THE ELEGANCE OF THE UNIVERSE: A THING OF BEAUTY

From the beauty of a starling murmuration swirling through the sky, to the underlying structure of the universe as described through mathematical and physical formulae, the world around us is full of wonder, possibility, and elegance. This art series invites you to enter a doorway into feeling the presence, power and joy of connection to life all around us.

• we are inextricably connected to nature just as we physically consist of the same atoms and elements described through science; and
• we are inextricably connected to each other, necessary to encouraging the flourishing of our birthright: purpose, fulfillment and happiness. This often involves a journey toward appreciation of and maybe even a re-connection to nature, to ourselves and to each other.

Themes expressed encompass specific science concepts such as the Fibonacci sequence, fractals, string theory and warped spacetime.

As we travel through this beautiful world, we sometimes may see in the big picture the journey opening before us — a search for meaning no matter where we find ourselves along the way.

Whether quietly looking within, or outwardly participating in discovering our life’s purpose, this process is sacred work.

In memory of one of baseball’s all-time greatest players, “Hammerin’ Hank”, Hank (Henry) Aaron.

The hands on, somewhat painstaking experience of painting every one of those baseball atoms each with a shadow and life of its own was deeply immersive. These “baseball atoms” are little pieces that make up a whole encompassing everything about baseball to me: peanut hawkers, shells beneath the seats, beer, the leather getting whacked off the ball from a single or double, and the soaring feeling watching a homerun (moon shot) go out of the park.

Buds open up into glorious profusion of leaf and flower in Springtime’s synchronized eloquence — the inspiration for this close-up. Zoom in. Zoom out. Either way, the calculation is the same, capturing nature’s unified elegance.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wildflower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

                                              William Blake

 The Celtic Shield entwines protectively with no end and no beginning. Mandala meditation draws our focus inward while connecting us outwardly in unity with nature. The shapes linger and scintillate in symmetry within the circle of life, perfectly suited for eyeball, dome of sky, and Cosmos. 

 How to wrap one’s head around the concept of an extra dimension beyond our familiar length, width and height! That naturally closed doorway perhaps can open through meditative vision, intuition and imagination. 

 Seashells roll in and out on the surf. Objects surge and mingle, exploding upwards in joyful spurts of water, air and light. 

 Clockwise left to right:

The Borromean Rings (strength in unity)
Single spiral (ancient sun symbol)
Triple spiral (moving through cycles)
Yin-yang (duality co-existing in harmony)

 Released as if through a portal into the light, a doorway to endless potential opens. 

 Hidden talents, passion and gifts lie beneath the surface, waiting to be explored, uncovered and brought into the light. What are they? The road to find out requires both active participation and inner contemplation. 

 Playing with the perspective theme, from the point on an axis where one person is looking there most likely are other perspectives presenting other views, sometimes hidden and unexpectedly arriving from another locus and focus. There are other ways of perceiving as well as revealing.

Though your fingers can reach inside and feel the brushstrokes on the underside of the black frame, you’re unable to view this painting of bougainvillea flowers directly, only as a reflection. 

 As physicists slowly unravel the elegant intricacies of M-Theory, or Theory of Everything, ideas are continually erupting from the fabric of the cosmos. Creativity constantly pulls in waves of new thinking washing into consciousness. Ancient Greek, pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant in life”, pointing out that you can’t step into the same river twice.

Indeed, change does seem to be the only constant as we grow, and evolve and become. 

 Photons act as both wave and particle. Carrying electromagnetic force, particles of light energy are always in motion moving at the speed of light and leaving an invisible field behind them interacting with other particles, transferring energy or being created. Pretty good for something with no mass! As white light passes through prisms (such as raindrops) it splits to form colors depending on their wavelengths.

Particle physicists have proposed a model where particles moving through quantum gravitational fields, (i.e., quantum spacetime) sense different versions of of the underlying structural continuum composed of length, width, height and time. Analogous to the rainbow colors, they show how particles that differ in terms of their energy interact with quantum spacetime differently as well. This means that the structure of spacetime sensed by individual particles differs dependent on the particle’s energy.

Indeed, everything is connected through energy.