“Science,
spirituality, and literature—we need all three to get through the day, the
life, the universe.” –j.w.schlack
Literature
When I started this series, the first author that came to
mind was Annie Dillard. She does well to
fully capture all three of these elements in at least most of her writing, as
she explores her own way through the life.
In her essay “Intricacy” from Pilgrim At Tinker Creek, she spends pages describing a goldfish. It’s
the most beautiful goldfish I’ve ever heard of, not just because she uses
adjectives, but because she uses a basis of science and spirituality to bring
her literature to a greater interpretation of the universe. She describes the
sight of red blood cells then moves on to a plant in the bowl, discussing
chloroplasts and all of those life-processes we forgot from 9th
grade Biology. The knowledge is faint for us, but she completes the textbook by
bringing it to story.
Further, she uses this essay to tell a story, not just of
science but of God. “You are God,” she writes, “You want to make a forest,
something to hold the soil, lock up solar energy, and give off oxygen. Wouldn’t
it be simpler just to rough in a slab of chemicals, a green acre of goo?” This
contemplation of what it is like to be God, to create, to evolve, to display
all of these details that create our surroundings.
The success of such literature is not in what prizes it won
or how many people have read it, but the impact that it has on the readers. I
first came across the essay in a Philosophy course in college, and not only
have I never been able to look at a goldfish the same way, but I’ve acquired a
new sense of awe in the created and hope in what we, as artists & writers
can create.
Word count: 319
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