Embarrassment

How embarrassing for man

to be the greatest miracle on earth

and not to understand it!

How embarrassing for man

to live in the shadow of greatness

and to ignore it,

to be a contemporary of God

and not to sense it.

Religion depends upon what man does

with his ultimate embarrassment.

Abraham Joshua Heschel, peace be upon him.

I wonder if this was a gentle play on the more serious suggestion of Tillich’s ‘ultimate concern’. A reminder that God is ultimate,and the ultimate response of human beings is attentive, adoring wonder that is content to be embarrassed by knowledge too wonderful for us.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *