“The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.”
‘Orthodoxy’, G. K. Chesterton
I admire good poets and their poetry. They evoke truths with imagery and rhythm. It’s a beautiful art. Yet, although I appreciate beauty, I find that when I look at the world I am less inspired to write poetry and more compelled to join the dots. When it comes to Chesterton’s two types, I am more the logician than the poet.
But, if that’s true, does that mean I am doomed to insanity when I inevitably try to connect the points of eternity?
I’m not so sure.
What if God is Himself a poet, and the task of the true logician isn’t to write out the code of the universe, but the symmetry and rhythm? Those who study music and those who study mathematics are often seen as polar opposites – the artist and the scientist. And yet, there is a pattern to music and a beauty to mathematics. Maybe the logician can get the heavens into his head if only he can shrink it down – not unlike how a poet captures beauty with only a pen and paper.
Indeed, I think there is a sort of science that uses pen and paper to capture both data and delight. Cartography.
At its essence, cartography is accurate representation of data, often with an eye for presentation. What makes the works of cartography particularly attractive though, is beauty inherent its subject. If God is an artist then a good cartographer, charting God’s creation, will seek to reflect the divine art. Not quite a poet, more a logician, the cartographer has found that the best way to join the dots of the heaven is to do it on paper. After all, isn’t that what maps are, an attempt to take something vast, see it, understand it, and make sense of it in some small way?
Now, a well-produced map is accurate, often beautiful, and no doubt satisfying to the cartographer (although it’s never quite perfect), but maps, like poetry, get really special when they’re shared.
C. S. Lewis can take over here for a minute,
“Now, Theology is like [a] map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God—experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused. And secondly, if you want to get any further, you must use the map.”
‘Mere Christianity’, C. S. Lewis.
Fantasy maps can be visually appealing and helpful to one interested in the fictional world they represent but in an example of truth being better than fiction, real world maps are far superior. Many a young boy has felt he held something special in his hands when he explored a new map. It’s a simple piece of paper, not as pretty as a work of art but still exciting, because those places are real. ‘I know this place, and if I stand here and head that direction I can get over there!… and there’s a stream too, and a little greenery over here… is that a wood maybe? It wouldn’t take long to see it!” There’s a feeling of joy, and power, in seeing and understanding the world around you. A map is never as exciting as the real world, but that’s the point. It’s exciting because it points you towards the real world. A map calls you to explore the real world, introduces you to it, and can help guide you through it. A map is a wonderful thing, made more wonderful by the wonder it represents.
Theology is an attempt express and understand knowledge about the world in which we live seen from the fullest perspective. It seeks to explore and present knowledge about the world combining both the sacred and the scientific, knowledge to both excite and inform, knowledge we can experience and build upon. It’s a sort of divine cartography.
Every human born on this planet has to try to find a way through life, to make sense of things if not make a success of things. I believe that this universe was created by God. I believe the divine Intelligence made it intelligible. I believe that were I sufficiently smart and powerful I could chart the whole cosmos and see it all connected, with God at the centre and sustaining all things.
I also believe God hasn’t just made the universe but has chosen to reveal Himself to us through it, through the Holy Scriptures and in the person Jesus Christ. The poet has written Himself into His poetry (perhaps because He is the greatest poem).
One of my favourite Bible verses comes from a poetic book, the book of Proverbs, and it says,
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter."Proverbs 25:2 (NASB)
Is that not a call to cartography? The maker of worlds has made us in His image and put us in His world to explore and to discover. Is that not the heart behind the making of maps – discovery and exploration? All of us are seeking something – something to make us happy, something to tell us who we are. What is it that God has concealed? What is it that we are called to find? I believe that we have been created and called to not just explore but also to find, and like a father playing hide and seek, the joyous treasure, the secret, is God Himself. You and I exist not just to explore, enjoy and share in this world, but to find, enjoy and share in God Himself – His life, His joy and His love, forever.
That’s what this blog is about. To Chesterton I think I would be a logician, but my logic studies the world of a Poet. I choose to embrace that exploration, studying and reading and writing, hoping to make sense of things even as I enjoy them. I write so that I can map out my own thoughts for myself, but I share it online because I believe God has created us to share, and so in the obedience of faith I trust God might make use of some of this for someone. Sort of like a map, I suppose. At the very least, I hope I can avoid splitting my head open!
Blessings to you. Have a poke around. Have a think. Maybe say hello. I would love to hear from you.
A.