Searching for the Truth ...

Friday, Oct 26, 2012. I am sitting in a nice library, in the mathematical research institute Oberwolfach, in the German Black Forest. As a researcher, it is fantastic to be here, to have one of the best libraries in the world available and spend some times to carry out research. It is “searching for the truth”, and “searching for insight” into questions, which are importance for us as society.

Research the truth …

Currently, we have a workshop here with 50 participants on “inverse problems”, i.e. techniques which allow you to gain insight into something which is not directly accessible, such as remote sensing for the atmosphere or medical imaging. There is some ethics in research today. You search for insight, for the truth in some area. And you accept the results of colleagues, you acknowledge what they found and when you use parts of their result to find your own results.

So research has to do with the truth both in the sense that we try to find out how things are (the truth about something), and we need to be truthful in the process of doing this, we need to acknowledge what are our results and what are the results of others. Usually, that works quite well in the field, where of course you have points of discussion now and then, often about who did something first.

I have always been a researcher by heart. That means to be interested in finding out the truth about things, to be interested to find out, write up what you found and then talk about it with others (publish, give seminars, prepare lectures etc.). Researches do not need office hours, they are usually motivated by themselves, they work in the evenings and at the weekend, just because the topic of research is so exciting!

Searching the truth about God …

For me, searching the truth about a particular subject and searching the truth about God is not completely different. I always wanted to know who God is and how I can relate to him. That led me to faith at some points, when I started to discover him - or you might say when he started to show himself to me. It has been an exciting time of research as well, a time still ongoing, still more and more exciting, the more I learn about the Lord.

In research there are people who work more on the theoretical side, and those who work on developing practical methods. But in the end, both has to come together. Theory provides insight, methods provide practice. Practice without insight is blind, going somewhere in a rather random fashion. Insight without practice is usually blind as well - blind for reality.

It is similar in faith life. You need insight - gained by bible study. And you need practice, by living faith. You cannot give up on one or the other. Both insight and practice is crucial, otherwise you loose both practice and insight in the long run. And it is a great experience to live with the holy Lord - and to learn about him. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts