The deep waters of faith seem turbulent when we peer into them too curiously; but when contemplated in a spirit of simplicity, they are calm. The depths of faith are like the waters of Lethe, making us forget all evil; they will not reveal themselves to the scrutiny of meddlesome reasoning. Let us therefore sail these waters with simplicity of mind, and so reach the harbor of God’s will.

– Diadochos of Photiki

This quote in “Daily Lives” seems quietly radical to me and entirely at odds with our conventional wisdom. In our current culture, curiosity is celebrated as being one of our highest human abilities (as if it weren’t shared with all the lowliest creatures on earth), and even Christians rarely would put this sort of stricture on it.

The psalmist says, “My heart is not proud, O Lord; my eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.” But when is the last time we considered anything too wonderful for us? Even Christians have caught a little of the fever of the Modern Man. We are smitten with our own accomplishments and hungry for the next thrill. We live in the age of space shuttles, Web-surfing and dizzying medical advances. Surely we are equipped to know the heart of God. Surely now is the time for that Tower of Babel that our desert forefathers weren’t mentally equipped for.

But some things just don’t change. And so, even if you think curiosity is always a good thing, it makes no sense to keep agitating it to pursue secrets that are still secret. As Diadochos of Photiki says, better to “sail these waters with simplicity.” In my very humble experience, the times when you do that are the times when God reveals more about Himself than you can possibly handle.