“The world is something we apprehend but cannot comprehend and it is that inability to comprehend which makes us human."
This quote probably sums up my divergence from organized religion. While seemingly innocuous on the surface, it encourages us toward the idea that we cannot comprehend the world around us. In other words, the pursuit of understanding is fruitless so instead, open your hearts and minds to God.
Science seeks to explore, learn, develop, invent, etc. Originally it was stone tools. Lately, it's things like remote robotic surgery that would allow a highly specialized physician in New York City to literally operate on a patient in Bankok via a high speed web hookup and a robot on the other side. These are the things that comprehension and the pursuit of knowledge give us.
50 years ago, children with Autism were institutionalized. The pursuit of comprehension and knowledge gave us better understanding and tools for progress. When I think of the joy that my autistic son brings our family and I think of where he would be had he been born 50 years ago, I'm hard pressed to hold back a tear. Thank you science.
My other child is allergic to peanuts. It also wouldn't have been too long ago that he would have not survived past a relatively early birthday. He's 11 now and has an incredible future ahead of him. I cannot wait to see what he decides to do with that future. Thanks to science, I actually will get a chance to see it.
As we're told in the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were placed in a paradise and they had but one rule to follow. Do not partake of the tree of knowledge. Do not learn. Do not seek to understand. Remain in the garden, ignorant and happy. As I do not believe in the literal truth of this story, I seek to understand the lesson that was intended for those who read it. The only thing I come away with is that we are not to learn, nor are we to seek understanding and comprehension.
I for one am very glad that so many people choose not to live by the lessons imparted in Genesis, even if they don't realize it.
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