Tag: understanding

clues

Mind is Like a Fluid …

January 15, 2026

There is a parallel question about language.  How is it that a word relates to or refers to a particular object?  The word is itself an object, a vocalized sound or a mark on a page.  What connects the word “bell” to the bell?  Sometimes it is said that one “points” to the other, but that is a figure of speech.  As the twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein observes, the same question arises with pointing.  When you stretch out your finger, why does it direct attention to an object across the room, rather than to itself?

Follow along, and open your mind.  Mind is like a fluid in which human beings and the natural world exist.  By participating in the fluid, minds can understand.  Think of the problem of intentionality.  How is reference possible?  How can essences be grasped?  How can objects be seen?  There must be an interaction, and it is not only causal-physical.  How could it be?  Mind, understanding, is not just physical.  It is a conscious, fluid medium.

“Is it somewhat physical?”

Those categories are not helpful here, but it exerts physical force, has physical consequences.

 

“Think in a Different Way”

March 27, 2025

“Lord, I have the feeling that you want me to read and think less, and to listen more and just write down your story.”

Don’t stop thinking, but think in a different way. Don’t work so hard to figure everything out, to make it rational, to make it fit your categories. Just listen and think through the implications of what I tell you.

“But, Lord, some of what I learn from You comes from worrying over what you say.”

Sometimes yes, but often no. Sometimes your questioning just gets in the way. The main point is to open your mind, to try to understand what I am saying on its own terms, and to see ways it might be true or understandable to you.

If something doesn’t make sense to me, how can I supposed to “see ways” to make it understandable? How do you get to that vantage point?

 

God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher – is the true story of a philosopher’s conversations with God. Dr. Jerry L. Martin, a lifelong agnostic. Dr. Martin served as head of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Colorado philosophy department, is the founding chairman of the Theology Without Walls group at AAR, and editor of Theology Without Walls: The Transreligious Imperative. Dr. Martin’s work has prepared him to become a serious reporter of God’s narrative, experiences, evolution, and autobiography. In addition to scholarly publications, Dr. Martin has testified before Congress on educational policy. He has appeared on “World News Tonight,” and other television news programs.

________

Listen to this on God: An Autobiography, The Podcast– the dramatic adaptation and continuing discussion of the book God: An Autobiography, As Told To A Philosopher by Jerry L. Martin.

He was a lifelong agnostic, but one day he had an occasion to pray. To his vast surprise, God answered- in words. Being a philosopher, he had a lot of questions, and God had a lot to tell him.

Think in a different way.

January 25, 2024

“Lord, I have the feeling that you want me to read and think less, and to listen more and just write down your story.”

Don’t stop thinking, but think in a different way.  Don’t work so hard to figure everything out, to make it rational, to make it fit your categories.  Just listen and think through the implications of what I tell you.

“But, Lord, some of what I learn from You comes from worrying over what you say.”

Sometimes yes, but often no.  Sometimes your questioning just gets in the way.  The main point is to open your mind, to try to understand what I am saying on its own terms, and to see ways it might be true or understandable to you.