SpiritQuest: Faith and the Life of the Mind
“Longing for Something Extraordinary:
The Pas de Deux of Faith and Intellect ”
September 5, 2010
Evening Presentation and Discussion
1. Basic questions:
a. How might the dance of heart and mind, faith and intellect be cultivated in our lives?
b. How does faith seek understanding and intellect ground itself in ultimate concerns?
2. The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
a. Some quotes from the book:
“Spontaneous creation is the reason why there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist,” he wrote. “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper [fuse] and set the universe going.”
"Some would claim the answer to these questions is that there is a God who chose to create the universe that way. It is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. In this view it is accepted that some entity exists that needs no creator, and that entity is called God. This is known as the first-cause argument for the existence of God. We claim, however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings."
b. Do theologians and scientists disagree on all these questions?
c. How much do they really know about what is current in philosophy and theology?
d. Are these logical conclusions to draw?
e. The following are links to various reviews:
3. How you set up your argument matters as much as the conclusions you draw. Corollary in empirical approach in science.
a. Some of the basic procedures necessary to set up a scientific experiment:
i. Observe a natural phenomenon
ii. Ascertain what is known, current information available
iii. Formulate a hypothesis for the phenomenon
1. Hypothesis must be congruent with data appropriate to phenomenon, must belong to the same domain of inquiry
2. Must be testable
3. Other conditions: _____________
iv. Devise a method for testing the hypothesis, an experimental procedure, and carry out the experiment, gathering data.
v. Interpret data in light of known principles.
b. What are crucial in this process are the terms under which the hypothesis is stated and the terms under which experiment is undertaken.
c. So the question to begin with is this: What are the terms of engagement when talking about issues relating to faith and intellect?
4. Working metaphor of dance and the pas de deux
b. Congruence of forms
c. Points of connection
d. Tell a story – narrative, coherent and cohesive
5. Some basic terms
a. Faith/Belief: Latin credo, (=“I believe”) is from the same indo-European root word for heart, in Latin and Greek, cardia/kardia. In English, the word “believe” is related to the word “to love.” Belief originally meant that to which you gave your heart, your allegiance, your devotion.
i. What matters in life might pertain to faith and belief?
ii. What is the proper domain for faith and belief?
b. Intellect: intellect late 14c., from L. intellectus "discernment, understanding," from pp. stem of intelligere "to understand, discern"
i. What matters in life might pertain to intellect?
ii. What is the proper domain for intellect?
6. What are congruence of forms of faith and intellect? What is not congruent?
7. What are points of connection?
8. What is the story we are trying to tell in the dance of faith and intellect?
a. How about “How am I to live?”
b. Domain of wisdom
i. Process of inquiry, reflection, in context of ultimate concerns and commitments
ii. Wisdom deals with how one is to live
c. Various Definitions of Wisdom:
i. Paul B. Baltes and Jacqui Smith, “Toward a Psychology of Wisdom and its Ontogenesis,” in Robert J. Sternberg, ed., Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins and Development: “Expert knowledge involving good judgment and advice in the domain, fundamental pragmatics of life.” (p. 95)
ii. Wisdom can be defined as the “power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge, experience, understanding, etc.” (Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 1997, p. 1533).
iii. Csikszentmihalyi and Rathunde:
1. ΓΌ Wise person as having:
a. a general competence (a dimension that overlaps with logical intelligence or technical ability)
b. an experience-based pragmatic knowledge; and
c. reflective or evaluative metaanalytic skills
iv. Postformal operations stage of optimal adult development:
1. One recognizes the relativity of various formal systems through life experience and is able to assume contradictory points of view
2. One acknowledges the interrelatedness of all experience and the inevitability of change and transformation.
3. One adopts a more “metasystemic” or reflective and integrative approach to thinking (often dialectical)
4. One makes choices with commitment to a certain course of action.
d. My approach to wisdom:
i. Wisdom entails the ability to reflect upon critical experiences, problems or difficulties one has experienced or encountered in one’s life, and
ii. The ability to (self-)critically examine the factors, etiology and development of those experiences, problems or difficulties, and
iii. The ability to derive modes of behavior and mental attitudes based upon this analysis that are conducive to the adaptive well-being of one personally, and
iv. To extend those modes of adaptive well-being to others.
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