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Issue 6, Spring 2020 et Spiritus MIT’s journal of Christian thought beauty. spring 2020 featuring: spinning creation. why there is no meaning. being good stewards. 1 editor’s note. Dear Reader, Spring 2020 | Issue 6 Thank you so much for reading this issue of et Spiritus. I’ll be honest, I struggled somewhat to figure out what to write for this Editor’s Note. This current issue of et Spiritus suffered from major production delays and when the time for publishing finally arrived, I was feeling somewhat disheartened. The theme of this journal is beauty, and the production delays and last-minute rush to publication seemed anything but beautiful. But then, as I searched for scriptural inspiration for this Editor’s Note, I ran across this verse: “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This piece of scripture truly struck a chord with me, for a variety of reasons. Contact The culture we live in is obsessed with beauty. Every day we are bombarded with [email protected] advertisements, movies, music videos and podcasts all advising us on how to “glow up” and “get slayed”, how to optimize our physical beauty in a variety of ways— Website & Blog www.mitetspiritus.org endless hours at the gym, cosmetics, surgical procedures, and more. We live in a society preoccupied with beauty. But then, stepping back from the Instagram fil- Discuss with us ters, we must ask ourselves: does this production we spend billions of dollars on We look forward to hearing from our each year really represent beauty? More importantly, does it represent beauty in readers! All of our writers would be more than happy to meet with their the terms and ways God intended? A cursory glance around us would quickly prove readers individually. If there is a partic- the answer to that is no. ular piece that you would like to com- ment on, please refer to our website. So I would like to share something about beauty that I hope you ponder as you Write for MIT et Spiritus read this issue: beauty, true beauty, takes time to develop. Now in the day when an We are open to submissions of article Instagram filter or a few minutes with Photoshop can contour a face, erase scars, abstracts or artwork. Though we are or alter the shape of one’s nose, and diet pills and exercise regimens promise fast a journal of Christian thought, we do payoffs, the idea that developing beauty takes time is the last thing anyone (includ- hope to incorporate thoughtful per- spectives that are not solely Christian ing me!) wants to hear. But God’s idea of beauty is different from ours (“Man looks with the hope of better understanding at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart”) because He focuses on and promoting dialogue. The MIT et the inner person. True beauty to Him is a heart that is aligned with His word and Spiritus reserves the right to refuse any His message. And the truth is, developing a heart for God takes time. 2 Corinthians submission. Please refer to our website 4:16 says, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being re- for submission details. newed day by day,” implying that growing closer to God is a process that takes time Disclaimer and many lessons. This can be difficult, especially when God takes us on journeys The opinions expressed in the MIT et that seem anything but nice—“the valleys of the shadow of death”, if you will. But Spiritus are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the jour- if we are patient and let God do His work, He will make things beautiful “in His nal, its editors, or MIT. time.” And that is an idea that I held onto as this issue went into its final stages of production—that despite my foibles, God would make this issue and me beautiful Acknowledgement in His time. MIT et Spiritus is made possible by sev- eral generous donations. I pray that this is a thought that comes to your mind when the world around you, Cover image from a photograph by your circumstances, or your own actions appear anything but beautiful. As you Dan Dill turn your heart towards God and trust Him, He will make things beautiful—in His time. Happy Reading! Sincerely, TojumiOluwa Adegboyega, Editor-in-Chief Towa is a senior studying Aeronautics and Astronautics. She is from Buffalo, New York, and enjoys reading, histo- ry, politics, and finding unique sets of earrings. 2 table of contents. spinning creation. so that your joy may be complete. zion perry emily cimmino 4 22 why there is no meaning. my journey to catholicism. austin wang hope chen 7 26 the monastic life. lessons in communal living. adam estes laura koemmpel 14 31 emptiness. being good stewards. ronald davis iii matthew turner 20 35 et Spiritus team. Hope Chen, Writer Hope is a recent graduate of the Class of 2019 who stud- Richard Ibekwe, Treasurer, Designer ied Mechanical Engineering/ Biomedical Engineering. She Richard is a PhD student in Nuclear Science & Engineer- is currently in Taiwan teaching English to primary school ing. He is from the United Kingdom and enjoys reading students for a year. Hope enjoys running, making music, about and discussing domestic and foreign politics. and spending time with family and friends! Emily Cimmino, Writer Emily is a recent graduate of the Class of 2019, course Laura Koemmpel, Writer 2 (mechanical engineering). She is currently serving as a Laura just graduated in math as a part of the undergrad- campus missionary at the University of Pennsylvania with uate Class of 2019. She’s currently working for a startup FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. teaching computers how to perceive indoor spaces. In her Emily loves running, dancing, exploring new places, and free time she enjoys being outdoors, reading, building spending time with family and friends! things, and finding entertaining paint color names. Zion Perry, Writer Ronald Davis III, Writer, Designer Zion is a senior studying Biological Engineering and Ronald is a first year PhD student in the EECS depart- is a part of Cru. She loves seeing the Kingdom of God ment researching in photonics. In his free time he enjoys permeate every aspect of life, especially STEM. She video games, tennis, theology, and hiking. enjoys hiking, journaling, playing the flute, and observing katydids. Matthew Turner, Writer Adam Estes, Writer Matthew is a junior studying Computer Science and Adam is a senior studying electrical engineering and is a Economics. In his free time he enjoys hiking, skiing, and member of the Tech Catholic Community. Besides electri- traveling. Matthew’s travels recently led him to spend a cal engineering, he enjoys studying philosophy, theology, summer in Israel, where he accidentally swallowed over 20 and Church History. edamame pods until a bewildered waitress informed him of the proper way to eat his appetizer. Austin Wang, Writer Elena Gonzalez, Design Lead Austin is a dual-enrolled undergraduate senior and 6A Elena is a sophomore studying business analytics and M.Eng. student studying computer science, currently public policy. She loves being part of the InterVarsity com- serving as president of MIT Asian Christian Fellowship. munity, and in her free time she enjoys singing with the Outside of faith and spending time with friends, he is people on her floor, going for walks, and admiring maps. passionate about robotics and loves watching them fight each other on TV. 3 MIT et Spiritus Amino acid crystals (L-glutamine and beta-alanine), Justin Zoll spinning creation. It’s a typical day in my biology research lab. within this one cell, crowding and pushing To prepare my next experiment, I pipette var- past one another as they faithfully carry out ious volumes of mostly clear, colorless liquids all my cellular processes. Right now, proteins from one tube to the next. I become so focused like myosin in my muscles are helping me to on transferring the correct volumes and fol- smile, endonucleases are fixing DNA dam- lowing a protocol that I begin to lose sight of aged merely by breathing,2 and photopsins in the sacredness of my work—for with this very my retinas are allowing me to see this page. work, I am studying creation. So I stop and re- My body is a living masterpiece, created by mind myself that within a few microliters of God the Artist to not just work but to be excel- solution, there are swarms of precious protein lently detailed and beautiful and “very good”.3 molecules swirling with energy, despite my present tiredness. This small volume I hold in How might you and I be inspired and learn my pipette tip is full of beauty and excitement! about God from these molecules that com- prise 16% of our bodies?4 To rephrase natural- I then raise my hand to eye level and try to ist Henry David Thoreau, “I went to the pro- imagine all of the proteins reacting and carry- teins because I wished to live deliberately, to ing out their work at the nanoscale. If I zoom front only the essential facts of life, and see if into one skin cell, the scene comes bursting I could not learn what they had to teach, and to life: a couple billion1 proteins are teeming not, when I came to die, discover that I had not 1 Milo, R. & Phillis, R. (2015). How many proteins are in a cell? In Cell Biology by the Numbers.

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