A Divine Wind
Are you stuck in the doldrums?
My father, an agnostic atheist, was a scientist and he had a curious fascination with the weather. He loved storms. Nothing excited him more than a big thunderstorm.
When summer thunderstorms rolled in, we would stand out on the back patio in the rain, watching the clouds and lightning. We would count the seconds until the thunder clapped to determine how far away the lightning strike was.
When I was a kid, he would occasionally rent a small sailboat and he and I would go sailing for the day. Nothing gives you a better understanding of the wind than sailing. One time, we were caught out on the river in a thunderstorm, on a 19 foot `lightning` sailboat. Divine irony?
Obviously we survived that day. We pulled down the jib and reefed the main, and ‘paddle-sailed’ (no motor on this boat) back to the marina. It was one of those summer storms with heavy, heavy rain, but not a lot of wind so the water was not that rough, but we pulled the sails down just in case. I still recall the relief I felt paddling up to the dock, drenched from head to toe, and blisters on my twelve year old hands from a half-hour’s worth of rain-soaked paddling. A great memory.
He died several years ago. Since then, there have been moments when, while thinking about him, I notice the leaves in a nearby tree beginning to rustle. I smile to myself, imagining it’s a sign from some other-worldly dimension, an acknowledgement from him, ‘hey I’m on the other side’.
I want to believe.
Then I recall his explanations to me when I was a kid about the causes of wind: the sun heating the atmosphere, the interaction of high and low-pressure systems, and the columns of air beneath the clouds, among other things.
There is a clear scientific explanation for the wind. You can’t see the wind, but you can clearly see its effects and explain what creates it. Just like the ocean tides being caused by the pull of the gravity of the moon, the proofs of our physical world are all around us.
Science, by its very nature, is honest.
Tell-Tale Signs
Most sails have light pieces of yarn attached to the leading edge called tell-tales. These strings help sailors to trim the sails to maximize smooth, efficient air-flow. When the strings are parallel and smooth it’s a clear visual sign that you have properly trimmed the sail for the otherwise invisible wind.
To me, faith is somewhat like the wind. Though not visible, faith manifests in various forms — religion, spirituality, and belief in God. You can see the tell-tale signs of faith everywhere you look.
The difference is modern science provides the explanation for the wind. If a tree is blown over or, worse, a tornado razes a small town, it’s an explainable natural weather phenomenon, not because God is angry at you for worshiping a false idol. The rustle of the wind in the leaves is most likely not your dead relative saying hello.
Undoubtedly, some readers will think to themselves, ‘God controls the weather.’ But there is a clear lack of evidence. There is zero proof that an omnipotent, omnipresent deity is responsible for punishing people with natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, or for striking down sinners with lightning bolts. Similarly, there is no evidence that blessings are a reward for powerful faith. Correlation is not causation. Believing something because you read it in the bible doesn’t make it true. Where is the evidence?
Yet some will say, ‘I see the signs all around me’. Their spiritual sails are filled with the spiritual wind, spinnaker flying, God’s divine wind at their back as they push faithfully onward. Their blessings and curses the tell-tales used to adjust the daily prayers, tithing, and Sunday school attendance. The religious equivalent of swabbing the deck and trimming the sails. The bible as the navigation chart. Ready for any storm. These true believers just might be permanently lost at sea.
Stuck In The Doldrums
Sailors call the wind that rescues them from the doldrums (large areas of windless water) a ‘divine wind’, a term many still use today. Centuries ago, sailors had no scientific explanation for it. Often they would sit in the doldrums for days and days, without even a single gust. When the wind finally came, it was surely heaven-sent! A Divine Wind. Modern sailors understand it’s a weather pattern.
Sailors attributing the divine wind to God is a perfect example of a man-made supernatural explanation for things not understood. Manipulation of these believers (or anyone) by those who want to play God in the lives of other people is a much more believable God than an actual all-powerful Sky-Dad. In reality, most of life’s storms, doldrums, and divine winds, are man-made. Some we make ourselves, and some are made by others. Some with intention, and some without it. What remains that isn’t man-made, is just of the natural world. ‘Acts of God’, as they are called, are really just ‘acts of nature.’
Jesus, Give Me Back The Wheel
(spoiler alert) At the end of the movie The Truman Show, Truman very symbolically boards a sailboat, takes the wheel, and sails his way right off the movie set.
Like a scientist, Truman pieced together all of his observations until he realized what was happening: His entire world was contrived.
He thought he was at the helm of his life, but someone else (Christof) was in charge. Controlling the wind and weather. Controlling everything. In Truman Burbank’s life, Christof was the Captain. Christof controlled everything and everyone around him. Blessings. Curses. Christof was God. He even creates a storm to try and stop Truman from sailing away.
So, are you stuck in the doldrums? Why are you stuck in the doldrums? Did ‘God’ put you in the doldrums? Why would ‘God’ put you in the doldrums?
Are you stuck in a storm? Why are you stuck in a storm? Did ‘God’ put you in the storm? Why would ‘God’ put you in a storm?
Or, is it possible that your doldrums are man-made? That your storms are man-made? And if so, why? And by who? Christof?
Observe the world. Watch the tell-tales. Critically, dare I say suspiciously, evaluate anything and everything and everyone in your life. Be a scientist. Answer the questions.
And then fill your sails with your own ‘divine wind’.
Happy Father’s Day.
