[lbo-talk] In case you were wondering....

John Thornton jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Wed Sep 26 20:32:27 PDT 2007


joanna wrote:
> Skimming through the latest issue of Dance Magazine, I ran across the
> following:
>
> "When you listen to a piece of music written by Bach, you hear a part of
> God. When you watch a well-acted Shakesperean play, you see a part of
> God. When you watch me dance, you see a part of God."
>
>
> Rudolph Nureyev
> May 1990

How is this different than the logic behind ID? This is not a rhetorical question but rather a genuine inquiry.

When I hear Bach I hear the skill of a great composer. Skill built upon a history of music by great and not so great composers before him. Brought to life by talented musicians whose skill is likewise built upon the work of countless previous generations.

When I watch my wife dance (ballet also) I most definitely do not see god or anything supernatural nor something beyond human comprehension. I do see beauty, grace, and hours upon hours of hard work. All that I see is what is made possible by the endeavours of hard working humans. To imagine some sort of supernatural agent behind the scenes making it all possible seems to me to belittle the efforts of eons of human effort. Something I cannot make myself do.

Can someone please explain why a material human explanation is insufficient?

John Thornton P.S. I'll add the obligatory note that there are some beautifully lyrical verses in religious scripture so as to avoid the inevitable objection to my question on those grounds.



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