Monday, July 5, 2010

From Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness:

"The unknown," said Faxe's soft voice in the forest, "the unforetold, the unproven, that is what life is based on. Ignorance is the ground of thought. Unproof is the ground of action. If it were proven that there is no God, there would be no religion. No Handdara, no Yomesh, no hearthgods, nothing. But also if it were proven that there is a God, there would be no religion… Tell me, Genry, what is known? What is sure, predictable, inevitable—the one certain thing you know concerning your future, and mine?"

"That we shall die."

"Yes. There's really only one question that can be answered, Genry, and we already know the answer. … The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next."

2 comments:

  1. "The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next."

    The above quote should make us live by faith in God every day. Today is uncertain; God is absolutely certain.

    I don't know exactly what is going to happen today, but I do know the Lord. All I know is that I will probably hitchhike to Dubois, Wyoming today for His purpose, not mine. "Give us this day our daily bread." Give us this day our daily revelation from God.

    And this is not blind faith. The Lord revealed to me yesterday that I must head back west today. This is all I really need to know. As I begin to walk west, the Lord's plan for my life today will unfold because I am walking by faith.

    We live by faith and not by sight.

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  2. Yes, I think it is amazing that even those with the strongest faith are still, in a sense, blind. We cannot see the future, we cannot hear God speak in a human voice, we cannot read the thoughts of others -- and yet the Spirit lives inside of us in complete certainty, in an undeniable way that transforms every moment of our lives. :)

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