Yesterday as I looked out upon the vast and beautiful landscape that surrounds me, I was struck by the sheer beauty of it all. Symmetrical, colorful, satisfying beauty is everywhere to be found in the natural world, both on the planet and above it. There is nowhere you can look without seeing something of perfect beauty staring you in the face. Whether in a microscope or telescope, a landscape or seascape, mountains or plains, massive rivers or tiny streams; this place is packed full of beauty.
Then, as I was drinking in some of that vast loveliness, I thought of the interesting comparison between natural and man-made things. I noticed that some of those man-made things are indeed very beautiful as well. There is artwork of all kinds rivaling the beauty found in nature and testifying to a greatness in humanity that could only be described as divine. Who has not been amazed at the sculptures of Michaelangelo or his paintings in the Sistine Chapel?
When I see hear or experience something man-made which I find edifying, beautiful, helpful, useful or interesting, I often am curious about it's author. I want to know more about the person who fashioned whatever it was. I have recently asked myself why I would want to know about a person who had made something. Shouldn't it be enough to simply enjoy the work, without getting more involved than that? Apparently, for me at least, it is not. For some reason, I feel compelled to learn more about a person when they have made something that has affected me.
As a matter of course, I am constantly on the lookout for things that people have made, whether it is written, composed, sculpted, drawn, painted, played, sung, built, designed or thought, which might add color, variety, enjoyment, hope, inspiration, edification, interest, humor or knowledge to my life. This quest has been rewarded many times with unforgettable experiences and connections. And, as often as I can, I will attempt to learn more about the person who was responsible for bringing something into existence which was a benefit to me. I suppose the desire to connect with the author stems from the gratitude I feel for the service rendered to me through their work. I cannot separate the work from the author.
Again, as I was thinking of all the man-made wonders in this world, some gloriously beautiful and others not so much so, I was wondering what would happen if I went around telling people that those amazing cars that we see driving around, those skyscrapers, that artwork, that music, those bridges, those books, those computers, those airplanes had no author, no builder, no engineer and no designer; that they came about accidentally for our benefit, because we needed them and wanted them. If I took a book in my hand and tried to tell you that no one wrote it, you would say I was crazy. Of course someone wrote it. Books don't write themselves!
And trees do?
A great analogy. I don't know where to post this question, but I have always wondered why no one brings it up when they spout the "big bang theory" There is a scientific law of Increasing disorder, which basically says that if you take a jar of layered colored sand and start to shake it - no matter how long you continue to shake it - the sand will never go back to the ordered colored layers. That law to me refutes the big band theory as much as your analogy does.
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