The Unsymmetrical Pilgrim
by catherine
What is wrong with this picture?
When I was a freshman in college, my friends and I visited the art building on campus. The current display was of elementary art. We came across a picture similar to the one above (I drew that one; the one the kid drew was much better.) We laughed and laughed because the kid drew a great pic except the eyes were both on the same side of the head.
One of the greatest proofs to me that God exists is the symmetry and order of nature. Almost everything in nature is symmetrical and arranged in similar order, and we expect it to be that way. If something lacks symmetry–a picture has a person on the right and nothing on the left; a sign has lettering scrunched to the left and blank space to the right; tree trimmers have cut off the half of the branches close to the powerlines and left the other side untouched–most people notice. Features of animals and people are basically in the same arrangement, two eyes above the nose above the mouth. Four limbs on the torso. If the animals, plants, and people of this world were formed by chance, they would not have a basic symmetry or order. Everything would be a disorganized jumble of parts: some animals would have two eyes on the same side of the face; some animals would have an ear where the nose should be, etc.
When we design a building or piece of technology; paint a picture or snap one on our phone; put furnishings in a room, we follow the basic patterns of symmetry and order. I have never seen a car with three tires on the left side and two on the right side; a candy box with three rows of four pieces and one row of two; a chair with half a back (A practical chair, I mean. I’m sure there are numerous examples of out of symmetry chairs that are artistic but not particularly comfortable.). Symmetry and order come naturally to us.
Rather than that symmetry and organization proving that we all came from the same ancestor, the organization proves to me that everything was created by a God of order and planning.
Psalm139: 14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
*Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
We have one of those “trimmed trees” by the power pole at the end of our driveway and it makes me crazy looking at it. Loved your thoughts on symmetry — ahhhh yes, God is a God of order and I praise Him for it, too!
Those trees drive me crazy, too. They look so shorn and unhappy.