If I've learned anything over the past few months (years, too, I'm sure) it is that what we know is a lot like the warnings they used to put on side view mirrors - "Things appear larger than what they seem"; at least I can say that, "Things are not always what they appear to be". Now, that may not be earth shattering news, but it has been revolutionary in my thinking. Tied up in this idea is the whole debate that is going on in academic circles about the change in society from a modernistic view of the world to what is being called postmodernism. Let me try and explain.
Modernism is what you and I have grown up with. In our world, things are ordered; they can be explained by scientific theories and experiments; knowledge is key in the modern view - we can understand anything (from how peas are grown to how to go to the Moon and back) as long as we can break it down and explain how it functions. Our world is based on modernism. It is comfortable, hopeful, and logical. It is also based on a false premise (maybe several false premises!).
The first premise is that we can be objective when it comes to knowledge. The whole scientific method is based on this principle. If you ever watch Gil Grissom on "CSI" you will hear him say things like, "The evidence is neither good nor bad, it's the evidence". What does he mean? He means that, as a scientist, he can objectively find out what has happened by looking objectively at what the inanimate evidence reports. He has no opinion nor does he affect the materials, he only discovers what they are "saying" through experimentation. Sounds good, doesn't it? The problem is it just doesn't meet its own scientific fact. Below is a link to a Google video piece that may explain this even better. Before you watch it, let me explain a bit. Albert Einstein discovered the theory of quantum physics. What is quantum physics? Well, I'm sure I don't know. But it does tell us one thing. No one is objective. Everyone who observes something and reports on what they observe changes and affects what they observe. Take a look:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4237751840526284618&q=%22double+slit
Did you get it? I hope so. The first time I saw it, I was dumbfounded. It seems to say (and prove) that nothing is what is seems. Everything is affected by how I live, what my prejudices are, what I think or believe, and that nothing is really objective at all. Is this relativism (that there is nothing true and that everything is relative to the situation - a kind of situation ethics)? Hardly, it just recognizes the reality that, as human beings, we affect everything we come into contact with and with which we interact. In reality, this is exactly what the Bible says. The Bible teaches that as Christians we have an influence on everyone and everything. The Bible calls that witness or testimony. How we live effects the world around us. The decisions we make effect the people we know. Nothing takes place in a vacuum. We are inexorably tied to one another. What I do with my life matters. Therefore, things may not be what they seem but they may be greater than what we assume. Today, as you live your life, you will effect the way life is lived for yourself, your family, your co-workers, fellow students, and the idiot that cuts you off in traffic. The question is not will you effect, the question is how you will effect life. Think about it!
Modernism is what you and I have grown up with. In our world, things are ordered; they can be explained by scientific theories and experiments; knowledge is key in the modern view - we can understand anything (from how peas are grown to how to go to the Moon and back) as long as we can break it down and explain how it functions. Our world is based on modernism. It is comfortable, hopeful, and logical. It is also based on a false premise (maybe several false premises!).
The first premise is that we can be objective when it comes to knowledge. The whole scientific method is based on this principle. If you ever watch Gil Grissom on "CSI" you will hear him say things like, "The evidence is neither good nor bad, it's the evidence". What does he mean? He means that, as a scientist, he can objectively find out what has happened by looking objectively at what the inanimate evidence reports. He has no opinion nor does he affect the materials, he only discovers what they are "saying" through experimentation. Sounds good, doesn't it? The problem is it just doesn't meet its own scientific fact. Below is a link to a Google video piece that may explain this even better. Before you watch it, let me explain a bit. Albert Einstein discovered the theory of quantum physics. What is quantum physics? Well, I'm sure I don't know. But it does tell us one thing. No one is objective. Everyone who observes something and reports on what they observe changes and affects what they observe. Take a look:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4237751840526284618&q=%22double+slit
Did you get it? I hope so. The first time I saw it, I was dumbfounded. It seems to say (and prove) that nothing is what is seems. Everything is affected by how I live, what my prejudices are, what I think or believe, and that nothing is really objective at all. Is this relativism (that there is nothing true and that everything is relative to the situation - a kind of situation ethics)? Hardly, it just recognizes the reality that, as human beings, we affect everything we come into contact with and with which we interact. In reality, this is exactly what the Bible says. The Bible teaches that as Christians we have an influence on everyone and everything. The Bible calls that witness or testimony. How we live effects the world around us. The decisions we make effect the people we know. Nothing takes place in a vacuum. We are inexorably tied to one another. What I do with my life matters. Therefore, things may not be what they seem but they may be greater than what we assume. Today, as you live your life, you will effect the way life is lived for yourself, your family, your co-workers, fellow students, and the idiot that cuts you off in traffic. The question is not will you effect, the question is how you will effect life. Think about it!
2 comments:
Amazing!
i understand and agree with your main point, but after watching that video i feel about five times dumber than i did before.
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