Reply #10: Unweaving the Rainbow

[Az]

This was the title of a book Dawkins wrote concerning the attitude people have towards science and atheists. The title was based on the reaction Isaac Newton recieved when he discovered the properties of light by passing it through a prism. It separated normal white light into the spectrum of light. In this way we discovered how rainbows were made. People accused him of destroying the beauty of the rainbow by unraveling the mystery of it. They said he had unwoven the rainbow and destroyed it.

But the rainbow is still beautiful. To this day it is still a wonderous thing to behold. And from the discovery of what makes a rainbow we have uncovered untold beauties since then. Not only has the discovery enabled us to percieve deeper beauties but it has also enabled us to make works of art ourselves from the properties of light.

Just because the mystery of something is unraveled does not mean it ceases to have any meaning. By peering into the mysteries of life we are not shrinking the number of wonders in the world. In fact we are increasing them. Each mystery unveiled reveals countless more wonders to marvel at.

Roses are still beautiful. Rainbows still steal our breath. Love is still a many splendored thing. Even though science and reason have unveiled much of the inner workings of these things.