In praise of agnostics
Once upon a time I didn't know. Then suddenly I did know. I really knew. I mean I knew so clearly that I was clearly right and everyone who didn't know was clearly wrong. One of the things I really knew was that those who didn't know what I knew needed to be like me and know what I know. They would be in big trouble if they didn’t. Then one day what I knew didn't seem to work so well and so I became a little unsure, but I kept up the pretense that I knew. Until one day what I knew reallydidn't work and all at once the cart was turned over and I was left not knowing. To start with I felt bad about not knowing and then I realized that actually most people don't really know, however much they pretend they do. It was not-knowing that opened the door to the revelation that when you don't know, you have the opportunity to keep on learning for the rest of your life. Someone called that “a disciple”, a learner.
On one side of the religious spectrum you have atheists. I mean the real hard core Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris kind of atheist. They are the ones who know, really know. A –Theist. Without God. They know there is no such thing as a divine, Other, transcendent, God, Source, in life. They know that what you see is what you get; its all that there is. Period. On the other side of the spectrum are the so-called fundamentalists. Every religion has them. They also reallyknow. God told them and they are right and everyone else is wrong. That is how right they are. Plus, they have their special books, to prove all that they know is beyond contradiction. Then, in this very broad space between the two extremes, are the Agnostics. A-Gnosis. Without knowing. “I don't know”. That's what an agnostic is. Someone who is honest enough to say “I don't know”. It’s not an ignorant kind of “I don't know” that is born out of not even thinking about questions of existence like, “why am I here?”; “is there more to life than this?”; “is there some positive and or negative personal power at work in the world?” It is a deeply thought through “I don't know” that is born out of much soul searching. Often they have had bad experiences of religion in the past and they are clear that they don’t want any of that. But they are also clear that they have many unanswered questions that much searching hasn't answered, but they are ok with that. There is something creative about the not-knowing that keeps them endlessly hungry to learn more and it keeps them open minded to look in all kinds of places that the people who knowdon't ever both to look.
All this leads theI don't knowpeople to judge their life journey by a different criteria. Jesus followers were never called the “I know-ers”, they were called people of the Way, people who are on a life time journey. They were called Disciples, people who are continually learning. And Jesus said to his learners that if you put loving others first then this will be the new gold star measurement of a life well lived. (By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, because you love each other[1]) So love and not knowledge is the way that agnostics look at life. Putting all those bits together gives a delightful picture that we are all on a journey in this life and it's a journey of non stop learning, about how to love other people better each day. To some degree all learners of love are agnostics. It cannot be otherwise.
So today I am writing in praise of agnostics. Those who are fuelled, directed, and focused on loving, through the honest journey of not knowing.
[1]John 13.35