As humans, we are flawed at our very core due to our inability to understand the infinite.  We simply do not have the language to express fully what infinite truly means.  It is simply beyond the power of words and we are forced to simply accept the infinite for what it is—a mystery.

Mysterious infinites surround us.  Consider “pi”—the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  Pi is both a mathematical constant and a truly irrational number whose decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanently repeating pattern…at least we have never been able to find a repeating pattern.  There is some conjecture (according to Wikipedia) that the digit sequence of pi satisfies a specific kind of statistical randomness, but proof of this has not be found.  We are faced with an inability to solve the mystery of pi but we have gotten to a point where we comfortably acknowledge the infinite nature of something that is beyond our grasp to resolve.

Or consider the Fibonacci sequence—a relatively easy mathematical sequence to express that can also continue without end.  But what’s most interesting to me is that Fibonacci numbers show up consistently in nature whether that be in the number of flower petals or in the spiral patterns evident in pine cones, pineapples, daisy centers, artichokes, and many succulents. We recognize the pattern but cannot explain the natural display of the sequence.  It cannot be random as randomness and patterns do not co-exist in the world of mathematics.

Or consider the power of music and the implicit impact of major and minor chords on listeners. Even putting aside established Western culture and long tenure with written music, studies have shown that there is something deeper at play in our ability to recognize emotion in musical chords. Research done on isolated tribes in Africa, who have had no exposure to western music cultural traditions, showed that they could distinguish happy or sad emotions tied to major and minor chords. We have often accepted that “music has charms to sooth a savage breast” (The Mourning Bride, a poem by William Congreve, written in 1697) but we have never questioned why.  There is an infinite power to music that we simply accept, embrace and willingly propagate.

Yet when it comes to the infinite nature of God, we cannot accept that it is our limitations that prevent us from embracing the infinite.  We simply say that, in this case, if the infinite cannot be understood, touched or brought to a common denominator, it cannot be.  What we accept in areas of music and mathematics we cannot accept in areas of faith and spirituality.

The thing is that God understood the inherent trouble humans would have with the concepts of infinite and thus provided a tangible incarnation of infinite nature. The life of Jesus Christ is well documented outside of the biblical texts—even the Jewish and Islam faith recognize that Jesus existed.  It is their interpretation of who Jesus was that differs.  Even Roman historians reported on his life and the places Jesus visited can be seen today along with remnants of the civilizations that would have existed.  So, the infinite was made finite for us and we still cannot accept.

There are mysteries that we rejoice in and then there are mysteries that we dismiss out of hand simply because they are mysteries.  Perhaps it is not our fallible nature that is too blame but the fact that we cannot accept our fallibility that is too blame.  That is the very definition of irony.