| ||
So the Platonic Solid thus "says" something to me about not only Mathematics but about both the abstract and concrete structure of the Universe that I live in. And it thereby allows me to be transported beyond my limited, finite and relatively insignificant personal self, beyond this personal experience of a particular geometrical body, to the transpersonal experience of the nature of the Universe itself. And this is exactly where the objective Beauty or Awe of the Platonic Solids lies: when I see one of these simple geometrical forms, I am carried away in thought to what seems to be the "other worlds" of Geometry and Cosmology. Granted, the ease with which I am transported may suggest that I have psychological problems with Reality and that I am merely trying to escape into Idealism. Be this as it may, the fact that the cause of my transport is the geometrical nature, as embodied in the properties of the solid itself, is tantamount to an actual objectivity of the Beauty inherent in the solid. And the additional fact that other viewers, for one reason or another, will not be thus transported by the Platonic Solids does nothing to negate the indisputable fact that it was the nature of the object itself that triggered my experience of transport. And what can be said of a simple geometrical figure, admittedly a rather insignificant object in terms of aesthetic complexity, can also be said, a fortiori, of other, more significant objects. The geometrical beauty of great architecture, like the Gothic cathedrals, or the awe inspiring grandeur of a distant galaxy both derive from the inherent qualities of the objects themselves, and of course the former typically employs, in on form or another, simple geometric shapes. |