I reviewed a set of pictures of the recent Iceland volcanic eruption. They are beautiful. One of them, of cooling lava, is called 'a rock is born'. This and the other pictures led to these thoughts.
Getting too close to a rock being born is quite dangerous, as the former inhabitants of Pompeii would surely have told you. Getting too close to the birth of humans is dangerous as well. As an ob/gyn, I have been bitten, kicked, scratched, bled on, pooped on, barfed on, spit on. The birth of human babies is messy. So is the birth of rocks.
Like so many events, the frame determines the reaction, not the event. If you live in Iceland, this is a disaster, with flooding, loss of air service, land destroyed, air fouled. But no one asked humans to live in Iceland, and human life is not by any means the measure of this planet. We are as superficial as moss on a rock. Seen from a larger perspective, not only is the eruption simply part of planetary geology, it is quite remarkably beautiful. We report, on a human scale, about the inconveniences of air travel disruption. But the satellite images, with a much larger perspective, show only a dramatic and eerily beautiful ash cloud that only covers about 450 miles in radius.
I believe in a living and interventional God. I also feel there is compelling scientific and biologic data to believe the earth was created, not evolved. Not biblical 6 day creation, but creation. Volcanic activity is only the pangs of the earth being born. Like so much of the rest of God, it is so spectacular, so large, so powerful, that it is dangerous to humans, as we are dangerous to small dogs, even when we love them. But that danger does not make God evil or ill-intentioned. The creation and changes of life work through the processes of the world established.
I am afraid of heights, and of drowning. I have often imagined, however, the glory of floating alone in the ocean, of being a part of the enormous extent and power of that space, even as I know I will die. Similarly, I can imagine the intense beauty of an eruption seen close up, even as I knew it was going to engulf me and burn me to death. These thoughts are similar to the general in 'Dr. Stangelove', who rides the atomic bomb down to the ground, whooping and waving his arm. He is going to die, but he is going to fly through the air and see an atomic explosion up close as well.
God is repeatedly described as being too glorious for Man to look at or touch. Essentially universally (I don't want to say always, because I don't know well enough), when people interact with God in the Bible they are afraid, turning away, falling down on the ground, looking down. The direct interaction of God with Man appears to be glorious, but also dangerous to the point of death.
So it is with these geologic phenomena. But death should not be feared. It is inevitable, and if we have the courage of our convictions, it is the moment when we will be united with God in spirit. It may be accompanied by bodily pain, drowning in the ocean, or being burned up with lava, but it is a moment when God is revealed and joined at last. The relatively brief pain of the body is overwhelmed by the ecstasy of the soul.
We all have to die. I feel that seeing the enormity of a volcanic eruption up close, or an ocean alone, is a physical experience of power and beauty that is only a prelude to the intensity of spiritual union with God. We give up our physical possessions reluctantly, and none more so than our body and its health and form. But when we give them up, we also lose pain and worry. And finally, when we die, I believe that we give up all pain, all loss, all fear. At last we are not at rest, for we are alive in spirit, but at peace.
Jesus said to give away everything, and follow him. Maybe that was more than literal. We must give up everything, body included, to truly join God.
Ted
Getting too close to a rock being born is quite dangerous, as the former inhabitants of Pompeii would surely have told you. Getting too close to the birth of humans is dangerous as well. As an ob/gyn, I have been bitten, kicked, scratched, bled on, pooped on, barfed on, spit on. The birth of human babies is messy. So is the birth of rocks.
Like so many events, the frame determines the reaction, not the event. If you live in Iceland, this is a disaster, with flooding, loss of air service, land destroyed, air fouled. But no one asked humans to live in Iceland, and human life is not by any means the measure of this planet. We are as superficial as moss on a rock. Seen from a larger perspective, not only is the eruption simply part of planetary geology, it is quite remarkably beautiful. We report, on a human scale, about the inconveniences of air travel disruption. But the satellite images, with a much larger perspective, show only a dramatic and eerily beautiful ash cloud that only covers about 450 miles in radius.
I believe in a living and interventional God. I also feel there is compelling scientific and biologic data to believe the earth was created, not evolved. Not biblical 6 day creation, but creation. Volcanic activity is only the pangs of the earth being born. Like so much of the rest of God, it is so spectacular, so large, so powerful, that it is dangerous to humans, as we are dangerous to small dogs, even when we love them. But that danger does not make God evil or ill-intentioned. The creation and changes of life work through the processes of the world established.
I am afraid of heights, and of drowning. I have often imagined, however, the glory of floating alone in the ocean, of being a part of the enormous extent and power of that space, even as I know I will die. Similarly, I can imagine the intense beauty of an eruption seen close up, even as I knew it was going to engulf me and burn me to death. These thoughts are similar to the general in 'Dr. Stangelove', who rides the atomic bomb down to the ground, whooping and waving his arm. He is going to die, but he is going to fly through the air and see an atomic explosion up close as well.
God is repeatedly described as being too glorious for Man to look at or touch. Essentially universally (I don't want to say always, because I don't know well enough), when people interact with God in the Bible they are afraid, turning away, falling down on the ground, looking down. The direct interaction of God with Man appears to be glorious, but also dangerous to the point of death.
So it is with these geologic phenomena. But death should not be feared. It is inevitable, and if we have the courage of our convictions, it is the moment when we will be united with God in spirit. It may be accompanied by bodily pain, drowning in the ocean, or being burned up with lava, but it is a moment when God is revealed and joined at last. The relatively brief pain of the body is overwhelmed by the ecstasy of the soul.
We all have to die. I feel that seeing the enormity of a volcanic eruption up close, or an ocean alone, is a physical experience of power and beauty that is only a prelude to the intensity of spiritual union with God. We give up our physical possessions reluctantly, and none more so than our body and its health and form. But when we give them up, we also lose pain and worry. And finally, when we die, I believe that we give up all pain, all loss, all fear. At last we are not at rest, for we are alive in spirit, but at peace.
Jesus said to give away everything, and follow him. Maybe that was more than literal. We must give up everything, body included, to truly join God.
Ted
Beautiful! Again I wish I had the words to comment but none would be as wonderful as yours...well done! Elizabeth
ReplyDelete"As an ob/gyn, I have been bitten, kicked, scratched, bled on, pooped on, barfed on, spit on. The birth of human babies is messy. So is the birth of rocks."
ReplyDeleteHa! I loved these three sentences! Beautifully put.
(And I liked the blog entry as well...)
David Graham