Have You Heard This One?
Posted: Tuesday, November 02, 2010
by Ron
A British passenger riding in a Dublin taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question. He tapped the driver on the shoulder. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb, and stopped just inches from the edge of the bridge over the Liffey River.
For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, and then the still shaking driver said, I'm sorry, but you scared the devil out of me.'
The driver replied, Will the Saints in Heaven forgive me, it's entirely my fault. Today is my first day driving a cab I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years.'
This humorous story illustrates a key philosophical point. We humans tend to view reality through the prism of our daily activity. The taxi driver's reality was framed by his previous occupation driving a hearse. The Brit's reality was framed by his activity as a traveler. The Brit's reality intruded on the taxi driver's reality, forcing the startled taxi driver to react in way that was familiar to him.
When science and religion collide, we can view it as the collision of two different realities. For scientists, exploration of the physical universe is familiar territory. They like a reality that can be sensed and measured. For theologians, the non-physical universe is also a familiar subject. The power of the spiritual is as real as the physical.
It is most unfortunate. When science and religion collide, science makes the mistake of denying the existence of alternate realities. Scientists should know better. Discovery of scientific truth has often started with an attempt to understand a theory that can not be sensed or measured by the limitations of conventional science.
Ron
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)a lot of people seem to need the security of "knowing" what reality or ultimate truth is, and somehow not to be disturbed by the fact that others "know" the opposite! We're an odd bunch...
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