Welcome to The Pneumanaut!

Science fiction, science fact and the sacred: the weirdest ideas from each, smashed together like atoms in a Hadron Collider. Can we find out what they - what we - really made of?

Hang on - what is a ‘pneumanaut’?

Simply put, ‘pneuma’ means breath in ancient Greek. We usually see this word being used when we discuss pneumatics, or the properties of air in motion/wind. However, the word has another connotation which we’ve largely forgotten in today’s culture: pneuma also refers to the spirit. The Greeks of antiquity viewed the breath within their lungs as the animating force within them—their very souls. It was the transcendent aspect of their identities; it connected the earthly realm with that of heaven above.

So, a ‘pneumanaut’ is one who explores this breath. One who ventures forth into the domain of the spirit, the unseen world. A pneumanaut wonders, or perhaps even trusts that there is something waiting for us once we shuffle off this mortal coil, and seeks to gain whatever knowledge and understanding they can on this side of the veil. They use their wits, their reason, their intuition and—if such a thing exists—their ‘divine spark’ to follow their inner dowsing rod and peer into the strange and unknowable.

Sound like a lot of unscientific hokum? It probably is. Sound completely out-of-step with institutional religion? Also, quite possibly. But great science fiction happens when a plausible reality is constructed around a wild concept; similarly, great theology happens when one unshackles their spirit from tired dogma to embrace higher truth. (Not to say that this publication claims to be either of those things—only that it is aspirational). As a pneumanaut, I must be bold in my explorations, fanciful in my conceptualizations, tentative in my assertions, and uncompromisingly curious. Nothing written here claims to be definitive, instructive or authoritative, but it will be earnest and it will be exciting.

So, if you’re up for a little idle speculation and willing to indulge in some illicit thought experimentation, do subscribe—but before you do, take in a deep, deep breath! We might not be seeing the surface again for a while…

So, how’s this going to work?

Some years ago I wrote a novel about a trio of teens who steal a van and head out on a cross-Canada road trip to visit the site of an alien visitation. What drove me to create that story was my serious contention with my faith. I was raised in an evangelical Christian household—a pastor’s kid, no less—just like the main character in the novel. Things turned out okay for me, but I’ve met many over the years who’ve walked away from faith, and for very good reasons. I’ve had to ask: would I have done the same, had I experienced what they had? What would it take for me to abandon my belief? I wasn’t sure (and I’m still not). It might seem strange, but when I probed this question in my heart, I found that the things I most often wrestled with were the those I read about in my favorite science fiction novels: aliens, cyborgs, black holes, genetic engineering, synthetic lifeforms. Such things might have appeared outlandish at first glance, but they were grounded in very real scientific discoveries and theorems—astrophysics, neurobiology and anthropology, to name a few.

So, I couldn’t help but wonder that, if aliens really did exist, would that be the thing that would cause me to walk away from my faith? What about if we figured out how to upload our minds into clone bodies to achieve a sort of pseudo-immortality? Would eternal life in heaven become redundant? I can’t be the only one who frets over such things. Consider the anxiety we experience today as AI development accelerates and becomes evermore prevalent in our daily lives. Why wouldn’t a Christian person wonder, ‘how does my faith factor into all this?’

Lucky for me, I’ve an excellent person with whom to discuss some of these weird questions: my own father! We don’t see very much of each other these days since we live on different continents, so the idea of dialoguing with him on regular occasions was appealing for multiple reasons. We’ve a standing appointment to discuss a certain topic of interest every two weeks, after which I will get right down to hammering out the finer details and preparing them for wider readership.

I should note that these conversations are meant to solicit the expertise of a career pastor, Biblically sound and learned in the ways of the church, and as such gain insight into how a Christian might formulate responses to things like ‘do clones have unique souls’ or ‘if humans develop truly sentiment machines, have we become gods in our own right?’ But—and this is key—the views expressed herein are not representative of the Christian community at large, not even those of myself or my father, necessarily. I will reiterate that the purpose is only to explore ideas in abstract; at best, we might arrive upon suggestions which one might use to orient one’s own thinking on such questions. This point is elaborated upon in my post titled A Pneumanaut Embarks for Unknown Shores.

Who is this for?

No doubt I am approaching these issues from a uniquely Christian background and perspective, though I wouldn’t say a traditional one. Specifics regarding my own spiritual development will likely to come to the fore as my work on this publication progresses, but in the meantime I’ll just say that, as a believer, I’m much more interested in what connects humans together than what divides us. I’ve been blessed to build valuable and life-changing relationships with many different people of all sorts of backgrounds, religious and otherwise, and all of them have been meaningful in different ways. I credit these people with deepening my appreciation for the sheer complexity of human experience on this earth (let alone what might happen beyond it). In communing with them, I’ve grown quite comfortable with the idea that there is no one way to approach the ‘Big Questions’ life presents us with. We are all of us on a journey, and I believe that God is working in mysterious ways to bring all things back to Him, for His purposes, according to his Will, in His own time.

All that to say, anyone and everyone can be a pneumanaut; all it requires is a certain open-minded curiosity and a willingness to entertain the strange. While the writings here will be primarily focused on Christian teachings to examine how they might overlap with our best understandings of science and the material universe, there are any number of equally valid vantage points from which to begin this journey. I aim to be welcoming to any and all interpretations, faith expressions, ideologies and philosophies which promote human dignity and edify the human spirit. I am a person who is intrigued by alternative belief systems and eager to learn about how others view the world—especially how they make sense of it through their own unique lenses.

So, to put it plainly, all are welcome. The Christian theology embedded in the forthcoming posts will be familiar to some, alien to others, and I will keep this in mind as I write. By the same token, the science and science fiction elements will be clear and obvious to some, and perhaps entirely mind-boggling to others (myself included). Here, too, I will strive for inclusivity and clarity. We will make this journey together, no matter how disparate our individual experiences may be!

What can be expected?

I’ve set a goal to hold a focused conversation with my father on a biweekly basis. A single question will act as the thrust for the inquiry, along the same lines as as the sci-fi-meets-religion-type questions mentioned above. Each of these conversations should produce enough discourse to distill the best ideas into a single post on a given topic (really, an exploratory jumping-off point). Sunday evenings will be the time each new post comes out. The Sabbath was made for man, after all!

Other, smaller posts may come out intermittently, but only if they’ve something meaningful to contribute to the ongoing conversation. The focus of this publication will always be on delivering quality over quantity.

If all of this sounds like something you’d be interested in, then please subscribe! I envision an exciting year ahead as I make this publication the focus on my writing efforts for the coming year. And who knows—it may go on long after that! The only way to find out is to dive right in and see where the current takes us.

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