Being a Mysterian
I am a mysterian. The word mysterian is a recent coinage of the American philosopher Owen Flanagan. Its technical meaning is the espousal of the position that no physical theory can ever solve the riddle of consciousness. I use the word is a much looser sense: there are some aspects of life that never yield to scientific investigation. Or in its most precise looser formulation, a mysterian believes in the paradox that the more we know about life, the more we know we don't know.
I read the sciences like a scientist. They have their truth. But the truths of life are deeper and more complex than the truths of physics or the truths of biology. The notion that science is the truth, or is a path to truth, was the greatest heresy of the modern world. It is what led Thomas Paine to announce in 1793 that the discovery of a plurality of worlds "renders the Christian system of faith at once little and ridiculous and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air."
Quite the contrary. Biblical faith is built on the assumption of a plurality of worlds - heaven, earth, hell - and plurality of worlds within worlds ("in my Father's house are many mansions," John 14:2 KJV reads, and "hell has as many mansions as heaven does," comments Drew Professor Lynne Westfield). If the God who created the Milky Way, which boasts 100 billion stars, also created billions of similar galaxies that make up the universe, it seems almost incredible to image that there aren't other forms of life out there. While the theological implications of the search for extraterrestrial life are significant, the notion that any scientific discovery, even this one, can negate faith is a condescension truly breathtaking.
Len Sweet, Learn to Dance with SoulSalsa: 17 Surprising Steps for Godly Living in the 21st Century, 67.
