As the story goes…
A teenager was going through a rebellious atheistic “phase.” He didn’t like that his dad was shoving religion down his throat and he was very vocal about it. Finally, the teenager came to his father, “prove to me that God is the center of the universe!” he said sarcastically. His father pondered this for a while; his son was used to him spending a lot of time thinking before he responded. Then his father stood up and walked into the study and stood by a large globe that the family had. He looked at his son and said, “show me where the center of the world is.” His son walked up to the globe and put his finger on the north pole and said “about a foot under my finger.” (It was a really large globe.) His father tilted his head and said “no that’s the center of the globe, not the world.” He went on to explain.
“I can’t answer why I feel that ‘God is the center of the universe’. I know you were being sarcastic, but it’s an interesting turn of phrase. You looked at this globe and found the center of the world, but actually just found the center of the globe because that’s what you could easily perceive. You look at the world and the universe the same way. Only the stuff you can see, feel touch and smell are perceived. You miss the wonder of it all: the beauty and the balance. God isn’t the center of the universe, she is the universe. You perceive only a small part of the universe from where you are standing and only understand a portion of that. The center of the world is miles beneath you and the question can be answered in many ways, do you want center of mass of the world, well that’s always shifting. Maybe you want the center of the atmosphere pressure. Depending on what you define as the center, it will change the answer. Different people perceive God in different ways, some probably incorrect, but at least they look at life from a perspective of the depth of what we can’t perceive.”
“That’s just a cowardly answer. You’re afraid of death and your life being meaningless so you make up mythology to protect you. It’s just like the ancient Greeks making the gods.”
“Actually, the ancient Greeks used poetry and prose and story telling to define their universe. It was quite creative and beautiful. They perceived that there was more to the world than what they could touch and feel and created a mythology to explain it. I’m not saying that we should believe in the ancient Greek gods, but at least they understood that the world is more than they understand.”
“Well yes, but science is explaining everything!” The boy responded.
“Yes, science has made great leaps in explaining phenomena. You said that faith is cowardly. I disagree. Although I agree that it is sometimes used as a buffer to the fear, it is also very heroic. To have faith, you must believe that there are lessons to perceive in the events of your life. You want to be in control of your life, but you aren’t. Circumstances, genetics, and many other things affect your nature. The beautiful thing is that you can overcome almost anything if you commit your whole being behind it. You can triumph over anything. I believe that’s the meaning behind the world. I can’t tell you why it is, nor prove it as an absolute fact. I can tell you that it explains why we struggle. It also explains the heights and depths of humanity. You are capable of great things. You reach for the stars, but what good is it? Faith is the reason we strive for better. Faith gives us a belief that our fellow man is worth struggling for. Challenge your faith son, but don’t give up on there being more to the world than you perceive, or you might one day find that what you perceive of the world, is just a plastic imitation.”
In my humble opinion there are two lessons to learn. The first lesson you must learn is that there is more to the universe than just me. This must be learned early in life. The second lesson you must learn is the last lesson learned in life, that there is only me, and all things are me.
