Divine beings

The room was cramped, dark and foul-smelling, so the two men bumped into each other whenever they moved the slightest bit freely. At mealtimes someone passed two plates of food through a narrow slot in the door. Salim often knelt with his hands clasped, praying for something, while Steve often sat with his back straight, in silence.
Once Salim asked:

• Steve, do you believe in divine beings?
  Steve answered:
• Oh, Salim, I do, but I believe in my own way.
• You can believe in different ways?
• Of course. Do you think divine beings have supreme wisdom?
• Naturally divine beings must have supreme wisdom.
  Steve said:
• Then should you understand a person of supreme wisdom through belief, or through wisdom?
  Salim was silent a moment, then answered:
• Through wisdom.
• Right. We must understand a person of wisdom with our own wisdom, not with simple belief. Belief is simply to accept. Wisdom is to reason, to reflect, to ponder thoroughly, and only then to accept. I must understand divine beings with my wisdom, and even so I can understand only a very little, because divine beings are so exalted. With simple belief, divine beings would seem too ordinary.
• And how do you understand divine beings, then?
• I understand that when people strive to perfect themselves to the point of passing beyond the ordinary threshold of limits, they become saints...
• What? You think divine beings originate from human beings?
• I can't yet imagine divine beings as already existing, and I haven't reasoned out divine beings coming from elsewhere. All I understand is that exalted divine beings must also originate from human beings, but surpass human beings because they went in the right direction and made extraordinary effort. We cannot become saints because we have not gone in the right direction and have not made enough extraordinary effort.
  Salim said:
• By what you say, divine beings are a little too ordinary if they originate from human beings. Divine beings must be exalted beyond humans to be sacred.
  Steve said:
• I think divine beings originating from human beings and then making extraordinary effort are the ones worthy of our admiration. What is special if they were exalted already? For example, a child born into a rich family can't make us admire him as much as someone born into a poor family who makes extraordinary efforts to rise and become a successful tycoon. Moreover, divine beings who originate from human beings seem more realistic, while still exalted. I prefer realism to the mysterious.
• I am at ease with my belief, so I pray every day.
• You've been praying all this time and you haven't got out.
• Then what do you do to get out of here?
• If I understand divine beings correctly, I will be rescued.
  Hardly had Steve finished speaking when there was a commotion outside, then gunshots rang out. A shot hit the lock bolt of the cell, and the door flew open. A special forces soldier came in, saluted Steve, took his hand and helped him to his feet and out of the cell. Salim, bewildered, hurried after them. 👼

A donkey will not understand a human's thoughts, and a human will not understand a saint's thoughts. But fortunately humans have the intelligence to imagine something greater than themselves. Newton said an immortal sentence that represents the wisdom of humankind: "What we know is a drop; what we do not know is an ocean." An intelligent person senses what they do not yet know. Humans can imagine in part the exaltedness of a saint.

We have two concepts of a saint. One is people who once lived on this Earth and displayed extraordinary qualities and extraordinary achievements. The other is supernatural saints from legend.
The first kind of saint has also passed away, and is worshipped and revered by people, who believe that they still exist somewhere in the invisible realm. People inclined to reason prefer this kind of saint who really existed in history.
The second kind are the divine beings who appear only in legends and scriptures, which suits people who are very emotional and need little reason. Such people believe, to the death, whatever the legends and scriptures say. Clergy are also free to embellish the divine beings so that they can be intermediaries between the faithful and the divine and enjoy many privileges.

We believe in divine beings because we believe people have the ability to pass beyond the ordinary threshold of limits. Just as science once passed beyond limits when it sent lumps of iron flying into the sky, put people into orbit and allowed people to talk from afar through telecommunications equipment.
If we had a science of the human being, we might find the way that helps people pass beyond limits to become saints.