One day, I decided maybe I could burn at the stake, after all. Before that day, I thought, “there is no belief that I hold so dearly that I would allow myself to be burned at the stake rather than forsake it.” According to Wikipedia, when Joan of Arc was burnt alive, her last words were “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” Now that’s fidelity to a belief. It was a relief to think I could burn, too.
It’s sad to have such paltry beliefs that they could not survive the mere threat of burning alive. Yet, over the years, under attack from innumerable opinions and theories lobbed at me from friend and foe alike, some solid beliefs have lodged in me. “No,” I can say, “I cannot agree with that, because I believe something else and I will not be shifted.” Tie me up and bring the oil, I’m ready! I believe two things!
#1. Nature has it right. The web of biological, physical, chemical, quantum, and mathematical powers is perfect. More than perfect, it’s unceasingly mind-blowing. Stable and independent orbits of numerous bodies around a central star. Giant Tubeworms that survive without sun or oxygen, 5,000 feet below the sea’s surface. Tardigrades that can survive the vacuum of space and incorporate other beings’ DNA into their own. DNA. The brilliance of the Jack Pine cone that only drops its seeds after a fire that clears the ground for their germination. The structure of the inner ear.
Nature has lots of rules. Things that happen so universally that they are, de facto, rules. Here are just a few: You’re born, you grow, you age, you die. Entropy happens. Everything is made out of something else that already existed. Things come (and go) in cycles.
Here are a few more: There’s no such thing as eternal growth. You can’t consume more than you need for very long. Over-crowding is not tolerated. There is no top of the heap – the bacteria will get you eventually. You can make a tree into a house or a tiger into a rug, but there are limits – taking atoms apart has grave consequences.
Nature doesn’t screw around. You can’t break the rules, it’s not possible. And if you try to, really work at it, you’ll most likely die.
I believe in nature. I can go to the fire shouting “The laws of nature! The laws of nature!” Hooray!
#2. It’s all gray area. There are (almost) no absolutes. Outside the laws of nature, that is. Usually.
People who are certain of things all the time bother me. First, it’s boring. Absolutists have no imagination and no curiosity and that is very dull. Second, it’s demonstrably false. Show me most absolutes and I’ll find you some exceptions. Third, it’s lazy. Absolutes take no effort, no thought. Remaining open to all possibilities and casting around for nuance takes more time. Fourth, it ends all conversation. There is no answer to an absolute except (1) another absolute (i.e., a fight); or (2) a meaningless acknowledgment (“mmmmm” or “oh?”). Back to boring, and downright rude in settings where conversation is the intent
Can I go to the stake shouting “Maybe! Sometimes!”? A martyr to uncertainty?
But what if I already professed absolute belief in the laws of nature? Hopefully I would only be called on to die for one belief at a time, because they kind of cancel each other out. Now I’m just confused again.
On Elk Meadow Road 