PHILOSOPHICAL and MATHEMATICAL ESSAYS

Meru Foundation findings have strong philosophical implications which can shed light in many fields – approaches to science, spirituality, and even social and political issues. Inspiration for these articles can come from halacha, philosophy, and even mathematical functions. (Material inspired by Dini's Surface can be found here.)

Essays on Learning and Literalism

Philosophical and Mathematical Essays

Spirals as Metaphors

Informal Essays and e-list Postings

Jewish-Interest Essays and e-list Postings


Essays on Learning and Literalism:
How the method by which we learn affects what we learn.

Learning by Copying vs. Learning by Reading ©1997 Stan Tenen
Hands-on vs. text-based learning -- how does this affect our perspective?
2 Jan 1998

Scientists and Wordsmiths ©2003 Stan Tenen
Natural sciences, and  humanities: different approaches to learning,
and their consequences for our culture and our world

A Few Notes on Literalism ©1994 Stan Tenen
What does it really mean to take the teachings
of our religious traditions literally?
13 July 1997

A Purloined Letter: The Evidence is Not Hidden ©1999 Stan Tenen
How the Geometric Metaphor has been missed by
textually-based study
March 1999


Philosophical and Mathematical Essays

DAMNING BY FAINT PRAISE  ©2003 Stan Tenen
What Meru Foundation research is good for -- and what it's not proposing -- and why.
8 October 2003

MAN BITES DOG ©1996 Stan Tenen
An Essay on the Unusual
26 Feb 1997

The PURPOSE of PRAYER ©1997 Stan Tenen
13 July 1997

The FOUNDATIONS of JEWISH SURVIVAL ©1997 Stan Tenen
Each organ in the body politic is necessary
for the survival of the whole
13 July 1997

Determinism vs. Free Will ©2003 Stan Tenen
Email excerpt: Comments on the classic question
3 August 2005

The Dirac String Trick – First Hand
Graphical essay on the Dirac String Trick and the First Hand model
depicted as connections between an in-sphere and an out-sphere
7 December 1997

The Most Asymmetrical Spiral ©1997 Stan Tenen
What does it mean to search for the most extreme contrast
between symmetry and asymmetry?
27 April 1999

Dini's Surface, Mt. Sinai, and the Human in the Gorilla Suit ©1997 Stan Tenen
Comments on Dini's Surface, Generational Unfurlment,
and Speculations on the Spiritual Nature of Evolution
13 October 1997

Who Wrote the Bible? ©1994 Stan Tenen
9 Dec 1996
An outline of one implication of Meru Foundation findings


Spirals as Metaphors

Some Notes on the Logarithmic and Golden Mean Spirals
and their relationship to "Sacred Geometry"

Addendum, September 1997

The Most Asymmetrical Spiral, ©1977 Stan Tenen
Why the reciprocal spiral is the most appropriate metaphor for spiritual growth
May, 1977



Informal Essays and e-list Postings
The Meru Foundation participates in a number of electronic discussion lists focused on science and consciousness, or science and spirituality.  From time to time, in process of responding to questions posed on these lists, Mr. Tenen writes impromptu mini-essays, discussing focused aspects of our work in greater depth than is possible in a more general essay.

Alternatives to Biblical Scholarship
e-list posting, December 1999
This essay was first published in the e-list Meta-Reiterations, in December 1999, as part of a discussion of
the methods and assumptions of current academic Biblical scholarship. Specifically, Stan Tenen argues against
the assumption that the Hebrew Biblical text was edited together over centuries.  He offers an alternative thesis,
and presents examples of meaning that can be uncovered once the scholarly assumptions of an edited, redacted text are set aside.
This alternative way of examining the Biblical text -- as one whole unit, where each letter and word has meaning in its place --
is central to the Meru thesis about the origin and nature of the Hebrew alphabet and the Biblical text.

When is the Textual Approach Not Appropriate?
e-list posting, April 2000
This essay was first published in the e-list Meta-Reiterations, in April 2000, as part of a discussion of the methods
and assumptions of current academic Biblical scholarship.  In this piece, Stan Tenen argues that the Five Books of Moses
should be analyzed using different tools than those used to study other writings which are considered to be Western
sacred texts, because the nature, and structure, of those Books differs in a profound and fundamental way.

On Immortality
e-list posting, May 2000
The essay below was first published in the e-list Meta-Reiterations, in May 2000.  In this piece,
Stan Tenen introduces a possible mechanism for the survival of aspects of the soul beyond physical death .

Which Way Up?
Informal Essay, September 2000
We want to grow, spiritually and emotionally.  How do we recover from distraction, and renew our focus?

The Three Pillars of Love
Informal Essay, May 2001
Is "unconditional love" really unconditional?  What are the components of higher love?


Jewish-Interest Essays and e-list Postings

Eating Our Words:  A Purim Drash, 2002

HOQ -- July, 2002

Shabbos and Resonance -- June 2001


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