Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Wheels within wheels


Christian artists and commentators often scratch their heads over the wheels in Ezekiel's inaugural vision of the theophany in chapter 1. They find it perplexing to visualize how the wheels mesh. There could be two possible explanations for their perplexity:

i) Maybe Ezekiel hasn't furnished enough specific information to enable us to visualize the wheels. If we just had more detailed description, it would suddenly become clear–even obvious. 

ii) Perhaps, though, there really is something incoherent about the wheels. This is, after all, a vision. These aren't physical wheels. Rather, the theophany is a play of light. So the wheels could be an optical illusion. 

M. C. Escher devised witty and ingenious depictions of impossible spatial arrangements. It seems counterintuitive that we could see something that's impossible, yet Escher pulls it off. 

iii) Assuming that what Ezekiel saw confounds sense and reason, that may point to the mystery of the Godhead. Even when God reveals himself, there are dimensions to God's nature which remain concealed to human understanding. 

Compare canine intelligence to human intelligence. Dogs can understand some of the same things humans can. Yet there are many things we can understand that are utterly incomprehensible to a dog. Canine intelligence is quite limited. And just as a dog quickly hits a cognitive wall, so do we. 

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