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Tell me what, tell me how, tell me why ... from Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel C. Dennett (1995) We used to sing a lot when I was a child, around the campfire at summer camp, at school and Sunday school, or gathered around the piano at home. One of my favorite songs was "Tell Me Why". Tell me why the stars do shine, Tell me why the ivy twines, Tell me why sky’s so blue, Then I will tell you just why I love you. Because God made the stars to shine, Because God made the ivy twine, Because God made the sky so blue, Because God made you, That’s why I love you. The sweet, simple vision of the song, taken literally, is one that most of us have outgrown, however fondly we may recall it. The kindly God who lovingly fashioned each and every one of us (all creatures great and small) and sprinkled the sky with shining stars for our delight - that God is, like Santa Claus, a myth of childhood, not anything a sane, undeluded adult could literally believe in. That God must either be turned into a symbol for something less concrete or abandoned altogether. There is no future in a sacred myth. Why not? Because of our curiosity. Because, as song reminds us, we want to know why. We may have outgrown the song’s answer, but we will never outgrown the question. Whatever we hold precious, we cannot protect it from our curiosity, because being who we are, one of the things we deem precious is the truth. Our love of truth is surely a central element in the meaning we find in our lives. |
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