1. of Reason and Awe Walking on the Edge Daryl Bambic yourlearningcurve.com philosophyforteens.pbworks.com Inspired by CBC’s Ideas 09/14/2010

2. We discover our world through reasonWe are also emotional beings

3. The ineffable To defy description, words are not enough Transcend language concepts

4. The Human Paradox Concealed within our reason, is something unknown. Imagine living in the ‘awe-filled’ state all the time.

5. Who’s going to take out the garbage?

6. Pre-Socratic Philosopher THALES “You don’t need God to understand the world.” THE WORLD IS A RATIONAL PLACE AND REASON IS YOUR FIRST TOOL.

7. Christopher DeCarloHow to Become a Really Good Pain … Be epistemically responsible

8. Episteme = Greek for knowledge Any monkey can have an opinion – Be responsible for your beliefs and question their truth.

9. Socrates: humble enough to admit he didn’t know; bold enough to challenge others that they didn’t either.

10. Plato’s unseen world of forms: the realm of absolutes is knowable by reason: the senses can be deceiving Math is not invented but discovered.

11. Aristotle’s syllogistic logic Wants to standardize Logic: Premise 1 = true Premise 2= true Conclusion= must be true.

12. Begins the Age of Enlightenment

13. Humanism: We don’t need God or the church to know what is true and goodReason is the key that unlocks human potential.

14. What might be a ‘rational conclusion to that belief?The Empire of Illusion: Is this society really better than those of the past?

15. The danger of utopian thinking:ethnocentric thinking (my tribe is better than yours)

17. Some use reason to support prejudice. Religious fundamentalists Allows no room for debate or dialogue Fundamentalism is a mindset that refutes any other ‘truth’ but their own. New Atheists (scientific fundamentalism) Allows no room for debate or dialogue Scientific fundamentalism does the same thing: example of Hawkins ‘memes’…no empirical evidence they exist

18. The sublime nature of realitygenerates a sense of awe and wonder We are a living miracle: the ineffable is a part of daily life. – Rabbi Michael Lerner

19. Susan Jacoby Why is an experience of beauty any different than other experiences? Why put them in a ‘transcendent’ category?

20. Narrator’s POV An inquiry into a question must begin with a presupposition. We make statements that presuppose things to be true without actually having proven them. Example: Will the party be any fun? This presupposes that parties CAN be fun.

21. Narrator: We can ask questions about the world that presuppose reason to be the only way to the truth. He maintains that experiences are possible that ‘feel’ to be more than that.

23. Rabbi Michael Lerner: The universe functions as a seamlessly integrated whole. This includes its physical and ethical dimension.

24. Chris Hedges: observes many of the world’s cultures try to respond to a common human experience – something that is transcendent and ineffable. Sometimes this awe is experienced as fear.

25. Art : articulate the unutterable

26. Ecclesiastes and its author: Kohelet(It’s an ancient question – what’s the point?

27. Value life and live the present

28. Who can understand everything? Susan Jacoby Believers say, “I don’t understand” but what they really mean is “I don’t accept it.” Then they ascribe it to MYSTERY. Dead is dead. Get over it. Reason helps us cope. Christopher DeCarlo A rationalist will refuse mystery because they see it as ignorance. Different ways of knowing: symbolic representation (like math) and other forms of reason will never get to the heart of the ‘mystery’ of life.

29. Why is there something when there could be nothing?

30. Martin Buber Faith is not about holding beliefs and doctrines about what you think is true. It doesn’t fit into a formula.

31. Worms in one pocket; angels in the other.

32. What do we know for certain?

33. Reason can only take us so far.

34. Reason enlivens the mind.

35. The ineffable enlivens the heart.

36. The true battle is not between reason and faith but between hope and despair.