On Being Human....Response #3

Have you ever read Calvin Seerveld? It's an experience. He has a very loose, personal way of writing and after delving into Polanyi and Frame, picking up this book was kind of strange. It was hard to get out of a "logical" mind set and get personal again. But I think that was precisely why Dr. Meek placed this book where she did on the list. I had these enormous thoughts of knowing and God, etc., but it was easy to forget that I was the one experiencing the knowing process. Anyways, here's my response to Seerveld's work "On Being Human"....

What does it mean to be human? I was immediately haunted by this question when I heard the struggle behind it expressed by Dr. Meek. It really is one of those questions that, I think, we take for granted that we know the answer to when in fact it is one that we all need to spend more time contemplating. It is almost a paradox in the Polanyian sense: We know more than we can tell, for we are human and therefore must know what it means to be such; yet at the same time, we don’t know as much as our pontifications might suggest. I had thoughts and opinions about the answer to the question right off the bat, but all day after hearing the question, and even now still, I have been laboring to see the pattern behind my thoughts and ideas, to determine if they work together and mesh into a single point.
It seems that we have been engaged in a rather logical study of the abstract in this class. Starting with Longing to Know we were introduced to the model of tacit knowing. Then, to elucidate that pattern we went right to the source by reading Polanyi’s The Tacit Dimension. Armed with coming to know and being known by God, we began to look into the factors, or parties, involved in our knowing. Through Frame we started the study with God. He showed us that God is covenant head of all creation and we cannot know Him without knowing other things (which we all do and, therefore, we all know God), and we cannot rightly know those things without knowing God. Now we look to Seerveld to shed some light on our part in the process, on what it is to be human. We are gathering pieces to the whole, picking up clues to form the pattern in hopes to reach an understanding of our Christian living. OK, maybe it’s not all that abstract, which is what Seerveld was trying to tell us.
As I read the book, I began to notice things that I really didn’t see upon opening the pages for the first time: the Psalms, the art work. I think it was at the point that I read, “But if the scriptures can break through our defences, it can direct us rich young thinkers and shopkeepers, professionals and rulers to let the promise of 2 Corinthians 5 and the open pain of faith expressed in Psalm 39 begin to permeate our professional activity, our business dealings, our teaching and our holding authority over others.,” (Seerveld, 40-41) that I stopped and truly realized that what he is saying is so very practical. It speaks to all of us, thinkers, shopkeepers, professionals. It says that the power of scripture, the glory of God, is intended for humans. At that point the artwork, the sculptures, even the blurbs about the artists and their thoughts behind the pieces, resonated with God. As we have seen in Meek and Polanyi, through Frame, and know in Seerveld, to be human is to be connected to God. The LORD and Creator of all things has chosen to interact with His creation of man in such an intimate way that even those that do not know Him, know of Him and cannot help but glorify Him. Man can know right and wrong. Man can love and hate. Man can make decisions, he can curse, he can pray, he can create life, he can take life away, he can sin, he can repent. Animals, trees, plants, mountains, though all created by God, cannot do any of these. Our connection with God is one so intimate that it allows us to experience Him and participate in His design with Him. In begetting children we participate with Him in his creation. In forgiving our debtors, we participate in His plan of redemption. In burying our loved ones, we feel the sorrow of the fall of Adam, the agony of His forsaking of Christ on the cross. Our humanity is our connection with God.
It was coming to this concept that I saw where my pattern was, how all my thoughts and ideas came to a head. It occurred to me, and actually seemed quite obvious once I realized it, that in order to know what a “human” is, we need to look to an example of humanity. Some one that hungered, thirsted, needed. Some one that loved and scorned, cried and rejoiced. Some one that felt happiness, fear, pride, anger, strength and weakness. Someone that both ministered and was ministered to. This man is found in the scriptures. They show us a figure that was completely human. Yet, at the same time, this man was completely God. In Christ we find both the knower and the known, the clues and the pattern, the parts and the whole. Christ, because completely God, was perfectly completely human. He is the only model, the only authority, as to what is human. The scriptures were opened up to Him, for He was the scriptures, He is the Logos. They permeated every aspect of His life because they were His life. But we are not God in any sense of wholeness, so can we be human in any sense wholeness? But we are human, so where does that leave us? I believe that the characteristic of Christ that spoke most of His perfect humanness is found in scriptures that seem to elude us, make us scratch our heads and struggle with the complexity of the Godhead. While Christ says that He and the Father are one, He also says that He does not know things that the Father knows, and that He can only do His Father’s will. It is this characteristic that makes Christ fully human: His obedience and submission to the Father. Humanity is the most precious thing that we can participate in with God, and can only fully do so through Christ. As I said before, I believe all creation is in obedience to God, but a more intimate relationship, a more whole humanity, is found in doing what only created man can do, and that only through Christ.