Returning home I asked my father why I had to accompany my mother and grandmother to church while he remained at home to read the Sunday paper. When pressed he gave me his stock answer – “Those of us who don’t sin don’t need to partake.” Right! I often wonder how my father’s placement interview went when he met with St. Peter at the pearly gates.
After nearly 20 years occupying the fourth pew each and every Sunday morning I finally convinced my escorts I was not the spiritual type. Like my father I was willing to give up sin for a lazy Sunday morning. I even had to admit I was a bit of an agnostic, at least I thought I was. Then along came two out of body experiences.
My first real test came with a visit to the Bodies Exhibit. Controversial as it might be the Bodies Exhibit is a real eye opener. Combining elements of science and art the exhibit also plays to your basic prurient interest. All those naked bodies, exposed down to their fundamental building blocks, with not a soul to be found. But what would my grandmother say? In many ways she was pretty much ahead of her time but when it came to matters of the soul she was less willing to roll the dice. But others had plenty to say.
Mike Hendricks argued in the Kansas City Star on March 2, 2008, that the Bodies shows are invaluable exhibits, despite the commonly cited ethical concerns. Hendricks writes, “If anything makes a more compelling argument for the sanctity and dignity of humanity––and does it more tastefully—I haven’t seen it.”
But the question remained – “Does man have a soul?”
One of W. Somerset Maugham's characters tried to end the controversy when he was asked if he had a soul – “I don’t know what you mean by the soul. If you mean an immaterial or spiritual entity, separately produced by the creator, in temporary conjunction with the material body, then my answer is in the negative. It seems to me that such a radically dualistic view of human personality cannot be defended by anyone who is able to take a calm view of the evidence. If on the other hand, you mean by soul the aggregate of psychic elements which form what we know as the personality of the individual, then, of course, I have one.”
Well, it took two visits but I finally came to the conclusion that what I was seeing could not have possibly been the product of chance. Life is complicated enough, to think a living thing like a human body with all its parts fitting together like pieces of a puzzle could be an accident of nature is just too hard to believe. And don’t even get me started on the fetus exhibit!
Then there was the day last week when my soul mate and I walked the beach to the light o
f the moon, and what a moon it was. Low in the sky, bigger than I had ever seen, bright orange, it traveled the horizon nearly touching the sea. One look at that spectacle and you had to believe in something, anything. Call it what you want but for me it was my grandmother calling to tell me she expected to see me next week in the fourth pew and I might just be there. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera available to capture that image for prosperity but a friend spied this sunset at the North Pole that will light the way."The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He...who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead. His eyes are closed."
-Albert Einstein
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