A matter of perspective

The word ‘perspective’ must be one of the most complex words in human living. It defines meaning. It also defines difference between arrogance and humility. When George W Bush declared his War on Terror, the American president said, “You are either with me or against me!”

When Ayatollah Khomeini, the then-leader of Iran, declared “War on Salman Rushdie,” with the death warrant and judgment, his meaning was no different than that of the American president. It was his perspective, too. But, can any human being issue a death warrant, if one is not the author of life? Is it not the height of arrogance to assume, and play God, when one is only a miniscule aspect of life, which appears for a while and then disappears, in the affairs of the Universe?

The first man to walk on the moon recently met his end of human time. At the same time, the journey he started has continued with Curiosity now having landed on Mars. I often wonder whether the human chronometer is relevant on Mars, or whether the human compass has any real significance there. I suppose, it is all a matter of perspective; human perspective.

The human perspective is always an interpretive one; never an absolute one. Therefore, while to one person the glass is half full, to the other it is half empty; and, to God it is neither.  

Last week, a Pakistani minister declared his perspective on the so-called height of arrogance which was the YouTube version and production of a so-called movie, which most of us have not seen or even tried to fully understand or appreciate.

He offered a US$100,000 reward for the death of another human being. Then, when cornered, he declared that it was his personal and individual offer of reward, and not that either of his government nor that of his party. It was his perspective but who has given him this authority to declare death on anyone else? Can he? Can I?

My spiritual godfather has a joke which I have always loved, because it talks about perspective, too. He tells about the two books he has written. One is called, ‘ Humility and how I achieved it! ’

The second is called, ‘ The three most humble people in the world, and how I trained the other two! ’  That, too, is perspective, but with a healthy pinch of salt and good humour. I often quote this joke because it is descriptive of both; leadership and humility with a perspective.

Can any human declare a death warrant?

If I am not wrong, even in the cowboy country of the early West, not everyone could declare a death warrant on another. One has to have the relevant authority, often the authority granted by a state to make such a declaration. But, can any human being declare another’s death? Is that a true blue death warrant or can I view it as “promoting euthanasia of the religious kind?”

My theology does not allow or condone any death warrant, other than to declare what the Bible already says, “All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” But that is only declaring a perspective of life, which we claim is God’s perspective, but upon which Christians stand, and often are willing to make their stand.

Therefore, while America is not a Christian nation, neither is Iran a Muslim one. Can any organisation be and become a spiritual one? Is there such a thing as a Christian Family of a Christian Church? Can there ever be an Islamic State of Being? The greatest danger to mankind today is the loss of perspective, wherein, like Rene Descartes, we say, Man is the measure of all things. “I think therefore I am or Cogito Ergo Sum.”

The Heisenberg principle

The Heisenberg Principle destroyed any notion of human absoluteness of perspective. It is also called the Uncertainty Principle. Man, and then modern science, had this perspective centred on Cartesian certainty that man can know and understand absolute truth through the methods of science. Mankind has since climbed down that hill of arrogance and lives now in the valley of humility, wherein we cannot even predict or stop the winds and the waves.

Oh Man, where is thy arrogance, when you cannot recognise the winds and appreciate the movement of her directions? When mountains spout volcanic ash or rivers flood nations? Why then such arrogance, if not for a desire to continue to be like God? But I was taught a simple logic by the scriptures, “Why cannot the Potter paint one pot black and the other white?”

For the sake of humanity, I pray that Curiosity will do a good job of excellent science, but also for the sake of the same humanity, my prayer is that Curiosity would understand that when on Mars, the human perspective of chronological time is irrelevant in the larger movements of kairos time, and within the vastness of the entire universe.

Therefore, periodically it is good for mankind to take and make the longest paper road in the world and then to take a sharp pencil and draw the longest line in the world, and the to re-sharpen the same pencil and mark the sharpest point on the long line of eternity and recognise: “That fine dot is our life in terms of chronological time, whereas the other line of time is eternity which is called God’s time, and God’s perspective!

The married Jesus conundrum

I am sure this doubt and issue has travelled and traversed the world by now. To me, and in my perspective, it is a non-issue! Why? It is as simple as ABC. Reason and logic define human science and the rational modern scientific method. The question about Jesus’s birth and the source of his genetic origin is no more an issue only of science or archaeology. It is now 2000 years after, and we call it AD and BC.

Modern science cannot verify absolute truths. It can only discover them, like Newton’s apple. But, as my former Science teacher told us in Form Four… Newton could merely have just eaten the apple and gone home, too.

To me, science is based and built upon reason and a reasonable method of investigation, called the scientific method. It cannot build or develop reasoning for matters, or to be precise, for non-matter, beyond material science or the physical sciences. The other is Metaphysics.

Some matters, like the reason for life, are beyond science and transcend human time and cross over to eternal time, which is beyond reason and therefore not from human perspective alone. We call it faith; and faith transcends both kairos and kronos time. That is my perspective, too. I pray that there is never a death warrant issued on this freedom to think and be human. May God bless the world with good perspectives.