Theological Science, Dialectical Thinking, and Thinking With Metaphors, I

When Nicholas of Cusa found that the concept ‘maximum’ is also ‘minimum,’ he confirmed that a ‘greatest thing’ never changes. With this discovery, Cusa found that a monotheistic God unifies all opposing concepts. With this discovery, Cusa concluded that Aristotle’s work on logic was wasteful because ‘maximum’ imposes a limit on our thoughts. This limit does not allow us to create concepts that are maximally different. Thus, many opposites we create are metaphors. And either/or opposites (e.g., inside/outside) become structures of thought for the metaphors we create.

I use the opposites ‘infinite’ and ‘finite’ to build a structure between God and God’s creation. These opposites coexist and tell us that an infinite thing is the origin or cause of all finite things. Other opposites help to build this structure. For instance, the concepts ‘identity’ and ‘difference’ help to build this structure between an infinite thing, which identifies and unifies all opposites, and all finite things, which differ.

The pair of opposites ‘true’ and ‘false’ also help to build this structure. With these opposites, we can say that an infinite thing holds truth whereas all finite things hold different falsities. Further, create the opposites ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and we can say that an infinite thing holds a good whereas all finite things hold different evils. Furthermore, create the opposites ‘Heaven’ and ‘Hell’ and we can say that an infinite thing exists in Heaven and that all finite things exist in different Hells.

In my recent blogs on the dialectical thinking of Kenneth Burke and Conrad Richter, one learns about their abundant use of metaphors. These writers also speak of other people in the arts and their use of metaphors to express their experiences. In my book, I also tell the reader that the teachings of Jesus Christ are dominated by metaphors. These wide uses of metaphors are very different compared to the reductionism of those scientists who are half-dialecticians, who are found today in the fields of physical sciences and life sciences.

As an electrical engineer, the recent breaking dam in Arizona from flowing water is a metaphor of a capacitor that breaks when electricity flows. Sciences are failing because many scientists are rejecting God and do not use metaphors. Reductions, such as reducing all human activities to money or reducing everything in the universe to a Big Bang particle could produce the failure of man. Reducing human life to the saying s of a scripture by religions could help produce that same failure of man. What is the US government doing to prevent this failure?