How We Think

 

Genius, like a thunderstorm, comes up against the wind.
- Søren Kierkegaard, The Journals

Your knowledge about something might be false, and not actually knowledge. You might think it to be true and you hold onto it as it it were total truth, but you might not be correct. Have you considered that? Where are you getting your information to form that knowledge and belief? Does it come from the news, movies, tv, social media, chit chat? What about books? Previous thinkers? Scripture?

I've been edging (dangling, really) along the rim of the deep end of philosophy for years. Interestingly, I have never taken a philosophy class (except one time, back in January 2013, when I was staying with a German friend who was studying at Yale, we snuck into a philosophy class staying the whole class and I was completely fascinated. The professor asked who we were at the end of class, and the story was that I was a prospective student and she was a current student interested in philosophy. This was the epitome of nerdy thrill for me. Defying the rules in the name of learning to be in a class at Yale). In the study of philosophy, the questions asked begin with defining knowledge. How do we know something is true? There is a difference to something being true and our knowing something to be true. The questions of knowledge change the way I think about it. 

It makes me think about how we all think. Where does the "truth" come from for most people? Is it something just accepted without second thought? I hesitate to say we need to think for ourselves because I don't want it to seem like it should be a selfish thing, for the idea of "ourselves" looks inward, but rather we should hold an independent thinking that looks at all the questions and tries to research and figure out what is the best answer that lines up with following God. Like sheep, we humans have the tendency to follow the crowd, lead by big leaders or powerful voices, without thinking, just following and mimicking. 

Something in me has always resisted this tendency to just follow without thinking. From a young age, I felt this, and usually went the other way from the crowd, which meant the reality was I was often left out and didn't quite fit in during those tough years of middle and high school. I felt okay with it, though. I don't remember it upsetting me too much, because I knew there was something better to explore in thinking independently with my own thoughts. 

So it makes sense that these tastes of philosophical thinking appealed to me as I stumbled into them through various books and ideas, most likely finding their beginning with Søren Kierkegaard. In high school and college I frequented the Selby Public Library in Sarasota, which is a grand white, beautiful library downtown, and they have a "friends of the library" bookshop, which is where I have picked up a wonderful array of books over the years. I am pretty sure this is where I picked up my copy of A Kierkegaard Anthology (a lovely Modern Library clothbound hardback in a dark burgundy shade) not knowing where this introduction and $1 would take me. 

I thumbed these pages, dipping into the Danish Christian philosopher's various selections of texts that this anthology contains. I did not understand much of it, but I would read and re-read the parts that were reaching into a depth I could just barely put my toes into, and then I would set it aside, and come back to it, again and again over the years. Each time grasping a tiny bit of what his genius mind was pondering. I have re-visited this book so many times over the years, I've lost count. 

In those early years I underlined lines that made me ponder as I never had before (a few examples):

- The stone which was rolled before Christ's tomb might appropriately be called the philosopher's stone because its removal gave not only the pharisees but, now for 1800 years, the philosophers so much to think about. (The Journals)

- ...that God has absolutely nothing obvious about Him, that God is so far from being obvious, that He is invisible. It cannot immediately occur to anyone that He exists, although His invisibility is again his omnipresence. (Postscript)

- We are all so much more apt to think about discovering evil than about discovering good. (Works of Love)

Since then, I have collected and read several more of his full books, studying his life and ways of thinking, and have a better understanding of who he was and what he believed. He was my first dip into philosophy, and I think will be a forever favourite. However, I have much more to learn and read on a wider scale. It is, after all, a life long learning experience we get to indulge in - searching for answers to the mysteries of life.

The analogy between faith and the ethical is found in the infinite interest, which suffices to distinguish the believer absolutely from an aesthetician or a thinker. But the believer differs from the ethicist in being infinitely interested in the reality of another (in the fact, for example, that God has existed in time). (Postscript)

Tolkien and Tea

 

I am making jasmine green tea again. I say "again" because I am hooked. It brings back fond memories from early adulthood, jasmine green tea does. For some reason I used to drink it all the time. I cannot pinpoint a reason why I got so hooked on the slightly floral delicately scented green tea, but I did. This was even before I first went to England. Thanks to my recent trip to St. Augustine, I am hooked again. I rekindled our friendship at a coffee shop called The Kookaburra, where I tried their jasmine green tea with oat milk and coconut. It was delicious. And it made me remember how much I used to drink jasmine green tea. Well, now I am making little pots of it left and right, adding a little oat milk this time, and sitting down with Tolkien.

It is a rare treat now to have any new release from Tolkien, yet somehow he still continues to produce books. After passing away in 1973, his son Christopher was left with editing and releasing all his Middle-earth writings and has done an amazing job with organizing and putting together his father's papers from his legendarium, which was not in any organized state. With Christopher's passing in 2020, the Tolkien estate is leaving the hands of his son to another set of capable hands, who Christopher trusted and had been sending documents to all along. Carl Hostetter had been receiving notes and papers from Christopher since 1997, and this book is the result. It's a collection of the nature of Middle-earth, by which he means the physical world, land, flora, fauna, and also the metaphysical qualities of the world and those who lived in it. 

Did you know Tolkien was kind of a numbers nerd? He seemed to enjoy putting numbers to his works. He calculated the age differences and year differences between the elves and men. He built vast histories with numbers. He ran into chronology issues in the stories and had to adjust his timing when things took place from the beginning of creation. He created these elaborate charts calculating the offspring of the elves from their awakening. There are pages and pages of his calculations of each generation of elves: how many were born, how many were in the population, etc. He was basically creating excel spreadsheets by hand, back in 1959. While the calculations are fairly simple, it's still impressive, because it's so expansive and detailed. Those are words that would describe Tolkien rather well, I think: expansive and detailed.

The thing I love about new Tolkien books that are released is how I get to learn more about him that I never knew. Such as the youth and lifespan of elves. I chuckled in one section where Tolkien wrote about how the elves consume mushrooms, then noted at the end it says that in the margin a rough pencil note by Tolkien says "Delete all this about funguses, too like Hobbits." I get to read his scribbles that have never been seen in publication before. It's a glimpse into the past, and into his mind, how he worked, how he built the history of Middle-earth, and I am continuously amazed again and again.

Sun Rise to Summer

 

St. Augustine Beach

The sun rises on our long summer months. The heat has now nestled cosily into the landscape and there is no escape, even at 6 am as the sun begins to glow at the horizon. But that is the time I want to go to the beach. The sound of the waves permeates the atmosphere when it's still dark. The walk toward the beach is quiet except for a cheerful bird along the boardwalk and the waves. A handful of people are scattered along the beach. The coming dawn is peaceful as it takes a deep breath before opening to a new day. Nature is the focus. God's creation and beauty takes center stage. The light changes every half-minute and my eyes have a hundred places to look every moment. 

I was just in St. Augustine for a couple day getaway with the family. To be at the beach is to experience the fullness of summer. The heat and humidity. The sand-strewn streets. Surfboards and bikes. Bright colours and wooden cottages. For those who love the heat and sunshine, this is their time. 

Walking to the beach at 6 am the planets were pausing over the ocean, looking east. Venus, Mars, and Jupiter saying good morning before the sunlight emerged. A layer of thin, low clouds were at the horizon where our star emerged slowly. To me, clouds added beauty as the colours changed and the light altered from their influence. I stood at the water's edge hearing and watching. Attentive to the beauty of early morning. It's such a delicate time of day; my favourite time of everyday. A restoring and reflective span of the hours we are awake (if we wake that early). A reminder that all things dawn in God's hands. All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

St. Augustine - City of History

 

I love history, even more now than in my younger years. Maybe that is something we appreciate more as we get older. Understanding where ideas and cultures come from interests me, and the landscapes in which these things develop. Wherever I go in my travels I want to learn and experience the historical significance of a place and appreciate its unique story. St. Augustine is known as the oldest city in the nation, so there is much to learn here.

With very limited time, I did not get to do too much in the way of learning a lot of St. Augustine's history, but I was able to collect a few snippets. I would love to go back in the winter time when it's pleasant and cool to walk around outside, rather than the 90+ degree heat, high humidity, and intense sun. The city was established in 1565 by Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. He sailed from the port of Cádiz, Spain. The day he first spotted the land of Florida was the feast day of Saint Augustine of Hippo, therefore he decided to name the first settlement after Saint Augustine. 

A quick stop at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine was a must. Obviously, the connection to Saint Augustine is clear here. It was built in the Spanish Mission style and dates back to the 1700s. The cathedral holds a piece of Saint Augustine's finger bone as a relic. A stature of his mother, Saint Monica, is at the back of the cathedral. If you read The Confessions of Saint Augustine you will be familiar with his story and the role of his mother. The stained glass also has depictions from The Confessions.

Visiting the Lightner Museum was a delightful mix of interesting history and architecture (it was originally built as The Alcazar Hotel in 1888 as a luxury resort complete with a bottom floor that was a pool and different baths and spas were on the upper level along with a casino and ballroom) as well as collections of interests and art. The building itself is worth a visit, built in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style, you can tour through the rooms where baths once were and see the pool area that is now a small café, surrounded by the mezzanine level collections of art and furniture. The collection of marble sculptures, paintings, furniture, glass, etc is very enjoyable. It was not crowded, so it was a relaxing wander through all the levels of the old hotel on a very hot day.