mennonite monk » Philosophy

Dimensions of Thought

Dale — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:13:04 +0000

Last week, I began to discuss the ideas of multi-dimensional thought. I really don’t have anything to go upon except my own ideas. I have looked briefly for web resources and haven’t found anything. I have some books on the way but until then I want to see if we can cover some territory.

I guess where we need to start is with trying to understand what dimensions of thought may be. I guess I will approach this linguistically – what types of writing do we do and how do they relate to geometric shapes.

Dimensions	Geometry	Linguistics	Response	Notes
0	Single point	Command	Obedience	Relates to objective truth, fact. Gravity is obeyed because it is singular. Deistic religions would say that the Supreme Being is singular and thus the truth of the Deity must be obeyed.
1	Line	Simple logic	Cause and Effect	Natural law and reason are ways that we relate linearly. May also relate to the beginning of Christian thought: God said this for such and such reason. We should obey God because of the benefits.
2	Square	Complex logic	Reason	More complex arguments involve the interrelationships of various arguments.
3	Cube	Story and poetry	Art	“Normal” human experience, art and higher logic. Interrelationships are more complex.
4	Tesseract	Unknown*	Art and Logic*	See Wikipedia’s Fourth Dimension. There are two types of 4D space – Euclidean and Minkowski. I wonder if Schoenberg’s twelve tone technique is musically within this realm.

* These are the areas that I would like to explore and see if there are methods of relating in the 4th dimension.

I’m leaning towards a Euclidean space versus a Minkowski space. Minkowski space is basically adding time to the standard 3 dimensions. Linguistically this would lead to story or poetry over time. Thus we end up with history or experience. This is unsatisfactory as a method for critical interpretation within a singular text.

Euclidean space holds the (hope) for internal investigation of a text. By measuring the distance between key words or ideas, there may develop patterns and shapes that suggest a deeper logic than previously appreciated. If these patterns do exist, it may be possible to develop rules for grammar and composition.

Your thoughts?

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MLK Jr. and Munk

Dale — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:07:30 +0000

emerging toward something redeeming has a couple of quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Kaj Munk. The quotes are quite challenging about our relationship to a bigger idea – do we live for something that we are willing to die for? Are we willing to live recklessly for God?

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A good man is hard to find

Dale — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:32:44 +0000

The Anchoress has a great post about Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame. Penn had an encounter with a Christian man who gave him a Gideon’s Bible. Penn seems to be moved by the gesture especially since he believes that Christians (and probably all religions) should proselytize if they believe they have the truth. Penn is an atheist.

Penn brings out a powerful point: if you have the truth and it is critical to make a decision for Christ, you should be sharing with others. Again, room for self-examination. How strongly do we believe the gospel? How sincerely and honestly do we interact with others? Penn is adamant about the goodness and honesty of the man. Integrity must come before witness.

Note: the reference to Flannery O’Connor’s short story, A Good Man is Hard to Find, is intentional. It is not meant to reflect on the man who gave the Bible or Mr. Jillette. Neither is the killer or the grandmother, though I feel that lesser men (myself included) would have been. In fact, we may have two good men in this story…

Flannery O’Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters (Library of America)

ISBN: 0940450372
ISBN-13: 9780940450370

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Introduction

Dale — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:34:44 +0000

Growing up in a Mennonite church in NE Ohio formed me in ways that I am yet to understand completely. I greatly appreciate the heritage and spirituality of my youth. Yet it was at a Catholic youth renewal that my spiritual life began. Together this has created in me a great love of Christian mystics, justice and peace issues, and healing ministries. But likewise it has created in me a theology that must embrace paradox and ambiguity.

In my late teens and early 20’s, as I grew spiritually, I longed for the depth of spirituality that I saw in monastic life. Thus I fashioned my desire to be a “Mennonite monk”. Later I would marry a wonderful lady who fashioned herself a “Lutheran nun”. The monk and nun live in marital bliss.

My hopes for the blog are to reflect my spiritual journey, anticipate my future journey and provide a forum for others’ spiritual growth. May we grow into Christ as we grow together. I hope to cover a wide range of subjects such as: theology, philosophy, music, and books. Subject matter will range from Mennonite thought, Amish life, Catholic faith, the missional church, small church issues and the RC Lectionary. I’m sure there will other subjects that will come up but for now it is all I can think of.

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