Symposium: An Internal Critique
Posted by Rebecca | | Posted On Monday, February 8, 2010 at 11:10 AM
It is a word that describes with vivid imagery a place of meeting for intellectual pursuit.
In Ancient Greece, it was an air of debate on the streets between philosophers. In Renaissance England, it was the art of intellectual expression on the stage. But in Vienna, at the onset of World War II, a symposium was established at a coffee house by some of the world’s whose-who of great minds. White linens on quaint tables were used to write out mathematical formulas and new concepts of science. Cigar smoke and empirical arguments swirled around the ceiling tops as men debated logistical constructs of the day. In the clouded room of the coffee house, was the staunchly, held view that physical science – whose ultimate basis is sensory experience, is the sum of all that can be known. Out of the brilliance of the credo of these minds stirred the nuances of two geniuses of the coffee house party. Upsetting the balance of the rational establishment of Wittgenstein, Mach and Boltzmann were Albert Einstein and his good friend, Kurt Gödel. Together they turned the tables of empirical syntax when they presented science from the realm of metaphysics, challenging the Vienna circle and setting a standard for experiencing science outside the realm of the visible. Palle Yourgrau states Einstein’s perspective in his book, A World Without Time:
”The real world was what corresponded to the physical reality. It consisted of entities like atoms and force fields, in themselves undetectable by the senses, but indirectly discernable by their effects on systems that can affect human or artificial receptors.”
Both Einstein and Gödel held to the philosophy of Emanuel Kant that “reason is in need of an internal critique.” Basically, there needed to be a symposium that pursued observing the world from the inside out. Understanding substance from the construct of what is unseen is not easy for many to grasp. For centuries, we have found ourselves in the grips of viewing science in the context of an empirical atmosphere as the only true reality. To create a symposium around a spiritual reality, and its effects on the natural world, becomes complicated within this narrow framework. If we really are “spiritual beings having a temporary human experience,” then the concealed world of the spirit definitely needs, as Emanuel Kant said, an “internal critique”. I find it interesting that the book of Hebrews addresses this metaphysics argument head-on.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11:1-3
This concept of what is “real reality” is seen here as being that which is invisible. In fact, Hebrews states that what is invisible gives substance to our physical reality. Scripture also claims this can be measured and that there are witnesses to the effects of the unseen in the physical realm. Hebrews 11 implies that faith is evidence, meaning this is not a conditioned response but a sensory experience brought about by an unseen world. This passage also suggests there was a cross-study of those who observed, a priori, those who were directly affected by the results of such evidence and its reliability. A priori means that you don’t have to examine the evidence under a microscope to know that it is true; it is simply obvious. The manifestation of the supernatural realm as a type of empirical data is opposite of everything that has been foundational to science. Under such conditions, Hebrews implies that a world not visible to the human eye has a direct correlation to the physical world and produces observable data in human nature. Faith becomes a scientific construct of an unseen phenomenon.
The consequence of the unseen on our lives becomes enormous and the possibilities beyond our imagination as we embrace the endless spiritual ramifications. Just as Einstein spoke of the unseen force fields that govern the physical world, so does the unseen Spirit of God directly govern mankind. As it says in Colossians 1:16-17,
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
The repercussion of the invisible can be illustrated in a game of chess. Before I make a move on a chessboard, I create an unseen concept; I have worked through the moves in my thinking, and play out the possibilities of strategy in my imagination. When I then make a move, it is a direct result of an unseen force – something I already determined. Likewise, every time I move a rook or bishop, I move the energy that surrounds that piece and all the pieces nearby. This becomes a reality that things shift in the spiritual as well as in the physical simultaneously.
We need to understand the power of the invisible. We need to observe and respond with careful posture the moves we make in the physical and the spiritual because of the obvious ramifications they produce. The result of what we stir-up in the physical world directly affects our spiritual lives. What we draw to ourselves in the spirit becomes tomorrow’s physical reality. This is measured data as we experience the difference that positive and negative energy has on our lives in the supernatural as well as in the natural.
Jesus said, “I only do what the Father says to do.” Jesus knew that every move He made and everything He said created alignments and shifted things in the heavens. To ignore the unseen, is to ignore the reality that determines what happens in the natural. It takes an “internal critique”, a view from the inside out, to come to a place where we understand that the things we say and do will having lasting effects in two kingdoms: the natural world in which we live and the one that will manifest the fullness of God’s glory in the near future.
Cheers,
Rebecca
In Ancient Greece, it was an air of debate on the streets between philosophers. In Renaissance England, it was the art of intellectual expression on the stage. But in Vienna, at the onset of World War II, a symposium was established at a coffee house by some of the world’s whose-who of great minds. White linens on quaint tables were used to write out mathematical formulas and new concepts of science. Cigar smoke and empirical arguments swirled around the ceiling tops as men debated logistical constructs of the day. In the clouded room of the coffee house, was the staunchly, held view that physical science – whose ultimate basis is sensory experience, is the sum of all that can be known. Out of the brilliance of the credo of these minds stirred the nuances of two geniuses of the coffee house party. Upsetting the balance of the rational establishment of Wittgenstein, Mach and Boltzmann were Albert Einstein and his good friend, Kurt Gödel. Together they turned the tables of empirical syntax when they presented science from the realm of metaphysics, challenging the Vienna circle and setting a standard for experiencing science outside the realm of the visible. Palle Yourgrau states Einstein’s perspective in his book, A World Without Time:
”The real world was what corresponded to the physical reality. It consisted of entities like atoms and force fields, in themselves undetectable by the senses, but indirectly discernable by their effects on systems that can affect human or artificial receptors.”
Both Einstein and Gödel held to the philosophy of Emanuel Kant that “reason is in need of an internal critique.” Basically, there needed to be a symposium that pursued observing the world from the inside out. Understanding substance from the construct of what is unseen is not easy for many to grasp. For centuries, we have found ourselves in the grips of viewing science in the context of an empirical atmosphere as the only true reality. To create a symposium around a spiritual reality, and its effects on the natural world, becomes complicated within this narrow framework. If we really are “spiritual beings having a temporary human experience,” then the concealed world of the spirit definitely needs, as Emanuel Kant said, an “internal critique”. I find it interesting that the book of Hebrews addresses this metaphysics argument head-on.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11:1-3
This concept of what is “real reality” is seen here as being that which is invisible. In fact, Hebrews states that what is invisible gives substance to our physical reality. Scripture also claims this can be measured and that there are witnesses to the effects of the unseen in the physical realm. Hebrews 11 implies that faith is evidence, meaning this is not a conditioned response but a sensory experience brought about by an unseen world. This passage also suggests there was a cross-study of those who observed, a priori, those who were directly affected by the results of such evidence and its reliability. A priori means that you don’t have to examine the evidence under a microscope to know that it is true; it is simply obvious. The manifestation of the supernatural realm as a type of empirical data is opposite of everything that has been foundational to science. Under such conditions, Hebrews implies that a world not visible to the human eye has a direct correlation to the physical world and produces observable data in human nature. Faith becomes a scientific construct of an unseen phenomenon.
The consequence of the unseen on our lives becomes enormous and the possibilities beyond our imagination as we embrace the endless spiritual ramifications. Just as Einstein spoke of the unseen force fields that govern the physical world, so does the unseen Spirit of God directly govern mankind. As it says in Colossians 1:16-17,
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
The repercussion of the invisible can be illustrated in a game of chess. Before I make a move on a chessboard, I create an unseen concept; I have worked through the moves in my thinking, and play out the possibilities of strategy in my imagination. When I then make a move, it is a direct result of an unseen force – something I already determined. Likewise, every time I move a rook or bishop, I move the energy that surrounds that piece and all the pieces nearby. This becomes a reality that things shift in the spiritual as well as in the physical simultaneously.
We need to understand the power of the invisible. We need to observe and respond with careful posture the moves we make in the physical and the spiritual because of the obvious ramifications they produce. The result of what we stir-up in the physical world directly affects our spiritual lives. What we draw to ourselves in the spirit becomes tomorrow’s physical reality. This is measured data as we experience the difference that positive and negative energy has on our lives in the supernatural as well as in the natural.
Jesus said, “I only do what the Father says to do.” Jesus knew that every move He made and everything He said created alignments and shifted things in the heavens. To ignore the unseen, is to ignore the reality that determines what happens in the natural. It takes an “internal critique”, a view from the inside out, to come to a place where we understand that the things we say and do will having lasting effects in two kingdoms: the natural world in which we live and the one that will manifest the fullness of God’s glory in the near future.
Cheers,
Rebecca
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