1) Jesus' statement in John 8:32:
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. "
I know that this quote isn't about thinking per se, but to me it says that not only is there such a thing as Truth but that learning the Truth is freeing, no matter how painful it may be.
2) T. S. Eliot's lines of poetry in Little Gidding:
We shall not cease from exploration/And the end of all our exploring/Will be to
arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time.
When I die, please write that on my tombstone.
3) And finally, a story. I can't remember where I have heard this one, but it's about a group of rabbis during the Holocaust. They are all in the concentration camp, and are continually discussing and debating the existence of God. They finally all unanimously agree that based on the undeniable fact of the existence of Evil that they stare in the face each day, God cannot possibly exist.
They go their separate ways.
Then, at the next time of prayer, they gather a minyan, and offer prayers to God.
I think the story says something about the intersection of faith and intellectual exploration, but I haven't been able to cogently describe what it says just yet.
2 comments:
That last bit comes from "The Trial of God," a play by Elie Wiesel. It is a beautifully written piece.
Justin, thank you very m uch for giving me a reference for that story. I will track that one down.
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