It seems likely that most of what we know now about technology and the universe will eventually give way to new theories and new insights. It is also safe to assume that not only have we begun the quest to explore the exterior universe, but even our understanding of the interior universe will be explored with greater depths. The fundamental assumption is that at some point every question will be answered, but what if that never takes place?
In our lifetime, it is most likely that most questions won’t be answered. So we have to ask ourselves, what are we to do here and now? Is it possible to be wise and navigate this world despite the overwhelming presence of uncertainty and confusion? It should not be a surprise that I believe the answer is fundamentally a religious one. It is the perennial quest for enlightenment, a quest not dependent on the limitations of the age in which the seeker finds himself.
I believe the truth of reality, both natural and supernatural, exceeds the ability of the human intellect to grasp. This does not mean that is unintelligible, but rather that the human mind cannot circumscribe in a unified way the totality of existence and even the contours of our individual lives. Reality exceeds the grasp of our limited perspective. I believe that this is the fundamental problem that undergirds the dissolution of the postmodern era. From the enlightenment onward, humanity suffered under the illusion that empirical science and human reason could solve all of the problems of existence.
Yet, we are on the precipice of a new frontier with technology which will greater change our human experience. Yet at the same time it also possesses within itself greater uncertainty and new frontiers of human inquiry. I hold as an article of belief that technology and empirical science will continuously uncover new questions and new complexities and that the human quest for certainty is only satisfied by the supernatural enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Another way of putting this is that to truly understand reality in all its glory is not possible by reason alone, but that the Lord must raise our minds and hearts to him in whom the world finds its definitive meaning.
The primordial pattern of Catholic thought, which I believe is the fullness of truth, is that of paradox. This pattern runs throughout all fields of theology and philosophy and is the core challenge facing theologians and philosophers. Every failed attempt to create a philosophy or religion outside of the fullness of truth has within it the breaking down of the paradoxes which are the true form of reality.
Even within Catholicism, believers fail to attain enlightenment precisely because they rely on their human reason rather than walking the path of transformation whereby the mind and heart are raised to God. They struggle to “see” the paradox and hold before their gaze the mystery it represents and they settle for something less than. But we ought not to be too critical. To experience and enter into these central paradoxes is not a matter of studying more or more sophisticated theories. At its core, it is the journey into the darkness of the heart. It is to be stripped of all things of this world and to die the death of contemplation.
It is the work of grace and it is received in silence. This interior illumination is about learning to let the Holy Spirit guide our interior lives and it is an invitation to live, “no longer I, but Christ who lives in me (Gal. 2:20).”
That being said, I believe that we can educate our intellect to enter into the mysterious world of paradoxes. We can wrestle with these paradoxes in mental prayer and in this wresting direct our wills towards the God who transcends are created realities. To seek God outside ourselves, we must turn inwards towards ourselves, we must deny ourselves and negate all things so as to be open to all things. We must become all things by becoming nothing. It is the only way to point the mind to the mystery and to train ourselves to see by unseeing.