Meditation: time to think and ponder the truth, or as Richard Baxter so accurately describes it: the practice of aligning your heart with your mind. We know that certain truths are true, but do we take the time to ponder, meditate, and embody these truths in our hearts? This practice requires time; specifically quiet time.
I've been meditating on the wonders of the created order discovered in the mathematical world and in the process I have found myself challenged by my students. What a wonderful opportunity! I am delighted to be a part of their lives and hear their thoughts and questions. This past week, while reviewing quadratics a student commented "this made me think of the model of the heavens. I don't know why." Which launched a post class exploration of the connection between the heavens and the quadratics. I know that at some point Kepler made an appearance, and I dove into some mysteries in astronomy that we've been able to understand better because of conics, but was it a thorough leap? hardly. Am I still formulating thoughts about this? Absolutely. Learning doesn't stop for any of us.
Are you curious now? Do you want to know one of the many connections between conic relations and the heavenly spheres floating in space seemingly unconcerned with our troubles? Check out Kepler's second law of areas. At first it seems to be a difficult truth to understand, then it seems simple and obvious, until finally it leaps into the world of truth that requires meditation, for who can trust the heart to follow the mind?