Two
Kinds of Truth
“There
are two kinds of truth; the truth that lights the way, and the truth that warms
the heart. The first of these is science, and the second is art. Without art,
science would be as useless as a pair of high forceps in the hands of a plumber.
Without science, art would become a crude mess of folklore and emotional
quackery.”
Raymond
Chandler
Forget the
concept of “alternative facts” for a moment and consider that there are two
kinds of truth. Science shines a light on how things work, why they work, and
what we can do to make them work better. Art, while it often depicts scientific
fact, speaks directly to the heart, and to the emotions. They come from
opposite sides of the brain and are connected by the corpus collosum. They
speak to, inform, and interpret one another. We need both in order to respond
fully to all of our human possibilities.
We seem
to live in an age when science is discredited as the claptrap of the east-coast
elite establishment. And art is not valued at all—unless it is religious art,
of course—and then it must be a tightly controlled representation of literality,
which makes it not art at all. All of this is unfortunate and has gotten us
into a real mess here in the United States. I heard Dr. Fauci say yesterday
that our president considers wearing a mask—one of the recommendations put
forth by the scientists at his own Centers of Disease Control—a sign of
weakness. Trump has said, “It’s not a good look for me,” while criticizing
and mocking his rival for following the guidelines. I can’t imagine how being
informed by science can possibly add up to weakness, but apparently protecting oneself
and others is not good for optics in the wacky world of D. Trump and that’s
what matters to him.
Consider
this, we don’t have to blindly follow our president’s ignorance. We can chart
our own course. Here’s a scientific fact—we are in the middle of a major spike
in the pandemic, and if wearing a mask is even moderately successful in
preventing its spread, then we should do it. And the art of it is this: most of
us are beautifully united in one cause, and that is slowing spread of this
coronavirus because we care about our own life and the lives of others. Some of
us truly care about the greater good and some of us do not.
In the name
of good science and good art, please wear a mask—make it as decorative as you
want, make it a statement of your good taste, make it a hilarious joke—but please,
wear a mask. It makes those of us who are vulnerable feel just a little bit
safer. And that’s a fact that should warm the heart!
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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