Looking back over the decades I can see this is true. Yet the choice is ours. Its one of those mysteries, that won't be solved until We Get Home. Then I expect to smack my forehead and say "Of Course! Its All So Simple. Why Didn't See It Before?"
I discovered the word “fractal” only recently, in the process of finding videos of kaleidoscopic imagery on YouTube with which to mesmerize my very young grandchildren. If I had to choose only two toys with which to furnish a child’s non-reading hours, it would be a stuffed animal to love and feel unconditionally loved by, and a kaleidoscope with which to connect to the Infinite in another way.
HA! I was just looking at kaleidoscopes to give to my grandkids for Easter (leave the candy for others to give). I've always had a kaleidoscope around to peer into.
This reminds me of the "Fibonacci sequence of numbers and the golden ratio" which I only heard about in my 50s. I was fascinated with this mathematical concept that appears all around us, in the number of rows on an artichoke or petals on a flower. The golden ratio is apparent in the structure of the human body and is incorporated into architecture as well. It seems to me that God has left His fingerprints everywhere.
So beautiful. Hey Spencer. I wrote a little piece on infinite acts recently. The apostolic father Papias talked about it. Your fractal pattern of infinite possibility within a finite thing sounds like the human soul partaking in the Divinity of Christ. Referring souls in our times Papias states:
“The days will come in which vines shall grow, having each ten thousand branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand shoots, and in every one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five-and-twenty meters of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, ‘I am a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me.’ In like manner, [He said] that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear would have ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds of clear, pure, fine flour; and that apples, and seeds, and grass would produce in similar proportions; and that all animals, feeding then only on the productions of the earth, would become peaceable and harmonious, and be in perfect subjection to man.” - Papias
The Word, the Spirit, still alive and active and eternally creating, fractally, in space but also through time. I'll see your dust and raise you by overcoming (Eph 6) "..when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."
I recall in a very early letter (#21), Andrew expressing “One of the hardest weights for the heart to carry is the burden of unknowing, that distance between ourselves and the ultimate truth of things.” And Spencer replying (#22) “not knowing when the world will end (Matthew 24:36). Where God’s spirit will go next (John 3:8). Who’s going to heaven (Matthew 13:24-30). Even the people who do get to heaven will be surprised to learn why (Matthew 25:37-8). Basically on all the questions we’d most like to have definitively answered, we’re told: you don’t know.”
It seems Aristotle was right when he wrote at the beginning of Metaphysics, “All men by nature desire to know.”
And here, we see in a small squib of brain a near fractal example of almost infinite brain capacity. If a fractal is an infinite number in a finite space, then does our brain show us that no matter how hard we try we can never fully utilize all our capacity? And if we continue to try, isn’t that like what Adam was trying to accomplish when he took a bite of the apple? Is our unbridled desire to know everything leading us down that path? Or should we follow Aristotle’s advice and be virtuous with moderation? The desire to keep going is gluttonously compelling.
I would definitely have been grounded for organising those books. That would have made me go crazy.
I almost was!
God does indeed guide our lives in ways we will never know. And you have no idea how much I needed precisely this precisely today. 🙏
Looking back over the decades I can see this is true. Yet the choice is ours. Its one of those mysteries, that won't be solved until We Get Home. Then I expect to smack my forehead and say "Of Course! Its All So Simple. Why Didn't See It Before?"
BTW I expect to be doing this quite a bit. :-)
Beautiful. ♥️🙏🏻. Thank you.
I discovered the word “fractal” only recently, in the process of finding videos of kaleidoscopic imagery on YouTube with which to mesmerize my very young grandchildren. If I had to choose only two toys with which to furnish a child’s non-reading hours, it would be a stuffed animal to love and feel unconditionally loved by, and a kaleidoscope with which to connect to the Infinite in another way.
It’s such a great word—second only to palimpsest ;)
HA! I was just looking at kaleidoscopes to give to my grandkids for Easter (leave the candy for others to give). I've always had a kaleidoscope around to peer into.
What a fabulous grandparent you are👍. Lucky kids!
This reminds me of the "Fibonacci sequence of numbers and the golden ratio" which I only heard about in my 50s. I was fascinated with this mathematical concept that appears all around us, in the number of rows on an artichoke or petals on a flower. The golden ratio is apparent in the structure of the human body and is incorporated into architecture as well. It seems to me that God has left His fingerprints everywhere.
So beautiful. Hey Spencer. I wrote a little piece on infinite acts recently. The apostolic father Papias talked about it. Your fractal pattern of infinite possibility within a finite thing sounds like the human soul partaking in the Divinity of Christ. Referring souls in our times Papias states:
“The days will come in which vines shall grow, having each ten thousand branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each true twig ten thousand shoots, and in every one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and on every one of the clusters ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give five-and-twenty meters of wine. And when any one of the saints shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, ‘I am a better cluster, take me; bless the Lord through me.’ In like manner, [He said] that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear would have ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds of clear, pure, fine flour; and that apples, and seeds, and grass would produce in similar proportions; and that all animals, feeding then only on the productions of the earth, would become peaceable and harmonious, and be in perfect subjection to man.” - Papias
The Word, the Spirit, still alive and active and eternally creating, fractally, in space but also through time. I'll see your dust and raise you by overcoming (Eph 6) "..when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."
I recall in a very early letter (#21), Andrew expressing “One of the hardest weights for the heart to carry is the burden of unknowing, that distance between ourselves and the ultimate truth of things.” And Spencer replying (#22) “not knowing when the world will end (Matthew 24:36). Where God’s spirit will go next (John 3:8). Who’s going to heaven (Matthew 13:24-30). Even the people who do get to heaven will be surprised to learn why (Matthew 25:37-8). Basically on all the questions we’d most like to have definitively answered, we’re told: you don’t know.”
It seems Aristotle was right when he wrote at the beginning of Metaphysics, “All men by nature desire to know.”
And here, we see in a small squib of brain a near fractal example of almost infinite brain capacity. If a fractal is an infinite number in a finite space, then does our brain show us that no matter how hard we try we can never fully utilize all our capacity? And if we continue to try, isn’t that like what Adam was trying to accomplish when he took a bite of the apple? Is our unbridled desire to know everything leading us down that path? Or should we follow Aristotle’s advice and be virtuous with moderation? The desire to keep going is gluttonously compelling.