Considering the Intellectual Arts

Empirical reasoning is one of the pinnacle achievements of evolution. Derived from the problem solving skills that permit a rat to figure out a maze or that permit a dolphin to cap her nose with a sponge, logic has evolved in human beings such that some of our members have unlocked the very secrets to how the most fundamental parts of the universe work.

But as I've hinted above, reasoning is not a uniquely human skill. Rather it is a refined art for our species, something we've simply become better at than rats or whales.

This leads me to to theme for tonight's musing - is deductive reasoning of value for its own sake, or because it is useful to us? Is reasoning of more value than musing, myth-making, speculation, or spirituality? Can it be a replacement for any of these things?

As it seems to be suggested on the cave walls of France and Spain, there areother mental abilities which we have developed for which there is no analogue in the animal kingdom. There are some animals in captivity that can make some basic splotches on canvas with a paintbrush. But I was looking at a National Geographic story regarding a 33,000 year old cave wall. As I looked at the representations of horses and lions, I could not help but note how well the paleolithic artist treated the form, poise, and shading of a horse - the strong flare of muscle on a horses jaw, the spring-loaded thigh muscles of the hind legs. Then there is the Neandertal flute - a bone with holes carved out in a way reminiscent of a fifth grader's recorder.

In fact, as long as we can remember, we've had all the critical elements of dramatic story-telling (or perhaps re-telling.) Music to convey the subtleties that the words can't. Imagery to provide the context.

It is perhaps no small coincidence that religious services incorporate all of these classic elements of drama, and add a few of their own: incense and fragrances to add solemnity, rubrics and gestures to toss in timelessness.

Now reasoning adds demonstrably to our survival skills. Look at the productivity benefits brought by the ability of our ancestors to figure out that planting, tending, and irrigation could significantly improve our food supply.

But of what use are our artistic, poetic, and spiritual mental abilities? We do know that people who exercise these things do tend to live longer. On the other hand, it appears obvious that the rest of the animal kingdom seems to get along fine without them.

Perhaps these are the mental abilities that truly have value in and of themselves. Painting a picture may be a distraction from food gathering, eating, mating, socializing or other survival oriented tasks. But it stands a good likelihood of being the favourite activity of the painter himself or herself.

I think at this point in my life, it would be difficult to exist without a "theosophy" and a sense of ordered purpose. Our artistic inclinations reach beyond reason and the survival prerogative and allow us to stretch out our hand, like Michaelangelo's Adam. Perhaps art is our closest and longest reach out to God, the one who stands closest to being revealed whenever nature inspires art.

Science can't be a replacement for drama and mythmaking, but it can be a companion to them. Consider the thrilling moment when Neil Armstrong said, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." On the shoulders of tremendous and hard-won scientific achievement, he capped the moment with an almost poetic utterance. What we discover with science can be beautiful. But it takes the soul of the artist to recognize that.