The Fortieth Night

 

At our weekly meeting last Saturday, Nick came to me with a question ready the moment he stepped through the door, stamping his feet at the threshold to rid them of the rain outside.

— You said something last Saturday that’s been stuck in my head ever since: what did you mean when you said “Art exists so that we may know the Truth”? I asked you what the Truth is, and you said the Truth is Jesus. The truth, for me, is not Jesus — and millions think as I do. How can you claim that with such certainty?

There was a sincere unease in Nick’s voice.

— Well, I said. Those are two different statements: first, I said that Art exists to bring us closer to the Truth, whatever that may be. That holds true even for those who do not believe. Aristotle, a pagan, reached God without the Bible. Then — I believe that this Truth has a name, a face, and a voice, and His name is Jesus. It is not a logical deduction; it is a revelation. Philosophy opens the door; faith crosses it. Are you with me so far, Nick?

— Yes.

— Very well. From all I have read, it seems to me there are four paths by which we may come to know the Truth: Religion, Philosophy, Art, and Science. These four arise from our relationship with the sensible world; through our senses we order it, and from it we set out toward what is beyond sense — from the material to the spiritual. Philosophy leads us to the existence of a First Mover, a First Cause, but it is Religion that seeks to give that Cause a face, to establish a relationship with it. Each human group offers its own answer, for the First Cause, by definition, is inaccessible to man. From Philosophy was born Science — like a child who wished to measure the world with rulers and scales. Art, though, stayed at home: it took the clay of the sensible world and shaped it into symbols arranged in a painting, a symphony, a poem that tells us more than a thousand treatises ever could.

Seated at the table, Nick was absorbed yet attentive.

— But we’ll never know everything, will we?

— Never — not ever! I replied with emphasis. That talk about knowledge accumulating generation after generation until one day there will be no mysteries left for man — pure nonsense. Yet anyone who seeks the Truth knows that it exists. One may not see it whole, but one sees a part of it, and that part is real. But what if the Truth that we cannot reach in its entirety comes to us — and reaches us entirely?

— That’s where Jesus comes in?

— Of all who proclaimed truths, Jesus alone is God incarnate, possessing the omniscient knowledge that belongs only to God. Whoever hears His voice walks in truth. He will not be omniscient, but he will have taken giant strides compared to one who rejects Him, for he will be able to give his life an order others would deem impossible.

I took a deep breath and went on:

— This is a very complex matter, Nick — but a verifiable one. I have summed up in a few words millennia of study and millions of written pages. Surely I’ve given rise to still more questions in your mind, but just now it is imperative that we end this lesson and turn to the lovely dinner I have prepared for us!

— Let’s do that — the aroma is truly divine!

 

“As Sombras da Vida” by Maurício de Sousa.