Quoting Dylan to Prove a Point.

Oh God said to abraham kill me a son
Abe said man you must be puttin me on
God said no, abe said what
God say you can do what you wanna but
The next time you see me comin you better run
Well abe said where dyou want this killin done
God said out on highway 61

- Bob Dylan, "Highway 61"

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

- Bob Dylan, "Gotta Serve Somebody"



No one has embodied the words "Rorschach blots" quite like Bob Dylan. We hear a lot of stories of people who say they actually got what Dylan meant about something, only to find out that he was re-inforcing something that they believed. Quotes are like that, so are data, essays, tests, and so much else. One person looks into the heavens and remarks, "There has to be a God," while the person next to first states, "I just can't agree."

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though whatever your dogmatic stripe, I am sure you can feel it is at times. We have all this evidence. See, it is looking us straight in the eyes. How can you not believe in global warming or the trinity or government cover-ups or the myriad of pieces that make up the whole known as our soul? When we are rebuffed or challenged, we shake our heads, and just say that the other person doesn't get it.

So, are we to abandon reason simply because we cannot prove our reasons to another person? Of course not. For one thing, what are we trying to prove, the reasons or the thing in which we believe? Secondly, there is nothing more humbling and therefore nothing more glorious than the realization that we do not have all the answers to something...especially somebody else's problems. Think of all the things we can't fix. In the end, the thing in which we believe becomes more true precisely because we cannot prove it.

To us this sounds like an horrible predicament, and I admit that it is indeed. But, comfort is not the same as goodness or happiness. We have to come face-to-face with the simple reality that reality is far, far too complex for anybody to figure out completely. This humility is the root of what it really, truly means to be human. When all of our systems and all of our data let us down, we are left face to face with the fact that we believe something and that this "something" is beyond us.

As a Christian I become more and more aware daily that I cannot "win" people to Christ. What could I do? Can I argue my reasons for what I believe? (As if my facts could persuade anyone.) Can I expect people to relate to my stories? (As if their lives and struggles are the same as my own.) Can I browbeat, cajole, threaten, or bribe someone to honestly and truly believe what I believe? (As soon as my back is turned they will follow what they wish to follow.) If my pride were the lie that I clung to, I would surely perish; and my pride is exactly what allows me to think that it is I who will turn people to my way of thinking and my beliefs.

Human beings yearn to trust, but desire to rule. We want to be loved, but how often do we lord it over someone the moment we are let into the other person's heart. Or you can look at how cruelly we rip minerals from the land, and yet feel miserable when the world throws our lives into chaos. Lives and civilizations rise and fall from this simple arithmetic; love, then pride.

And so we write volumes upon volumes as to why some civilization failed while we ignore the precarious state of our own; or perhaps, a little closer to home, we ignore our friends and our families and only take from them what we want when we want it while making up excuses as to why we did what we did. We believe first and reason later. We do this with everything. I know I harp on the point of faith being beyond reason over and over again, but it is true; at least that is what I believe. Though you know, I can't really prove it.