Gordon,
Taking a math EXAM means: 1) he has been training for that, 2) he has had help to gain confidence in solving such riddles.
Life is not in any way a math EXAM although you have to make the math so once in a while!
In the analogy, it is not about hating me as a father, but failing to see reasonable proof for my existence. Even if I would not have been present in his life, he knows he must have had a father, at least a bloke of some age who had his sperm hooked up with his mothers egg. (Although in todays day and age not necessarily has to be the case, but you´ll get the picture).
The simple fact of him existing, means he has a father. Period. Does that mean he knows his father, or can relate and even communicate with his father?He may miss not particularly a father type in his life but may miss the very person his biological father had been. This may even be furthered by family and friends around him who had known his father and telling him great stories. So, in a sense, he is able to know about him but never experience him.
The example I gave, was meant to clarify relation and communication. Not to go into hypothetical issues I may never experience and I cannot relate to now. I will cross that bridge when I have to.
So, we started out with real communication (touch, words, looks) that my son can understand. If I say something he is incapable of hearing or understanding I am not in communication with him. In order to become in communication with him I need to reach his level. New thoughts and vocabulary has to be explained by context, example, etc. Anything that I need to say that is not meant for him to hear is either said in his absence or in such a way he cannot make head nor tail of it (understanding)
In the coming years I will see my son gradually grow in understanding, reason, feeling and appreciation. So, he has his own responsibilities. But....if I want to maintain a relationship with him, I will need to work on knowing his world and I need to demonstrate that I am interested and that I am in the know. I am the more mature one, the more experienced one. So, it is reasonable that I take the lead in maintaining that relationship. I expect my role to change over time....from extra diaper to facilitator to counselor to just a man....But in all of these roles: What is the secret of success?
Let me put this in big: C O M M U N I C A T I O N O N H I S L E V E L
And that, amigo, is missing in the relationship with whatever entity is entitled to this word: God.
The silence, the difficulty of getting in touch, the lack of proof of his presence all contribute to the notion that he is unknown and remains an unknown to the vast majority of mankind. (of course I did not provide an exhaustive list)
Statesmen lay garlands at monuments to honor the unknown soldier. The soldier has a history, but unknown. He died somewhere along the line of history, his real face and personality, his deeds, thoughts, his passion and desires lost in time and space, vanished. Unable to communicate with the present living beings.
So, here´s to the gods.
Cheers
Borgia