I used to know it all; who was bound for heaven and who would be in hell, how the contradictions in the Bible all fit together when read with guidance from the Spirit and in keeping with our church's exact teaching. How to fix government, end war, and balance capitalism with community, what was true and what was false, how the world made sense and why it was fair. Then my sure answers became unacceptable. Now I know mostly little things; the love of family, the importance of children, the need to live in the circle of a tribe, the freedom of unknowing, the joy of being in trees and on rocks under birds in flight, the comfort of not being responsible for all things and all people, the power each moment to choose behavior that will add to the heaven or hell experienced in the present by real people, the beauty of the dance of atoms and stars bracketing the grand diversity and mysteries of life. I know One Universe which creates, knows, sustains, and is. One is enough. Gregory W. Brown is an educator and an author, a pastor and a rock climber, a father and a grandfather. As a teacher, professor, alternative school administrator, historian, and a seeker, he is a lifelong student of humanity, the universe, and our place within it. Raised in conservative Christianity, he has studied across the diversity of faith, science, and philosophy to find new unity in human understanding.
