Annotated Source & Learning Journal #16

Edgerton, Samuel Y. The Mirror, the Window, and the Telescope: How Renaissance Linear Perspective Changed Our Vision of the Universe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP. 2009. Print.

• Edgerton approaches the changing view of the universe through the lens of the birth of linear perspective in art. His book combines the concepts of science, art, and therefore also theology. 

Several weeks ago, I was doing random searches on Google Scholar trying to get a start on some sources for my project. In the course of those searches, I came across a quote from the book I've cited above. It reads as follows: 

"Those laws [which govern the material world] lie within the power of understanding of the human mind: God wanted us to perceive them when He created us in His image in order that we may take part in His own thoughts. —Johannes Kepler, 1599" (Edgerton 1)

This quote is, in the first place, absolutely beautiful. I love all the ideas that it encompasses—the importance of learning, the value of man in God's eyes, man's potential to be like God. It's truly wonderful. It also, I think, speaks to the reason I care about this subject, and hails back to one of my first sources, the article by Primack and Abrams, which suggested that in order for humanity to regain touch with the universe, we have to try to understand it and then make that understanding accessible to others. This quote would suggest that each of us has the opportunity and the capability to comprehend the vastness of God's creations; perhaps, even in the gift of that incredible ability, the responsibility and duty to do all that we can to try to understand it.

It's my personal belief that by trying to "take part in His own thoughts" that we are able to draw closer to God. When we are actively trying to learn about the world that He has placed us on, we have the opportunity to see what He sees, and understand, at least in part, as He understands. We become more like God in our quest for knowledge. That's why I'm at college, that's why I'm going on a field study; and, to wax even more philosophical, that's why I'm here on this planet—to become more like God.

"The glory of God is intelligence, 

or, in other words, light and truth."

(D&C 93:36)