It's bad when your kids start asking you things that are hard to answer. It means you'll actually have to work to continue to sound intelligent. In turn, that brings the possibility they'll discover you're not actually omniscient.
Over time, their questions just get harder. Even so, I have to admit that I do like questions, even when they implicitly deliver my own vulnerability. Honestly though, I do occasionally take time to get used to the vulnerability part. Some questions can be a real splash of cold water.
Ultimately though, questions are usually a lot more fun than answers. Answers deliver stasis. Questions deliver possibility. Answers look backward. Questions look forward. In the end, the real value of any answer is that it leads to new and hopefully better questions. The questions don't always get better but thankfully, they often do.
In this vein, I don't think anything can be worse than questions about quantum physics and/or astrophysics. These questions are easy when kids are younger. Whether you're talking about stars, planets and moons or protons and electrons, nearly all such questions can be answered by spherical models of foam and hung on circles of wire. These are usually a bit off as pertains to heavenly bodies. With regard to atomic and sub-atomic structures these are bolder lies than the idea that Santa Claus has a workshop at the North Pole surrounded by condominiums stuffed full of odd looking elves. Never the less, the models are helpful to young minds just like Santa Claus can be a healthy component of Christmas fun.
The question from one of our adult kids the other day was to the effect of, "Is there really any such thing as time?" As a response, I initially tried something that is true to a large degree and sounds kind of profound. It's a quote repeated by many that originated with a science fiction writer in the early '20's. Here it is: "Time… is what keeps everything from happening at once" For those of you with kids, I'll admit that this answer is static, cheap and in the context it was asked, dead on arrival. As in much of life, anything approaching a real answer is much more expensive.
This is a huge, long lived question with physical, philosophical and theological implications. Only as an introduction (i.e. as opposed to a cheap answer), consider that what we typically call time in day to day experience doesn't have a lot of meaning to the universe at large. The clock we watch is primarily an artifact of our lifespans and consciousness interacting with our solar system. (If you're interested in starting a journey to the more complete, expensive answer to this question, which really only contains better questions, you can start here: Time)
I think spiritually, we could use a little more grounding in the capacities and limits of time. It's true that we do have to pay some umbrage to the clock on the wall just so we can all have agreement on the when part of "when and where." And so that at any given moment, I can know how late I am to everything. It's also true that it often becomes the tyrant of our daily lives when it's rightful place is nothing more than a temporal equivalent to "X marks the spot."
This is particularly true as applies to big concepts like grace and forgiveness. On the cross, Christ tells the thief, "Today, you will me with me in paradise." Subtext: "In the next few moments, after a life (i.e. long time) of crime and abuse your instantaneous change of heart and my grace and sacrifice will place you in the arms of eternal love and grace." In this context, the elapsed time meant nothing. The human heart meant everything. In fact, the past tense "meant" is only a nod to our two handed, non-digital friend hanging on the wall. Both Christ and the thief are still living in the glory, love and importance of that single moment...as well as all the other moments defining the lives of each and their impact on others. And likewise the rest of us.
Forever is what we are made for. It is the uninterrupted now.
PS. blogger.com has added a formatting option that allows automatic reformatting necessary to support mobile devices...like your iWhatever. I've enabled that feature for Wanderin'. Now you can wander while you Wander.
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