Faith and mathematics – a reflection
Reverend Jim Pilmer PSM OAM OStJ
You may empathise with me if I say that there was a stage at school where I couldn’t see the point of learning mathematics. To be honest I still don’t know why I did logarithms or vectors all those years ago and my use of algebra has really dropped off of late.
I am prepared to acknowledge that mathematical skills must be relevant to a range of situations and occupations; if not for me as a lost cause at least for those with their careers before them in a constantly evolving world.
Of course, it’s not until you need to apply knowledge and theory to a given practical situation that the penny drops. Not all of us will become naval architects or forensic accountants but there are some important principles to be absorbed, even if the fine detail fades. In many areas of work and endeavour we need to measure, estimate, calculate and account for a range of things.
Actually, putting the word Applied in front of most dry subjects can bring them to life. Applied mathematics is just one. Applied faith might be another.
That’s the sort of faith you need when a loved one dies, or you lose your job, or your teenager gets hooked on drugs. It’s the kind of faith you need when you lose your home and possessions in a fire or are told you have a life-threatening illness. It’s the faith you need when life serves up something that doesn’t fit with your understanding of a God who is all-powerful, loving and protective.
Where do you go from there? More to the point, what kind of faith do you already possess in your inner tool kit to face life’s challenges? Questioning faith, damaged faith or seeking faith is still faith.
Faith contains many ingredients; religious belief or belief in a grand scheme of things maybe, security based on a reassuring experience of the past perhaps, or an innate sense that daily life has purpose. In confronting times all these, and others, may be erased from the largely unquestioned daily framework in which we tend to function. That is a scary spot to be in. It’s like floating in space without reference points.
Yet, when we wait and trust the silence, we are applying faith.
To state the obvious, meaning can be a casualty of traumatic life experiences, and if life is bereft of meaning it is bereft of faith almost by inference. But struggling to find a meaning for the tragic or demoralising in life is not necessarily a stepping-stone to renewal of faith. Rather the step into the possibly unfamiliar world of guided reflection, meditation or prayer can bring strength and peace, but it doesn’t have to be that formal. Nor will it be a quick fix or a spiritual sedative.
Most of us contain the capacity to think deep and profound thoughts; we just don’t acknowledge or own their importance. Go with your inner hunches. Value your journey, all of it. Nurture hope.
Applying faith is sometimes to put reason on hold for a time and to step forward into the ‘unreasonable’. In that place we may find that our trauma was not emotional so much as spiritual (the search for meaning) and that our inner resources were more applicable than we had thought, however fragile.
Applied faith in dark times is not necessarily to see light but to believe that there is a light to be seen.