Admittedly, the conversation started closer to 1:30—after we’d been talking for a while, I looked at my cell phone and saw that it was 1:55. Not quite 2:00, but on the cusp of the God Hour, so I decided it should count.
The evening started when Rohan, one of my soccer teammates, invited me to a party being thrown by of a friend of his named Vincent. I had nothing better to do, so why not? (It’s not like I was going to sit down and write something on my blog or anything… guilt guilt guilt…) I drove into downtown Minneapolis, we stayed at the apartment for a while, then headed outside at about 9:30 for the Aquatennial fireworks display.
Vincent is originally from France. This is notable in part because the fireworks were scheduled for 10:00—in his native country, they might have to wait until 10:30 or later. Here in Minnesota, he knew that we start things when they’re supposed to, so just a moment after his watch showed 10:00, he asked out loud when the fireworks would start… and they did in the middle of his sentence.
It was an impressive display. The fact that they had eight different launch sites made for some fun designs in the sky with lots of lights and colors and booms. Lots and lots of booms. About a minute in, I told Vincent that if anyone in Minneapolis tried going to bed early that night, it didn’t last long.
22 minutes later, there was nothing but smoke left in the air, so we chatted for a while, then walked back to the apartment. After a little more food and a little more conversation, we decided to head across the street to Nye’s, a piano bar where Rohan looooooves his karaoke. He sang Unforgettable, dragged one of the girls to join him for a second (which was especially a treat since she’d never heard the song before), then we all settled down for some drinks. I was feeling so hardcore that night that I was drinking water on the rocks. Totally hardcore.
As would be expected, I haven’t the slightest recollection as to how we breached the subject of God and spirituality, etc., but it was an interesting spread of opinions. One person was firm believer in Christianity, one believed in karma and resurrection, one more a general religious person (i.e., there are a lot of common aspects amongst different religions and none of them have “the truth” nailed down completely), an agnostic and Vincent was a man of science. I can’t hold that against him given that he’s a professor at the U of M teaching physics and biology. I’m only pointing him out because I love how he pronounces “Jehzooss boolsheet.”
The biggest problem for Vincent and the agnostic was that they needed proof. Science is constantly proving theories, breaking down things at the genetic level, and he thinks we’ll be able to create life within the next hundred years or so. The agnostic was open to the possibility of “God”—perhaps I should label that “religion”, given the discussion included the existence of souls. But like I said, she was open to it, but needed a reason to believe it.
My problem is this: Why do some people always need proof? Can’t we accept that some things just are? I brought up the existence of purple. How do you know that purple looks the same to you as someone else? You might agree that “Yes, that looks like purple”, but are you actually seeing the color in the same way? We make that grand assumption—we can say that a certain frequency of light waves hit the cornea in a certain way—but even with that explanation, we can’t know for sure. Hell, we can’t know about anything. I’ve had some awesome dreams in the past, but dammit, I have yet to make out with Carmen Electra in real life! (She had really soft lips, too… at least I think she did…)
So what happens if science can’t prove everything? What if there aren’t any logical reasons for some stuff? Sure, in the past, we thought the world was flat, sun rotated around the Earth, etc. All that has been disproved. But what if there’s a roadblock? Something that can’t be explained through scientific means. Will people beat their heads against the wall, insistent that there must be a reason, or might they come to accept that maybe you can’t prove everything? Sometimes you can’t find a reason. Sometimes you just have to believe.
And then Vincent would get pissed off about the whole “Jehzooss boolsheet” again…
Cool. Insightful, And in a sense, even, uplifting.