Use Many Ways To Find Truth and Knowledge

This post is a collaboration by Professor Larry Jensen and Dena Jensen

I worry about a very limiting belief. It is that there is only one source of knowledge. As many of us already know, the standard for truth in modern society is science. Science defines truth as a standard in courts of law, legislation, public and private debates, and just about everything else. When we want to understand the material or natural world, we must use this unequaled method. We need science. We loves science. But, must  we sometimes look beyond science for other source of truth and knowledge? 

We are then faced with these questions: 

• How much do I trust my senses?
  
• How much do I trust my reasoning?
• How much do I trust science? 
• How much do I trust my consequences?
• How much do I trust my general abstractions?
  
• How much do I trust common sense?

Do you or have you spent much time thinking about how you have come to believe what you believe? Much of the general populous do not and that is common to not think about where you came with your knowledge and why you think and believe what you believe. Sometimes we take for granted that what we believe is correct, or else we would not believe it in the first place. 
 Please ask yourself to consider this; "How much do I trust the different paths to knowledge?" This question must weigh in your knowledge and must be considered before accepting what you know to be truth. 

We propose to over the next couple of weeks find an opportunity to consider how you trust the different ways you come to know things. 

A Person Is A Happening

The belief that body, spirit and mind are separate entities working in unison has some very practical applications for marriage, please take the following example in consideration:  

A young mother, let's call her Kendra, has a wonderful spirit when it comes to loving, helping, and brightening lives of everyone she touches. However, she can't find enough time to get a good night's sleep, or take time to eat. She is constantly going. Yes, everything is working around her. Her mind is fine, her spirit and her body are fine. But, we have to ask ourselves, "Will this last?" No, this can not last. She needs to take better care of herself. While the body, mind and spirit work together as a unit, they each needs its distinct and precise care, but different from each other. It is easier to see the effects of the poorly maintained, care and fueling on the body, but spirit mind need equal attention. 

  In these modern times, we can pretty much agree that the body and mind are connected. Same is true for those who believe that the body and spirit are inseparable. Combined in one unit, we might refer to the body and spirit as the soul. However, those two combined people believe they are unitary, coordinate, or inseparable beings there is no denying that we have separate words for them and they are distinct and separate enmeshed in a whole person. 

 One way to answer this mind, body, and spirit question is to say that a person is not an object, but a happening. This concept is not a new one. This notion is borrowed from the existential philosopher Martin Heidigger (1889-1976). His idea of the unified person never being a static object, but rather a being that is continually changing and unfolding. Many people who have adapted this idea have added that a person can not separate environment and not from others with whom the person is interacting. This is especially applicable to marriage. Constant change and progression will always be a part of understanding a marriage partner, and another person. In understanding the body is continually changing, we will see that the spirit and mind change as well. We can call this unified being as a person or even a happening. Adding to this we can say that each marriage is even more of a happening. 

This important message is you and your partner are more than just a body. When you think of your marriage as more than just static placement, your marriage will result in a richer and more complete way of living together.  

 

A Person Is An Agent

 In a class for family improvement, the following story was told:

In a busy airport, a middle aged mother purchased a sack of cookies at the gift shop next to her gate. She was so deep in thought and after a few minutes was surprised to see the man next to her casually taking a cookie from the sack. She was astonished at his rudeness, and to let him know better she also took a cookie and conspicuously ate it so he would get the idea. Feeling her space had been invaded she let him know by reaching in the bag for another and gave him a serious look. He did not even seem to mind nor did he get the idea as he took another. His reaction was not as she intended as he just smiled and reached for yet another. Then into her mind raced the calloused selfish, antagonistic memory of her father and how she had to protect herself from men like him all her life. She took another and so did he until there was only one cookie left. To add further insult, he took the last cookie, broke it in half and offered it to her. She could stand this no more and with tears she stood up and rushed to her gate. At the gate she opened her purse for a tissue to wipe her eyes and there noticed her sack of unopened cookies. 

This story can illustrate a large number of human attributes. It can even be an introduction to the idea that how we respond is a choice we make because we are autonomic. 
  As autonomic beings, we can choose how to respond to situations. In the story, the man chose to respond with a smile and good feelings and even tried sharing the last cookie. The woman on the other hand chose to see herself as a victim. Of course there were other extenuating circumstances, such as misinterpretation of ownership of the sack, and she might have had good reason to see the worst in men. 

 Let us consider a true and extreme example of a man who had reason to be bitter but chose to find love and goodness and kindness. 

A law-abiding physician was arrested and sent to a Concentration Camp. There he suffered tragic losses and received inhumane treatment for years. He did survive and wrote a bestselling book explaining how he was able to be free even in a totally controlled environment. He came to believe that we can  always  be free. His book is called, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” His name is Victor Frankl (1905). While all his basic rights and freedom were taken away, they could not take away his right to choose what kind of person he choose to be. Thus he remained free and this is precisely the point; you are a free agent.  
  You are free to choose how you act towards others, how you treat others, how you love your family. 
You are also free to choose how you think, and then act upon those positive thoughts. 
You may not be able to direct and change many things but you can choose how you will be and respond. For those that believe a person consists of a body, mind, and also spirit, the question of agentic freedom is clear. You can choose to be free. 
 Furthermore if the spirit is the enduring component rather than the body then should not freedom questions focus on the spirit? If so, does the body and mind influence the spirit?  It is equally important to ask, “Does the spirit influence the body and the mind?”  Answering these questions for yourself will be your first step to becoming a better marriage partner.

What Are We?

This blog is written by Professor Larry Jensen and Dena Jensen

A person is a body, mind and spirit

 

The old time philosophical and recent  psychological belief that within everyone there dwells an innate intelligence that we are more than just existing, or that we are "more" than just the body we have. 

This intelligence is the belief that we have a spirit or we have a self. Typically this spirit is thought to exist in a timeless way.

When you believe that you are more than just brain and body and that you have a spirit, you can see that those you come into contact with, also has a spirit. If you believe that your spirit and others spirits have enduring qualities, then everything you conclude about yourself and the one you love will be different. 

 When we believe that we have spirits and we are all different and our existence is more than just the body and brain we have, then we can conclude that this spirit existed long before our bodies. We can also conclude that our spirits will endure long after our bodies have turned to dust.  If we conclude this belief then the logical and central core of our existence is our fundamental belief and key in understanding our marriage. In valuing your spouse as a being with a spirit, your marriage in turn has a deeper meaning, because you will be valuing your spouse with that deep understanding. 

 Here is an example: 

The old woman was skipping and almost dancing as she flittered around the large hall. The program was over and the cleanup had begun. Her eyes beamed as she moved among those clearing tables and visiting. She held my attention as I thought her childish actions were unbecoming of a person her age. "Who does she think she is?" "She should act her age."

Then suddenly, everything changed. The grandmother transformed into a little girl. I saw her in her youth. I saw within the old body a young vibrant spirit. My criticisms melted. I felt so good watching her enjoy life. I felt she was so lucky to still have a young and joyful spirit. I felt I was fortunate to be able to, at that moment, see more that meets the eye. 

When seeing the old woman as more than just a worn body, for a slight moment her spirit was seen. 

In any relationship with anyone, if we see people who this student saw this old woman, we will be practicing the key to a good relationship. This will further our relationship with becoming a better marriage partner. 

 First and foremost, we all were and will be spirits. 

 This is not mentioned in Marriage and Family textbooks.  However, in these books there is a one hundred percent agreement that each person has a body of material that can, by physicists be reduced and/ or identified into smaller matter and smaller units. Not everyone will agree as to what the units are. However, all will agree that people are reducible to some kind of matter and energy. The next one hundred agreement is we all have our own unique mind. The popular belief is that the brain is the mind. 

So then we are left with a third element to this deep philosophical point of "What Are We?" 

All of the religions we have in this vast earth, namely Christians, Judaism, Islam, along with many countable other religions believe that the spirit is part of the person or the person is part of the spirit. Non-religious scholars and philosophers often refer to man's spirit. Usually, spirits are to exist before, during and after ones life. This belief is found in nearly all religious writings. Nowhere is it stated more directly than in Job 32:8.."But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding"...

You are a spirit and either you married a spirit or you plan on marrying a spirit. To become the best marriage partner you can possibly be, you must understand the spirit, as well as the body, and the mind.