6/23/2021
June 23, 2021
My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,
Have you heard of the “God Shaped Hole” Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician, wrote about? It’s the idea that we all experience a profound longing, a craving, an “infinite abyss” that comes from feeling that “there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace. This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are.” He pointed out that the only entity to fill this void was God.
Maybe that’s why you talk about your religion as a “private matter.” Others cannot know our spiritual shadows. They cannot understand the ache that comes from feeling misunderstood. We each experience the yearning for unconditional love in different ways & we each have our own struggles with our imperfections. As Robin Givhand wrote in the WP today,” the challenge of doing right in a confounding world can be as frustrating as trying to step into a rainbow.”
As we seek this elusive love that will fill our hearts we want to be uplifted & protected. According to Linda Feldman writing in the CSM, many of us look for a cause & end up bonding with others in political struggles. She noted that some White folk have experienced a “Great Awokening” finding salvation in their quest to be anti-racists & “their enforcement of progressive standards can seem even harsher than Christianity’s approach, which allows space for sinners to atone and be given another chance.” So political fervor doesn’t seem to fill the God hole.
Somehow, my writing to you each morning temporarily fills my God-shaped hole, chases away the doubts that creep into my spirit at night and brings me back to celebrate the blessing of life. I suspect that your visits to church do the same for you. I hope you continue to feel welcome there. If you don’t, you know there’s a place for you at Davis Friends Meeting.
HYITL,
RCA
PS – Pray for Myanmar
