Everyone understands gravity...our feet are on the ground, we don't fly off into space. I was thinking about we humans and the way that we think. We are so focused on ourselves and what impacts us at the moment. We are also so focused on trying to explain everything. If we can't explain it, then it must not be possible. It is as if there is a gravity that directly impacts our thoughts and thought patterns. The result of this thought gravity is that we become inward focused and myopic to the point of not being able to contemplate the big picture.
As we try to know our current selves, by definition we need to be focusing a bit inward. But, to know our current selves, we need to also see the big picture. Just as the rocket boosters violently thrust the rocket beyond the forces of gravity, so too do we need a radical boost to get us well beyond the reaches of our everyday nearsightedness. When we break out of our limited thought patterns, we are then ready to consider all of the big picture...which ultimately will lead us back to a true understanding of ourselves.
So let's consider the big picture. What is out there? Why do we exist? Where did humans come from? What will become of us all? OK, OK ... deep stuff. But consider that there may very well be answers to these questions that we cannot explain. Science, by definition, explains the natural...not the supernatural. Can we prove love or beauty? I cannot conceive of how to put a man on the moon, but I do not say that it is impossible to put a man on the moon. There is much that I cannot explain and have not seen, but I believe.
As humans, one of the most important life skills, in my humble opinion, is the ability to consider another person's point of view. It takes an openness and humility to really listen to the argument of another, and concede that their argument makes more sense than your own. I was taught this by watching an atheist friend of mine as he did business. It was fascinating, and because of his ability to listen and pivot his perspectives, he was successful in business.
To know yourself, you must consider the big picture. To consider the big picture, you must break past the gravity that pushes down on your thoughts and thought patterns. Allow yourself the latitude to consider the larger question of whether there really is a God. There is much that we do not know, but there are many reasons that point to a real God. Consider the other perspectives.
My position is that there is nothing I can achieve or attain in this world that will give my life ultimate meaning. I can either then concede that I will never have ultimate meaning , or I can search the larger picture and consider that there is a God that gives me ultimate meaning. In one scenario I really have no other option than to stop trying and to wander through life with no hope. In the other scenario, I can find out more about this God, and I can accept the design for what he wants me to become.