(September 2021)
So... quite a few years ago, I tried to write a book in which I made the case for my religious faith. It never got published anywhere, but I made it available on the web--although you kind of had to look closely at my web page to find the links. In the end only a few friends and family ever read it or commented on it, and a few years ago I dropped the links quietly.
Earlier this year, however, one of those friends told me that, whatever the merits of my attempts at theology in the first and last chapters, the middle chapters (2, 3 and 4) contained potentially useful insights on what might be loosely called "science and philosophy", and I really should try to get at least some of that published somewhere. I went back and re-read the chapters in question, and I must admit that I liked them: if nothing else, I think I managed to make a pretty decent argument for some of the essential things I believe (and have always believed) about the world, and there is at least an equally decent possibility that someone else might find my musings useful as well.
As a result of that, I am now making those three chapters available again, and not hiding them anywhere: if you are curious about them, take them and read them, and if you want to let me know what you think do that as well, only don't expect me to respond immediately, since I am very much overwhelmed with work at the moment--which is the reason I haven't even attempted to rewrite them at all, and also the reason I am not making chapters 1 and 5 available, since they are definitely in need of a serious rewrite. Here's what's on offer:
A problem with this limited selection is that it ends on a bit of cliffhanger, since having set up the "problem of evil" on Chapter 4 I intended to devote part of Chapter 5 to the question of what to do about it. But, of course, we all really, deep down, know what to do about it, already; the only point I had left to make was that we can count on God's help for that. (Still, in any case, I will try to rewrite Chapters 1 and 5 sometime before I die...)
Now, as it happens, just last month I discovered this book, "Science and Humanity," by Andrew Steane, in which, much to my delight (and some surprise) he makes essentially the same points I was trying to make with my "book," only with a slightly different argument. Still, he does reach the same theological place that I was aiming for (and that is only hinted at, if that much, in the material above). I should add, for those who do not know Andrew Steane, that he is a very distinguished quantum physicist and a professor at Oxford. Reading his book, I found myself agreeing with him so strongly and so often it was uncanny; I could flatter myself thinking that "great minds think alike"--or just realize that similar initial conditions (quantum information theorist + liberal Christian) lead to similar outcomes. Which is good, because it means that the search for truth is not a chaotic process.
Anyway, bottom line, Steane's book is a steal at the current Amazon price, and if my musings above have whetted your appetite for more-yet-different (and, more importantly, more complete) musings along the same lines, you owe it to yourself to give it a whirl. And no, I'm not getting a commission, although I did write the Amazon (unsolicited) review.
As it happens, I actually have a presentation that sums up the contents of Chapter 2 (with just a slide for Chapter 3). I gave it at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (yeah, confusing, I know), back in the Fall of 2009. Unfortunately, it is a Keynote presentation, so you would need a Macintosh computer to view it! (Or, of course, you could invite me to come and give the presentation myself!)
I suppose I should try to update it and convert it to PowerPoint one of these days, but I'm fond of it in its present form, among other things, because it includes a bunch of animations created by my son Peter, who was only 12 at the time...
However, not all is lost! I have turned the presentation into a 5 minute movie that you can watch on any computer: here it is (enjoy!)
And so, now, having lost all sense of shame, I am also posting for the world to see a little tale/fable/parable I came up with a couple of years ago. Back in my youth, when I only thought in Spanish, I fancied myself a bit of a writer, and wrote all kinds of tales (and even "poetry") that I foisted, over and again, on my long-suffering friends. That all ended when I came to the US, and you might say it took me 30 years to come up with my first tale in English. Is it worth it? I doubt it. Does it involve cats? Certainly!
When there was no dream of mine
You dreamed of me
Robert Hunter (1941-2019), Attics of my life