The Parable of the Last Doll

Many appreciate those lovely Russian “nesting dolls”, very popular as gift items. The original “Matryoshka” doll set, carved from wood in 1890, is shown at left. The smallest doll is a baby while the largest is a mother holding a rooster. All the inner six dolls are girls, except for one boy.

If I were to make a set, I would probably begin with the smallest doll. Easiest to hardest, which works well with crammers or late-bloomers like me. But anyone could just as well begin from top to bottom. It would depend on one’s fancy or bias. Either way, the last doll would certainly be, to the maker, the most cherished. One would eventually have learned enough from mistakes that the last doll would be perfectly and lovingly done.

And you thought looking at or handling those dolls was all there was to the doll set. Sure, we all love opening up the big mama or papa doll and down to the smallest family member, lining them up and counting them. Putting them all back together is just as delightful. The magical feeling actually mimics Nature’s many processes. Hence, through it we become part of the artistic or creative process of discovery and synthesis.

Physicists and cosmologists explain the origin of the Universe through a similar fashion. They say that in the first three minutes of the Big Bang, hydrogen and helium nuclei were already stable. 700, 000 years later, much of the H and He available (together making up more than 99% of all the elements in the Universe) were already formed. The Big Bang Theory somehow provides scientific proof of the Genesis claim that God created the Universe from the tiny atom particle to the galaxies and beyond. From down up. Within our bodies, in fact, are the components that God carved out first – water made up of hydrogen atoms (the same material needed by stars to produce light) and oxygen, carbon and iron. And many more.

This small-to-big process is also apparent in many things around us. The Solar System parallels the structure of the atom. The river system, from its tributaries to its distributaries, is similar to a tree's root and branch systems (not to mention the human circulatory system). A mother gives birth to a daughter who will give birth to another girl and so on. Males are, in an indirect way, bearers of seeds that produce the tiny babies of the world. The laws of creation and reproduction came about because a wise, all-knowing Creator put such obvious order in His handiwork.

Everything then is part a whole and the whole derives its essence from the parts.

So, if God made the tiny and the big, how did He do it? That is, what did He use to form all things, whether finite or infinite?

To answer this, we will have to reverse the process. From the big to the small and beyond? What!!?

Before anyone could carve a tiny “babushka” doll, one would have to get wood. Obviously. But in God’s case, what did He have before He made the tiny hydrogen atom? Yes, He had protons, neutrons and electrons. Or even tinier energy particles than those. But wait? What was the source of all those particles? Scientists will probably not agree; but there was nothing before there was something. The logic works; but it defies logic. Faith has to take over from this point.

Inside the last tiny doll is nothing. While the Universe continues to expand at speeds beyond our imagination, the purpose of God to bring back all things to the beginning will not be thwarted. As people build gigantic structures, they actually behave like God – not so unlike the people of Babel who built a tower in order to challenge God. As nations go about coalescing to form a global nation under a global government, they actually think the way God does – to bring all people under His mighty rule. And yet, they are not able to do so because they go about it in their own selfish and wicked ways.

What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? One can succeed in building the biggest doll set but it will be the same dull doll as the tiniest doll, in shape and in essence. The biggest business company will still make use of the same formulas that made it a success in the beginning – for good or ill. A trillion dollars will seem like a million dollars to a convicted drug-dealer who needs only five dollars to pay for his last meal before his execution. Correction, he or she gets the meal free of charge. The world is worthless compared to the value of the soul.

In the beginning was the Word. There was nothing first. The Word brought everything into existence.

When Christ said that anyone who humbles himself will be exalted, we understand His way for us. He who denies himself will gain life. When we become nothing to this world, we will receive everything. The meek will inherit the Earth. His mission on Earth then was to reverse the process of Creation and create the New Creation. Having seen how humans have failed to appreciate His gift of life and abundance in a perfect Universe, He decided to call us to look into the last doll – into our spirit which He created lovingly and perfectly in His own Divine Image.

Crush a tiny babushka doll and you will end up with a mess of wood. Vaporize it and you will have disassembled atoms. You reverse the Big Bang and you get the Big Yawn into Oblivion. Nothingness.

In the beginning, there was nothing – no matter, no space, no time. And God said, “Let there be light!” And there was light.

Today, that light has been covered and hidden deep inside the last doll. Whoever uncovers the light will have life eternal.


(Photo above taken from Wikipedia.com.)