Winning Words 10/24/12
“There are no facts, only interpretations.”  (Nietzsche)  My earliest recollection of Nietzsche focused on his criticism of the Church.  Later, as I studied his life, I came to realize that he, like all of us, was the product of what had gone on in his life.  My home, my personal experiences, my teachers and the people I’ve met have served to interpret the “facts” of life for me.  Are you comfortable with interpretations?    ;-)  Jack

 FROM LG IN MICHIGAN:  Well, Jack, this one makes me feel uncomfortable... Does the statement "there are no facts" mean the same thing as "there is no absolute truth"? If so, then I disagree with it. Is my truth filtered through my worldview? Yes. But I still believe there is absolute truth, and I believe that truth is Jesus the Christ. My understanding of the truth shifts over time, but I don't believe the truth shifts--only my comprehension. I'm not sure this makes sense, because it's still early in the a.m., but I hope you have a great day today!////FROM JACK:  The point of today's WWs is to make us think about who or what has shaped what we believe.  That there is an absolute truth is a belief.  While I may believe that God is the absolute truth, I must accept the fact that God is beyond proof...is spite of the "God particle."////LG:  Ok, gotcha! ; )

 FROM MT IN PENNSYLVANIA:  Recently I read a book called 'A Brief History of Everything', by Ken Wilber, the modern writer and philosopher who developed 'Integral theory' and founded the Integral Institute. (The book was fascinating!) He writes in detail on the extent to which interpretation influences experience.
It is a fact that every infant is born an individual, with different levels of energy, activity, awareness, curiosity, and so on. These physical differences can result in very different interpretations of similar life experience. ////FROM JACK:  What a funny title for a book!  It's often said that historians make history say what they want it to say...and theologians etc.

FROM (SAINT) JUDY:  There are absolute facts.  It's a fact you will get burned if you stick your hand in a fire, elephants can't fly by themselves, some peppers are extremely hot, everyone is different, etc etc.  Some facts you can't change.  Jesus is our only Savior! But your personal feelings about facts can be influenced by your life-experiences.  Interesting fact!!!////FROM JACK:  On Oct 3, of my Ripley's "Believe It or Not" calendar, I read of a man who is able to direct a blow torch into his eyes without injury.  I wonder if he could also put his hand into a fire without injury?////JUDY:  I guess that's the part that you "Believe It or Not".  I would say "not".

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I am comfortable in the awareness that my interpretations, my meaning, and my perspectives are entirely limited viewpoints. This makes me more curious about expanding my perspective, i.e., seeking the Truth; all the while knowing I may have only gathered small bits of it. I think this also applies to Jesus' command to remove the beam from thine own eye. One can rightly understand that it is oneself that put it, and accumulated it, there in the first place. This is an example of the Freedom that accompanies Life: the freedom to respond --- even if it is untrue or simple fantasy. Can you hear the sound of the ancient shofar telling us all to "wake up!"? ////FROM JACK:  Acts 20:9 tells of a young man who went to sleep while Paul was preaching on and on and on.  He fell from a 3rd story window and died.  Sometimes preaching can lull people to sleep.  Perhaps we need better preaching...or a shofar.

 FROM MT IN PENNSYLVANIA:  A. Whitney Brown (who used to do the editorial commentary on the Saturday Night Live "news" segment) said: "History isn't what actually happened. It's only what people wrote about. So the reason that history repeats itself isn't fate, it's plagiarism."////FROM JACK:  Television is the interpreter for many people, whether it be comedy, documentary, or the news (both FOX and MSNBC)

FROM SAINT JAMES:  Once again, you have hit the nail on the head.  As I get older and watch friends and relatives do the same, the more I see that we simply become older versions of who we were as children.
 ////FROM JACK:  I don't know who said it, but it's sort of a fact..."We are who we were." ////JAMES:  That sounds like the famous Dennis Green quotation after he lost a football game that his team should have won:////FROM JACK:  That shoe fits many feet.

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  How can you interpret "facts" which don't exist?    Perhaps that is why the relativist is on the slippery slope to nihilism!////FROM JACK:  People interpret what they "see" as fact.  In all of life there are questions that remain unanswered.  On ancient maps of the "flat" world, the cartographer would write at the edge of the map..."Here is God."////HJ:  So, are you saying there are no "facts"?....only what we see as facts?   In that case, you are left with nothing real to interpret....in fact, you are left with nothing....Nihilism....Little wonder that Nietzsche made it there.....////JACK:  BTW, who has been your interpreter?////HJ:  How about Kant?////JACK:  I think it's interesting that Kant came out of a pietistic home.  The home often become an interpreter for many of us.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Being more comfortable with interpretations, for me, seems to also have come with being more comfortable with knowing Jesus hanging on the cross. He was surrounded with people's interpretations, both his supporters and detractors were limited in their human understanding and yet he was obedient even unto death and then rose again. Knowing that has helped me to live without needing so much to know facts and be completely sure of "truth". But I'm always glad when during the day some event pops up in which there seems to be a "meeting of our minds" with someone and peace.  Do you have peace meeting with Nietzsche' writings? I wonder if his criticism of the Church was the result of his great love for the Church?////FROM JACK:  I've always liked this description of the role of a pastor..."to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable."  I've tried to follow this advice when I write Winning Words.

 FROM HR IN MICHIGAN:  The earth is round, it revolves around the sun. Facts exist. Our problem is we choose them selectively and deny those that don’t serve our purpose.////FROM JACK:  I believe that the earth is round, and that it revolves around the sun, because I believe my interpreter.  I'm not a Mr. Know-it-all."  And, even that which I "know" is subject to revision.

 FROM MEDD-O-LANE:  My thinking agrees to a point.  I agree things are an interpretation until I experience them personally and then it does become a fact.  Example: I have been told that if I put my finger on a hot stove it will hurt, that is an interpretation until I actually do it then it becomes a fact.////FROM JACK:  I should wear a sign around my neck:  "Caution!  Mind under construction."////M:  I have been told that our brain capacity is far from being used.  But, like my computer that has a search program I can't seem to know how to recall all the knowledge there may be in my brain.

 FROM HAPPY TRAILS IN NOVA SCOTIA:  The human brain, including my own if not classified as subhuman, doesn't seem to be able to function without the shortcut of paradigms. Attempting to understand the results of observations against the paradigm(s) in use (all of which are used to filter evidence, sometimes filtering out the wheat and leaving the chaff if "the" paradigm is challenged by the evidence) seems to require interpretation.////FROM JACK:  I once saw this sign:  "Some minds are like concrete...all mixed up and permanently set."  Does that require interpretation?

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  Depends on who the interpreter is.////FROM JACK:  Exactly!

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  My daughter Sarah called us from Japan, after she had been teaching there a few months, and said, "I'm sure, if I had been raised here in Japan I'd be a Buddhist, or Shintoist, etc. just like they are; We are what we're raised to be!"  She had wonderful friends there, and  the scripture "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father...etc." bothered her. She started a Bible study inviting fellow teachers and friends. They seem to be inquiring and open-minded people. One  teacher became a Christian, but had not told her family yet, when Sarah left the country.../I like  the quote  by H.Jackson Brown (A Father's book of  Wisdom)  "All that mankind has ever learned is nothing more than a grain of sand on a beach that reaches to Infinity".  We have a long way to go...!~!////FROM JACK:  Hurray for Sarah!  Her mind is working.   "No one comes to the Father but by me" needs an interpreter.  There are many interpreters.  Then comes the question, "Who do you trust?"

 FROM LBP IN MICHIGAN:  A challenge of being a mother: defining and interpreting for the little ones who are learning.////FROM JACK:  Just as it was done for you.

FROM CJL IN OHIO:  It depends upon WHOSE interpretation is under consideration.  I suppose that a lot of that depend upon how much they agree with my own feelings & prejudices...////FROM JACK:  Were you born with those feelings and prejudices?////CJL:  I started out with the thoughts/prejudices of my parents and then started to form my own.  Sometimes they would agree with my parents.  I guess I'm the result of much experience: reading/studying/living....