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G.K. Chesterton wrote:
The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man was always a mystic.
He has permitted the twilight. He has always had one foot in earth and the other in fairyland. He has always left himself free to doubt the gods; but (unlike the agnostic of today) free also to believe in them. He has always cared more for truth than consistency.
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This short passage from G.K. Chesterton's
Orthodoxy has give me a bit of consolation recently. It has specifically given me consolation when I've entered into an apologetics discussion with certain friends of mine who want to have a complete and rational explanation for every fine little detail of reality--which includes every little detail concerning the beliefs of the Faithful, too.
Of course, nobody can understand everything which is to be contained within the Faith. The object of the Faith, after all, is Truth. We believe a thing because it is true, and not merely because it "makes sense." Ideally, that which is true will also make sense to us, but there will always be some mysteries which we cannot understand, and especially which we cannot understand alone. God Himself is infinite and eternal ,and thus cannot be exhausted by our understanding, but rather can only exhaust our understanding.
The next best thing is to try and understand what we can, and then place a bit of trust in Christ and His Church in that which we cannot not. Christ--Who is true God and thus is Truth itself--will not lie to us: He neither deceives nor is deceived. Having verified this about Him as best we can, and then likewise verified the Church's claims to apostolic authority as best we are able, we still must have room for faith. A part of this faith is in trusting what is taught as doctrine or dogma that we do not understand--for understanding follows after belief. If we insist on always understanding everything first, then belief will never be ours. As Chesterton says, "The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits." To have faith in Christ is to be a sort of poet, if only a miserable one. We want to understand--to some extent to get a part of the heavens into our heads. But more than this, we want to be poets--better yet, saints--to get our heads (and indeed our whole selves) into heaven.
Tags: Quotes Apologetics Philosophy Chesterton
