Nature Abhors a Straight Line

GracieRuth

GracieRuth

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Let me begin by telling a short tale.

About 20 years ago, I lived with my two kids in the home that I grew up in, owned by my mother. It had a hedge that had been planted to help reduce the traffic noise, since the house was on a corner with a main avenue (no, it didn't help, but that's another topic). I was not fond of the hedge, shaved weekly to imitate tall boxes. I decided that they acctually looked nicer if I stopped shaving them, and allowed them to grow more naturally. Well, my younger brother came over and expressed his irritation that I wasn't properly caring for the yard by allowing the bushes to grow au naturale. My response to my brother was,"Where in nature do you see boxy bushes?Someshere in tbe back of my mind I pulled out a quote, that Nature abhors a straight line. I simply wasn't going to shave the bushes in tp necessary geometric forms.

To me there is nothing less appeleeing that designing on a grid, producing homes and churches that look more like business park than a sacred place to met. I'm drawn again and again to the random grwoth of plants, or how the random smoke winds through the sky, or how rivers are constantly changing and flowing. I am intrigued by all these things seem wild and untamble, and yet my intuition tells me there es method to this madness if you only look. For lack of a better world, I call this seemingly bunch of chaos but with hidden rules as incredibly beautiful.

I suspect that these elements I find so beautiful are connected somehow the the New Physics of Chaos Threory. I know next to nothing about the science of chaos, and would like to learn more, if there is someone in the forum that can assist me, I 'd appreciate it.
 
When your brother complained about the carpets being dirty did you tell him that nature abhors a vacuum?
 
GracieRuth said:
Let me begin by telling a short tale.

About 20 years ago, I lived with my two kids in the home that I grew up in, owned by my mother. It had a hedge that had been planted to help reduce the traffic noise, since the house was on a corner with a main avenue (no, it didn't help, but that's another topic). I was not fond of the hedge, shaved weekly to imitate tall boxes. I decided that they acctually looked nicer if I stopped shaving them, and allowed them to grow more naturally. Well, my younger brother came over and expressed his irritation that I wasn't properly caring for the yard by allowing the bushes to grow au naturale. My response to my brother was,"Where in nature do you see boxy bushes?Someshere in tbe back of my mind I pulled out a quote, that Nature abhors a straight line. I simply wasn't going to shave the bushes in tp necessary geometric forms.

To me there is nothing less appeleeing that designing on a grid, producing homes and churches that look more like business park than a sacred place to met. I'm drawn again and again to the random grwoth of plants, or how the random smoke winds through the sky, or how rivers are constantly changing and flowing. I am intrigued by all these things seem wild and untamble, and yet my intuition tells me there es method to this madness if you only look. For lack of a better world, I call this seemingly bunch of chaos but with hidden rules as incredibly beautiful.

I suspect that these elements I find so beautiful are connected somehow the the New Physics of Chaos Threory. I know next to nothing about the science of chaos, and would like to learn more, if there is someone in the forum that can assist me, I 'd appreciate it.
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I can't help you with the physics but I wanted to show solidarity with you and your hedge. I planted mine three years ago and they've never been sheared. They are beautiful, lush and have a naturally pleasant ball-like shape. The secret is selecting the most suitable plant for the application, in my case a variegated privet. It's an endless source of amusement to watch my neighbours fighting with their ficus. I think some of them will have to give up soon. :D
 
I think StudebakerHawk is right - the quote is that "nature abhors a vacuum." But that's a petty point.

Another saying came to mind reading the OP:

Art imitates nature... but is never as good.


I think the beauty of nature is that it can look so random and beautiful on the large-scale; but is so orderly, consistent and beautiful on the small-scale:
the%20whole%20walking%20onion%20plant.jpg
Onion Plants
onion_stained_PA021960.JPG
Onion Cells

When you get down to the chemical structure of things, there are very definite building blocks, which follow very definite rules, yet a landscape can look so utterly random - I love that kind of thing. Even on the very large-scale view of things, the cosmos is both very ordered and very random.

As for our artistic activities: I enjoy the artistic expression of our geometrical ability - especially in designs that are art-deco and gothic; but also our attempts at ordering living natural elements, like maze-hedges; but all of this doesn't beat natural growth/landscapes.
 
i think the perception of beauty is inherently artistic. what we determine to be the beauty of nature is in fact not reality but rather the beauty of a park that has been inevitably cultivated by our appreciation. there is no escaping the imposition of the human perspective. natural patterns are organised aesthetically by our minds. nothing superior or original, only variation in ascribed meanings.
 
Wow, I was so asleep when I wrote this post that I don't even remember doing it! OMGosh all the typos are an absolute embarassment. LOL

I learned the expression "Nature abhors a vaccuum" when I was in High School. However, I ALSO heard the expression "Nature abhors a straight line" when I was in my thirties. If you google it, it has even been used to title a book on landscaping.

I'm trying to figure out what might have been the catalyst getting me to post. Earlier that evening I was watching a video of a Savant that was posted here in the forum. I think I must have been mulling over Chaos Theory in my mind as I was falling asleep. I have often reflected that Chaos is what I am drawn to aesthetically. For example, I like balance but not direct symmetry. Clouds: interesting. Polygons: boring. :D :D :D

Now, is beauty entirely in the mind of the beholder? I don't think there is a simple answer. I find it fascinating, for example, that we humans are drawn to the golden ratio, and that in fact, we DO find the fibonacci sequence ALL THROUGHOUT nature. It's like we have a sixth sense designed to sense the UNDERLYING patterns of the natural world.
 
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To find true organization and uniformity in nature one needs not look much further than bees.

 
Look at the picture above and mentally place a triangle on it, so that you are looking at pool balls ready to break. Start at the top row. Count how many are in that row, and what the total number is as you add in each new row. Fibonacci sequence.
 
We sometimes have a tendency to run in as straight a line as possible when nature calls....
 
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