The More We Know About The World, The More We Dwell In The Dark
Thursday, April 24th, 2008 by Mark | Posted in Unconventional Thinking | Comments
I am watching this special man, this scholarly Pope, this Holy Father in snow white silk, bless the people of New York.These people of New York are the most skeptical in the world. Whatever story you have, they’ve heard it a thousand times before. And they will tell you so. And they don’t want to hear it again. I know. I am one of them. Have been so all of my life.And yet this quiet, introspective Pope has us all charmed. Under his spell. Exhilerated to have him amongst us.We feel that we are in the presence of God. There is a certainty to it. And a calm that prevails because of it.
This is the polar opposite of every day life where there is absolute uncertainty. We know not much of how our universe functions. Why we live and die. How long we will be on earth. Why there are great tragedies: wars, AIDS, starvation, suicide bombers. Why there are magical beauties : lilacs, fireflies, kisses, rainbows.
Yes we live in a world that seems so smart now because we can shop on line and talk on cell phones and Google Abe Lincoln’s favorite food. But every generation believes it is the epitome of genius, of stunning scientific achievement–and although there may be some truth to that, we must be humbled by the fact that we still haven’t a clue as to the why’s or the wherefores of the tragedies and the beauties.
The Pope’s presence appears to provide a glimpse into the truth. Just what it is we cannot be certain. But it gives us reason to pause and to remember that throughout history, the great people, those who have advanced the human race, committed a single common act:
They asked “Why?”
This is where all progress begins, both on the global and personal levels. By questioning what we do, what we believe, what is accepted as fact and what is ridiculed as fiction. Why we associate with people we no longer like. Why we cannot harness the power of the sun for all of our energy needs. 
Now. This year. Why we accept the “fact” that a small business person cannot start a new automobile company.
The fact is, once we stop asking “Why?” we begin to die. To shrivel up. To lose our energy. To accept everything around us as etched in concrete, as permanent, as inquestionable because that’s the way it is.
Just think of the wonder of a child asking the proverbial, “Why’s the sky blue, mommy?.” At that delicious moment, the young mind is reaching beyond the “it is because it is” roadblock and seeking to explore. To soar. To understand something that until that very moment was far too daunting to approach.
For a few, the probing never stops. For fewer still it leads to true exploration and discovery. For most it is a passing phase, dismissed as childish curiousity, that rapidly diminishes with every year of life that races by.
In one vital aspect of our lives, faith, we have certainty. But our knowledge is crude and our curiosity wanes. And we live, like our forefathers, in the dark lit only by the light of “Why?”
Mark Stevens
CEO
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