Universal Utterances 5/22/09

What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit.

John Updike
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Hello from here.
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Does life mirror art, or does art mirror life? I forgot which it is, but I think it's probably both. I've been watching with great interest the repair of the Hubble telescope as shown on NASA TV. I've listened to what the various scientists and astronauts have said about the mission, and I'm now trying to process through my own mind what it means, I'm sure I won't be able to describe the great extent of meaning it has in one journal entry, so I will probably be returning to the topic from time to time, ad tedium.

The astronauts installed some new pieces of equipment and replaced some old ones, all to allow Hubble to see farther and more clearly. Each one of those items was designed and built by scientists and technicians on the earth.

It's true that Hubble looks into space, but it isn't space that interests us. It is the various objects in space, the stars, planets, moons, and other items that define themselves and hence help to define space.

Certain ideas present themselves. As the astronauts looked back to the earth it was obvious that the earth was one of those objects in space and that we live on one dot in the vast, uncountable trillions of dots that define space. And one of the possibilities Hubble may discover for us is if there is intelligent life out there somewhere on another planet. It is most likely that there is and if so no doubt there is more than one. That is a subject for a different journal entry.

The Hubble is a window on to the great scene, the starscape that we live in and thus also a window on to life. But it is also a mirror because as we look out at the vastness of which we are a part it defines our life as well.

Each of those systems designed and built by those here on earth to be a part of Hubble were items that defined life and the space around it. And each one has a function that is specific to the defining of life. They have there reality in their function.

A great painting or sculpture is a mirror of human life in the space that surrounds it. It sends back to us pictures about ourselves. It is also a window into the vastness of the imagination and mentality of human life. Each work of art has its specific function and defines itself as it defines the mental, spiritual space around it. Because of art we can grasp the knowable in the vast sea of the invisible and live comfortably within it.

(To be continued, someday)
Vagabond Journeys
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Strike a new pose in the mirror
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