K: KINEMATICS

Kinematics is physics with work clothes on! It is mathematics of motion considered separately from mass, force, or causation. This branch of physics doesn’t ask why; it rather focuses on how—with implications towards how to harness! The sound of the word itself invokes thoughts of machines with pulleys, pistons and gears, and that is appropriate, for the equations of kinematics are the real machines that generated our industrial age. Just the title of one of the many books by the 18th century Swiss math pioneer, Leonhard Euler, tells us all we need to know about kinematics. He called it, “The First Great Work in which Analysis is Applied to the Science of Movement.” It was Andre-Marie Ampere, for whom the electrical current unit “amp” is named, who invented the word (and in French, it was cinématique, which I think should be an upcoming Cirque du Soleil show title), but the origin was the Greek, kinema, which simply means MOTION! Sometimes in life we who are the deepest of thinkers need to get a little kinematic to maintain balance. So many of us, especially those whose inner worlds seem to demand it, have made a science of considering those things that kinematics seeks to avoid. We have analyzed our own “mass” and “force,” making detailed inner studies of exactly who we are and how we are, including special note throughout of the effects of our unique characteristics on other people! (It is all very empirical and the data is overwhelming when we do that study!) We have also become experts on asking questions of causation. To the person given to cosmic reasoning, “Why?” is never a stranger. But there comes a time when too much study and no action will hold back even the progress of our study. MOTION can be studied apart from the particulars. I find it incredibly comforting that someone dared to blaze a trail that was dedicated to motion and developed these equations that release progress (the actual math that produced a steam engine and CHANGED THE WORLD), even before the other fine points were fully debated and figured out. Kinematics says to me, “You’ll never figure everything out—but you can move on!” And that approach makes sense because there are certain things about yourself and life that may only be appreciated when you are moving off of high center. I am a great (so great) ponderer and wanderer, and my musings are laced with Spirit, and are a fulfilling part of my communion with God. But I could never be satisfied with mere pondering that never puts work clothes on. I may not always know how to perfectly balance my rhythm of analysis and action, but at least I know there must be a balance. There is kinematics to be generated from my inner world, as well as the theoretical stuff. The life of the mind needs outflow! It is quite alright to sometimes set aside the exact descriptions of your own force and mass to get up off the couch and just move things through space and time---push a mass through a distance—do work—bend spacetime! I have often thought this is why I enjoy the gym, particularly the weight lifting part. It is fulfilling to simple MOVE mass through space—just because you have the muscle to do it! God’s pleasure is as often released in motion as it is in sitting still, for BALANCE is part of the motion! All that I’m saying here is a great play in the theatre of grace—a concept that is both so incredibly hard to grasp and exceedingly simple at the same time. I have met so many people who are so ready to argue about grace and I find that the saddest irony of all, because true grace is the silencer of argument. Grace comes to us and offers motion that is possible APART FROM the particulars of your own arguments! It offers the physics of possibility, saying, “There is universal positive motion and progress that is within your reach, despite the factors that seem to disqualify you—despite your acquired masses of guilt or shame or your raging emotional force of pain and anger from past hurt!” Grace says, “Let’s just move together and we’ll sort out some of the causation along the way.” (One can, if one is a DMB fan, hear Dave in the background singing to the girl sitting alone in the corner, “Come and dance with me….” That’s what grace does.) There is grace in the design of the universe because things still work according to universal laws, regardless of the particulars. Though life is best when examined and there are glorious things to be learned from openhearted self-discovery, bogging down in self-analysis does no good. If the mass and force and causation of your SELF is holding you back from MOTION, then its time to take a break. Sometimes it is just that burst of KINETIC energy that results once inertia is overcome that will supply the needed spark to bring a new arrangement of the puzzle pieces, new proximities of the thought-blocks. It is okay to participate even when you don’t fully understand. The industrial age and all the modern marvels that we enjoy didn’t erupt because someone fully understood, but rather because they saw some universals with potential! Someone valued motion and uncluttered the playing field. Sometimes that’s the path, even for the very reflective.