Resoning

This post was written by Professor Jensen and revised and posted by Dena Jensen
  

It is good to be called rational, but don't be satisfied with the compliment. 
The following story will help yeild some light and clarification about the power and limits of reasoning. 

Bright Student: I just detest the debates I have with you. Through your cleverness your logic make up, seem down, black turns to white, and good becomes bad. 

Professor: Well, don't take is seriously. It is a game and a good game with rules. I just know how to play it better than you. 

Bright Student: But, It isnt a game for me. I want to use my mind to find truth. I want to think clearly. I want to use logic to find truth and prove it to others. 

Professor: Well, you might think you are proving something to another if you find them a little less intelligent. Of course, don't plan on really disovering truth with your logic. 

Bright Student: Why? 

Professor: Well, because for thousands of years the best minds have tried and failed You are not doing yourself a favor if you use reason alone. Don't rely on reason by itsself to find the final answers to the big questions. 

Bright Student: So? 

Professor: Be happy. Be happy you have a good mind, that  you can use your thinking skills so well, that you can use your gifts to enhance and improve you personal life. But, remember to be humble. Humility is the gift that is limited in what it can give you and more limited in convincing others. 

To understand what this professor is trying to convey, it is important to think logically. It is useful to consider two types of reasoning. The first is scientific, which has for it's basis sensory data. The other kind of reasoning has for its foundation fundamental propositions or premises that are believed to be infallible. Some call them different things, we can call them assumptions. In this case, we begin with these acceptable premises, or propositions, then proceed with mental calculations which supposedly guide us to knowledge and truth. It must be obvious to you that the conclusions reached through the most careful and astute reasoning can be no better than the propositions upon which they rest.
   In the case of scientific reasoning, the conclusions will be wrong if the sensory data is incorrect to start with. As with the other kind of reasoning, the conclusions will be false if the fundamental permse or preposition was in error. For example, if you begin your reasoning with a fundamental belief that people are basically good or people are basically bad, the conclusions reached will be different. Reasoning is a tool used to supplement and expand what may or may not be true beginnings. Furthermoreit can be easily shown that the mental calculations used in reasoning can lead to inaccurate conclusions through falty reasoning. Problems in reasoning are easily demonstrated in introductory courses in logic. 
 Now, with this realization that there are problems inherent in both sensory and rational approaches to knowledge, you will still, like most people, use and trust each. So, when you believe that you are a practical person you simply mean that you are capable of employing your senses and reasoning to come to better conclusions. So, what if you use both reasoning and sensory observations together, at the same time? This is scientific reasoning. 

For an interesting discussion on Scientific Reasoning click here.

  

Can Science Know All?

The modern world is built upon science that cannot know all. 
 The difficulty is that science has proven itself to be the most powerful method of finding truth ever conceived, and this may lead to some to turn their backs on all the other methods.This can put you in a disadvantage when it comes to understand people. 

Think for a bit of a (possible) conversation between a Psychologist Professor and a Parent. 

Professor: You would like to know which Parenting Theory is best?

Parent: Yes, but not just which one is best, but true. Which theory has the most scientific proof? 

Professor: Actually, you are asking at least three questions: 
What is best? 
What is true?
What is scientific? 
I think you will have an answer to all three when you consider that no credible, informed and honest scientist will claim that his methods can adequately study what cannot be observed or measured. 
  Thus, when you expressed a belief that each person has a spirit and that spirit has something to do with directing, then science will not be able to adequately nor fully explain what you need to know. 

Parent: So are you saying that I can not turn to science for my answers to my parenting questions? 

Professor: Not quite. Sure, you can turn to science for such answers; many will be very good. But don't expect to find a scientific theory that is adequate to explain, predict, or completely inform you with all you want to or need to know about parenting. 

Parent: So, where do I turn?

Professor: Turn to science for important information about regularities in behavior, growth patterns, correlations between behaviors and environment. Science provides many good insights about such matters. But now knowing this, also realize that in psychology alone there are hundreds of theories. It would be foolish to select one theory on the basis that it is scientifically true. A genuine scientist will not pretend that he can adequately study the most important aspect of a person, which is that of the will, soul or spirit or . whatever you call it 

Again, the greatest and most dramatic illustration of truth finding through the sensory, is the use of sensory of information and reasoning through science. 
Everyone must be impressed with the undeniable achievements of science in the physical world. Scientific disciplines are staffed with men who have proven themselves exceptional in using the scientific method to uncover truth and knowledge. 
 Therefore, without dispute, science is the foundation for truth and knowledge in our technically based society. However, you should be aware honest scientists will tell you directly that they cannot, and in fact do not, want to use this method to tell you about things that are not based on empirical observation. If you believe that people are more a material body, then you must turn to other methods for a complete and understanding of your marriage. 

We Must Know More Than We Observe

Post Written By Professor Jensen and Dena Jensen

Here is a good quote about knowledge, "To be successful with people you must first know more than you can observe"

Here we have a fictitious Father, who was self employed, self made Businessman. He was very serious and never had time for nonsense. He was impatient with his cousin, whose employment was an avid magician. Let us get a glimpse of  conversation they are having about what can be trusted. Let's see how the remarks ended: 

Businessman: It is truly amazing that you can fool my sense like that. Making things appear and disappear like that. 


Magician: Actually such illusions can and do happen all the time. I just stage things to fool the senses of sight, touch and hearing in order to impress. I don't use my knowledge to deceive.


Businessman: But, I could be deceived so easily. I see or should I say, I know that now. 


Magician: But, if you are aware of the possibility of your senses fooling you, you can then be on guard not to be fooled but still trust your senses because you must use them daily to wisely deal with the world we live in. 


Businessman: Yes, but my most important problems are about my family. I want certainty. I want what I see and hear to be true. Can I also be deceived there?


Magician: Of course. In fact, you have less assurance that what you se and hear when observing people is true. People are much more difficult to observe than physical sight and sounds! Beware! 


Businessman: So, what then?


Magician: To be successful with your family you must see and hear more than what you observe. 


Rarely you are warned about your senses deceiving you. 
 Instead you hear things like, "I have to see it to believe it", "I'd have to hear that from the source." These two common phrases are associated with the belief that the most certain knowledge is what we can see or hear. 
However, anyone that is acquainted with psychology or philosophy in the early part of the 20th Century knows that what comes to the eyes or ears is not what exists in nature. All sensory input is altered, changed and interpreted by the mind. The popularity and skill of the magician is based on the fact that our senses do not give us an exact certain representation of the physical world. 
 Bertand Russell (1872-1970), philosopher of science, explains that the color, texture and shape of a table may be very different from what we actually receive through the senses and yet we always know it to be the same table. 
 We usually admire the man that says, "Show me or prove it to me first." Proving something, or "proving it" means to provide sensory evidence that something is there.  And yet, there are many times in our existence where we must act with out this kind of knowledge to survive and prosper. We need to be aware that our hard to observe feelings are a part of reality. Unobservables do guide us to appropriate actions with our marriage partners, especially our feelings and emotions, which are very important in a marriage. 
A high level of observable objectivity is of great value, however, it alone cannot answer life's questions about another spirit, feelings and emotions. 
Sometimes we must make subjective judgements in the absence of sensory data. It is necessary to add reasoning, to go beyond what we observe.

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.