There’s no question that humanity struggles to believe and understand the concept of a creator or supreme being. Even those of us who express a belief in God have trouble grasping the totality of that concept.

In the past, humanity’s belief in the Almighty was pervasive. So what happened?

What happened can largely be attributed to the advances in science and human understanding of the mechanics of the world we live in. Many of the miraculous elements of more primitive human experience are now understood as part of the complex but natural world.

We understand the mechanics of the weather systems that produce tornadoes and hurricanes. We understand earthquakes and volcanoes. We understand blizzards and floods. We understand chemistry and genetics. We understand the forces that cause the planets to orbit the sun.

We understand many of these things – to a degree.

As much as we have progressed in our understanding, there is a limit. Beyond a certain point, our vision is blurred. And it is in that recognition of our limitations that we are able to appreciate that there is much more to our existence than we are capable of grasping.

With every stage of our advancement in science, there seems to be another layer beyond which we are unable to continue. The view beyond that point is unclear.

Perhaps we are designed that way. Perhaps those limitations are an intentional design that provides humanity the incentive to strive and grow. In short, perhaps we are created with a built-in yearning to understand our existence and all that surrounds us. Those layers that block our view are just what we need to drive us toward greater understanding.

With that greater understanding comes the realization that there is a force, an energy, an existence beyond our ability to comprehend, and it is that entity we call God.

There is no doubt that our vision has limitations. Whether it is the wavelengths of light our eyes cannot detect, the sound frequencies our ears cannot hear, or the various types of radiation we cannot feel, we know we need to expand our reach to fully understand our existence.

Perhaps the clearest clue to our limitations lies within our most practical tool – mathematics. It is the tool we use most often in our exploration of science. It is also the tool that provides our greatest frustration.

God, it is said, has no beginning and no end – much like a circle/ The mathematical element of pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter of that circle. Mathematicians and scientists have labored for centuries to determine the ultimate value of pi – to no avail. Currently, pi has been calculated out to more than 62 trillion decimals, with no end in sight.

Perhaps we need to accept the example of pi as the evidence that humanity will never fully understand our existence based on science alone.

Is there an end to the pi ratio? Is there a final end point of understanding all that exists?

God only knows.