Being "push"y

"What would happen if..." is a good game to play in order to get people thinking beyond what they are used to seeing or believing. A person can have a lot of fun with the game. Sometimes games have real life applications, such as Chess. At other times game applications don't simulate life much at all, like Tiddly Winks. But this game? This game challenges one not to simulate the familiar, but only the possible.

In science the game has helped. What would happen if there is a place in the universe so dense, so filled with gravity, that even light would be trapped? Of course, the answer is now a well known principle known as the black hole. What would happen if we didn't have to travel across the time continuum? That, too, has been accomplished with the exploration of the theory of worm holes.

In language the game has helped push to greater understanding. What would happen if any language's phonological system derived from forming similar sounds in a word so that the possible combinations are not arbitrary but predictable and patterned? It's true. The idea has been captured in the optimality theory. What would happen if language were not arbitrary in the first place, depending on what country in the world you were born into? That chase has been going on for years and has a formal name, Universal Grammar. The theory is still being explored, but it is becoming clearer all the time what the rules are in Universal Grammar.

These are just two of a great many scientific endeavors. The game helps to expand an existing body of knowledge. Now, what would happen if this game were to be applied to religion in general or to New Testament studies in particular? Would the game further one's insight into spirituality? Would the nature of one's "soul" be better understood? Would it hamper the direction one is currently taking? Would it alienate others from an existing bond? Would the set of questions to explore be limited? Would the Creator think that sacred ground should not be explored in the same way science is explored?

"What would happen if..." makes me a restless soul. Not everyone is built that way. But when my time has ended here, I want to be known for having understood as much as possible during my little capsule of time and for having "pushed" something or someone to a greater level of understanding.