Friday, January 18, 2008

Tales Of Mystery And Imagination

With a generous hat-tip and a huge thank you to Alan, I recommend this article from The Christian Century. In it, the author demonstrates how easy doing science is - he even discusses his discovery of the oddity of parralax - and the way in which solving one problem often leads to the creation of new problems not even imagined.

I just wish he had fleshed out the ending of the article a bit (I suppose this just reflects my own bias for greater clarity; who am I to correct a published author unless it's Jonah Goldberg?) and stated directly that much of the "conflict" between science and religion misconstrues the nature, function, and proper limits of each. Having made those caveats, this short piece is a wonderful rumination on the excitement of discovery inherent in science; it is also a wonderful rumination on the limits of science and the necessity for leaving room for mystery, and leaving mystery as mystery. Sometimes, there are no answers to the questions we ask, whether it's that scrunchy sound in our ears as our ear is pressed in to the pillow at night, or what dark matter might be.

And that's OK.

Virtual Tin Cup

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More