In Lewis Carol’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland, the Walrus speaks quite eloquently to the Carpenter: “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages – and kings – and why the sea is boiling hot – and whether pigs have wings.”
Though not the most profound paragraph in English lit, this little vignette has always been a favorite. In that topsy-turvy world on the other side of that looking glass things appear to be wicky-wacky if not catawampus. Like stumbling over stardust, you never seem to know where you will land.
A similar expression that’s somewhat in vogue these days is seeing things through “different lenses”. When we have some sort of epiphany or revelation, we might look at someone or something in a “whole new light”. Or if you are cockeyed optimist, you might be accused of seeing the world through rose-colored glasses; those folks can make a spectacle out of themselves.
The kaleidoscope is a fascinating optical instrument providing a variety of symmetrical and colorful patterns in the eye of the beholder. By rotating it, the particles and mirrors do their magic. A magnifying glass helps us see the magnificence of a butterfly wing. I remember my first microscope and watching the paramecium from the pond squiggling on that glass slide. Then came the telescope that brought the bigger world closer and the craters of the moon right into my backyard.
No wonder Galileo tops my charts as the best heretic of all times. You know the story…the moons of Jupiter led him to ultimately surmise that the earth was not the center of anything in particular. The Church of the Almighty Answers, of course could not abide such a thing. During Galileo’s trial, Cardinal Bellarmine put it like this: “To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not borne of a virgin.” Galileo remained under house arrest until his death, and only recently has the Church indicated that they may have been wrong about him.
If the truth be known, looking through any optical device may be hazardous to your understanding of the universe. The Hungarian novelist, Zsolt de Harsanyi, captures the essence of such a dilemma in this moving scene from his novel, The Star Gazer: “Listen, Galileo! The science of the world was built on the pillars of Aristotelian wisdom. For two thousand years men have lived and died in the belief that the earth is the center of the universe and man the lord of it… After Aristotle, Our Lord Jesus Christ descended upon earth and saved us, giving us His wonderful gift, Christianity. This Christianity has perfected Aristotle, spiritualized him, made his teachings Christian knowledge…. Learning and teaching have both brought me peace and happiness…. Leave me my peace of mind! I refuse to look into that tube!”
Galileo responds to his friend: “But the truth, Cesare! The truth! Doesn’t that mean anything?… To me peace and happiness have always meant one thing: to seek truth and admit what I found.”
According to our founding mothers and fathers, we are endowed with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness [via truth]. Like discovering that there’s stardust all over creation, we might stumble into a new way of seeing things. We might have the audacity to look into that tube and see this brave new world for the first time. And, we might just find out if pigs have wings.