Of Beauty: Classical and Romantic

When I was in my Fourth Form at 16 years of age, I fell in love with Physics and Mathematics. Out of a sudden, I began to find algebraic equations, and physical laws of nature "beautiful". Somehow they reflect an inherent order and harmony in the universe, allowing me to catch a glimpse of the infinite genius of God. The experience was like a religious awakening to me.

To many of those who are less scientifically inclined, it can be difficult to understand why dry mathematical equations can be considered "beautiful". Beauty in the conventional sense means something that's pleasing to the senses. But the scientists see beauty from a different aspect: Beauty is something that’s pleasing to the mind.

It did not occur to me that there are clearly two types of Beauty until I read that classic of the Beat generation, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. That book fell into my hands during the long holidays after my Form Six STPM examinations. It opened intellectual vistas for me. I didn’t realize at that time the book was one of the bibles of the hippie generation and I was probably two decades late.

In the book, Mr Pirsig pointed out that the two sometimes-opposing views of nature: one, a holistic and subjective view where things are taken in its sensuous totality and the other, a “classical” way appreciating beauty by dissecting things into its basic components and analysing their inter-relationships. Both views bring about a different conception of beauty. The beauty of a motorcycle can be experienced by riding one down the freeway with the cold air sweeping pass your face and the power of the engine pulsating under your seat. That's Romantic Beauty. Alternatively, you could also experience a motorcycle’s beauty the classical way, by admiring the engineering brilliance of the motorcycle: every piece of nut and bolt, wheels and spokes, pistons and valves working in tandem in accordance with the laws of Newtonian mechanics to propel the rider and the machine forward.

Immediately the world made sense to me: Brazilian football is Romantic Beauty, German football is Classical Beauty. A computer programmer is a “classical” artist whilst a poet or a songwriter creates works that evoke a sense of the Romantic Beauty.

There shouldn’t be this divide and dichotomy between the arts and the sciences: both are equally valid ways of appreciating the world. Both the scientist and the artist are equal children of God.