There are some aspects of modern life that fascinate me. Many I have learned to take in my stride and rarely pause to think about. They have become assimilated – a familiar and unthinking part of my routine, but I am again and again astounded by the way heavy things stay up!

Each time I board an aircraft I wheel my 20 kilos of non-negotiable, essential baggage to the check-in desk and struggle to heave it up onto the moving platform. It is labelled (accurately, I hope) and trundles out of sight. Two hours later my plane takes off and I spend my customary two minutes marvelling at this huge hunk of metal and machinery, with a hold full of people’s backbreaking luggage, which floats almost motionless (it seems) in the fluffy white clouds. I sip my glass of wine and dream of far-off destinations whilst the law of aerodynamics does all the work.

Modern humanity finds it difficult to dot all the ‘i’s and cross all the ‘t’s of religious creeds these days. Nevertheless, the magnificent poetry and inspirational thought of some of the writings of the Judaeo-Christian tradition make them still worth a look. In the Old Testament/Torah the psalmist writes inspirationally about the many dangers with which life – both ancient and modern – is fraught and finds comfort in the thought that a caring Creator is watching over his creation even in moments of crisis. When they ‘cry to the Lord’ some of those in trouble experience miraculous deliverance, even though, in everyday life, it may only be fair to say, some apparently do not.

One passage* which strikes me, whilst on this subject of modern-day wonders, concerns journeys by sea:

“Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters;
They have seen the works of the Lord
And His wonders in the deep.
For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,
Which lifted up the waves of the sea.

They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;
Their soul melted away in their misery.
They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
And they were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brought them out of their distresses.
He caused the storm to be still …” etc.

I have been on one of those ships during a storm and I can confess that it was a source of great interest to me during those hours how exactly it is that these hundreds of tons of solid matter find the ability to stay afloat on the ocean, even during the most terrifying of storms! Science can, of course, provide all the answers, although maybe not to all of those religious questions. The reason seems to have to do with one irrefutable and unchanging law of science taking precedence over another. In the aircraft’s case, the law of aerodynamics, which I do not understand, provides the necessary ‘lift’ and ‘thrust’ and triumphs over the law of gravity, which I experience every day. So my suitcase, along with everyone else’s, stays up! As for the ship, I am reliably informed that this has to do with Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy and displacement theory. I am delighted!

A quotation from the book I am currently reading** recently fired my imagination. It concerns a more metaphysical manifestation of this intriguing phenomenon of one thing triumphing over and outweighing another. “My joyful curiosity still outweighs my fear” declares Sara Maitland, writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. Sara discloses that this has become almost the ‘credo’ by which she tries to live her life. For me, as someone who has been instilled since childhood with 101 reasons to fear or worry, her philosophy of life both attracts and challenges me. Her ‘joyful curiosity’ outweighs her fear! Does mine?

As life goes on, our horizons can be broadened out by the growing possibilities and exciting opportunities life offers or restricted into ever decreasing circles by fears and anxieties that discourage, limit, reduce and, in the end, destroy our motivation to try anything new. Dreams of going on safari, basking in sunshine on the white sands of a tropical beach, lulled by the gentle lap of the ocean’s waves, or striking out into the jungle to discover rare orchids in their exotic habitat, begin to fade when I consider questions about the local ‘wildlife’. Is it benign? Will it bite or sting? Will I catch some obscure life-threatening tropical disease?

So the question I must consider is whether my fears will be allowed to outweigh my joyful curiosity or whether, like Sara, I will run exuberantly and carelessly forward into the future, embracing each new opportunity with excitement and enthusiasm - living life to the full. I have a lot to think about and am wondering whether science or spirituality will be the one to provide me with the necessary ‘law’ of joyful curiosity in life which will outweigh the law of fear and death.

* Psalm 107, Old Testament
** The way we write: interviews with award-winning writers, edited by Barbara Baker.
 

Julie Duke

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