Damien and I (J) have been having an email conversation about the relationship between education (intelligence) and spirituality (faith, practice). Can we as humans have intellect and still maintain our spirituality? Are they mutually exclusive? Here is Pope John Paul’s “Fides et Ratio,” a papal “encyclical” (formal essay) about the importance of both intellect and faith. The crux of John Paul’s argument is that faith and reason go hand and hand. To have truth faith, one must question, read and reason.
“Driven by the desire to discover the ultimate truth of existence, human beings seek to acquire those universal elements of knowledge which enable them to understand themselves better and to advance in their own self-realization. These fundamental elements of knowledge spring from the wonder awakened in them by the contemplation of creation: human beings are astonished to discover themselves as part of the world, in a relationship with others like them, all sharing a common destiny. Here begins, then, the journey which will lead them to discover ever new frontiers of knowledge. Without wonder, men and women would lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become incapable of a life which is genuinely personal.”
TheStateOf . . . Fides et Ratio. Many “religious” people throughout history have shunned “reason,” “philosophy” and “science” because they see them as attacking their faith. Most of these people are fearful and irrational because they have not developed real faith, ie., wisdom, self-realization (that God is inside of all of us).
Filed under: Religion
