Questions vs. Security

This cartoon from David Hayward seems to me to be a good one for the transition to a new year:

I like this one better than the previous one that I commented on. It illustrates a number of things, in my view correctly. Choosing a path of openness and exploration vs. pat answers and the security they bring is a choice. It is not a choice between God and atheism or between faith and doubt, but two approaches to life which may or may not include religious answers among the definite and certain things that are affirmed to provide security.

As Tillich says, doubt is inherent in true faith, since there can be no recognition of the ultimate as ultimate without also recognizing oneself as non-ultimate, and thus one’s own perspective and answers as likewise not definitive and all-encompassing.

And since there is a choice to be made, this seems like a good cartoon for the end of one calendar year and the start of a new one. Which way will we turn this year? While there is always a choice, by our nature, once we have gone very far in a direction, we can find it unappealing to turn around and head in the opposite direction, no matter how important or rewarding it may be to do so.