The Synergy of Art and Science
by Greg Bart

Artists and scientists are uniquely equipped to shape our future worldviews and mythologies. These are two human roles that, when they meet, can have an explosive synergistic effect upon each other's work. Because of what is at stake, it is critical that this meeting take place more often. The scientific field of cosmology, in particular, is uncovering astounding insights of our place within the universe: insights that can be communicated through art. Cosmology is revealing clearly our opportunity for consciousness to evolve through our human endeavors, and is charging us to act in accordance with these rare opportunities. This is written from the perspective of an artist, seeking to integrate the role of the artist with the lessons of science. The powers of artists and scientists can have a synergistic effect when they appreciate each other's endeavors, so we must open more conduits between these two profoundly important human roles. They both shape structures for us to understand the world, and can induce states of consciousness for us to experience it. When we differentiate the structures from the states of consciousness found in their work, it becomes clear that artists and scientists embark upon the same fundamental human endeavor, yet are using different kinds of languages. They both destroy walls of presumption and can inspire us to evolve to realms of consciousness that may be critical to our survival.

In an article from What is Enlightenment? magazine, the cosmologists Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack tell us that we are, in fact, at the center of the universe in important, specific ways: not geographically, as we believed in past ages, but in terms of scale and time. They explain how cosmology suggests this fundamental, nearly universal insight of the world's religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Shamanism, and many others. "We are in the center of the world always, moment after moment," wrote the Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki. "Wherever I am, I am always in the center of the universe," said the Nepalese shaman, Parvati Rai. To scientifically prove something that we have spiritually realized for millennia - humanity's central location in the universe - must shed some light on the nature of both science and spirituality.

Cosmology articulates our central role in several specific ways. We are almost exactly at the center of the scale of the physical world: we are midway between the smallest possible scale measured by "Planck's length" (amidst quarks and other subatomic particles), and the biggest scale known: the visible universe, measuring cross-sections of billions of light years of space. So we reside near the center of these two extremes. We are also at the optimal biological scale for brain function. Creatures the size of ants have too limited a number of atoms that compose them, while large creatures like whales have too slow neuronal transmission.

We also are made of the rarest substances of the universe. The cosmos is made of about seventy percent dark energy, twenty-five percent dark matter, and only about five percent normal energy-matter. Within this five percent, only one-thousandth of one percent consists of heavier elements, including the nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon of which we are mostly composed. This makes us the precious jewels of the energy-matter makeup of the universe.

We also exist at the optimal time for observing and understanding our universe on several temporal scales. First, we are on the cusp between the time of decelerating expansion of the universe and when, now, it is beginning to accelerate again. This rare moment allows for the most acute technological observations of distant galaxies. Second, we are in the middle of the age of our solar system. The sun is at about half its life span, implying the Earth is also. Third, we are at the ripest age of the planet. About half a billion years ago, oxygen began to form on our planet, and in another half a billion years, the sun will be hotter and will have boiled all the oceans.

All of this, revealed by observations and calculations of physics, highlights from the scientific perspective the unique and opportune moment in which we exist. These factors show us the astonishing fact that we are composed of the most precious substances of the universe, and exist at the ripest moment for life - especially consciousness - to evolve. Cosmology is giving us a panoramic perspective on humanity's place within the universe, and is helping us to awaken to our responsibilities as human beings. With these findings, we can appreciate how life itself is incredibly fragile and rare, and that the depth of consciousness possible in humans is even more so. We can see far beyond the minute differences between cultures and appreciate who and what we fundamentally are within a vaster context than we generally recognize.

Yet many of our minds are not configured to internalize the messages communicated by science. Despite the cosmological findings, we are still caught up in rampant conflicts between cultures and short-sightedness of our effects on the planet. Many of us do not have the cognitive structure to understand the implications of science and its conclusions. Many of us do not base our worldviews on rationality, and thus are not receptive to scientific arguments. We can argue until the cows come home that overpopulation is spiraling out of control, but too many people have been fixated on having three or more children to rationally consider their implications. Scientific observations increasingly reveal the disastrous effects of pollution and the use of plastics, for example, yet many of us still fail to bring our own reusable bags to the supermarket. The arguments of science, although often clear and concrete to some, do not have the power to directly change the views or actions of many people. We all too often have limited sight.

We require different means to communicate a worldview that is aligned with the revelations of science. Who in society is capable of communicating worldviews through different mediums than science? The artist can help to fulfill this role. Artists, through their ability to speak through visions and symbols, are uniquely equipped to tap into the mythologies that underly our worldviews and transform our beliefs, actions, and intents. All kinds of forces that direct our actions - our religions, our role models, even our commercials - are contextualized and directed by art. And although art does not have any kind of monopoly over our worldviews, it is nonetheless a radically powerful force within our minds. Our cultural vocabulary, sense of beauty, and mythical heros and villains are directly shaped by artists. Because art is critical to the communication and shaping of worldviews, scientists and artists alike must respect each other's work. Science cannot expect their rational arguments to convince massive numbers of people, and artists may be uniquely equipped to communicate to a large audience.

We are in a vast universe in which the magnitude of scale that we normally experience, from the tiny bugs on the ground to the sun in the sky, is only a minute fraction of the scales of the physical universe. Within each grain of sand, science reveals, are billions of atoms, and within each of them are even smaller subatomic particles. Our entire solar system, science reveals, is only a drop of water within the vast ocean of the cosmic expanse. Humanity itself has only existed for an instant within the ancient history of the cosmos, a mere millisecond within the vast day of cosmic existence. These lessons teach both humility and perspective on our world. They are spiritual revelations, and are applicable to all people regardless of race, sex, etc. Furthermore, these can be expressed through different mediums than science.

The artist is one of the prime human roles that can communicate these messages of science. It is the opportunity of artists, as humans integral to this cosmic endeavor, to offer their energies to awaken others to the insights of science. Science is not necessarily God, but its lessons are divine. Artists can direct their efforts to creating an art, a mythology, that is informed by cosmology and yet is captivating to people of all different worldviews and capacities for understanding. Far more people can resonate with an image than can understand a science article. If artists take the responsibility to understand our world with the same rigor as science, we can help communicate it and inspire others to do the same. Humility, scale, responsibility, community...these are all lessons of science that can be powerfully channeled through the conduit of art.

Now let us turn this somewhat inside out. Let us take all of the revelations of cosmology as described above and hold them in our hearts for a moment. Then, let's drop all of the words and explanations, arguments and observations offered by the cosmologists. What we are left with is a feeling, a state of consciousness. We have a profound depth, humility, and sense of responsibility. This feeling, this vastness of consciousness, is fundamentally what mature artists can strive to communicate. Art is not merely a link between science and mass culture, or simply a popularizer of science. Rather, it is also a parallel development of consciousness alongside what science has been exploring. Art is ultimately a different facet of the same fundamental human endeavor: the expansion, expression, and evolution of consciousness.

In considering cosmic questions, the cosmologist must not overlook the significance of the states occasioned by contemplating his/her work. These very states are crucial to the fruits bared from the insights of science, and these states can be upheld by different structures of information. In other words, the cosmologist, when contemplating the implications of astronomical facts, gains revelations that catapult him/her into a particular state. This may be a state of awe, of joy, of reverence - some kind of expanded state. The structure consists of facts, observations, and theoretical models which the cosmologist has been contemplating.

The artist, too, can enter such a state, yet it may consist of entirely different information. For example, it may be an encounter with a mythical being, or a discovery of a new technique, or a transformative communal project. The artist's adventure is composed of entirely different kinds of information than that of the cosmologist, yet offers access to the same depth of consciousness. This state is just as real as that of the cosmologist, and its information is equally as real. The difference is that this information inhabits a different realm: the subjective referents of personal or cultural experience, instead of the physical referents of the cosmos. Artists can help to shape the structures of our mythologies to correlate with the structures of the physical world. They can inspire us to consider our excessive use of resources, for example, or to see through differences in skin color to appreciate all people for their fundamental humanness.

Artists can take the example of the cosmologist and appreciate the vast context in which their work can have an impact. There are obviously massive forces at work: the survival of our ecosystems, the evolution of technology, and the transformation of consciousness, to name a few. Artists are uniquely equipped to communicate messages of this caliber to a vast audience, reaching to people beyond those who are sensitive to contemporary science. They can take an active role in directing intersubjective intent - through reshaping our mythologies - to intelligently engage these forces. Artists can communicate both states and structures of consciousness that are in tune with the depth of consciousness offered by contemporary cosmology. In other words, artists can impact their audiences by communicating mythologies that correlate with profound scientific realities. Both artists and scientists, through their unique capacities, can convey that all people are rare gems in the cosmos, and may be essential to the survival of Earth and the evolution of consciousness.



All cosmic information in this article is from:
Nancy Ellen Abrams, Elizabeth Debold, and Joel R. Primack: "Welcome to the Center of the Universe" in What is Enlightenment? Magazine, Issue 40 May-July 2008. They explain how cosmology suggests this fundamental, nearly universal insight of the world's religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Shamanism, and many others. "We are in the center of the world always, moment after moment," wrote the Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki.

p.31 of Suzuki, Shunryu: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Weatherhill: New York, 2003. "Wherever I am, I am always in the center of the universe," said the Nepalese shaman, Parvati Rai.

p.57 from Muller-Ebeling, Ratsch, Shahi: Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas. Inner traditions: Vermont, 2002.