Meaning and Meaninglessness
“To refer to a god-as-ruler as “false” thus means that He is a usurper. He’s not really in charge. “…there is a more profound logical problem with saying the universe is meaningless. If the universe were truly meaningless, we would never have been able to discover that.” (Dr. Zachary Porcu)
“The mind comes from the heart and is expressed through the brain in feelings, words and actions. How great is this mystery—man and the cosmos, the microcosm and the macrocosm! This is a mystery that we can penetrate through faith alone. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear (Heb. 11:3). Without faith we are blind. Without faith many things seem unclear and meaningless. The eternal higher meaning and purpose of man and the universe was revealed to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who became a Man like us, Who was crucified and rose from the dead to redeem the world. The Resurrection of Christ determines the meaning of human existence and that of all Creation. The Apostle Paul writes: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable (1 Cor. 15:19).” (Metropolitan Serafim Joanta)
“…for us as poor, weak human beings, desire will be a form of accurate knowing only when, as chaste and ardent eros, it induces us to renounce self-love and to launch out towards Christ in some way, shape, or form. It is only in the process of that journey that we are meant to then discover these difficult commandments and become moved to practice them. We can’t be who we really are by falling into sin, but rather we become true by consenting to our eros for Christ. The freedom that eros grants is a freedom from death, from sin, from self-love–and from meaninglessness and chaos.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)
“…I deeply and passionately believe that the smallest details of the ordinary are where we may spot the working of the divine as it unfolds in real time. One of the great works I believe we are called to as Christians is the ‘resacralization’ of the world, the reclaiming of boring ‘stuff’ and meaningless ‘matter’ into the God-charged creation it was crafted to be. When we give over the mundane details of our lives to a machine - meal planning and schedules and the little lists and recipes that make up daily life - we are missing some of the most potent opportunities we have to encounter the preciousness of existence in its smallest point. God arrives in the forming of grocery lists as we mull the loved people coming and consider the necessary needs and tastes. Love grows in the recipes we share, gleaned from a friend. Eternity is always tangled up in time but we are made more aware of it when we form our days by liturgies rather than a schedule compiled by a machine that views us as machines too. I could write more. I will write more. But that’s enough for now.” (Sarah Clarkson)
“On the night of Pascha, the priest stands before the closed doors of a darkened Church and cries, “Let God arise! Let His enemies be scattered! Let those who hate Him flee before His face!” It is the eternal cry of God over His creation. We were not created for death. We were not created for meaninglessness. We were not created for the empty imaginations of modern philosophers. We were created for God and He has come to save us!” (Father Stephen Freeman)
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