These celestial works of art, products of medieval man's quest to glorify God in ways that boggled the mind and suffused the senses, are familiar to all of us. We see them and understand immediately: stained glass rose windows, that could be in any one of dozens of cathedrals across Europe and even America. What of the picture above them? Maybe my sanity is slipping. But I
see an uncanny resemblance between the view down the axis of an alpha, beta, or average strand of DNA and the song of colored glass that mankind thought fit to praise God.
How could that be coincidence?
My study of science has been so shallow; every time I dig even a little deeper, there is something to take my breath away. My mind is not wired scientifically and it doesn't come easily to me. Yet my brief sojourns so far have impressed upon me one thing at least: my education will be deficient if I don't pursue this. It may not fit in my schedule with credits, but I am determined then to audit science courses during the rest of my stay at Hillsdale.
This discovery with the image of DNA reminded me of a quote from one of my favorite Psalms: "if I fly to the sea's furthest edge, You are there, Your right hand holds me fast". Science is often regarded as a haven for nonbelievers, those who shun faith and God. But "with unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy" the Hound of Heaven follows us everywhere.
As Eliot wrote:
"The dance along the artery
The circulation of the lymph
Is figured in the drift of stars"
Jesus said "the very stones would cry out" to praise His name. How clearly can we see that in all of creation's ceaseless, beautiful shout of joy to the Heavens.
1 comments:
A book that's worth checking out is "Godel, Escher, Bach". It's very strange and meandering, but it has a lot of staggering insights into the way that math, music, art, and logic are related. Really forces the realization upon you that a great deal of reality is interconnected and may even be just different expressions of one thing.
Post a Comment