The Beholder— An Exercise in Beauty and Truth
Embracing art, science religion
“The mission of art, science and religion alike is to teach us to see the beauty in everything that’s true, not just in what happens to be pretty.”
W— Timothy Ferris ( b. 1944) Physicist, lawyer, Pulitzer Prize– winning science writer
e try not to take beauty for granted here on our gulf coast. After all, we are surrounded by talk- stopping scenery, traffic- stopping wildlife, schedule- stopping shops, appetite- stopping restaurants and— in late summer weather— a chance for heart- stopping hurricanes. As a result, we regularly take the time to pay attention to our lovely surroundings. Even in the wake of the three major storms that hit us since 1960, this habit was strengthened; when deprived of electricity one’s daily “program” gets put on “pause” ( think
snow day up north). All too often, though, we get spoiled by a string of good weather days and, like most Americans, get caught up in our schedules— we move too fast to look for beauty. The literary naturalist John Burroughs nailed it when he said, “We can outrun the wind and the storm but we cannot outrun the demon of hurry.” So, it is in the spirit ( geist) of our times ( zeit) that we take a lesson from stormy days in the past to help us live calm days in the present: to slow down and look around. To find breathtaking scenery, here are three sights to seek out.
1 . Contrary to the false view that the main goal of a day is to complete an agenda— checking off boxes on a “to do” list that makes money and meets our physical needs— is the vision of art. Whether as visual, musical or the written word, art invites rapt attentiveness. It leads us to introspection, which is not at all a weak, self- centered act but an assertion of ethical strength. Through art the mind observes from a fresh perspective, experiences moods swung by sound and imagines lives other than its own.
2. Contradicting the superficial observation that the world is basically a machine, lurching ahead through dead and empty space in a one- way tunnel of moments marching in lockstep, are the mysterious but undeniable insights of science. Modern physics, peering unafraid into the mini- puzzles of subatomic quanta and the maxi- marvels of universal cosmology, has visualized: a) that space is alive, dancing with stories; and b) that time is an illusion, a series of energy events that are carrying reality ( like a mighty river flowing) into ever more elegant complexity. Ours is a cosmos where nothing is wasted, and everywhere, all the time, there is the presence of chance and the influence of free- willed mindfulness.
3. Clarifying the blurred, dark depiction of the purpose of life as survival of the species or self- preservation, or simply the avoidance of pain and enhancement of pleasure, are the bright,
penetrating projections of healthy religion. Throughout history and from around the planet bursts of reassuring light have shimmered as steadily as the stars to illuminate human existence. These beams of enlightenment show the way to ultimate value: eternal personal growth and mutual service.
When we get too busy, it is as if we are wearing a dull, scratched- up pair of forgotten glasses on our nose. Slowing down and learning from our mentors is like taking off those old specs, rubbing our eyes and learning to see all over again. Art, science and religion encourage us to exercise our imagination, to heighten our awareness of how everything works together in a rhythm of pulsating evolution, and to trust the warmth of eternal dignity and mutual caring.
When we refocus our mind’s eye, train our senses and pause to behold, we can see what poet John Keats affirmed: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”… whether it comes developed by nature, designed by an artist, fashioned by a decorator, composed by a musician, expressed by an author, perceived by a scientist, contrived by an engineer, speculated by a philosopher, willed by the power of compassion or rustled up by a cook!