ToK Essay Titles May 2020 Prompts 2 & 4: Part 2
TokTutor • 29 October 2019
The ‘negative way’ of describing the divine: Part 2
So far, we’ve explored the idea of describing something in negative terms in a very abstract way. What does kataphatic and apophatic description look like? Two good examples
are the sixteenth century Spiritual Exercises
of St. Ignatius Loyola and the mystical work of an unknown author of the fourteenth century who wrote The Cloud of Unknowing.
The ‘apophatic’ tradition of mysticism in the Christian context has its parallels in eastern mysticism
too. Lao-Tse opens the mystical poem, Tao Teh Ching, ‘the Tao that can be spoken is not the Tao’, suggesting that the Tao, the way of all being, is beyond the human ability to describe things. Similarly, in the Buddhist scriptures, Buddha describes nirvana, the goal of Enlightenment, in terms of what it is not: not only is nirvana
beyond ordinary human existence, it is also something which cannot be described or explained in terms of images or concepts we commonly use to share human experiences. Finally, in Hindu scriptures, like the Upanishads, the ultimate reality of Brahman
which the knower seeks is also beyond human description and comprehension. Brahman
is hidden behind the forms of nature and the names we give to it and only reveals itself to those who practise the strictest discipline in the rituals of prayer and contemplation required to find union with it.
Let’s end by returning to the distinction between kataphatic and apophatic descriptions of the Divine. Remember that they are two parts of a whole process and that we only have our limited human language to help us make sense of God. Thus, in terms of the affirmative, positive theology, every word we use to describe some quality of the human world of experience can be used analogously to describe God: ‘good’, ‘whole’, ‘light’ and ‘truth’. However, in the very saying of these descriptions, the seeker of God realises that God transcends all such descriptions. In terms of the of negative theology, unsaying through use of words such as ‘darkness’, ‘void’, ‘emptiness’ and ‘nothingness’ acknowledges that God is wholly Other to anything the human mind can contain, something unimaginable.
The words become signposts to the state of unknowing in which the Divine fleetingly reveals itself, as T.S. Eliot poetically wrote towards the end of Little Gidding: ‘Not known, because not looked for/But heard, half-heard, in the stillness/Between two waves of the sea.’ Sometimes the experiences is more muted, as Ludwig Wittgenstein seemed to imply poignantly about reaching the limits of language in his Tractatus: ‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.’
Thinking about the various challenges involved when experts transfer knowledge between contexts creates various challenges for the experts who and whether or not they underestimated these challenges. Does the analogy of growing tomatoes help understand the question?
‘Fresh’ has the connotations of ‘new’ or ‘innovative’. And when something new arrives into the world, it’s usually accompanied by change. Often it’s hard to measure the impact of change until time has passed and we can look back with the cool, detached eye of objectivity.
Human beings are at the centre of the knowledge universe. This is why in your TOK studies everyone explores the ‘Core Theme’. Figure 3 pictures ‘Me as a knower and thinker’. Anyone who pursues knowledge, whether an expert or not, will at some point have to reflect on the fact that there are various factors, both internal and external, which either promote or constrain their endeavours.
Do we truly need custodians of knowledge, those who safeguard and preserve our collective wisdom throughout time?
Let’s look at two alternative senses in which knowledge might be acquired within ‘bubbles’. One within the Natural Sciences. The other with the Arts. In the former, we explore the notion of scientific 'paradigms'. In the Arts, we look at the notion of 'storyverses' or fictional worlds into which we imaginatively immerse ourselves...
HS experts are supposed to be trained to communicate difficult knowledge about mental health conditions and yet our expectations sometimes ignore the fact that diagnosing and treating mental illnesses is a messy business and not always easy. New tech allows experts to create visualisations which in turn can be helpful in communicating the complexities of a case and potential treatments...
Artists are like magpies who copy from other artists. This form of ‘copying’ is the broad sense of the term ‘replicability’ in this Title. From one point of view, such ‘replication’ leads to the creation of original works of art which make us see the world anew. From another point of view entirely, such copying borderlines on artistic plagiarism, fraud or forgery...
Exploring how a song about apartheid turned into an anthem, voicing the strength of those who have been marginalised from society, sometimes in a violent way. To what extent does such exclusion actually help build resilience and self-knowledge? How far is it harmful?
There is a branch of knowledge, akin to pseudo-scientific knowledge like ‘flat Earth theory’, in which one can seem to have absolute certainty and full confidence, because the truth of that knowledge is somehow ‘guaranteed’ or ‘underwritten’ by a higher power. Faith-based knowledge.
Now, consider a clichéd example when we seem to have the utmost certainty and confidence in knowledge and they both seem to be moving in the same direction: 2 + 2 = 4. On the one hand, this is something you cannot doubt, isn’t it? You know this with 100% certainty.. You might actually be very confident about your knowledge...