SEVEN REVIEWS of Beauty in Science and Spirit
(1) by Jerome A. Stone
Adjunct Faculty, Meadville Lombard
Theological School
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy---William
Rainey Harper College
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977651479
Delightful, stimulating to thought and
feeling, full of insights and spiritual depth. This book shows how science and
spirituality are mutually enhancing, how science reveals beauty and helps us
understand beautiful forms. It takes us on a journey to butterflies, nebulae,
cathedrals, fractal geometry, mandalas, Haydn and Michaelangelo, stopping for
conversations with Emerson, Thoreau, Teilhard de Chardin, Paul Tillich and
Brian Swimme, among others. Paul Carr is a physicist with over eighty published
papers in refereed scientific journals, ten patents, prizes for nature
photography, active in the Thoreau and Tillich societies, and winner of three
Templeton awards for his work in bridging religion and science. There are
magnificent color and black and white photos and a helpful bibliography.
(2) By V. V. Raman
Retired Professor of Physics and Humanities.
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester,
NY
Published in "Perspectives on Science
and Christian Faith," vol. 59, no. 2, pg 152 (June 2007).
In this age of conversation and conflict
between science and religion, between reason and faith, it is seldom that we
hear about the aesthetic dimensions of life and thought. And yet, ultimately,
as Keats reminded us, "Truth is beauty and beauty truth." Beauty,
whether visual or conceptual, touches us deeply and moves us to elevated levels
of experience. There is much in the world around us to admire, appreciate, and
marvel for their sheer symmetry and grandeur, from colorful flowers and
patterned butterflies that nature has wrought to magnificent cathedrals and
meaningful mandalas that Man’s spiritual yearnings have created. Those who have
tasted science and are sensitive to humanity’s religious heritage will see in all
this an unfathomable mystery that no amount of rational analysis can
deconstruct.
In this delightful little volume Paul Carr
has brought together for the reader a variety of examples of such beauty. With
photographs and reflections he gives us a guided glimpse of so much of
aesthetic value in the world, reminding us that there is much to be grateful
for in life, beyond palatal pleasures and creature comforts. The work is
clearly the result of considerable reading and reflection as revealed in the
numerous quotes and extensive bibliography that are part of the book. Any
reader is bound to be enriched by its pages and pictures.
(3) By Stephen Horowitz, Ph. D.,
Published in
the April 2007 issue "The Pepper Tree: A Literary Magazine,"
Sarasota, FL
Beauty is described in many ways, with each
culture providing its own definitions in art, music, and literature. Beauty can
be found in a variety of utilitarian objects, such as a washing machine or
telephone, and is the result of a melding between technology and design. The
author believes that a sense of beauty is important in science, religion, and
spirituality, without which a part of humanity is missing. Dr. Carr’s spiritual
stories answer the "why" of beauty and give guidance and motivation
for living now and in eternity. Scientific theories explain the "how"
of beauty and give an objective account of measurements and making predictions.
Dr. Carr strives to make the reader look beyond the surface of common objects
to see a sense of beauty in all things. His book is filled with provocative
material to help enhance our reflections on beauty.
The author describes beauty as a fine balance
between order (boring) and chaos (total randomness) that is found in nature,
mathematics, and music. An analogy of this balance is the integration of the
right and left sides of our brain (i.e., the right side is more
holistic/subjective, and the left side is more logical/objective).
Objective beauty is relatively easy to
measure, such as the rise in hormonal levels when a man sees a
"beautiful" woman. Mystical beauty, while more subjective, is
something that we feel (i.e., beauty is in the eye of the beholder). An example
of this balance between subjective and objective beauty is the vibrant colors
of a flower and the functional beauty that attracts insects for pollination and
reproduction.
Throughout the book, Dr. Carr provides the
reader with many examples of beauty found in the mystic, scientific, and
subjective experiences in our lives, and goes into depth explaining how beauty
and functionality can coexist despite their differences. This interplay between
order and chaos, and science and spirit are found in nature, characterized in
fractals and evolution.
There are many things I like about this book.
Dr. Carr suggests that beauty is harmonious and balanced, and I believe that he
accomplished this harmony and balance in his book with the inclusion of
mind-provoking quotes, beautiful photographic plates, helpful figures,
narrative, and poetry. The reader should be aware that Beauty in Science and
Spirit, while an interesting book, is not meant for easy reading. However, it
is definitely worth the time and effort it takes to fully appreciate the
concepts and ideas described within it. The book is 171 pages and includes
references, two appendices, sixteen color plates, and forty-two figures.
(4) By KEVIN
SHALVEY
published
with a photo in "The Bedford Bulletin," 14 June 2007
"Science is Music to Bedford Author"
(5) By
Hannah Onoroski
published
with a photo in "Bedford Journal," 11 October 2007
"Bedford Resident Finds Beauty in Science, Spirituality"
(6) Dave Brooks, in The Nashua
Telegraph, November 7, 2007
BEAUTIFUL DUALITY:
N.H. man’s book explores science’s fit
with art, religion
Retired physicist Paul Carr, of
Bedford, has written a book titled
"Beauty in Science and
Spirit" Staff
photo by BOB HAMMERSTROM
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Which is more beautiful: The
spiral shell of a nautilus plucked from the sea, or the infinite continued
fraction 1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + 1/(1 + . . . ?
The answer, of course, is both are equally beautiful, because at a deep level
they are the same: The equation leads to the Golden Ratio exemplified by the
seashell.
This may be true, but with such an explanation, most people wouldn't say
"of course" at all.
And they are part of the target audience for the small-press book, "Beauty
in Science and Spirit," by Paul Carr of Bedford.
"To take a complex idea and distill it into something comprehensive – to
me there's an element of beauty there," said Carr in a recent interview.
That's a point of view I'll embrace whole-heartedly. Number-hating poets of the
world think that to analyze something is to ruin it, but I've never understood
why. I'm just as dazzled by that nautilus shell as any math-o-phobe, and so is
Carr.
Carr, 72, is a retired physicist (he received physics degrees from MIT and a
Ph.D. from Brandeis University, and led an Air Force research team at the AF
Research Laboratory, Bedford, MA, ) who based his slim, elegant book partly on
three years of courses he gave about philosophy and science at UMass Lowell.
OVER-
But his goal is not only to point out that the scientific pursuit can produce
beauty as well as the artistic pursuit does. He's also interested in helping
bridge the modern antagonism between religion and science.
The son of a minister in northern Vermont who attends the Presbyterian Church
in Bedford, where he moved a few years ago, Carr says the creationism debate
triggered his work.
"I hope to grab onto the people who doubt Darwin," he said. "I
hope to convince some of them."
Carr has no sympathy for people who read the Bible literally – "the
cosmology is way out of date" – and writes a whole chapter pointing out
the conceptual flaws behind intelligent design.
But he also has no sympathy for the other extreme, epitomized by biologist
Richard Dawkins, whose book "The God Delusion" says religion is a
cancer on humanity, and anybody who's not an atheist is a deluded fool.
"When my wife died (in 1986), leaving me with five daughters, science
didn't have any answers for me. I was very thankful for my religious
grounding," Carr said.
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He pointed to the eighth
chapter of Romans, which attests that "neither death nor life . . . will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord," as
providing a comfort that was real, even though it can't be measured.
Providing an intellectual and philosophical underpinning for this duality –
this complementary beauty – is the main point of "Beauty in Science and
Spirit"
"Spirituality, the independent source of the world's religions and wisdom,
provides the 'why' which beautifully complements the 'how' of science," he
writes in the book. "The complementary beauty of science and spirituality
offers a better alternative to atheistic materialism than (does) intelligent
design."
As for beauty, he thinks it could be considered the overlap of spirituality and
science, of the things we can analyze with our minds and the things we can feel
with our . . . well, whatever it is we feel with. That would help explain why beauty
is a universal concept with such deep-seated appeal.
"My hope is that the mystical beauty of ancient stories can nurture the
mathematical beauty of a new story," he writes. He thinks a new sort of
creation story is possible, providing both the deep satisfaction that comes
from the tales that underlie the world's theologies, as well as the accurate
detail of modern science.
Carr doesn't think he has created such a New Story himself – nor, alas, am I
certain such disparate points of view can be melded – but he thinks it's
possible.
Can humanity reconcile two of its deepest drives: the drive to understand the
things we see, and to understand the things we feel? If so, that would be
beautiful indeed.
Science
from the Sidelines appears Wednesdays in The Telegraph. David Brooks can be
reached at 594-5831 or dbrooks@nashuatelegraph.com.
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071107/COLUMNISTS03/311070092
(7)
by Corinne H. Smith, Amazon.com Top 1000 Reviewers, Librarian, Anna Maria
College, Paxton, Mass."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977651479
Science and religion are not mutually exclusive,
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Nor
should they be enemies. That's what you learn from the pages of "Beauty in
Science and Spirit." One has often influenced the other, over the course
of the centuries. (In fact, for the longest time, "science" and
"religion" were not even separate entities.) And beauty, while always
in the eye of the beholder, usually goes along for the ride.
I am neither a scientist nor a theologian, so I must admit that some of Paul
Carr's discussions are a bit out of my intellectual reach. But I can appreciate
his book as an overview of the interweaving of such diverse and huge fields as
art, astronomy, environmentalism, mathematics, mythology, physics, technology,
and theology. He introduces and briefly examines the concepts of the Divine
Proportion, the Sierpinski Triangle, the Pythagorean theorem, Fibonacci
numbers, and fractals, to name just a few. He enters the debate of evolution
vs. intelligent design. He explores the works of a variety of individuals,
including Copernicus, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Galileo, Benoit
Mandelbrot, Isaac Newton, Paul Tillich, and Teilhard de Chardin. Even Emerson,
Thoreau, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are quoted. Carr also spends a great deal
of time with creation stories. (Much information is crammed into this thin
book.) At each step, he relates the scientific findings and/or religious
interpretations to the human perception of beauty.
I recognized most of the names and the major discoveries. But I must admit that
I was both intrigued and surprised to learn that the universe is still
"whispering" as a result of the explosion of the original Big Bang.
That was new information to me. I'm enchanted by Fibonacci numbers and how they
show up in patterns in nature (in the swirls of pine cone blades, for example)
but the author spends only a short time describing them and doesn't give enough
illustrations of them to quench my level of interest. My favorite portion of
the book is the beginning of Chapter Eight, "The Courage to Create
Beauty," which takes a look at the creative process. All kinds of artists
experience the same four steps that were analyzed over time by Archimedes,
Rollo May, Murray Gell-Mann, and Meister Eckhart: immersion, incubation,
illumination, and verification. It was that way then; it's that way now. It's
reassuring to know that some things never change, and that the human and
creative experience is universal.
The text is enhanced with a variety of b&w and color photos, and the cover
itself is a gem: the tracing of a Divine Triangle as it follows exactly the
form of a tiger swallowtail butterfly. Too often, we take such stuff for
granted.
Carr, a retired physicist, teacher and devout Christian, weaves his own
experiences into the text. He volunteers details about his trip to Israel in
1997, when he not only followed in Jesus' footsteps, but also met with
scientists based in that region. He shares too his personal struggle to come to
terms with losing to cancer his first wife, the mother of their five daughters,
after 25 years of marriage. We can sense how that experience challenged both
sides of his life.
"Beauty in Science and Spirit" offers mini-hors d'oeuvres for
intellectual thought. It can surely provide jumping off points for readers who
want to explore any of the concepts on their own, for Carr includes a detailed
bibliography of his sources. Anyone interested in the relationship between
science and religion will find this volume to be a conversation starter. You
may even look at the world a tad differently, afterward.