One of the windows in the Boston Trinity Church, built by Phillip Brooks, show the three wise seekers of truth offering gifts to the baby Jesus.
Phillips Brooks was 30 years old in 1865 when he delivered his sermon on the death of Abraham Lincoln saying, “The more we see of events, the less we come to believe in any fate or destiny except the destiny of character. …”
Brooks went on to an illustrious career in the Episcopal church and is remembered in this season for writing the words of a Christmas meditation, the words of the hymn, “Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem”:
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The Everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.”
In this Christmas time, it is obvious that it is “Light,” more than anything, that humanity now needs. Brooks in his writing and sermons frequently quoted this saying of Jesus: “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
This theme of bringing truth and freedom to those in darkness was a central part of Jesus’s teaching. At the end, Pilate, a clever politician, asked the profound question: “What is truth?”
What is the truth, the light, that brings freedom? Much of what passed for “truth” in the first century we now see as superstition and irrational speculations. Humanity now knows more — scientific truth, rational truth — than what in first century was possible to know. Jesus said he, himself, was truth and light. His life revealed the truth of the power of love. The challenge is to grasp the great truths revealed in Jesus’ character.
The book I read this year that most inspired me was “The Singularity Is Near,” which predicts that, by the year 2045, machines will be billions of times more intelligent than humans. What? It’s impossible to conceive what a ten fold increase in human intelligence would mean — a billion increase is beyond every level of imagination. The fascinating question is: With this enormous intelligence will these future machines also exhibit a depth of personality that we now define as “character”?
It was the character of Lincoln and the character of Jesus, that mattered. They were both intellectuals with high IQs, but it was their character, not the power of their intellect, that was the foundation of their gift to humanity. It was the expression of truth in their character that made them singular individuals. Character and intelligence seem to go hand in hand, but, it seems, in the highest functioning humans, it is character that forms intelligence, not vice versa. An interesting essay on Einstein, which I need to re-find, makes the interesting point that it was Einstein’s powerful integrity that was the secret of his genius, not his mathematical prowess. It is commitment to truth and integrity that reveals the “Everlasting Light.”
My last attempt to write a Christmas eve web log meditation was three years ago: “A 21st Century Understanding: The Christmas Story Tells That In Every Baby The Human Race Can Start Anew.” I wrote, “Thoughtful Christians need to find an understanding of their Christian faith that is worthy of a 21st Century understanding, one that does not promote irrational thinking and religious radicalism.”
Here in the 21st century religious fanaticism threatens to enslave and destroy us. Christmas eve reminds us that character is destiny and reveals that in the canyons, the dark streets of humanity, there can shine a force much greater than irrational fanaticism — “The Everlasting Light”– a light revealed in the highest expression of human character, a light, a truth, that we must work to help develop in this new generation, a light that inspires the resolve and outlook expressed by Robert Kennedy: “Some look at the world and ask why? I dream of things and ask why not?”
- When Computers Are Billions Of Times More Intelligent Than Humans — What Should Be The Aims Of Education? By Mike Bock, on April 12th, 2011
Looking at your link to your post of Christmas of 2008, I see that we had a pretty thorough back and forth on this subject. At that time there was a controversy about who would preach at which of Obama’s inaugural events. Today we are preparing to see if anyone will preach at a second one. What has changed since? Bin Ladin, a symbol of religious violence, has gone on to his martyrdom. Some of Herod’s successors in Egypt, Libya and Syria have faced resistance, with the ultimate outcomes uncertain but religious fanatacism seemingly on the downturn. In the US, politics seems to lack character as much or more than ever, although the presidential candidates who would most advocate for religious fanatacism do not at the moment seem to have much traction. America’s economic problems seem to be serious and structural, with employment and economic well being under a long term cloud, the activities Jesus advocated having their funding reduced or eliminated, and irrationality is as close as your radio or computer. Jesus’ “everlasting light” values of love, peace, charity, justice, equality, hope and spiritual serenity in as low or lower ascendancy than ever. We can dream of these things and ask why not. I must admit that I do not understand Bock’s comment about Einstein “it was Einstein’s powerful integrity that was the secret of his genius, not his mathematical prowess.” There are many science fiction stories in which people encounter machines or aliens with higher intelligence. In most of them the aliens treat us like we have treated people or civilizations which we perceive as inferior, with exploitation and violence. Only in a few (the fifties film classic “Day the Earth Stood Still” and the underappreciated novel “Good News from Outer Space” come to mind) are the aliens superior in character as well as intelligence or technology. This may reflect the fact that people mistrust science and technology, and may be into denial and disparaging “reality based” approaches, preferring more comfortable mythologies, speculations and the emotional states that fuel political philosophies. Hopes and fears of past and future years do continue to confront the everlasting light, and people do continue to react much as the people did in Jesus’ time. Still hope continues for all of us.