There once were two crabs; let’s call them Rob and Bob. They lived in a watery area at the bottom of a large underground cave, which they called Grotto. These were scientific crabs; they wanted to learn everything about their environment and they developed sophisticated crab technologies to help them in their pursuit. Rob believed that it was possible to know everything there was to know about Grotto using their existing crab technology and that which they would develop in the future. In time, they would know everything that there was to know. Bob was skeptical, believing that Grotto was not a closed system; there was a reality beyond the walls.
One day, a laser of light flashed through Grotto. Bob saw it, but Rob did not. They had heated arguments about the experience and devised experiments to see if it might happen again. It didn’t. This convinced Rob that it was a crab hallucination. Bob could not forget the experience and held to his belief. Arguments and debates continued, but neither would relent. They stubbornly stood firm.
Then suddenly, the laser flashed again, and this time both Rob and Bob saw it. Bob was pleased that lasers of light were now an established scientific fact. Still, Rob believed that the laser could be described by natural processes originating from complex interactions on Grotto’s walls. Bob didn’t go for that, convinced that Rob’s explanations were insufficient. So, they disagreed. The disagreement was never settled, leading to much conflict. Rob considered Bob to be embracing a primitive crab superstition. Bob was frustrated that he couldn’t convince Rob of the obvious. And so it went. On and on it went.
The basic question comes down to this: Is the cosmos a closed system or is there a larger encompassing reality? Is reality nothing but a huge grotto? Does humanity consist of billions of Robs and Bobs who aimlessly argue back in forth? If somehow, we can settle these questions, another one comes to the fore. Can we know anything about an inherent larger reality and then ascertain the impact that is has on how we should live our lives?
By Dan Harvey, Author of Wrestling with Faith, http://www.secondlooknow.com
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