MICHIGAN CITY - “It’s great to get your minds moving so that you’re thinking about things in a way that you normally don’t,” Father David Kime told his audience recently as they discussed beauty, goodness and truth.
“It keeps your brain synapses in order. This is exercise for your brain,” he added.
Nearly 40 people are getting their brains exercised during a six-session course titled, “Six Great Ideas” led by Father Kime, pastor of Queen of All Saints. The course, which began Jan. 15, is an opportunity for the participants to explore great ideas of Western thought. The course is based on the book of the same name by Mortimer J. Adler, a twentieth century American philosopher, educator and popular author.
Father Kime explained he used Adler’s works when he taught high school and thought it would be a great opportunity to offer Adler’s ideas to help people think better. “There are many people who don’t know how to think clearly, logically or rationally. I offered this course to augment people’s capacity to have rational thought,” he said.
He continued, “In our modern American society, people are trained to think mathematically and scientifically. They believe that truth is only really acquired by research in a laboratory. They forget there are other forms of truth that come to us through philosophical investigation. I wanted them to have the opportunity to arrive at truth outside of simply mathematical and scientific inquiry.”
The six great ideas that the class are delving into from the book include truth, goodness, beauty, liberty, equality and justice. Some topics the group have explored include: What is love? How do we make the right decisions? What does it mean to be good?
As the group discussed the correlation between goodness, beauty and truth, Father Kime asked the group why truth is sovereign of the three. After a short discussion, he shared that “the ideas of goodness and beauty flow from truth. If you don’t understand what truth is, you’ll never arrive at what goodness and beauty are. That’s why we place truth as sovereign of these three great ideas.”
The group discussed the idea that beauty and goodness are subjective, influenced by personal feelings or opinions, which doesn’t need to be debated. Father Kime used fruit as an example. “You like oranges, I like bananas, who cares. It’s a matter of taste. No reason to argue.”
When it comes to truth, it’s just the opposite. “Truth does merit debate because we want to arrive at a deeper, deeper understanding of truth,” he said. “We should be happy to enter into a debate with someone who disagrees with us. If they’re willing to actually enter into a real debate in which they use logic and reason so that in that debate we can arrive at a better course of action for both of us. Unfortunately, we don’t exist in that world sometimes.”
Father Kime commended the group for their efforts on a subject that tends to get deep. “They’ve been very thoughtful in their approach. I think they’re doing a great job because you really have to build one point on another in order to follow the logic of where Adler leads you, which can be very difficult.”
Rob and Heidi Szrom agreed that Adler is difficult to follow as they credited Father Kime for helping them understand.
“I’m still trying to determine if I’m too stupid or too smart to understand it. I’m not sure if I will ever come to a conclusion,” quipped Rob.
The Szroms are both Purdue University graduates in landscape architecture. When they saw the announcement for the class, their interest peaked. “Philosophy is something that never really occurred to us to study. That’s what attracted us to attend; it is something totally different.”
That wasn’t the only reason.
“Father Kime is a pretty good speaker and an interesting guy. He injects a lot of humor. He’s easy to listen to, especially for a subject like this, which is really sometimes difficult to understand,” said Rob Szrom.
“I’m not really crazy about the book, but I like listening to him talk about it,” said Heidi Szrom.
She noted the lack of discussion of the morality of truth, which was very difficult for her. “When you think of truth, you think of truth as Jesus Christ, but that’s not what Adler was writing about.”
Heidi further explained that while a number of people see the good life as wine and roses, her view is a little clearer. “The good life to me, as Father Kime was saying, is the life of a saint,” she said.
Caption: Participants listen to Father David Kime, pastor of Queen of All Saints in Michigan City, lead a discussion during the Feb. 5 class on “Six Great Ideas.” The six-session course is based on the book of the same name by Mortimer J. Adler. (Bob Wellinski photo)