Dear Readers,
Recently, our family went on vacation to Washington, D.C. I had been to D.C. only once before in 1989, where I spent the summer as a college intern. Not surprisingly, this recent trip with my husband and children was a completely different experience — compared to my time as a single, independent and carefree undergraduate from UC Irvine.
During our visit to the National Air & Space museum, we had the chance to view an intriguing exhibit regarding the famous Italian scientist: Gilileo Galilei (1564–1642). I've always admired Galileo as one of the most important historical figures who, for me, embodies the essence of courage and curiosity.
It was his curiosity coupled with courage that caused Galileo to champion and shed light on the seminal hypothesis by Nicholas Copernicus that explains the solar system as one where the earth revolves around the sun — not the other way around.
At the time, Galileo's unrelenting assertions about the solar system caused great distress within the Catholic Church ... which ultimately led to his being convicted of heresy. What fascinates me about Galileo is that he was able to transform his assertions with verifiable truth by inventing the telescope ... an instrument that enabled him to track sunspots and their phases to show that indeed, we are not the center of the universe.
Tragically, the conviction led Galileo to live out the rest of his life confined to house arrest. But even to his death, he never abandoned his views about the solar system. No matter the pressure to conform, no matter the consequences, he kept shining light on the truths he had uncovered about our very existence.
Of course Galileo was eventually proven to be correct. And after hundreds of years, the Catholic Church officially conceded this point ... a very late posthumous vindication that Galileo received, but a vindication nevertheless.
In everyday life, I think it's interesting to observe that when new ideas or the possibility of change emerge, they frequently evoke unrest. After all, new ideas challenge the status quo, and there is something very comfortable about coloring within the lines.
With the prospect of becoming a parent in 1995, I couldn't possibly imagine that children could change my perspective, my priorities, my life. I naively thought that I could be as independent and carefree as I had been all my life ... with the only difference having a stroller in tow. But once Monica and Andrew entered my life, my universe changed. And I finally realized what Galileo had known all along ... that the world does not revolve around me.
Misty Mawn is an artist who shares a very special book (page 50) that serves as evidence of her own creative development — where she has welcomed new ideas and techniques to inspire her in her artistic evolution. Works of numerous other artists including Julie Nutting's beautiful collages (page 22), and cover artist Tricia Scott's fabulous mixed-media shrine (page 12), demonstrate the power and beauty of artistically coupling curiosity with courage.
Status Quo would argue that we ought to stick only to what we know. Color within the lines. Don't rock the boat. Don't fix what isn't broken ... because new ideas and change can feel scary, spooky and unsettling.
But if truth be told, new ideas challenge us to learn, and as we make new discoveries, we change and grow. And in so doing, the dark depths of the universe and the fundamental meaning of our very existence become more illuminated.
Fiat lux,
Jenny Doh
Editor-in-Chief & Director of Publishing
[This letter was published in the September/October 2008 issue of Somerset Studio. Artwork shown here courtesy of Jenny Heid.]
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