The Painful Nowning Process

JMNR reminds us that the sciences need the humanities:

Knowing what a thing is made of, after all, does not tell us what it is.

. . .

Literature, the fine arts, theater, and music teach humans what it is to be good, true, and beautiful. They point to meaning. What does it profit a man to learn all mysteries of matter and energy if he does not have love? Science can only simulate or stimulate the feelings of love, but . . . cannot create one real passion.

That first sentence, as Reynolds very well knows, is a paraphrase from a conversation in C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

“In our world,” said Eustace, “A star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”

“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of….”

How I hope that the makers of the movie don’t lose or obscure that particular bit of wisdom!

The ancients had it right after all—the planets do “sing” in their orbits—well, sort of:

Earth gives off a relentless hum of countless notes completely imperceptible to the human ear, like a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony, but the origin of this sound remains a mystery.

. . .

In the past, the oscillations that researchers found made up this hum were “spheroidal” — they basically involved patches of rock moving up and down, albeit near undetectably.

Now oscillations have been discovered making up the hum that, oddly, are shaped roughly like rings

As Joseph Addison put it (paraphrasing Ps. 19):

The spacious firmament on high,
with all the blue ethereal sky,
and spangled heavens, a shining frame,
their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day
does his Creator’s power display;
and publishes to every land
the work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,
the moon takes up the wondrous tale,
and nightly to the listening earth
repeats the story of her birth:
whilst all the stars that round her burn,
and all the planets in their turn,
confirm the tidings, as they roll
and spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
and utter forth a glorious voice;
for ever singing as they shine,
“The hand that made us is divine.”

I love that.

Generally, I would describe myself as favoring the “credo ut intelligam” approach to things (”I believe in order that I may understand”), but reason is also God’s gift and, used rightly, science reveals truth, as in this recent eSkeptic feature about experimental attempts to teach chimpanzees, etc., various types of sign-language, which shows that, just as many of us have always believed,

Descartes was right after all. Animals do not understand language.

In fiction, I’ll fall for a Bonzo or the signing gorilla in Return to Me as easily as the next person, but in reality, there’s no getting around it: humans are unique. Now if we can just live up to all that implies.

This week the World Lit. class begins reading—well—world literature, with myths of ancient Mesopotamia. The introduction to one of the oldest texts, possibly a preserved temple ritual that reflects even older myths, “The Descent of Inanna,” describes its story as “the type of journey undertaken by mythological heroes in cultures throughout the world and throughout literary history; Persephone, Attis, Orpheus, Osiris, and Jesus are among the many figures . . . who make such a descent and return” (Bedford Anthology of World Literature 25).

Turns out the latest anthropological and archaeological views are somewhat different from the popularized mythic-mysticism of Frazer and Campbell, according to this blog, which begins with, of all things, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Do their clarifications amount to more of a distinction without much difference? In any case, C.S. Lewis’s points as described in parts III-IV of this essay remain valid [n.b., despite the many strengths of the essay, a spellcheck snafu appears to have resulted in the name "Aslan" appearing as "Asian" throughout part V---let this be a lesson to us all].

Now I have to look up Smith, and Wright for more details…

As one who’s always been interested in words, I was interested by this WSJ article about trends in baby-names. I’m named very traditionally after my grandmothers, in case anyone’s interested. And for mysterious reasons, my husband’s & my combined extended families have an absurd number of Jameses, Davids, Williams, Sara(h)s, and Louises.

Nature news!

1. The Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust has saved India’s pygmy hog. My family read all Gerald Durrell’s nature books when we were living in the Congo. He started out collecting animals for zoos, and eventually established the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on the Isle of Jersey to preserve endangered species. We visited once—what a pleasure! Funny AND educational books, highly recommended, but I was never able to take his brother Lawrence Durrell completely seriously after reading My Family and Other Animals.

2. Hummingbird species discovered. I just like hummingbirds. I’m thinking of putting up a feeder on our front porch to entertain the cat, who sits on the landing looking out the window, wishing he were chasing things.