Home > Author > Esther Lightcap Meek
21 " It is intriguing that, in the Christian Scripture’s story of creation, God says, “Let there be . . .” and then there is. (This has nothing to do with the question of evolution; oughtness makes reality, however it comes about.) I can relate to this easily when I think of all the birthday party games I invented over my children’s young lives, and all the classes I have invented over my students’ lives. I have said plenty of “let there be’s,” which have brought realities to be. Also, when my daughters each said “I do” at their weddings, they said something normative; they generously let something be, and that brought reality to be. If all real things require a “let there be,” a normative dimension, they require a larger context of persons in which promise and covenant and gift pertain. "
― Esther Lightcap Meek , A Little Manual for Knowing
22 " To start to know is actually first a response to a dimly heard beckoning of the wonder-full real. If we can see knowing as a relationship between knower and known, we can see that reality makes the first overture. We can associate this call with our sense of wonder. "
23 " But we all have a unique way of seeing and relating to the world, too. We are each utterly distinct persons. Out of our distinct love, we notice distinct aspects of reality, and reality responds to us along the lines of our distinctive care. Also, we all view life from a vantage point at least slightly different from anyone else’s. And our experiences and training distinguish us from each other. Yet, as persons, we can share and delight in our differences. "
24 " This orientation alone yields rest and shalom in our adventures in knowing. Rest: We may be at peace with our own efforts to know—with their long journey, their incompleteness and particularity, with their dependence on others and on the real itself. We may be confident in our distinct contributions, and confident in the risk. We may delight in the venture. We may hope for and joy in deepening communion with the real. Shalom: This approach honors, heals, and transformatively cultivates the real itself. Humans and societies may hope to be healers and friends of the world. "
25 " Growing in knowing ourselves in relation to the world and to others means being strategically selective in our personal investments, attending to our own gifts and trusting the diverse gifts of others in our team. It means pledge-like guarding of other commitments we have already assumed. "
26 " In presuming that knowledge is a mental activity we tend to think of our body strictly as a mindless container—an object. Of course, we understand that our senses take in information and our brains process it. But we see this as mechanical. We actually think computers might duplicate how humans know. "
27 " In a college classroom, although it is rarely ceremonially observed or even noticed, there must be a moment where a student says, “Yes! I do hereby accept this challenge. I give myself to it and to what it requires. I pledge to trust the guidance of the professor, to guard my time to make a priority of the work that it will take to gain the skills and carry out the assignments. I pledge to listen deeply and humbly to the text. I pledge faithful support to my classmates. I pledge to be patient. What’s more, I pledge to allow myself to be transformed into what I am not yet. I pledge my troth to the reality I do not yet know. Where no pledge takes place, no education transpires. "