I tried to get that thought about the empty cup out of my system over the weekend, but I'm still stuck on it today.
I have to admit that I was really surprised by Hunter's response. Talk about walking into something with my cup half-full - I did not at all expect it. However, I'd like to think that even during the times when I'm guilty of having a full cup, if someone comes along with something better to fill it with, I have no remorse about splashing the current contents out on the side of the road.
And then I read Lewis.
At the recommendation of one of my wiser friends, I read C.S. Lewis's Obstinancy of Belief (a free online version can be found here through the Free Republic website). After all that pondering over whether doubt can be healthy part of faith, Lewis - amongst other things - mucks it all up.
I'll gladly send out my two-pager on the essay (I just can't escape doing things the way I did in undergrad) to anyone that wants it, although you should all definitely read it. One of the aspects of belief, though, for Lewis involves that the question already be answered. The essay deals primarily with the way a scientist views his craft and the way a Christian both 1) ascends to belief and 2) carries out that belief in the face of possible contradictions.
Lewis more than admits that a crucial difference between the modes of thought are that, for the Christian, the question of God's existence is already answered. To clarify, he notes that God's existence is not so much a matter of knowledge (as the term "belief" does not deal with knowledge) but that Christianity uses the belief in God as a starting point. I think to question that belief is to start from somewhere else.
I'm still not sure as to whether this deals with doubt in anyway. It seems to me that even the most steadfast in belief - let's take my own for example - can doubt the very premise of their belief-structure. Don't worry - I usually, quickly come to my senses.
I'm thinking more and more that even the sage author of the Tao Te King - where the Empty Cup comes from - had to have at least a little something in his cup. It's no way to live life where every morning you wake up a clean slate, ready to be filled by the new knowledge of the day. Basically, I feel like you can not continue to be in doubt of certain things in your life.
Then again, perhaps the cup only applies to knowledge, where certain questions in life only apply to belief. The difference between the two, if not obvious, is stamped out in that Lewis piece.
I'll be the first to admit that this life question has me puzzled and that perhaps the Agnostic is the only one with a truly empty cup - but what is that to live your life?
24 September 2007
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