Adding to the Mystery

One reason that some religious believers feel threatened by scientific advances is the belief that, as the mysterious becomes less mysterious, God’s existence or at least God’s involvement in the universe is disproved. But as those who’ve dug deeply into the mysteries of the universe, as we find answers, they lead on to new mysteries which ultimately lead sooner or later to the mystery of existence itself, why anything at all exists. That isn’t proof of God, but it does leave permanent room for mystery that will forever point beyond what we can observe into the unknown.

I thought of this when seeing this bookstore’s effort to make sure its “Mystery” section lived up to the name:

My own view is that actual mysteries are mysterious enough. No need to try to make them more mysterious than they really are! And so I thought that this is a nice parable of what some religious believers do, trying to prevent mysteries being identified and solved so as to leave room for God. But the truth is that, even if you exhaust every book on the shelf, there will always be more mysteries…