On the eve...

Tomorrow I begin another year of teaching. I am looking forward to it, though I feel I must put some oil in the old creaks to get myself back up to speed after the past year away.

It will again mean returning to the struggle between faith and reason. I call it a struggle not because I think that there should be one but because it is sometimes difficult to persuade students that the difficulty is only an illusory one. It is sometimes difficult to get students looking for black and white to see that much of the world is grey. I'm not saying that the truth isn't out there, but that it can be hard to find and it may not be what you first thought it was.

Still, teaching allows me to join the students on a journey for the truth and you really haven't found it until you can express it. I as of yet have only certain glimpses, like a lighthouse amidst a dark fog. You can tell it's there but just when you think you have grasped it, it slips away - at least for a little while.

I'll end this post on a lighter note. I wandered up to the dean's office today to drop off some paperwork when I saw some staff eating some cake. I mentioned how happy I was at my good timing - an only somewhat veiled attempt to get some cake for myself. While I was also somewhat concerned that the cake was a strange celebration of the beheading of St. John the Baptist which was commemorated today - I was relieved to discover it was indeed a birthday celebration. Oh, and the cake was tasty.