Existence, God, and the Meaning of Life

I exist, so do you, and so does God. I'm pretty sure that I'm right about all three assertions.

Some Guy with a Blog, God, and Authority

But I'm just "some guy with a blog." For all you know, you could be a figment of my imagination.¹

At least for the duration of this post, let's assume that stuff exists, including:

• You
• Me
• God

Let's also assume that there's some point to wondering why any individual human being exists.

I've got opinions about all of the above, but I'm just some guy living in central Minnesota. My opinions are just that - opinions. Which is why you'll see all those links to more authoritative sources in this blog.

Assumptions about authority and the nature of knowledge are - other topics. I've posted about God, authority, and stuff, before.²

"I Believe," We Believe," and the Meaning of Life

The new Roman Missal is going into effect this Advent, so we'll be starting the Nicene Creed with "I believe," the way it's been in Latin for all these centuries. There's a difference between "I believe"³ and "we believe," but both involve the verb "to believe."

That (finally) gets me to what I've been studying this week:

"We begin our profession of faith by saying: 'I believe' or 'We believe'. Before expounding the Church's faith, as confessed in the Creed, celebrated in the liturgy and lived in observance of God's commandments and in prayer, we must first ask what 'to believe' means...."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 26)

The rest of that paragraph includes a definition of faith, it's man's response to God; and a list of things that get discussed, like the:

1. Search for an ultimate meaning of man's life
2. Divine revelation
   1. God coming to meet man
3. Response of faith

God, Doors, and Free Will

I think the Revelelation 3:20 thing happens to all of us. Not that the Almighty is against doorbells, or walks up to the door. Yet more topics.

What we do, when God makes Himself known, is up to the individual. We have free will. (Catechism, 1730 and following) Each of us can, seeing God coming our way, say 'buzz off, I've got better things to do.' I think that's a really bad idea: but each of us can decide to reject God.

What "to Believe" Means

I didn't find anything particularly exotic about what "to believe" means. Not in that part of the Catechism, anyway. It looks like the 'dictionary' definition applies. Part of it, anyway:

• Believe (Verb)
  1. Accept as true
     1. take to be true
  2. Judge or regard
     1. Look upon
     2. Judge
  3. Be confident about something
  4. Follow a credo
     1. Have a faith
     2. Be a believer
  5. Credit with veracity
  (Princeton's WordNet)

Being a nit-picker, I could say that definition 4B doesn't quite apply, since "be a believer" is something I've heard more in connection with the louder end of American Protestantism. But that's being mighty picky.

Moving on.

'A God-Shaped Hole'

'There's a God-shaped hole in each of us.' I heard that somewhere, and think it's a pretty good metaphor. I'm also quite certain it's true.

It's not that I'm a "religious" person: I don't wander around with a vague smile and unfocused eyes; yell Bible verses at folks waiting for a bus; or come up with new-and-improved End Time Prophecies.⁴

I also don't go to every morning Mass; have callouses on my knees from kneeling in prayer; and recite the Apostles' Creed faster than an auctioneer with a deadline.

Morning Mass is, I think, a good idea. A very good idea. It's just not part of my habits. Not yet, anyway. There's a saint whose nickname came from 'prayer callouses,' but that's one saint: Prayer is a good idea. Knee callouses seem to be options.

Racing through memorized prayers? I try not to do that. Applying Matthew 7:1-5, I'd better move on.

What's the Big Deal About God?

Turns out, that "God-shaped hole" metaphor is right:

"The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

"The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.¹"

(Catechism, 27)

Again, each one of us is free to acknowledge God's love - or not.

The Meaning of Life, in 100 Words

There's quite a lot more, about how we can know about God, and all that. I put links under Background," below. That's not even close to being all the Church has learned over the millennia: but it's a place to start. No pressure, of course: what you do is your decision.

The " 'I Believe'-'We Believe'" section's summary starts with:

"Man is by nature and vocation a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God. Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 28, 39: PL 32, 795}. When he listens to the message of creation and to the voice of conscience, man can arrive at certainty about the existence of God, the cause and the end of everything."
(Catechism, 44-46)

"Certainty?" I'm about as sure as I can be that God exists. That's not the same as being absolutely certain about what God has to say about what folks wear, traffic regulations, and haircuts.

And that's yet again another topic.

Related posts:

• Religion
  • "CREDO! New Roman Missal Coming"
    (November 6, 2011)
  • "Why I Exist: It's Simple; and Not-So-Simple"
    (November 9, 2011)
  • "Uncertainty, 'Being Religious,' and This Catholic"
    (February 12, 2011)
  • "Christianity: A Religion of Hope"
    (May 5, 2011)
  • "Unity, Diversity, and Being Catholic"
    (August 26, 2010)
• Assumptions about religion
  • "My Take on the News: 'There Oughtta be a Law?'"
    (November 11, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Bias Made Easy
    • Religious Freedom
  • "Separation of Church and State, Assumptions, and Fear"
    (September 2, 2011)
    Includes a link to
    • "Space Aliens, Michele Bachmann, and Daft Assumptions"
      (September 2, 2011)
  • "Sex, Science, and the Home Schooling Parent"
    (September 17, 2011)
  • "Religion isn't For Blind Sheep?"
    (December 10, 2010)
  • "School District Celebrates Religious Freedom Day: By Banning Bibles"
    (July 1, 2010)
• Freedom, law, and tolerance
  • "The Establishment Clause; Religious Freedom; and Getting a Grip"
    (October 5, 2011)
  • "First Amendment Suspended for 9/11 Memorial Service: Wrong, but Understandable"
    (September 10, 2011)
  • "The Threat of People Who Aren't Just Like Us?"
    (July 23, 2011)
  • " 'We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites...' "
    (August 5, 2011)
  • "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
    (August 3, 2009)

Background:

• Our capacity for God
  • The desire for God
    (Catechism, 27-30
  • Knowing about God
    (Wisdom 13:1-9, Acts 17:26-28, Romans 1:19-20, Catechism, 31-35)
  • The knowledge of God, according to the Church
    (Catechism, 36-38)
  • How can we speak about God?
    (Catechism, 39-43)
  • Summary
    (Catechism, 44-49)
• God's call
  • Avoiding
    (Genesis 3:8-10, Jonah 1:3, Matthew 13:22)
  • Answering
    (Psalms 105:3)
  (Not even close to being a complete index)

---

¹ Saying that the world we observe isn't really real may still be a way to seem "intelligent." Or maybe that weird bit of shrapnel from Philosophy 101 has stopped ricocheting around Western culture. There's been a remarkable degree of diffidence about acknowledging objective reality for the last several decades:

• "Archbishop of Minnesota, About Proposition 8"
  (August 8, 2010)
  Particularly
  • Assumptions and Objective Reality
• "Why Did I Convert to Catholicism?"
  (November 24, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Jesus, Peter, Popes, and Me
    • The paragraph starting with:
      "There's more...."

² I've posted about God, authority, and all that, before:

• Mephistopheles, Cosmology, and Doctor Faustus"
  (November 7, 2011)
• "'Understand God?' Ha!"
  (September 9, 2011)
• How Could God Floss His Teeth?"
  (July 2, 2011)
• Physics and God, Hammers and Architects"
  (September 7, 2010)
• The Catholic Church: Authoritarian, Which Isn't Necessarily a Bad Thing"
  (October 2, 2008)

³ I believe quite a few things, some of which I've had to change over the decades. Here's a look at my current set:

• "What I Believe, Where I Stand"
  (September 3, 2011)

⁴ Prophecy is a charism. (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) So is speaking in tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28) But that doesn't make everyone spewing Bible verses and snatches of Aramaic a grade-A-number-one prophet:

• "Apocalypse Whenever"
  (June 14, 2011)
• "Speaking in Tongues and Getting a Grip"
  (June 1, 2011)
• "The Pope's 'Fundamental Priority,' and the 'Dark Side' of Bible Study"
  (November 19, 2010)
• "Catholic Beliefs and Practices: Don't Believe Everything You Read"
  (September 16, 2008)

Administration is charism, too, (1 Corinthians 12:28) but folks don't seem to get quite as enthusiastic about it. More topics.