Brooks's essay is the kind that often exasperates nonbelievers. But is there something of value to secular civilization in his God-optional conclusions?
There will never be a secular civilization until we secularists can produce the kind of essay New York Times columnist David Brooks just published about his search for God.
There will never be a secular civilization until we secularists can produce the kind of essay New York Times columnist David Brooks just published about his search for God.
The importance of the essay lies not in the content of his journey but in its seriousness and depth. Brooks confronts secularists with the old Kantian question—what can we hope for in life?
It is a sprawling essay—4,000 words in a newspaper!—and thus hard to summarize. But Brooks does describe his search in several lessons he has learned. These are worth attending to.
When the search is the point
First, Brooks asserts that the search for God is not, as he had thought, a matter of belief—not about arguments over whether God exists. The search for God is more akin to falling in love. The experiences that lead one to God are “numinous”—"the scattered moments of awe and wonder that wash over most of us unexpectedly from time to time.”
It is a sprawling essay—4,000 words in a newspaper!—and thus hard to summarize. But Brooks does describe his search in several lessons he has learned. These are worth attending to.
When the search is the point
First, Brooks asserts that the search for God is not, as he had thought, a matter of belief—not about arguments over whether God exists. The search for God is more akin to falling in love. The experiences that lead one to God are “numinous”—"the scattered moments of awe and wonder that wash over most of us unexpectedly from time to time.”
Continue reading @ Only Sky.
No comments