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Grey Matter: Putting Science into Art 4/17/2010 6:24:23 AM
When I compare my English literature classes to my Mathematics lessons there is a sharp contrast in every sense! According to my GCSE results in high school it would be obvious to anyone that I favored science over art. However what I discovered very early on in my life was while art was something that I could feel and understand, science was something that gave me a challenge. In other words I used art to relax my brain and science to sharpen it. I could not do without either of them for they both made my life interesting. Today I remember the outdoor reading lessons we had for English literature and I am even further strengthened in my conviction that art certainly played its role in relaxing my mind.
Our English teacher was one of those ladies that always needed particular scenery to make her point. By early afternoon we would carry our chairs and walk into the park listening to the birds and the ocean that wasn’t very far from our school playground. We sat around her fascinated by her voice as she read through great books like Pride and Prejudice and we all relived a time beyond our dreams. There was often the odd distraction in the park as a squirrel darted from one tree to the next or when a lizard would run rapidly beneath our seats and the silence in the background would be interrupted by our laughter. Our teacher would always have something saved for those moments.
‘Hope it did not disturb your siesta.’ I would hear her voice ringing from the distance in my mind and it would add ointment to the fun and joy we were having. The interesting thing about studying outside the class room was that even though there was plenty to see the message that was given to us was easy to follow as we did not have the four blank walls of the class room to conjecture in our minds what could have been going on in the outside world. We were free and only bound by the words from the book that generally described the outdoors, people and the world at large. Often enough when we listened to a part of the book were Mr. Darcy was tough on Elizabeth as their relationship grew a cold chill of excitement would go through us and we would all wait for the romance to blossom. The fascinating thing about these classes was that given the circumstances we shouldn’t have been attentive considering the many distractions that surrounded us. However we were because something in us was roused by our environment and the nature of what we studied.
When I compare my English literature classes to my Mathematics lessons there is a sharp contrast in every sense. Here the focus was centered on the teacher and the book and nothing around us had a part to play in any of it. It was a direct relationship between the brain and the theory that had been written in the book. The challenge was proving the theory to see whether it was feasible or not. Success wasn’t measured by how one enjoyed the class, the voice of the teacher or the environment. Success was measured by how one understood the lesson and overcame the challenge to prove the theory. The joy here dawned from inner pride of having broken a code and made a discovery that others were unlikely to have seen. In other words our brains dug deep and in an insular fashion rather than around us.
Today I can tell you that the complexity of the spiritual world can be described as a science in an art environment. The setting is nature, an out door activity which happens everywhere and any where. It is tutored in the classrooms, in parks, on mountains, in the Far East, the West, in the rain or snow, dreams or reality and in the past, present and future. However the subject that we study is a science because after each accomplishment, instead of the passive response that is generally depicted in the art world as part of the collective calmness of its environment, the joy that comes with spiritual revelation is exclaimed with words such as:
‘Eureka!’ because the realization is a discovery that jubilates the mind like cracking a tough problem in science. The spiritual man is like a scientist painting great art work like the Mona Lisa but instead of watching his audience applaud him and sitting back to admire his handiwork he jumps in jubilation at his own discovery because he has succeeded in understanding another mystery of the Lord. He accepts with humility that the Lord has finally granted him the light and the ingenuity to understand one of his mysteries. The joy of deciphering a spiritual message is beyond this world as they are complex, mysterious and cater for any event in our environment. Gratitude is given to the Lord because the spiritual man knows that it is with his divine wisdom that all things are possible. In other words he has been accepted as a sheep in the fold which is a prized possession to have in life.
