Day 39 – outside help (II)
…it is incongruous with everything else we know about the world to suppose that nature could produce creatures which have longings which nature doesn't itself fulfill. –GREGORY A. BOYD
Yesterday's illustration of the blind man on a deserted island has a counterpart in the animal world that may serve to reinforce it. I remember as a child visiting several caves with my parents and listening to a guide tell us about some unique fish deep within it. The novelty of these fish was their complete blindness. Years of nonuse had rendered their eyes nonfunctional. I recall how amazed I was when the guide beamed a bright flashlight into the waters and the fish acted as if nothing had changed. They were like our blind friend, unaware that light exists and unable on their own to discover it.
Other examples could be cited that confirm this principle. Take, for example, plants growing at the bottom of the ocean's surface, never experiencing anything but water all around them. Always wet, they have no idea what dry is. To them, total immersion is ultimate reality. To make these plants aware of the world above would require outside intervention, such as a free ride to the surface from underwater explorers. Only with such outside help could they get a glimpse of the upper world and begin to experience it as a reality.
Now humans throughout history have possessed the notion that, in addition to nature, an “upper world” exists. As far back as archaeology can unearth, belief in a supernatural realm has been a universal finding. How was it possible for this thought to creep into the collective consciousness of humanity, and what does this have to do with the blind man, cave fish, and ocean plants alluded to above?
Tomorrow we will attempt to supply the answers.
Daily Quotation
Gregory A. Boyd and Edward K. Boyd, Letters from a Skeptic, 56.
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