John Paterson

Where Are You? John Paterson

In our postmodern world where the individual 'self' is the centre of the universe and God seems at best to be weak and irrelevant, have you ever wondered where you are? Often when I ponder what's going on in the world around me and in the relationships between me and others and then go deeper inside of myself than what is going on at the surface of my life, I get a sense of something significant deep within me, but it's not me, so I wonder what it is. Do you have that sense? By the way, if I am the centre of the universe, where does that leave you-off centre? As a hydrographic surveyor in the Australian navy for nearly thirty years, I often found myself in uncharted waters searching for the unknown so as to make it known. What really gave me a sense of confidence was being able to know exactly where I was at all times, founded on three known measuring marks, each accurately fixed according to an established datum. Since I am now searching in a different way, yet often still in 'uncharted waters' and at a really deep level, like C. S. Lewis and others before me, I want to find the 'something' that I just know is there because I know that when I do, I will know more about who I am and where I am in this life. But I will need known marks and an established datum because without them, I am unreferenced. You see, there's more to me than you can see-and I know that is true about you too. If you want to go on a search for 'something', come surveying with me. Maybe this book will help you understand where you are.