Anna Sibilia

David Steiling

Science and Faith

Unraveling the Mystics

The sense of a greater destiny has always been a prevalent theme throughout the literary spectrum, but it is mostly exploited in fantasy and science fiction. Be it from a poor farm boy finding out he will rectify the balance of the universe or from a man journeying to another planet and becoming a part of its people, science fiction loves remodeling the biblical calling that audiences are drawn to. While some authors prefer to explain and debunk the spiritual calling based upon researched or scientific principles, others love to blend the two into a singularity; what defines God, and can you really quantify a spiritual calling or reduce it to deluded thinking or actions of one who rejects the hard reality of life and nature?

Yet there must be a balance between the fact and faith, as too much of either side begins to make a story sound either humorless or preachy; the prophecies used by many a story are often vague and compelling for it gives the authors freedom without being too specific or aligned with one side over the other. The shorts stories The Nine Billion Names of God and The Star explore a different twist on this matter, presenting an unusual connection between the scientific discoveries of man and the sublime nature of a higher existence: what happens when man finds God through science, but He is not what we were led to believe He was? The characters in these stories are skeptical, always questioning the greater presence until they are confronted by it with overwhelming proof. 

The stories implement the high-minded attitude of man only to render it feeble and riddled with doubt, thereby deconstructing the worldview of the characters involved -something more popular in fiction- and leaving their now insignificant conscious to the mercy of the higher powers. Using this format has led to many a new creation story throughout the fantasy genre, spawning how humans turn into heroes at the compelling of a deity in need of a champion, but here it is left to speculation. These gods do not ask anything of or even acknowledge the mortals who’ve witnessed their power; they simply are in the same space -or evidence of them exists in that space- which leads the confused humans to make their own judgement. Yet how do we dream God? Evidently we cannot, or at least, we should not, for the gods shown in the stories do not appear to take kindly to the likes of man’s musings. 

This is not the archetype of a deity interested in redemption or salvation so much as it a force that acts as it pleases and does not want interference. It is an enigma that wishes to remain hidden away, or at the very least, not a subject of science. If you were to find out the mysteries of a godly being, what would stop you from usurping their power? No wonder the destruction of life happened in both stories (though we are left to speculate on why the events of The Star unfolded as they did), for the creations were learning too much about their creators. In these examples, prophecies are not always interpreted to redeem the world of man, but destroy it; sometimes the learned knowledge was better left unknown.