Finding God at the Beach: An Interview With Peter Kreeft

 

Finding
God at the Beach : An Interview
With Peter Kreeft | Carrie Gress, Ph.D. | Catholic World Report

BOSTON
– “Nature reveals God's mind and imagination, and scripture
reveals God's heart and will,” says philosopher Peter Kreeft. But
the “ability to read natural signs has decreased with the increase
in the ability to read and decipher artificial signs.”



A
professor of philosophy at Boston College, Kreeft has authored
nearly 50 books including, The Sea Within,
I Surf Therefore I Am, and If
Einstein Had Been a Surfer. He reflected
recently on why the sea holds such a fascination for us, even as we
are more and more distracted by technology.



CWR:
Why do you think the sea fascinates
us?



Kreeft: The
reason why the sea does this in a special way is as mysterious as the
sea itself. Its size, of course, bespeaks the ontological size of
God, but the air — the heavens above — is even bigger, but does
not evoke in us the same wonder.



In
the last resort the wonder of the sea is not reducible to a clear,
rational explanation. "Deep calleth unto deep" — the sea
of waves without evokes the sea of wonder within.



Partial
explanations are helpful, however. In general, the reason for the
fascination is what the Iroquois call "orenda," the
spiritual magnetism or electricity in things that draws us and gives
us that standstill shock, that catch of the breath. It is the secret
ingredient the Creator put into seas, trees, stars and music.



More
specifically, the sea combines the bigness, the ever-aliveness, and
the paradoxical juxtaposition of peacefulness and storminess that we
see in our own souls when we dive deep enough there.




CWR:
You have written about the vitality the beach provides through
seemingly  boring things, the endless rolling in of the waves,
long stretches of sand, etc... What do you think this tells us about
God?

Continue reading on the CWR blog.