[Oe List ...] Salmon: My turn for a witness

[William Salmon]

What is theI'm never certain when it is my turn for a witness, but my birthday is on April 20. While the following is a bit more than a traditional witness, it is something that describes my relationship to the Mystery--which by-the-way, is becoming less mysterious because it knows more about me. Interesting. Bill

A reflection from Mr. Bill 
 

What is the 

PROBABILITY

of finding God in a math problem?

 

The Logic—

            3 Red marbles, 6 Blue marbles, and 1 White marble: 10 marbles in all. 

            What is the chance of drawing 3 Red marbles from a bag of 10 marbles. Assume that the marble you pick is not returned to the bag. 

            “Ah,” I reasoned, “If I take out one marble and do not return it to the bag, then I need to reduce the number of marbles in the bag by 1.  Viola!” 

            Ten chances of drawing any first marble is 1 in 10, so the chance of drawing one of the Red marbles is 3 in 10. The chance of drawing any next color is reduced to 1 in 9. But the chance of drawing a second Red marble is reduced to 3 in 9. Now, what is the chance of drawing a third Red Marble? Of course, I reasoned, now there are only 8 marbles in the bag, so the chance is 3 in 8. 

            The problem can be written as follows:

3/10 times 3/9 times 3/8 = 27/720 and divided by a factor of 9 is 3 in 80.

 

            Nice, eh? The only problem is this is the wrong answer because of faulty logic. 

 

            When my paper was returned from the math teacher this problem was red marked. She was kind enough to give me the correct answer as 1/120, but she did not tell me how to solve it. 

            When things like this happens, much more frequently than I like, I take the problem to a colleague/teacher who is both my supervisor and a mentor. She looked at the problem and rewrote it out on fresh paper. 

            “What you failed to take into account, “she observed, “is that BOTH the number of total marbles in the bag is reduced by one, but the chance of drawing a second Red marble also is reduced by one. When one of the 3 red marbles is drawn, there is only 2 chances in 9 of drawing another Red marble, and then only 1 chance in 8 to draw the last Red marble.

            Now the problem can be written as follows: 

            3/10 times 2/9 times 1/8 = 6/720 and divided by a factor of 6 is 1/120.

 

            For some reason, finding the correct answer temporarily lifted me into an experience of near euphoria, and I was taken aback. During the last two years I’ve expressed this puzzling experience to my mentor who just smiled. I’m certain she wondered about this crazy preacher turned Para. I interrupted my mentor’s demonstration and shared with her the following.

 

A little background—

            For the last 20 years of my life I’ve been exploring my inner spiritual cave using a tool I invented called Gut Trip Analysis. This is a process much like that used by the ancient Hebrews at the time of Jesus. Their worldview is experiential, existential and relational; this is why Jesus could call God “Father.” For the Jews, God is intimate (personal), immanent (in reality), and imminent (impending); God is as close as your breath (Genesis 2:7).

            The end result is that God is not absent in some “heaven,” but rather is evident at all times and places when we have the Awakened Eyes to see the presence of God in the mundane. 

            Gut Trip Analysis is contrary to the usual way we do current theology which I name as Head Trip Analysis. This approach uses a Greek worldview of Paul and the Early Church which is rational, cognitive and objective. For the Greeks, God is absent in a supernatural “heaven.” 

            The consequence of this shift from an absent God to an immanent God opened my eyes to see that God is in everything. Jesus understood this and named this experience as his “Father.” But in Algebra?

            Over the last two years I found an inner beauty in every problem. I kept exclaiming, “This is beautiful.” Some of my colleague Para’s wondered if all I did was to work problems. 

            The principle of Algebra is that both sides of the equation are equal; this is what the word “algebra” means. There are a million ways the ancient and the modern mathematicians reveal this reality. Science, medicine and space are the result. 

            At the moment when my mentor revealed the solution I experienced a wonderful insight; something akin to the Shadow of God passing over the page. How do I know? I know because of the sense of living At-One with all creation came over me; this is a deep sense of satisfaction. 

 

The problem defined—

            All of this is necessary in order to appreciate my relationship to math. My two years as a Para-Educator at Salina Central High School offered me a unique occasion to fill in a blank in my education. In the late 1940’s and early 50’s I had only the minimum of high school math necessary to graduate with a D. 

            Two years ago, when I was asked to mentor a Freshman high school student in Algebra I hesitantly agreed. As I began my preparation to work with this student I fell into a deep spiritual hole in which bright lights kept going off and on. Why? 

 

Finding God in the math--

            The longer I prepared the deeper the sense of satisfaction. The object of my affection was not for my own achievement; rather it was my affection for math. What I experienced in the math was the presence of God. This was my experience when my mentor revealed the solution. 

 

            A friend of mine said that my situation reminded him of the movie with Russell Crowe, “A Beautiful Mind.” Certainly, I could identify with the love of math demonstrated by the mathematician John Nash, but I quickly reminded my friend that I was not paranoid and schizophrenic. 

 

            (Say guys, let’s put this thing to bed and go eat. OK with you. Eh, eh, eh!)

 

            For whatever its worth. 

            Inner Peace,

            Mr. Bill

 
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