On Ф

Phi is a Greek letter: Ф.

Ф shows up all over the place. You've all seen it... you might just not be aware of it.

Supposedly, Ф is the most pleasing ratio to the human eye. Many paintings and buildings have been built, whether on purpose or by coincidence, according to the dimensions of Ф. A rectangle that is drawn according to this ratio will have sides, say, of 10cm and 16.18cm. I could go into how to calculate it, but that would not be exciting for too many and if you really want to know, look up the "Golden Ratio."

The fascinating thing is that this ratio shows up everywhere:

- The head of a sunflower is packed with seeds according to Ф in order to maximize space.

- The leaves on most flowers rotate around the stem according to Ф in order to get the most out of every drop of rain and sunlight.

- The human body is full of golden ratios simply because we perceive it to be pleasant.

- As a result portraits also use the Golden Ratio, especially, the Mona Lisa.

I could mention the pyramids, the Parthanon, various sea creatures and apparently, even the music of Mozart.

What boggles my mind is that our universe was created to fit so perfectly with this one particular ratio in mind and that we have been conditioned to find it pleasant. Truly we have a God who set things up to work in the best possible manner and is pleased to see us be pleased as well!

On Questions

One of my favorite activities is the investigation game where a situation is presented and you have to figure out what happened using yes/no questions. It really forces a person to think creatively and usually by the time you figure it out, you're thinking, "Why didn't I think of that earlier?" The problem most people have in figuring these out is that they try to ask questions that answer the whole thing at once. That rarely works. Instead, to solve these situations, you have to ask specific questions and slowly build your solution.

I've always felt that the most important ability anyone can have is to ask the right questions. No matter what the subject area is, if you can ask the right question, you're well on your way to understanding the subject. For example, an excellent question for grade 10 geography would be, "How does glacial movement in the last Ice Age affect population patterns in Canada?" But to answer that question, you have to first answer a number of smaller questions: How did the glaciers move? What effect did that have on the landscape? What population patterns exist in Canada? etc... You can't answer the big question without breaking it down into smaller chunks.

Thus, the theory would state that any question, no matter how big, can be broken down into a series of smaller questions... but is that really the case?

We were told today that everyone has a question that is so big that it has no business going away... the type of question that defines our dreams... the type of question that nobody really has a definitive answer to, though many try. Like:

How can people successfully live in deep community?
How does a person serve God while working in a secular environment?
and so on...

Now, we all have quick answers for questions like these, but rarely does someone actually live out what the quick answers say. So the answer to a question like these is really more of a lifestyle... a constant commitment to living out what we think the answer should be.

So, what does a Christian teacher look like in a public school?