Purpose Built

And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from his birth.  And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" -- John 9:1-2 (KJ21)

All of us know of those whole lives have been handicapped in some way, and, like those disciples, we are inclined to ask for the cause of such troubles.  The ninth chapter of the Gospel of John answers this question — to a degree.  But it also poses a question or two.  Is it a greater wonder that blind eyes may be opened, or that the open eyes see nothing?  Where, then, does the sin lie?

All of us also encounter obstacles in life.  We might even say that the notable absence of obstacles becomes an obstacle, in that one without difficulties is more likely to be weak and hapless.  The weakness of soft and easy living yet may develop a certain strength to endure it.  We should, at least, not be envious of those for whom life appears to flow so smoothly.  The modern urban dweller and information worker is never going to gain much strength from packing around digits, so some pay good money to sweat, strain, and suffer down at the gym.  It is a strange world. 

The question asked of Christ goes to the heart of existence.  Is there a reason for suffering?  Is there someone to blame for the imbalances, the unfairness, and the pain of life?  Is there someone to blame, or to praise?  The random collisions of packets of energy, of particles forming matter, clinging to one another, coalescing to create ever larger clumps and clusters -- is that it?  For if there is no one to blame, or to praise, if it is meaningless to suffer, why suffer?  Why allow suffering?  Why endure?  If suffering is meaningless, so is life.  Who can blame a purposeless universe for being also pitiless? 

But we are human.  An ape wonders at "what".  A man ponders "why".  A cat may be intrigued by the how of something, as will a human, but the better among us will not be content until we have pushed our reason to find a reason.  All that we see has a hidden essence -- that even a blind man may know.  A favorite quote of mine comes from Anaxagoras, "Appearances are a glimpse of what is hidden."  Most of us are wise enough at a minimum to recognize that the outward appearance of a thing or of an event is shaped by forces and factors not immediately visible or sensible.  This is true of our very existence. 

Molecules, atoms, particles and particles of particles, light and energy, magnetism and gravity manifesting in massive, starry fires, in fragile, passing points of life -- there is more than we see.  More, perhaps, than we want to see. 

Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (John 9:3, KJ21).  Much of the time we want to focus on what precedes an event in the past in order to explain it when we ought to look to the future for what follows.  What causes a man to plant an apple tree?  Is it because he tasted apples in the past or because he wishes to eat them in the future?  We think our past determines our future, but perhaps we should look occasionally through the other end of the telos-scope.