A Beautiful Mind

[John Nash (Russell Crowe), a brilliant awkward genius, is meeting his girlfriend, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), for dinner and he is late because of work.]

How often are we in this situation?  The person we love is angry at us because we screwed up again.  The difference here is that John makes up for it by reminding her that he was listening to her, that she is worth the attention, the "love" he has.  

Now take away the awkwardness of his proposal, he brings up a point that the world seems to emphasize often.  John is looking for proof, empirical data, irrefutable data, that points to that they should get married, a long term commitment. Alicia brings up the counter point of how does John know that the universe is infinite?  He says the data points that way, but it is not absolute in the sense that he can put it under a microscope or write a mathematical proof that it does.  It is what is called a reasonably held position.  He is absolute in certainty of this fact.  

The question becomes how certain are we that God is out there? or amongst us?  Can we prove He exists?  No, but the data is there that it is a reasonably held position.  That is the beauty in how God created the world, there is just enough data that it makes sense that we can believe He is there, but not so overwhelming that you have no alternative.  Which brings us to a very important aspect of our lives, choice.  

Alicia tells John that he does not know if she wants to marry him.  And that is the correct understanding, but he had a reasonable hope that she would say yes.  His question involved risk, which is the nature of all relationship because it involves another autonomous being.  We can choose to make that leap of faith, to make that assertion that God is there, and that He loves us, cares for us, or not.  We can remain in the world of only empiricism, but it becomes a very bland, dull world.  It is the risk that makes life worth living.  John Nash later states in the movie that "it is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logical reasons can be found."