Geometry existed before creation. (Plato)
Thinking about the musings from Day 172: Going Backwards With 1 Or With 2?…
I would submit to you that whether you are reading for business, school, pleasure, or all of the above, comprehension of what you read is important. I would further submit to you that sometimes, comprehension may not be fully attained until you re-read what you just read…
Whether it was today, yesterday, or many years ago.
For the last 18 years of my teaching career, I would finish up the content relating to the European Age of Discovery / Maritime Revolution, with the following bible verse:
22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: (Isaiah 40:22 KJV).
It was this bible verse that I would close with, concluding beyond a reasonable doubt, that all of the scientists during the Scientific Revolution: Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galilei and Newton, all used science to overturn centuries of scientific dogma:
The Ptolemaic model of the universe was wrong, and the Heliocentric model model was right.
It was this bible verse that I would use as an exclamation point, to show the students that the science proved that the Earth was not flat, like the majority of the peasant, uneducated class believed during this time period, but rather a sphere, which is what the scientifically literate now believed from the early 1700’s to the present.
For more details regarding the content covered regarding the Scientific Revolution, please refer back to the following posts:
Day 67: The Scientific Revolution – Part 1.;
Day 68: The Scientific Revolution – Part 1 – (Part 2). and;
Day 69: The Scientific Revolution – Part 1 – Conclusion.
And then, this bible verse showed up recently in a bible study with a high school friend of mine:
18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. (Isaiah 22:18 KJV)
And then, we continued on with the rest of our bible study of chapter 22 of the Book of Isaiah without thinking twice about what we had just read in Isaiah 22:18….
It wasn’t until several months later that I peeled back this layer using…
Geometry.
And geometry is not something that I am very good at understanding. The main reason for my lack of understanding all things geometry probably begins, (and ends), with the fact that I earned D’s in both semesters in my geometry class, during my sophomore year in high school.
And it was these D’s in both semesters in my geometry class, during my sophomore year in high school, (combined with several other classes…if I am truly being transparent here), that sent me hurdling towards the depth of mediocrity in the GPA rankings in my high school class of 1986. Despite this mediocrity, I was still able to earn a full, academic scholarship to a tiny college in Missouri, after putting ‘top 50% in my class’ on their, (along with many…MANY other), college applications….
Even today, almost 4 decades later, (I will in fact turn 56 in September of this year), I still use my poor geometry skills, or lack thereof, to get out of any hard work that has anything to do with…
Geometry.
And that, I would submit to you, is how I use geometry, almost 4 decades later, has come full circle in my life.
Now…let us turn the focus of coming full circle with me and my geometry grades, to coming full circle with Isaiah 40:22 and 22:18.
Or more specifically, full circle with Isaiah 40:22 and a ball in Isaiah 22:18.
And the best way that I can use my geometry skills, (or lack thereof), to show you what I have discovered recently, is to use the following two visuals below:
And:
So…after looking at the two visuals above, combined with your knowledge of geometry, the question that needs to be asked is this:
What is the difference between a circle and a ball?
Well, even someone with a D in high school geometry can answer that correctly:
A circle is a 2-dimensional object and a ball is a 3-dimensional object.
Knowing the difference between a 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional object can put everything that you know about the Heliocentric model of the universe…
Back into question all over again.
Do not feel discouraged if you cannot see the significance of what the 2 bible verses and visuals from the Book of Isaiah are telling, (or not telling), you. Do not feel discouraged if you cannot see the larger significance of what these 2 bible verses and visuals may, (or may not be), showing you after reading them. Instead, understand that after continuing the process of reading and viewing these 2 bible verses and visuals, combined with some basic geometry, , that you never though existed.
18 He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. (Isaiah 22:18 KJV)
Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?
Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 173: I Really Thought That I Was Done With Geometry!
If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.
Please feel free to go back to where all of this began: