Things That Point Towards God

• "The Battle" by Harry Gregson-Williams
• The integers
• Prime numbers
• Exponential and sinusoidal functions
• Circles
• Euler’s equation, eip+1=0
• Over 40 powers of 10 from quarks to the universe
• DNA
• Quantum mechanics
• 4-dimensional space-time
• String theory
• Rivendell and Lothlorien
• High-res images
• Myst computer game series
• Albus Dumbledore
• Faces
• Little children
• Family
• Language and communication
• Vision, sounds
• Consciousness and Emotion
• We live on a blue sphere
• Stars
• Iguacu Falls
• Rocks
• Redwood trees
• Mountains
• Tiny islands in the Pacific on Google earth
• The seasons
• Movie soundtracks
• Stories
• Humor
• Music
• The cross
• The eucatastrophe
• Suffering, and the problem of evil
• Joy, and the problem of good
• Existence

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Beauty and Meaning

C. S. Lewis on "The Weight of Glory"

The Reason of the Heart: could our emotions, like rational thought, be able to guide us to a knowledge of truth?

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Music Is Revelation: an example of beauty

Be Alive to Reality: seeing the miracle of existence in everything

• Part 1: Everything That Exists Is a Miracle
• Part 2: Even Ordinary Things Are Extraordinary
• Part 3: A Richly Layered Composition
• Another Miracle: Our Ability to Understand the World

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The Reason of the Heart, Part IV

I was told once that comfort or desire does not indicate truth. However, when we really consider these things, it becomes clear that, in a sense, our desires do indicate truth in a profound way. There are times when we think, “ah, yes, this is quite obviously and logically true.” In the same way, there are times when we are moved emotionally to think, “yes, this is truth, this is the true nature of reality.” We know intellectually that we exist. As Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” This is self-evidently true, and there is no uncertainty in whether or not we exist (that is, I am confident of my existence, and I suspect you are confident of your existence). Similarly, but in an emotional way, I know that there is a meaning, a purpose to reality. Asking “why must there be a point?” is sort of like asking “how do I know I exist?” Just as the awareness and experience of our thought and consciousness helps us to know that we exist, an awareness and experience of emotion in particular leads us to think that there is meaning to reality. Moreover, I think that it is not at all a stretch to conclude, based solely on a consideration of the reality we perceive and the emotions we feel, both pleasant and unpleasant, that there is, in the end, a happy ending. Without even considering God’s existence, this seems quite obvious to me. Although I cannot be as objectively certain of these things as I am of my own existence, it remains true that, as Pascal said, “the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” Although these things are not as easily realized as our existence, or the laws of logic or mathematics, they are nevertheless true.
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis writes:

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world…probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”

Deep down we desire a greater reality, a truth beyond what we perceive in this world. We see the trees and feel the wind and hear the voices of little children and we KNOW there is more. We know that there is, you might say, a bigger something out there. This desire is in fact evidence for the existence of such a reality – a world greater than, more beautiful than, and beyond the one we see. The idea of a God as the single, unique, absolute, and ultimate source for such a greater reality and higher beauty makes quite a lot of sense when you think about it. In addition, our inclination to admire greatness and beauty points towards the reality of a greater beauty, and, as Lewis writes, suggests that we are in fact, in some way, meant to admire and be drawn to such a greater beauty. Again, the idea of a God as the great, perfect source from which and to which this admiration comes and goes, seems to be a fair possibility. I am not saying here that these things prove or point straight to an omnipotent eternal being, but that they perhaps mildly suggest such a being. We see, all over the world and all throughout history, people pursuing truth and seeking some deeper, spiritual reality beyond this world. This is the case in all kinds of religions or spirituality movements. This seemingly universal human desire for something beyond this world suggests that there is in fact such a reality. Thus, in addition to all other intellectual considerations, our mere desire for a greater, deeper reality is a piece of evidence for such a reality, and for God.

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The Reason of the Heart, Part III

How, then, are we to judge whether or not our emotions are reliable? We should judge emotions by whether or not they are in line with reason, not vice versa. Ultimately, reason is a higher and stronger standard for knowing truth. I think the best way is to consider whether or not they are leading us away from what we judge to be rationally true. However, even if our emotions suggest that something is true which we would not suppose to be true based on reason alone, we might still trust our gut. I think it is important to distinguish between whether objective reasoning contradicts something (or suggests it is false), or is merely neutral to it (that is, not directly or decisively pointing in either direction). For example, our hearts may incline us to believe in God. Now, although there may be strong objective evidence for belief in God (that is, not dependent on our emotions but on reason alone), I think that even if the objective evidence did not point decisively one way or the other, the “reason of the heart” would be a piece of evidence in favor of God’s existence. Only when emotion leads one to think differently from how he would think based on reason alone must emotion be overruled by reason. Otherwise we must give some weight to it.

Essentially, we can trust that our emotions point towards truth to the extent that they do seem to point towards truth. That is, we should acknowledge what our emotion inclines us to think is true. This is rather difficult to put into words. Perhaps the best way to say it is this: there are moments when we are aware of a most profound reality, when we perceive through our desires the heights and depths of all reality. The beauty, the majesty, the terror, the wonder of existence – sharp as a knife, cold as ice, bright as the sun, deeper than anything we know. For me it is music that takes me there, or the great stories (often told through film), or simply the wind in my face. It is during these moments that we know we have touched upon truth. This is what religion attempts to explain – with God, or Brahman, or nirvana, or whatever. But whatever it is we cannot deny its existence. Our emotional understanding of reality points to it, and reason does not point in the other direction. There is something down there at the foundation of reality, something with the power to be. If we knew it fully, we would understand fully why something exists instead of nothing. We cannot know fully, but to deny it is to deny the reality that we clearly perceive.

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The Reason of the Heart, Part II

Thus, although emotions, like conscious thought, have the potential to lead people in the wrong direction or in different directions, this does not undermine the truth that emotions tell us something important about reality. We cannot simply throw them out the window – along with our reason and perception, emotion is an essential tool for us in understanding reality and pursuing truth. Both reason and emotion are tools that we must use with great care.

Still, one might object that emotion does not guide us as decisively as logic or rational thought. It does not lead us to clear and obvious truth as reason does. We can say with confidence that 1+1=2, but how can emotion lead us to statements with this level of certainty? In response to this objection, I would agree that emotion is not as strong or clear as reason, and this is why I think that reason should be a higher standard. Nevertheless, the prompting of the heart can be very strong. In a way, emotion depends on reason in order to be interpreted. We may feel in our hearts that there is an ultimate happy ending, but we cannot realize that this is objectively true without conscious thought. It seems that although emotion can lead us to truth, it must be understood through reason. Thus, what we perceive to be true in an emotional way, we also know to be true objectively.

In conclusion, and despite what may be perceived about the brain as a merely physical piece of matter, there are some things that we know to be true by using our brains. Some of these truths depend on the use of emotion as well as reason. If we rely to such a great extent on the reason of our minds, we must also give some weight to the desires of our hearts.

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The Reason of the Heart, Part I

We trust our brains. We live as if our reasoning leads us to an accurate understanding of reality. We simply assume that the our mental understanding of reality is true. That is, we assume that if A is true and if A implies B, then B really is true. We don't freak out and think, "wait! I'm just an assembly of quarks and leptons and my brain is merely a system of neurons and electrical signals that evolved in spacetime through natural selection!" Rather, we conclude that B is true. I think that we can, to an extent, trust our desires and emotions in the same way that we trust our reasoning. This may seem like a strange idea. Unlike logical, rational thought, emotion is often mistrusted and found to be unreliable. But I think that when we carefully consider the human perspective of reality (consciousness, thought, emotion, perception), that it only makes sense to acknowledge that there are objective implications of our "subjective" emotions.

Several objections may be made to relying on emotional experiences to establish truth. First, one might object that human emotion resulted from evolution - it is just a biological phenomenon, so there is really no reason to rely on it. However, this is poor reasoning. Let me explain. In saying, “emotion resulted from evolution,” whoever objects is assuming both that our physical perception of the world is correct, and that our objective, rational consideration of that perception is reliable. However, the same sort of reasoning would tell him that his entire human brain, with which he reasons, resulted from evolution and is a physical phenomenon. In the words of biologist J.B.S. Haldane, "If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose my beliefs are true...and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms" (cited in John Byl, "Theism and Mathematical Realism," http://acmsonline.org/Byl-realism.pdf). Thus, his use of reason would lead him to question the reliability of reason – the argument becomes circular and self-destructs. Surely he would not doubt logic because human reasoning capabilities may have resulted to some extent from evolution. It is much easier to believe in logic than it is to believe even that the perceived world exists, and of course we must trust that what we perceive as logic is an accurate description of reality. We have to start there, with the axiom or premise that we can accurately reason, or else we will never know anything. Well, in this case, the dissenter must either distrust reason as he distrusts emotion, or he must simply say that although our minds may be affected physically, we can still rely on them. The latter is certainly a better answer. Consequently, this argument fails to uphold reason while rejecting emotion.

A second objection is that our emotions sway us against reason, and therefore we cannot use them at all in establishing truth. Similarly, one might say that different people may arrive at different conclusions through the use of emotions, so how can emotion be a universal guide for all people? This is a bad argument because it assumes that just because emotion may at times lead us in the opposite direction of what we judge to be objectively true, or in different directions from one another, it is always at odds with reason and thus cannot be trusted at all. This does not follow logically. In considering when emotions are reliable, let us consider when the rational mind is to be trusted. When a man is drunk, his mind is mixed up and he cannot objectively and rationally consider reality. However, when nothing has messed up his system, he can think quite clearly and reasonably (yet he might make a small mistake in his intellectual processing). In the same way, there are times when our emotions are reliable and in agreement with what we judge objectively to be true, and there are times when our emotions lead us astray. A man may feel the desire to kill someone, but this is probably in contradiction with what he would judge objectively to be a reasonable course of action. When our desires are perverted or wrongly interpreted for whatever reason, terrible things happen.* Thus, both our intellectual and our emotional faculties can lead us in the wrong direction at times. Nevertheless, just as all people inherently understand logic and think rationally, there seems to be an underlying emotional reaction to reality shared by all people. For example, we all admire beauty in nature in much the same way, are attracted to certain people in much the same way, and are repulsed by acts of violence or selfishness in much the same way.

*The Christian response to this is that our emotional reaction to reality was clouded and confused by the entering of sin into the world. Because we live in a fallen world and are fallen beings, we do not perceive reality as it truly is. One might ask, since everything I show to be true with reason is true, then why not everything I desire emotionally? The deepest desire of every heart is to know God. Other desires, such as the desire to kill, or even the self-promoting desire to gain the approval of others, result from sin and for that reason are not to be trusted. Still others are not fulfilled because of the presence of sin elsewhere – it is all because of the presence of evil in the world. In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis points out that bad desires are simply perversions of good desires, not things in and of themselves, and even without considering Christianity we can observe this perversion of emotion in the world around us.

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Too Good Not to Be True

Often I run across some component of my faith, that, in and of itself, seems unlikely or does not seem to fit well with the rest of my faith. For example, there are numerous passages in the Bible that bother me. In each case I ask, what the heck is going on here? Certain verses seem to make no sense. Some are, well, aesthetically displeasing. Some passages are even revolting - I can see (partly) why many atheists find the Bible repulsive. I am bothered by the fact that God commands the Israelites to go wipe out entire cities, including women and children. How should I respond to this? Should I conclude from these descriptions that the God of the Bible is either malicious or inconsistent, or that these unsettling stories are more likely inventions of mankind? Should I jump ship on Christianity? When taken by themselves, these bothersome issues might incline one to do so. But that would be a rash decision, and it would not account for the comprehensive whole of the Christian worldview.

The truth is, I’ve seen way too much to jump ship. I’ve seen too much majesty and greatness in reality to deny the existence of God. I’ve seen too much beauty and goodness in the world to deny the goodness of God. I’ve read of too much evil and horror in history to deny the reality of moral absolutes, and of a God who defines morality. I’ve seen too much wisdom and truth in the cross to deny the resurrection. I’ve seen too much love and joy and beauty in the world to ignore the reality of redemption, and that all will be well in the end. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that is the foundation and center of Christianity. It’s a story that is too perfect, too ideal not to be true. It’s a story that is written on our hearts, one that we desire to be true, and it finds its way into all the great stories we tell – love, justice, redemption, sacrifice, sorrow, victory over evil. Those stories may be fiction, but this story is true. If I was to ditch Christianity I would have to ditch the Great Story, the victory of God, and I know I could never do that. It is too beautiful not to be true*, and from the central truth of this story must follow the truth of all Christianity.

Every now and then I wonder, what might convince me that Christianity is false. The only possibility, I think, would be if I were to experience horror and suffering beyond imagination. But even then, would I be drawn to God or driven away from him? Would I say, “if this can happen, there can be no loving God,” or would I say, “if this can happen, there is no way there is not a God”? I don’t know. But I wonder why people ask this question more than the question of how they would respond to an experience of beauty and love and joy beyond measure. It’s interesting how we find ourselves so bothered with the problem of evil, and yet we never pause to think that there is a problem of good! How could there be so much good in the world without God? For me, Christianity has shed great light on this mysterious existence we find ourselves in, explaining both good and evil. As the Son rises, he illuminates all reality. I for one can say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

*It might seem like I believe in Christianity only because I want it to be true. This is certainly not the case. For one thing, I see many reasons for God that do not depend on whether or not I want him to exist. At the same time, our desires are indications of truth, so in a way, the fact that I want Christianity to be true is itself a piece of evidence. This idea could certainly be taken to illogical extremes, or it could be ruled out as irrelevant. However, I think the best intellectual response to our desires is a balanced and careful consideration of what the existence and nature of human desire implies. I plan to write more on this in the future.

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