Personifications do not exist in the same sense as observables. So if we look at nature, and squint really hard, and wish with all of our hearts, and try to see God's face emerge from the distance so that He will speak directly to us, with a presence as robust as the mountains, the sea, and the sky, we will see only what we want to see, if anything at all. And such is the source of many logical errors that corrupt people's understanding of reality. In the same sense, if we take the best electron microscope that money can buy, and use it to try to see atoms, we will see nothing. Atoms are not visible, and neither is God. They are constructs that we use to make sense of what we can see. If we limit our thoughts just to what we can see, we have only phenomenology, and no understanding. But if we know how to develop constructs to make sense of the world around us, and know better than to expect the world to look like the constructs, it will (eventually) all make sense.

 

And just as the atomic theory was met with a lot of skepticism, and is still being challenged, and we are still learning, we must be skeptical of all personifications of natural law, and we must be open to intellectual and spiritual growth as we learn more about how this world works. Did you believe in God when you were 10 years old? Did you still believe in God when you turned 20? If so, was it the same conception of God, or had you matured a bit, and come to a deeper appreciation of Him? It would be a shame if you thought that you cannot learn, and for fear of your God going away, you cling to the beliefs of a child. Fear not, as the one and true God will still be there, if you cast aside your previous notions, and open yourself to a fuller and richer embodiment of His spirit.

 

The same is true of all of the sciences. When people are open-minded, they can learn. But after they've locked down on a notion, and get proud of themselves for how long they've held onto it, and don't want to consider other possibilities because they don't want to admit that they might have been wrong, their forward progress stops. Next year they will be as wrong as they were last year, because they'd rather be stupid than thought stupid. Yet smart people don't act like that. Ask the same question of 10 people. If 9 of them give you a confident answer, and 1 says that she doesn't know, you probably have 1 genius, and 9 idiots.

 

So just like scientists continuing to question the atomic theory, and learning more and more as they go, we must continue to question our visions of God, and seek the fullest understanding of what it means to be alive. When we find inconsistencies, we must track them down, and discover the deeper truths. Some of what previous generations thought to be real can now be shown to have been illusory. But this is not a tragedy — it's an opportunity for us to delve into a deeper spirituality than they ever could have imagined. And such is what it means to be alive — learning, thinking, and growing, because this is the nature of life itself.