From the Point of View of Sirius

Some of the early French existentialists were fond of talking about "the point of view of Sirius."  For example, Camus in the Myth of Sisyphus remarked that "from the point of view of Sirius", in ten thousand years all of Goethe's works would be dust and his name forgotten. I mention this because it's a shorthand expression for a worldview I have been struggling with for a long time.

I learned from Facebook this evening that a high-school classmate of mine died around 5 p.m. today.  Apparently she had been suffering from cancer and took her own life.  Now, I haven't seen or spoken with this person since my high-school days, which were long ago and far away.  The last I remember of her, she was a tall, gangly teenage red-head who was the center on our varsity girls' basketball team.  She was teased a lot for being so tall and for her freckles.  I think at times the teasing was actually severe enough to be cruel.  She was a nice girl and didn't deserve any of it, of course.

Since then, she has grown up, married, had children, and then grandchildren.  Who knows all of the struggles, heartaches, labors, challenges, achievements, joys, and sorrows she experienced in all those years that have passed since I knew her?  I certainly don't.  Those who were closest to her through it all perhaps know much of it, but no one really has any idea what it was like to be her, living her life, seeing the world through her eyes.  What was it all for?

I'm reading a book now by Neal A. Maxwell entitled, The Way Things Really Are.  It's a fine specimen of the self-assured, slightly sanctimonious, but "beefy" faith-literature that was much more prevalent 25 years ago than it is today.  Hey, just consider the title.  Here it is, boys and girls, THIS is the way it is.  It is this way because God has told us it is this way, via the scriptures, the Church, and the prophets.  End of discussion.  All we need to do is accept this worldview and follow the path laid out for us.  Obey and everything will be fine.  You will be safe.  Things will all work out, and after you die, great stuff will happen that will make up for all the "testing" we have to undergo here below.

Is this faith?  I'm not so sure.  Do those who say, "I know the Church is true" really know what they are saying?  For one thing, how can a church be "true"?  It's like saying you know that BYU is "true", or the state of Utah is "true."  But the real point here is that faith is not really "knowledge" in the way most of us understand "knowledge."  There is a teaching in Mormonism that faith can indeed lead one to a knowledge of spiritual realities, but only after much time and much practice. 

Often in fast and testimony meetings, small children march up to the lectern and say (in one version or another), "I know the church is true."  I don't understand why people think this is okay, beyond the mere fact that it's "cute."  

Right now all I can say is that I believe (i.e., hope and trust) that the gospel of Jesus Christ, of which the Church is a vehicle, is true.  If I "knew" that it was true, I wouldn't still get shivers when I think of "the point of view of Sirius."