God writes straight with crooked lines

Last updated on: April 29, 2009 at 5:55 am by Justin Whitaker

God writes straight with crooked lines 2009-04-29T05:55:00-06:00 Justin Whitaker

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Holmes Rolston III receiving the Templeton Prize in nature and religion with H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. (from here)

This was the line quoted a couple times last night at a panel at UM discussing the life and philosophy of Holmes Rolston III, “the father of environmental ethics.” Or, as he likes to say now, “the grandfather of environmental ethics.”

The quote is a common one in Christianity, shaping both this former Presbyterian minister’s life and those of many Ignatian spiritualists, as I found here.

Holmes began his early days at Davidson College in North Carolina, after growing up in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. There he studied mathematics and physics and had offers in hand for top graduate schools in physics. The son (and grandson) of a Presbyterian minister, he hoped to unlock the secrets to God’s creation in the fundamental nature of reality.

But then something happened. Just before graduating from Davidson he took a radical turn – returning to Virginia and seminarian studies in the capital, Richmond. In part, this would put him on the path that his family had seen for him all along. In part it would put him back near his long-time sweetheart, Jane. She was enrolled nearby, working toward her own Masters Degree.

A brilliant student, Holmes earned a prestigious scholarship to complete his Ph.D. in Edinburgh, Scotland, the famed birthplace of Presbyterianism. The decision to go was not difficult. He would go. And he would marry Jane and take her with him. They were married June 1, 1956 and set sail on the Queen Elizabeth liner that December.

In the spring of 1959, Ph.D. in hand, Holmes Rolston III took up residence back in rural Virginia as a pastor. But his fascination with nature and the sciences soon began to cause problems with his conservative and mostly farmer and working-class congregation. He wasn’t in touch with the theology they knew and before long he moved on to a more liberal and educated church.

But even that wasn’t quite right for him. For the sake of bevity: he then went on for an MA in Philosophy of Science at Penn. State and from there was hired to teach at Colorado State University. He had gone from his childhood inclinations as a naturalist to preaching to professor in a far away land.

His theology and his love of nature always fed his academic thought, but it took years and years before this would gain anything resembling wide acceptance. Once it did a fire was lit and Holmes was at the heart of it. He quickly became a national and then international speaker. Schools of thought sprung up based on his writings, schools of thought sprung up in opposition. And years later he found himself awarded three of the world’s highest honors for intellectual achievement:

The Gifford Lectures in 1997
The Templeton Prize in 2003
The Mendel Medal in 2005

Past winners of these awards have included Mother Theresa of Calcutta, William James, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and Albert Schweitzer. The Templeton prize, for one, carries with it the largest financial boon of any major intellectual prize – more than a Nobel prize, more than a MacArthur (genius) award. He quickly donated his prize to his alma mater, Davidson, to establish an endowed chair in science and religion.

This was my second meeting with Holmes (the first being in 2006 when he visited UM). In the first meeting he told me, after finding out that I was a Buddhist, that he had talked in Japan once and asked a Zen priest there, “what does wild mean to you.” The priest leaned forward and said slowly, “the great wave, the sea.”

This year I had the pleasure of helping to arrange his stay and to read Christopher Preston’s intellectual autobiography: “Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III.” It’s a wonderful book – all of the above history comes directly from it. It really is one of, if not the, best books about a philosopher that I have ever read.

Yours truly getting my copy signed – photos by Julie on the great D90

For an exquisit lesson on life, especially the relationship we ought to have with God and nature, this is a book you must read. With Holmes, God did write with the most crooked lines one could think of – but in the end it all fit together: the physics and math, biology, love of landscapes, theology and philosophy. It all fell right into place.

And as it did for him, I find myself having faith (shraddha / trust in Sanskrit) that my own crooked lines are guided by a greater wisdom – not that of a God or anything like that, but something more like karma or dharma – some force that throws up hints from time to time to let me know when I’m off track, or right on it. Such a trust may seem silly at times, but it is also a practice in humility. It is also a teaching in selflessness, anatman. For I see how deeply the forces of the world – that appear to be outside of me – actually shape and turn this me in amazing and foretellable ways.

Life’s eternal mystery. The Dharma. The Ineffible. We give many names to the simple fact that we don’t, and won’t, and perhaps shouldn’t know it all. Peace, perhaps, is simply accepting that. At least for a philosopher it is. Then, importantly, we must go on living this life we’ve created – hoping, helping to bring peace to others. Fighting the forces of greed, hatred, and delusion. Within, and without. On our journey it always helps to meet and rejoice with the great men and women who have worked so hard befor us. Thank you Holmes. I hope to see you again soon and hope even more to somehow follow that crooked path of yours…

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