The Square Root of God: Mathematical Metaphors and Spiritual Tangents
3/5
()
About this ebook
How do numbers, patterns, and geometry expose the spiritual foundations of the universe? What aspects of religious knowledge contributes to scientific understanding? What may be discovered when these twin mysteries - faith and mathematics - are explored side by side?
All of these questions lead to new ways of regarding the spiritual life and provide new ways of reinterpreting ancient truths. The Square Root of God ushers the reader into a new realm where what you see is not necessarily what you get and the surface of reality is revealed for what it is, a veil the covers the deepest dynamics of our world.
Timothy Carson
Tim Carson is a pastor and writer who lives in Columbia, Missouri. He is the author of five books and many journal articles. His passion is the relationship between ancient traditions and relevant faith.
Read more from Timothy Carson
The Square Root of God: Mathematical Metaphors and Spiritual Tangents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSix Doors to the Seventh Dimension Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTyche Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Square Root of God
Related ebooks
Precessional Time and the Evolution of Consciousness: How Stories Create the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings666 is Sanctified: The Beast Was Fake News Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Pyramid and the bible Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Octave Principle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Harmony of Primes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacred Number and the Lords of Time: The Stone Age Invention of Science and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Mystic in Maine: A Guide to Self-Knowledge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Selection of Problems in the Theory of Numbers: Popular Lectures in Mathematics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way To Geometry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscarpment: Fibonacci poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Harmonic Origins of the World: Sacred Number at the Source of Creation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Pentagon of Creation: As Expounded in the Upanishads Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Pentagons and Pentagrams: An Illustrated History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMeasuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Yin & Yang of an Electrical Conductor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCycles of Time: From Infinity to Eternity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Star of Bethlehem. Walking Towards Jesus. A Pilgrimage of Faith Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGodel's Mistake: The Role of Meaning in Mathematics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacred Number and the Origins of Civilization: The Unfolding of History through the Mystery of Number Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dimensions of Paradise: Sacred Geometry, Ancient Science, and the Heavenly Order on Earth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Third Lens: Metaphor and the Creation of Modern Cell Biology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMatrix of Creation: Sacred Geometry in the Realm of the Planets Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Origin of the Universe, the Complete Version Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCore Truths: Living Wisdom for Today Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmazing Fractal Images: Postcards from the Complex Plane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fibonacci Numbers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5MAGNETIC FIELD OF THE EARTH Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Christianity For You
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning the War in Your Mind Workbook: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Holy Bible (World English Bible, Easy Navigation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undistracted: Capture Your Purpose. Rediscover Your Joy. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Square Root of God
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The Square Root of God - Timothy Carson
The Square Root of God:
Mathematical Metaphors and Spiritual Tangents
by
Timothy Carson
Copyright 2013 Timothy Carson
Smashwords Edition
Acknowledgements
This book would have been impossible were it not for the insights of mathematicians which mostly elude me and the perspectives of theologians and philosophers that routinely dwarf my own. I have found it gratifying to stand in that rare and muddy trench between the two. Any false assumptions that might have led to erroneous conclusions are mine alone.
I could not have proceeded with this project without the wise council of two friends who love mathematics almost as much as they love Jesus, Rick McGuire and Joe Jimerson. And what I lack in composition and grammar skills was compensated for by two exacting copy editors, Nancy Miller and Leslie Clay. They always made me look like a better writer than I am.
Of course, there were all those soft spoken words of encouragement from friends, family and peers who said to keep writing. Though we might believe we have something to say, something to share, graceful souls encourage us in the face of our own deepest doubts.
My greatest hope is that these words will spark in someone, somewhere a new glimmer of understanding, awareness and insight. If they do I will feel as though the effort was worth it. And I leave the rest up to the One who is the square of itself.
Contents
Introduction
Part I The Number 1
Part 2 Circle Up
Part 3 A Piece of Pi
Part 4 The Shape beneath the Shape
Part 5 Infinity and Beyond
Conclusion
Introduction
We have seen the highest circle of spiraling powers.
We have named this circle God.
We might have given it any other name we wished:
Abyss, Mystery, Absolute Darkness, Absolute Light,
Matter, Spirit, Ultimate Hope, Ultimate Despair, Silence.
Nikos Kazantzakis, The Rock Garden
Knowledge is like an island in a sea of mystery, wrote Chet Raymo.¹ Since the sea of mystery is infinite, the growth of the island of knowledge never depletes it. To the contrary, the more the island’s area grows, the more the shoreline’s perimeter grows. And as the shoreline perimeter grows, so grows the interface with mystery. The more we know, the larger the mystery becomes.
The same thing was said differently by the 18th century English scientist Joseph Priestley, who drew on images of light and darkness.² He said that the greater the circle of light, the greater the boundary of darkness which is created by it.
These particular metaphors depend on categories of geometry. They rely on concepts such as shape, circumference and area, as well as the contrasts implicit in them. They describe boundaries, edges and thresholds. But more importantly, as a leap of a different order, they relate mathematical perspectives to a transcendent domain. What is the result? We stumble across a rarified intersection where the sacred and mathematical converge. And what we may discover is just how much light they shed on one another.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time people insisted that these two worlds belong together. Thinkers from every world civilization throughout history have somehow connected mystical spirituality and mathematics in order to seek truth, to express some comprehensive notion of the universe. Mathematical and spiritual truth have found common expression in cultural sources as disparate as classical Greek philosophy, Egyptian cosmology, the architectural logic of Islamic mosques, the complexity and simplicity of Buddhist temples, metric patterns embedded in Indian ragas, the proportionality of Christian gothic cathedrals, and numerology in the Jewish Kabbalah.
Why has this relationship between mathematics and spirituality been so ubiquitous? A good case can be made that these threads have been woven into the same seamless fabric from the beginning.
How do we understand the dimensions of a black hole, the distance between stars, the behavior of subatomic particles, the finely tuned symmetry of the double helix of DNA, or the veins of a leaf in relation to every other thing? How can we comprehend the relationship between shape, surface, knots, patterns, and braids? What do we make of fractals that replicate their simplicity and complexity in the deep design of every living thing?
All of these complexities hold unities; elegant design appears out of seeming chaos and multiple dimensions. But by what means can we possibly know this multi-facetted reality? What are the limits to our particular modes of knowing? Can we attribute meaning to the data? Does this reality defy logic and reason as understood in ordinary ways? And if we lift the veil, revealing the dynamics that are operative at the micro or macro levels, then what? What stands beyond those?
These questions have been deeply pondered by mathematicians, astronomers, physicists, biologists, philosophers and theologians through the centuries. In many ways their conclusions have varied as wildly as their beginning points and aims. But more often than many would like to admit, they have ended up pointing in similar directions, finding what the other has already found through different means. And when they provided room for a shared possibility, it often appeared.
As philosopher and physicist Bernard d’Espagnat reminds us, there are veiled aspects beneath what appears to be ordinary reality.³ What does that mean, veiled?
There is, on the one hand, the surface or appearance of reality, and many scientists of the past have preoccupied themselves with that plane. They fall into what might be described as the realist
or empiricist
camp. They base what is known on that which is measurable according to ordinary observation. This is the province of everyday physics, the Newtonian universe.
Over and against that position stand the so-called idealists
who recognize that there is more than that.
The first conviction of idealists is that there is something not meeting the eye that shapes what does meet the eye. Plato is a good example. There are universal essences behind the curtain that shape everything you see in front of the curtain.
The second conviction has to do with the thoroughgoing subjectivity of the one doing the seeing, a subjectivity that participates in shaping the reality of the world. If you swing to the far side of that continuum, you hang by your fingernails with the likes of Jean Paul Sartre and the other existentialists. You are the center of an absurd world that contains no more or less meaning than you provide for it.
How do we know what we know? To begin with, we could go out and play with one of the favorite arguments of physics, intersubjectivity. If five people stand on the shore and observe a clipper ship approaching and describe it in exactly the same way, how the sails are rigged and the way it sits in the water, you would say that the ship has an objective reality. There it is, a thing existing in time and space, attested by multiple sources, several sets of eyes, several brains. This is the kind of argument that helps a positivist sleep like a baby on restless nights.
But using that same clipper ship, let us compare all that supposed objectivity with an apocryphal story often used by Postmoderns. The story has been told that during the colonial period, when clipper ships from Europe first arrived in Mesoamerica, the indigenous