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Neuroscience & Karma
8. Art, Science and Discovery
Perhaps we shall never know how art began, but we are surely lucky to have brain systems that urge us on to continue to look and listen, to play, to experiment, to enquire, to imagine and construct, and to find satisfaction in what we have made or discovered. These are the activities that have made man what he is, and they have been especially evident in both art and science in recent times. We can rejoice that man has made new discoveries, not only of new ways of making things, but also of new ways of thinking, of seeing, and of hearing. Of course, the discovery of new ways of understanding the world is not the exclusive privilege of either the exact method of the scientist or the imagination of the artist. Although scientific discoveries are mostly thought to be the result of rational and analytical thinking, it appears that the physician, chemist and mathematician must be no less intuitive than the poet, composer or painter.
The rationality must be complemented by the intuition that gives scientist new insights and makes them creative. Such insights tend to come when relaxing during a walk in the woods or a beach. In such periods of relaxation the intuitive mind seems to take over and the resulting clarifying insights give so much joy and delight to scientific research. This is illustrated by the discovery of the theory of relativity in the beginning of this century. Einstein himself, observed ". -- the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for absorbing positve knowledge.”
