The first movement of the book centers around one of my all-time favourite analogies for faith: Some people talk about the faith in terms of foundations and building blocks, and their beliefs and doctrines and so on make up the bricks. Rob suggests a different view: springs in a trampoline.
When bricks are made well, they make strong walls--walls to keep people in or keep people out. And if a few bricks fail, the walls come down; the bricks are interdependent. But springs are made to be stretched and strained, and if one gets completely discombobulated, the others pick up the slack. Our ideas and beliefs should be able to handle our most rigorous tests; we shouldn't ever have to take on a defensive posture when talking about ideas on God, which is
"one of the things that happens in brickworld: you spend a lot of time talking about how right you are. Which of course leads to how wrong everybody else is. Which then leads to defending the wall. It struck me [...] that you rarely defend a trampoline. You invite people to jump on it with you." (27)
Ha! I love it. Rob then rounds out 'movement one' with a discussion about the importance of questions--raw, difficult, vulnerable questions, and how we shouldn't be afraid of them. Being my father's son, I need a faith that embraces questions. Sean Penn of all people sums up beautifully the joy of jumping on this great big trampoline:
"'When everything gets answered, it's fake. The mystery is the truth.'" (33)
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