’s word to reach a place where we can hear God. Then, we must act on what we hear. This was the battle represented by Jacob wrestling with God. Jacob wrestles with a man or angel sent by God as a representation of His will. Jacob says, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
Can you imagine having the charisma to pull off a line like that when wrestling with God? Strangely enough, if you didn’t know it about me, I’ve probably pulled that maneuver with God before myself. I can be quite the rascal. It’s why I appreciate Jacob’s struggle. As expected, God wins and knocks Jacob’s leg out of its socket, causing him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. I too relate to this as I have infrequent hip pain that acts up when I eat inflammatory foods (a special sense, I guess). Anyway, I can’t help but see the resemblance.
The question that everyone should ask is, “why wrestle with God?” This is a ridiculous question, but I will indulge it. The answer is simple: the human response to the sovereignty of God pressing down on us is to wrestle with it. That’s all. If we immediately accepted God’s will, the earth would already be like how it is in heaven now, perfectly aligned with the will of God in every way.
So, the rule is something like: reality must be interpreted through the will of God.
And that is our divine struggle. Somehow we have to get out of the way for the will of God to reign in our lives. The miracle of us getting out of our own way was first performed by Jesus through the Cross.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Philosophies are the many ways in which human beings have attempted to interpret reality. Theology is closer to the truth of God’s reality but is still interpreted through the lens of humanity in its many incarnations. The Truth of the Will of God becoming one inside us is the answer, but we wrestle within ourselves against the manifestation of that Truth through us.
Who can help us but God? Yet when He tries to help us, we wrestle with Him. The only solution to this wrestling is a death to self so complete it mirrors the death of Christ on the Cross.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and [a]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.