Pondering Beauty

Since I'm feeling particularly philosophical at the moment, I believe I shall attempt to establish my thought patterns on the subjectivity/objectivity of beauty.

I think beauty is subjectively objective. Am I riding the fence by saying that? Maybe so, but then most issues have relevant points on both sides.

First, my dictionary defines beauty as a combination of shape, color, sound, etc. that pleases the senses. After reading that definition, my instincts would be to say that beauty is definitely subjective since different things please different people. Everybody would probably agree that a sunset is beautiful (objectivity). But then, how can one person just briefly glance at it, feel a moment of pleasure, and go on about his business while the second person is so awed by it that he must stop and gaze a while?

Now the objectivity in beauty to me is the fact that God created all these things and the beauty is there all along whether I subjectively perceive it or not. The beauty becomes more readily apparant as one peels back the layers of obscurity. The second thing I see in the objectivity is that humans tend to naturally appreciate things more that have a sense of balance and order which I believe is a God-trait.

On the other hand, I think that every person is "socialized" into perceiving some things as beautiful and others as not. Most particularly, this would apply to physical appearances or even fashion. Really ponder the trends of fashion over the years--it is standards thrust upon society which you either accept to be "in" or reject and become a "nerd" to society at large. I really don't perceive the newest "shaggy" trend as being beautiful, but it sure seems to be taking a hold on society. '70s here we come!

On further reflection of my own tastes and what pleases me, I find that knowledge plays a great part in what tickles my senses. The more knowledge I have of an object, the more I perceive it as being beautiful.

Here are some rather humble examples:

I have always appreciated interior decorating and find some things beautiful and others rather distasteful. But I have never appreciated the beauty of it as much as after I decorated my own house. If I walked into my kitchen never having seen it before I'd think that was some nice wallpaper (as many people think on seeing it for the first time). But, knowing that it isn't wallpaper but, rather, paint artfully applied to the walls in a painstaking manner to get just the right look--I find the walls much more pleasing to the senses.

On a more scientific level--the more I study the body and the way all the cells work together to make a working person, the more beautiful I find the body is. I see the common zit and no longer see it as just a disfiguring mark on the face. I think--inflammation of sebaceous gland in the integumentary system. I think of the way that beautiful body is going to respond on the cellular level to eliminate the bacteria via macrophages.....ok, I know that may bore you....but there is the subjectivity--I think it's beautiful.

Or how about a concrete floor. To me it's just a floor. It just doesn't please my senses to think about how they take stones and mix it with various materials, add water and make something hard. It's just an ugly floor to me. But that doesn't mean some male of the concrete industry can't look at that same floor and think what a beautiful job somebody did on that.

So I must conclude that beauty is subjective because it's based on an individual's perception. Conversely, beauty is objective because it's still there whether we appreciate it or not. The challenge is to find the ability or desire to see the beauty in the ordinary.

New Beginnings

The new year has begun and so far the outlook seems to be good. I spent 10 days at home between Christmas and New Year. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time since I did nothing of any consequence. I slept quite a bit, opened presents, watched movies, played computer games, met with old friends, went to church, went shopping, went to a basketball game at WKU, and sewed one dress. In other words, I was totally lazy and loved it!

Upon returning to work, I was greeted with such joy and enthusiasm that it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The last time I got so many hugs was when I went to the New Covenant Church here in town. The official word on the job security issue is that we are safe for at least another year. The next round of closings were announced last week for Duluth, MN and Princeton, NJ.

On the school front, I'm once again in the groove. We started back on the 5th so I've got a week behind me already. I've got a very easy schedule this time. I had originally signed up for German, but it turned out to be the second level instead of the first. I would have felt like an idiot if 4 other people hadn't done the same thing. The professor was quite impressed by my German last name. I could probably have caught up and made it through the class if I had wanted to cheat myself out of study time in my other classes. Even then, there was no guarantee that I'd make top grades which is just less than acceptable for me. So I went ahead and dropped that class. I'll take it in the fall instead. So that leaves me with 2 classes for a total of 8 hours. All the other classes I could have fit into my schedule were closed. Summer classes--here I come.

My first class is at 9:00 which is the microbiology class that I was afraid I couldn't get into. I was dreading that class, but it turns out that it's going to be my easiest class. The professor is very nice. She doesn't use a text books which saves us $100+ for which I'm VERY grateful! But that means I must take precise notes, and as I told one of my friends in the class--no zoning out during lecture. Fortunately, she makes note-taking easy too. We had our first lab yesterday. We took a drop of pond water mixed with hay and put it on a slide for viewing under the microscope. It was just the coolest thing watching all those paramecium and other living organisms swimming around in there. For those of you who like to swim in lakes and ponds....you've got lots and lots of company. This lab has very precise protocols for entering and exiting the lab. We have to wear some sort of cover-up or apron to protect our clothing and we have to disinfect our hands and table tops upon entering and exiting. This is because we will be handling harmful bacteria. I believe next lab will be on E-coli.

My 10:00 class is physiology. Now this class is basically a repeat of anatomy except it's a little more detailed in the way things work rather than the parts themselves. This will be my hardest class. Since physiology has a lot to do with cells and molecules, I foresee a lot of chemistry. In fact, yesterday during lecture, the professor went off into this thing of how ADP and ATP are made from the oxidization of glucose which involves the removal of hydrogen from the glucose chain forming water and carbon dioxide molecules--it left my head swimming and brought back memories of my chemistry nightmare last summer. Maybe it's a good thing I only have two classes. My first lab for this class won't be until Thursday, but I've looked through the manual and it looks quite scary.

The temperatures in Chattanooga are quite mild at this time. Today is overcast, but yesterday was very sunny and in the mid to upper 60s. After I got out of class, I came home and had a bite to eat. Then I went to wash my filthy car. It had accumulated this disgusting film of salt from my trip to KY. Of course, it was already dirty before the trip and has been screaming for a bath for quite some time. I just couldn't resist the call of the outdoors so it seemed a good time. After I finished, I decided to go hiking. For those of you who haven't been to see me (AHEM), I live on the lake and on a mountain ridge. Just down the road, there is this beautiful park which has a 5 mile hiking trail that follows a creek which flows into the Chickamauga Lake. When you first start out, you can hear the constant noise of the vehicles on the parkway, but as you go farther into the woods, they fade away and nature becomes the music of the ears. At one point the trail overlooks a rock quarry which seems to drop down forever. A lot of people use this park to go running with their dogs, canoeing, row boats, and fishing especially on the weekends. It wasn't as busy yesterday. I only saw a handful of people so it was quite peaceful. Even when there are a lot of people, you only see them occasionally since the trail is so long and has so many hills and bends.

I was quite tuckered out when I finally retreated to my apartment after the sun had set. And as usual, all desire to read my physiology textbook had fled so far away that I couldn't find it again. So it still looms over me even after a weekend with plenty of opportunity. So I shall continue on in my procrastination until guilt overcomes me once again.