It seemed the logical thing to do

There is a Taoist story that goes like this: This farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to console over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?" A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?" The farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?" A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.

It is not a literal factual story. But it still tells a truth. I could throw a maxim at you instead like: things are not always as they appear. But that does not capture the truth in the same way as the story. We relate to the story better. It is richer and fills the multidimensional space of our existence better than a one-dimensional maxim. It feels like something that we have experienced.

Many leading the advance of science across Europe were deep religious thinkers. Their initial instinct to relegate myth to the space between scientific-logical fact led us to the path we are on today. That path sees literal facts as the only vessels for truth. So much so, that we now have religions that think that the only way to value their sacred texts of mythical truths is by claiming that they are literally true.

The past is in the past, and we have inherited the world we have inherited. We are missing out on lots of accumulated wisdom if we simply discard everything that is not literal scientific facts. It is up to us to reclaim the value of myth and transcendence to tell truths that are not captured by empirical formulas. Some may claim that reaching for the mythical is a waste, perhaps even evil. But I know what thoughts wander through this mind of mine, and I can say with confidence that you would not want to know the version of me that does not submit himself regularly to something beyond himself. I do not relish a world where there is no room for transcendence, whether that realm is led by new atheists or fundamentalist creationists.

Photo Credits

Sarek
Birth of Laozi
Phoenix

Other Credits

The title is Sarek from Star Trek's Journey to Babel.
The Taoist Farmer is a traditional tale.
My oversimplified twist on how we got here was heavily influenced by Karen Armstrong's The Case for God.