Mathematics and the embodied mind for awe

Aaron Radke — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 01:52:37 +0000

"Where mathematics comes from" ¹ is a perfect example of brilliant authors who take awe, but have no proper place to consummate that awe. The only logical conclusion is sought in ourselves.

The authors overflow with awe, longing to share and express wonder beyond mere proofs and into the beautiful meaning behind equations. The wonder is incredible. The clear explanations of mathematics connected with the linguistic conceptual metaphor is awe inspiring. Through this book these authors paint a clear picture of fundamental awe behind mathematics.

How are we able to speak of beauty and awe and glory come from when it is rooted in ourselves? Awe and beauty is beholding the big outside. We do not travel to Niagara falls to be filled with awe that we constructed, but rather to be lost in the expanse. Here are two questions to keep in mind when reading this book. What is the source of awe, and what is the purpose and meaning of awe itself?

Here is a pivotal paragraph from this book:

Mathematics as we know it is human mathematics, a product of the human mind. Where does mathematics come from? It comes from us! We create it, but it is not arbitrary--not a mere historically contingent social construction. What makes mathematics non-arbitrary is that it uses the basic conceptual mechanisms of the embodied human mind as it has evolved in the real world. Mathematics is a product of the neural capacities of our brains, the nature of our bodies, our evolution our environment and our long social and cultural history. ²

Contrast this quote with one from John Piper:

Most people don't go the Grand Canyon to enhance their self-esteem because there is an echo of the image of God on our souls that we were made to enjoy making much of God forever, not made to be made much of forever..
We were made to enjoy mirroring the glory of God, and when people go to the Grand Canyon there is something that happens in the human soul standing on the edge of that expanse that draws them out of themselves and in a moment, there is a precious gift of self-forgetfulness in which they swell with wonder.
That's why they're made and they all need positive echoes of it and they go to big crazy movies and they buy big books to put on their coffee tables with pictures of mountains and rivers because they know that their joy really comes from outside themselves and not by standing in front of a mirror. You were not created to find joy in a mirror no matter what you see there. ³

¹ George Lakoff, Rafael E. Nunez, Where mathematics comes from: How the emodied mind brings mathematics into being, Basic Books, 2000
² Ibid.
³ John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad, 2nd, Baker Academic, July, 2003

A quirky tale of intergalactic proportions

Aaron Radke — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:51:27 +0000

In the early 1900's Edwin Hubble noticed a distant object in space that was rushing away from the earth at incredible speeds. He found others and then slowly realized every object, star and galaxy was rushing away from the earth! ¹ There seemed to be something unique and strange about our planet. However, Copernicus (1543) already showed the earth is not the center of the universe ². Hubble's experimental data verified Einstein's mind and space bending general theory of relativity ³. Einstein's theory showed every object in space is rushing away from every other object. This truth, stranger than fiction, shows reality is much deeper and incredible than imaginable. The surface is not at all what holds reality.

At a young age, I remember thinking I had a few strange friends. At an earlier, pre-contemplative age, the quirkiness was part of life and never questioned. Later, I began to realize each and every relationship carried a strange dynamic. If there is a strange element to every relationship then it is probable I am the one that makes it that way! Following the path further, if everyone feels every relationship is quirky then it says something much deeper about the frayed fabric of life than just a few individuals.

It is amazing how a little observation or quirk can turn the world in on yourself and then the whole world on itself.

¹ Edwin Hubble, "A Relation between Distance and Radial Velocity among Extra-Galactic Nebulae", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1929
² Nicholas Copernicus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Nuremberg, Nuremberg, 1543
³ Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, Reprint edition, Three Rivers Press, July, 1995

Life's End

Mathematics and the embodied mind for awe

Mathematics and the Embodied Mind for Awe

A quirky tale of intergalactic proportions

A Quirky Tale of Intergalactic Proportions