Hidden within this is the assumption of many, perhaps it is most religions, that the answer is given by fiat through revelation. This just doesn\u2019t work for me. Why should I believe one prophet and not another when there is no objective test, no way to sort them? I just don\u2019t think that\u2019s the way to go. I live in a natural world. If there is wisdom to be found, I\u2019m confident it must be discoverable within the natural world. So, without appeal to special revelation, where do we go to understand these questions?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And, also, are they the bottom line of it?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
A while back I read somewhere and I feel bad I\u2019m not finding the source rattling around in my skull as I write this, someone I thought wise suggested the real defining difference is between the questions why and how.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019m quite taken with that distinction, and feel it an important point. As the questions of \u201cwhy\u201d often remain abstract, certainly of a higher order than questions of \u201chow,\u201d which are where we actually exist and moves the issue into our human lives.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So, sin is an answer to why we die. And if one accepts this analysis, the concerns of sin become the practical questions, the how questions. Of course this doesn\u2019t come naturally, we need this answer to come from some higher authority through the means of revelation. Because it posits something that no one has ever seen, someone or something that doesn\u2019t die. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I want my religion grounded a bit more in the real world.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We see we are alive.\n
And everything joyful and sad that flows out of this precious and fragile life\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If we\u2019re honest with ourselves, we know we\u2019re going to die.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And a big point, at least for me\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Is this really a question? Should it be broken into questions?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Are the questions why and how almost missing the point?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Or is it an observation that requires the human mind and heart to meet something?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Is the beating and ever so fragile heart itself the question?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And from that a boundless curiosity becomes the answer? Frameable now as why and now as how?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Is the question why, the deep body question, felt before articulated in a word or two answered best by simple, mere, and total presence to what is?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As a religious matter, as a spiritual matter, I suspect this is the more important direction to go\u2026<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/SPcpxHnuZ3I\/AAAAAAAABVM\/52ZyITxJ_H8\/s1600-h\/questions.gif\")
<\/a>