James Clerk Maxwell is the scientist who developed the electromagnetic theories that make all our wireless technologies possible. He wrote poetry about the universe testifying to the Glory of God, and to Truth:
Through the creatures Thou hast made
Show the brightness of Thy glory,
Be eternal Truth displayed
In their substance transitory,
Till green Earth and Ocean hoary,
Massy rock and tender blade
Tell the same unending story—
“We are Truth in Form arrayed.”
But as a certain Roman once said, what is Truth?
As an answer to that question, may I present a set of stairs?
In December my wife and I visited Spring Mill State Park in Indiana. Spring Mill is home to the Astronaut Gus Grissom Memorial — click here and here for Sacred Space Astronomy posts on the Grissom connection. However, what is relevant to this post is that in December Spring Mill’s lodge had re-opened after a long closure for extensive maintenance and reconstruction. Indeed, some work was still going on while we were there.
The stairs in the lodge caught my eye. These obviously had not been touched in all the work. They obviously had never had a thing done to them, ever. They were the same stairs, with the same handrails and same flooring, as they were when first built.
Thus, a question: Why was so much work done on the lodge and none on the stairs? Well, because the stairs had been built to last in a way that other things had not.
I have always felt that if science is observing and learning about the world around us in a systematic and objective manner, then surely, regardless of when formal Science appeared on the stage of human history, science has always been done by those who built things. Maxwell developed a theory of electromagnetism that we use to create our modern wireless technologies. But someone developed a “theory” of stair construction that was used to create the stairs in Spring Mill’s lodge (and in plenty of other places; chances are, you have seen stairs like these in other older buildings).
As long as people have built boats or bridges, or devices to raise water from wells or rivers, or devices to hoe ground or plow fields, or devices to look at the stars and planets, or even clothes, there have been those who have carefully observed the world and noted what works and what does not, and who have learned from their observations to build better things. The world tells you what is true — this sort of stair construction stands the test of time; that sort will need reconstruction within a decade, work that will cost you a lot of time and money.
If you do not conform what you do to reality, you lose in the end. You lose use of the thing you constructed. You spend time, talent, and treasure on reconstructing it again and again. On the other hand, if you build a thing in conformity with reality, it lasts, and you can use that time, talent, and treasure on other things, making progress and benefitting those around you. The Gospel of Matthew speaks to this:
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. (7:24-27)
That’s science — paying attention to how to build; paying attention to reality; paying attention to Truth in form arrayed. Sometimes that Truth can be seen in a well-built house, sometimes in a theory of electromagnetism, and sometimes in a flight of stairs.
