Circles And Lines

“How does He do it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hide. How does He hide so well that it is possible to believe that He is non-existent?”

“Do you believe?”

“Yes”.

“Why?”

“I have never seen an effect without a cause”.

“So you are saying that because you see, for instance, the sun and the moon, you believe?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying”.

“So you believe in a Creator?”

“Yes”.

“Tell me, this Creator, what is His ethical makeup?”

“He is the embodiment of good. This goes to the very essence of my dilemma”.

“I am not following you”.

“If a human being of average intelligence was born, not as an infant, but let us say, thirty years old, and was completely secluded, with no human contact, he would have no choice but to believe.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He would very quickly observe the cause and effect nature of the universe. He would walk on some grass, for instance, and realize that he caused it to flatten out, no longer being as tall as the blades of grass surrounding it. And then he would look up to the heavens”.

“Now why, my dear friend, did you say that this individual must be secluded?”

“Yes. I see where you’re going with this. But I am still left with many unanswered questions”.

“Even though you are a great mind reader, I still believe there is much to be gained by talking things out.”

“I apologize for my interruption. Please, speak your piece”.

“The reason for your insistence on solitude. Please explain.”

“You know very well why this must be a pre-condition. If this individual would be exposed to life  as we now know it, he would undoubtedly experience evil”.

“And why should the witnessing of evil effect belief?”

“It shouldn’t, I guess. But, by reason, he would be forced to err in the conclusions he would come to”. 

“For instance?”

“He might say, “true, there must be a first cause, but it must be made up of both good and evil”. Or he might come to believe that ther are two first causes, one of good and the other evil.

“Why did you come to me, my dear friend?”

“Because, in the past, you have been able to clarify some very frustrating concepts for me. You have brought me peace of mind on quite a few occasions”.

“What do you perceive as the major difference between circles and lines?”

He thought  for quite a long while before responding.

“I would have to say that they differ mainly in their freedom of choice. The circle, no matter what, is circumscribed. I can retrace the curvature of that circle till the end of time, but I would still be left with the exact same circle. The line, on the other hand, if I were to choose to extend it, would have the potential to be infinite in length”.

His friend smiled.

“You have answered your own question”.

“Please explain.”

“God chose to conduct the world that he created by, symbolically speaking, of course, the use of circles and lines. He his hidden in the circles, the cause and effect of nature, by what is  revealed to the eye. But the line. With it, one can reach the heavens, for you yourself said that it’s possibilities are infinite, boundless. This, my dear friend, is the ethical approach to life.”

“I do follow you, but I am not clear in regards to my  original question .  How does he hide?”

“Through His use of the circles. In the circles, one cannot differentiate between good and evil”.

It was beginning to make sense, but vaguely. He could not truly put it all together.

But to his credit, he meditated greatly on the aforementioned concepts, till his heart was finally at peace.