The philosopher William James, in a brief albeit indelible talk, “Is Life Worth Living?” elaborated on the need of mankind for an “unseen order.” If there is no reason for the Universe to exist (and there really or rationally is not a single valid reason), then humanity has simply a right to believe that there is some spiritual order or at least something analogous to it that grounds reality in a good foundation. Yet another philosopher, Thomas Nagel placed immense irony in the seriousness with which we take our lives, given that they possess neither ultimate meaning nor ground in the world.

Kurt Gödel, one of the greatest mathematicians of any time and a genius of the highest order, took the empirical world of Mathematics by the scruff of its neck before giving it a severe jolt, from which the scientific world is yet to recover. When he was in his tender twenties, this Austro-Hungarian wizard stated that in any consistent formal system that can express basic arithmetic, there are true statements about natural numbers that cannot be proven within the system. This theorem implies that there will always be some true mathematical statements that are unprovable within the system.

Samuel Navarro, in his unique work, attempts to extend Gödel’s incompleteness theories beyond Mathematics. He attempts to ask the question, “Can the limits of Gödel’s proofs touch matters of faith, beauty, or purpose?” He proposes to achieve his objective by imagining a series of profound and patient conversations undertaken by Gödel with luminaries transcending time and space. We have Gödel engaging in informed discussions with Socrates, King Solomon, and even Jesus Christ – leading lights who preceded the Mathematician by many thousands of years.

Gödel, or rather Navarro succeeds admirably well in understanding the relevance of the incompleteness theorems to myriad fields such as philosophy, metaphysics, culture, socioeconomics, art, and logic. Anselm of Canterbury reveals to Gödel how his pursuit of providence had its seed in doubt. Faith, for Anselm, never turned its back on reason, and perseverance initially seemed to be an abstruse question, “if we can imagine a being so perfect that nothing greater could possibly exist, then shouldn’t such a being exist?” Although no proof could reliably and logically lend an answer, the query resolves by itself through knowing, reflecting, introspecting, and experiencing.

In the recursive fugues of Johann Sebastain Bach, the endless paradoxical loopy drawings of Maurits Cornelis Escher, and the chaos on canvas played with a degree of egregious deliberateness by Jackson Pollock, Gödel, understands from deep conversations with each artist that what is outside the system might be more relevant and useful than what is embedded within. As an imaginary Bach says before dissolving into thin air, “every theme, every counter point, every dissonance…. longs for harmony. Even if we never hear the final chord, it exists. Not in the air perhaps – but in the mind of the Composer.”

Navarro makes a capital job of disentangling jargon from narration. Carefully and refreshingly avoiding esoteric explanations of Gödel’s theorems and their complex implications and interpretations, he strives to distil in his readers the core tenet that not every consequence is the cause of logic, sequential processes, and systematic thinking. Flashes of brilliance and game changing moments are more children of Contemplation and offspring of experimentation than assiduous and painstaking empirical analyses.

Interestingly, the concept of “Neti Neti” (“not this not this”) appearing in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad seem to have resonance with the incompleteness theorems, and vice versa. The articulate ‘rishis’ expounded on a notion structurally like the incompleteness theorems: Brahman is not something that can be assimilated let alone captured by any finite set of positive descriptions. Every predicate one attaches to it (“Brahman being X for example”) is ultimately incomplete. The only candid and practical methodology are the employ of successive negation. Both Gödel and the saints are pointing at a fundamental asymmetry between what is and what can be formally articulated.

We can safely leave the final words to Fibonacci who leaves Gödel in a trance like state with these words, “I always suspected the numbers were not mine at all but something eternal, something merely waiting to be discovered. I am only an instrument of a…what can I say…a Grand Designer.

Gödel and the Incomplete Proof : Conversations on Truth, Mystery, and the Answers Beyond Reason by Samuel E. Navarro is published by Amplify Publishing and is available for sale beginning May 05, 2026.

Thanks to Net Galley for the Advance Reviewer Copy.