This made me think of something I read a long time ago. In an area of mathematics--I'm not a mathematician so I hope I remember this correctly--called set theory, there is an axiom that in an infinite array, every individual member of the array has an equal relationship to the whole array as every other individual member. Now, if you wer…
This made me think of something I read a long time ago. In an area of mathematics--I'm not a mathematician so I hope I remember this correctly--called set theory, there is an axiom that in an infinite array, every individual member of the array has an equal relationship to the whole array as every other individual member. Now, if you were to group the individuals into finite sets of any size, from one to a bazillion, say, the individual sets would still have an equal relationship with the whole, no matter their composition. Curiouser yet, this would still work if the sets were all infinite. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities, and yet each infinite set has the same relationship to the whole infinite set as all the others. And that, it seems to me, reflects on the apprehension that all people are equal before God. So whenever I read someone quoting Jefferson's affirmation that all men are created equal, I have to think that Jefferson was on to something, the naysayers be damned. I don't think Jefferson was a humble man, but that statement makes me think he must at least have been capable of strokes of humility. I think most people are, actually. The operative word there being "most."
This made me think of something I read a long time ago. In an area of mathematics--I'm not a mathematician so I hope I remember this correctly--called set theory, there is an axiom that in an infinite array, every individual member of the array has an equal relationship to the whole array as every other individual member. Now, if you were to group the individuals into finite sets of any size, from one to a bazillion, say, the individual sets would still have an equal relationship with the whole, no matter their composition. Curiouser yet, this would still work if the sets were all infinite. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities, and yet each infinite set has the same relationship to the whole infinite set as all the others. And that, it seems to me, reflects on the apprehension that all people are equal before God. So whenever I read someone quoting Jefferson's affirmation that all men are created equal, I have to think that Jefferson was on to something, the naysayers be damned. I don't think Jefferson was a humble man, but that statement makes me think he must at least have been capable of strokes of humility. I think most people are, actually. The operative word there being "most."