An appreciation of beauty.

There is a phrase that Ainan says a lot, particularly recently. Perhaps you might like to guess what it is? He uses this phrase to describe things in the world and he says it with a quiet reverence. I find its use most revealing of who Ainan actually is.

Please have a guess. It is the same phrase over and over again. He doesn't say it repeatedly, in a day, but I might hear it once or twice a week, when he encounters something that makes him react that way.

Have you made your guess? Well, the phrase is: "It's beautiful!". He says it with such quiet intensity, that I know, for sure, that he feels the beauty of what he is seeing. He says it spontaneously and not in response to a question.

I first noticed this, a few months ago, when he was reading about Circumzenithal Arcs and Circumhorizontal Arcs - which are both rainbow like atmospheric phenomena. He said: "It's beautiful!". I perked up at that, because it wasn't a scientific reaction to his reading, but an aesthetic one. Thereafter, of course, I started to pay more attention to whether or not he was responding aesthetically to things and I came to observe that such a response in him, was rather common. Ainan really appreciates beauty.

I find this interesting. It goes along well with the mathematicians and scientists of old, whom I have read referring to equations as "beautiful". They usually say this when something is clear, simple and effective. So perhaps they are actually responding to "elegance". Nevertheless, I find it tantalizing that Ainan should share an aesthetic appreciation of phenomena with these names (whose names elude me!) of old.

However, I should point out that Ainan's appreciation of beauty goes beyond that of the scientist's purview, into that of the artist. He notes as beautiful such things as the glint off a sword, in a picture, a building, or a car - and not just scientific phenomena. He is, therefore, responding to VISUAL beauty.

I wonder at this. Is there an artist in Ainan waiting to come out? Will he prove to be a more balanced type of creative individual - one both artist and scientist? This repeated phrase of his is a hint that he may very well become so - for he has a definite aesthetic response to the world and that, I propose, is one of the more powerful signs of a nascent artist: first comes the artistic appreciation of the world and then come the artistic creations. Without the appreciation of beauty, to begin with, there would be no drive to create artistically at all. There are other hints, too, in him...but I will leave those to other posts.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

There are readers...

...and there are readers.

Writing this blog has afforded me the opportunity to interact with many interesting people around the world. I have had the chance for "conversations" on a wide variety of topics, with people of diverse views. A number of my readers are insightful, intelligent and fun to "talk" to. However, not all are like that. A very, very small minority - perhaps less than .1%, but noticeable nevertheless, are a strange kind of reader indeed. They are readers who love to hate.

I shall explain. These somewhat deranged readers, lurk on my blog, seemingly reading every post. Yet, their purpose is not to enjoy what they read - it is to pick a fight. It is quite clear from their attempted comments - which are usually too aggressive, extreme or quite simply mad, to post - that they are the same person each time. They have uniquely warped identities that are very obvious. Each one has certain consistent lines of thought and argument. Each one has their "pet hates". Yet, they all share hate, in common. They really, really, really don't like what I write. Yet - and this is the mystery of it - they are regular readers. Whenever I post something with any of the views they don't like, they will try to comment. This can only mean that they are regular readers, waiting and watching for something to argue with. It is really rather mad.

Luckily, there are very few readers like this: less than the fingers on one hand - but that few, is somewhat too many. I find them puzzling. If I were them and someone was writing something I didn't like, I just wouldn't go out of my way to read it. Yet, they do: they read it and they argue with it, they fight it, they throw spite at it. It is bizarre.

Another characteristic they seemingly share is the inability to understand what I write. Their comments show that they have missed the point, or reinterpreted it in the light of their often rather strange world views. Sometimes, they craft what they obviously think are clever arguments, based on a complete failure to understand what I have written - thus showing that their argument is actually rather dim.

What is particularly galling is that with some of them, their position of hate is quite clearly founded on a misunderstanding of where I am coming from. They are making assumptions about my intentions - assumptions of stances which they can't stand.

I do wonder if they are ill. You see very few normal people would keep revisiting a site whose writing they don't like, just so that they can wait for an argument.

Thankfully, this minority of internet anti-fans, is a very small minority indeed. Most of my regular readers - over 99%, I would say - are here because they enjoy something of what I write and like to discuss some of the issues I raise, in a mature manner. Some regulars wish to share their own experiences and viewpoints, too...and so, in this way, we have interesting exchanges. It is for these readers that I continue to write. As for the others...well, I don't suppose they will like this post much will they?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)