The Story of an Ancient Classroom

The 13th chapter in the gospel of Matthew tells us the parable of the sower. I really like how this parable starts. Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Great crowds gathered around Jesus. And Jesus started to teach. Jesus did not teach inside the synagogue. Jesus chose a placr close to nature. A place close to the sea. Jesus did not choose a building. Jesus did not choose the temple. But Jesus chose as His classroom a place out in the open air, near the vast sea where you can hear the sound of the waves. Anyone could listen to Jesus. Jesus may have chosen to teach the vast crowds near the sea because maybe Jesus wanted as many people as possible to listen to Him. The difference between sitting inside a classroom and sitting in a classroom that does not feel like a classroom. The sound of the waves; the sound of a breeze blowing;the sand under your feet, boats out in the water in the distance. What a wonderful place to sit and listen and learn from Jesus. When great crowds gathered about Him Jesus got into a boat and sat down. I hope you enjoyed reading about this beautiful classroom.

I think therefore I am: Rene Descartes

Rene Descartes the 17th century French philosopher is after certainities or truth in the field of metaphysics which is a field of philosophy that has to do with the ultimate reality of all things such as being, existence, reality sense, knowledge etc. This is a field of study which has to do with reality that cannot be studied in an objective or scientific manner. Material reality can be studied in an objective manner. His work in the field resulted in the famous principle I think therefore I am. This is considered as the foundation of knowledge. Descartes felt that a lot of our thoughts have no basis in reality. Our senses deceive us. There is nothing really in existence as it is presented to us. He also felt that as humans we can fall into faulty reasoning. We can think of as true that which is not true and as false that which is true. He also felt that the things presented to him while awake could also take place while asleep. So that which he consideres real could be illusory. Even in finding solutions to geometrical problems he was liable to error. So he almost reached the conclusion that everything in this world is false. His hands and feet could be false. Just as he thought this he had another thought. This thought was that although the reality of what he thought could not be proved his own reality or the reality of his own existence could be proved because he thougbt and he could not possibly think without existing. He realised that he Descartes who thus thought about the reality of other things could be something. Descartes arrived at an affirmative truth about the reality of his own existence by doubting everything. This is the famous statement cogito ergo sum, or I think therefore I am. Since Descartes found certainty for his existence in the truth that he could think, thinking is an affirmative activity. So think your way through life. Hope you enjoyed reading about how Descartes arrived at the certainty of his own existence. Thanks for reading this!

Small Flowers

I wrote a simple description about a plant I plucked from the grass. I placed the stem of the plant in a jar of water. The base of the stem was in water. Two leaves both brown and drenched and wilting were sticking to the stem. There are several empty sepals at this place where these two brown leaves are drenched and sticking to the stem. The next node is a little distance up and here too two dry leaves are bent down and drenched in water. There are sepals here also. Sepals are the green things that hold a flower. At first I thought they were curled up leaves. In the next node one leaf is dried up and the other leaf is green and has brown and yellow color changing the color of the green. In the next node there are two leaves and both leaves look almost healthy and almost entirely green. One leaf is larger than the other. At the edges these leaves are wilted. The smaller leaves also have a tinge of yellow. Yellow and brown suffuses the green. The next node is very close to this node and in this node there is a small leaf and a larger leaf and the larger leaf is yellow and has bits of brown on it. The next node is very pretty because it is where the flowers start. There are purple flowers here. The flowers are small, soft, and fragile. I don't know if the petals are arranged in a circle. There are several petals on one side and several or one large petal on the other side. The next node which is very close to this node has one flower and two leaves. There are lots of empty sepals all along this stem. At the very top node there are no flowers. Two leaves spread out in two different directions and two leaves close together as though they are two hands. At the very top the stem bends ever so slightly and ever so gracefully in one direction. Stems of plants are usually round. This stem is square. This is a plant that grows by itself amidst the grass. It's small flowers are like jewels or gemstones that decorate the grass. I hope you enjoyed reading my simple description of a plant.