Roman Opalka and Infinity

Roman Opalka died on August 6th, leaving a legacy of longing. Opalka, a painter who yearned for infinity, spent the last 46 years of his life in painting numbers on canvases. He painted numbers all the way from 1 to 5,500,000. 

Why? Infinity intrigued him, drawing him irresistibly to its pulsating fascination. He yearned to get as close to infinity as he possibly could. 

Some may think Roman Opalka's enterprise was silly, some may think it was admirable. But Roman Opalka was expressing the same longing for infinity that all of us have. Sometimes a beautiful piece of music arouses the yearning for infinity - sometimes it's a lovely landscape - sometimes it's a well-written book. But all human beings possess  that same longing for the infinite, the perfect, the beautiful - a desire placed in human hearts by the infinite, perfect, beautiful Creator.

Are you real?

How do you know that you are real?

Really. How do you know? What proof do you have that this isn't just a dream?

Today I'll prove that you exist in three ways.
1: Self-Awareness

We wake up each morning with a keen sense of self-awareness. We don't wander around, looking for the cereal, and think, "Who is this person? Oh - it's me!"

We can't escape ourselves. We simply are ourselves, in a way that only we can know and tell.

However, self-awareness isn't enough by itself to prove our existence, as we are still aware of ourselves in a dream.
2: Limited Point of View

In a sense, you are all of the characters in a dream. You see into their minds, feel their emotions, and even control them. Obviously, life doesn't work this way.

In life, you know for sure solely what you are thinking, feeling, and can control only your actions. You are one of the actors who struts along the stage with no guarantee of what the other actors will do next.

You are limited to yourself.
3: Sense Perception

Sense perception is so vivid. We run our hand along a bookshelf and smell the faint scent of wood, see the dark grains that flow over it, feel the friction of our hand against its smoothened fibers, even hear the whisper of our hand against the wood.

There seems to be no doubt about whether or not sense perception is part of a dream.

Today I hope I've proven to you that you exist. Don't laugh. This is a serious matter that calls into question the entirety of reality.

Next time you feel like something's so wonderful that it must be a dream, praise God that we do exist!