Opus 2026-462: The Unknown Spice

Have you ever been in a restaurant or eating some pre-prepared meal and trying to figure out what it is that presents that unusual zest, that flavor that reaches out and fills in all the gaps.  I know I’ve been sitting with people as we’ve talked about it and try to figure out what is that spice?  What is that herb?  What technique of preparation delivers this awesome fragrance and taste.  Usually we can’t figure it out.  Sometimes someone will have an inspiration and we’ll go, that’s it.

Often it is the unknown and the unexplainable that adds the spice to life.  Sitting in the dark on my porch, I started thinking about guardian angels.  I tend to believe that they exist.  I try to thank them every once in a while for the work they do.  Another theological position is that since Jesus holds the entire universe together He doesn’t need guardian angels.  Mixed in with all that is the element of probability or chance.  If there is a preordained administration by God of every atom in the universe then how is there probability or chance?

Since I don’t believe God wants to be bored, I tend to believe that He has found some way, which is hard for us to understand, where He has allowed His providential oversight to exist alongside free will which produces what we see as probability and chance.  The physicist are finding this true deep down below the molecular level.  Quantum physics is coming up with some really bizarre conclusions about subatomic particles.  You probably heard how there’s an experiment where they determined that when a molecule is being observed, it behaves different than when it’s not being observed.  How is this possible?

I don’t know.  If you ever come to a way in which you can explain how God can be outside of time and yet in time at the same time, I might think that there’s an answer on our level.  Meanwhile, we have the unknown, the spice of life, the aroma of excitement.  I don’t know if you’ve ever played Candyland with your children or grandchildren.  It is an incredibly boring game on the level of being a game.  It could be an incredibly enjoyable experience because you’re involved with your grandchildren who don’t know any better.  One reason I don’t like to play Monopoly is that very quickly it becomes clear who’s going to win.  It’s just a matter of how long it will take and the question of anybody doing something so incredibly stupid that the end result is different.

Pass the coriander.

homo unius libri