In a quote that's been making the rounds recently, Rudolph Bultmann wrote, "When we encounter the words of Jesus in history, we do not judge them by a philosophical system with reference to their rational validity; they meet us with the question of how we are to interpret our own mode of existence. That we ourselves be deeply disturbed by the problem of our own life is the indispensable condition of our inquiry."

Note that word "indispensable".

I used to pussy foot some around this, trying to allow for "stronger" personalities or less either-or ways of putting the Christian Gospel. But all the time, I was really just scared to put it the full way I'd experienced it myself, afraid to do full (albeit excoriating) justice to the insoluble problem of being human -- insoluble, that is, on its own terms.

The truth is -- "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" (from 'Naughty Marietta') -- you can't make an inch of progress in solving your problem until you state the problem with no holds barred. And at that point, at the point of total and indeed helpless admission, it's as if every window opens and every door! Somehow embedded in your true statement/admission of your case is the answer itself.

This is why prayers of sincere apology, for example, are almost always instantaneously accompanied by radical new composure and peace. This is why sober assessments of what's actually going on in your beleaguered life -- your "Holy City" (John Bunyan; HT RKA) -- are almost always accompanied, within minutes, or even seconds, by external solutions. It is the truth of life: state the problem as it actually is, and the solution will hit you over the head.

Episode 252 of PZ's Podcast imports the Holy Ghost at the end. Listen carefully to Eddie James and co's inspired song, "Power". Then listen to it again. Everything's there.

Oh, and my podcast today is dedicated to DAVID BABIKOW, a hero and dedicated hearer of this Sweet Mystery of Life.