Hidden worlds. Part 1

(A reflection on faith in 3 parts)

Hidden worlds

Part 1: A deeper reality, hidden in plain sight

One of the many appeals of the Harry Potter books is the idea that, hidden within the ordinary everyday world, is a world of wizards and witches and magic. Without us realizing it, we are rubbing shoulders with those who can cast magic spells. They are in many ways indistinguishable from us, but, as well as inhabiting our world, they can also visit magical realms about which we know nothing. We regard ourselves as being normal, but to them we are just muggles. Not that there is anything disparaging about being a muggle, it’s just that we have no right of entry to the world that wizards and witches can freely go to.

A second example of a hidden world is not fictional, for it exists all around us. I had no idea that it existed till my daughter introduced me to it, and then I realised that I had been walking past it obliviously for the last 20 years. It is the world of geocaching. This is a hobby where people hide little objects for others to find, and the pleasure is simply finding them. There are clues to follow and signs to look out for. There is a good chance that you pass one of these hidden objects everyday without ever knowing that it’s there.

I use these two illustrations to try and open peoples’ eyes to the reality of the spiritual life of faith.

It may seem strange to make such a claim. Is not religion something that we all know about? Isn’t there a church on many a street corner? Yet for increasing numbers of people, the world of faith is a closed book to them. They inhabit a mental world completely enclosed within the physical, material universe, and they simply cannot conceive of the world of faith. They know the word “God”, but they dismissed the idea as nonsense by the time they left primary school. For them, God is just a made-up figure to help inadequate people who can’t cope by themselves. That’s if they aren’t more dismissive and see the whole of religion as superstitious nonsense and socially oppressive. Having hidden God away in the part of their mind that has that label on the door, no wonder they never visit it. The church on the corner is at the edge of their vision each day as they drive to work, but it never registers. Perhaps they never enter a church – until perhaps a relative’s funeral takes them there, where they feel socially awkward, like a fish out of water.