My very first subscriber, PEW, has shared a mesmerizing line from an Algebra Text, that sparked off a mental duel in my head, between beauty and meaning!
Read it for yourself first:
” In simple cases, it relates l-adic representations of the étale fundamental group of an algebraic curve to objects of the derived category of l-adic sheaves on the moduli stack of vector bundles over the curve.
— About the “Langlands Program” in abstract algebra ”
I confess, its meaning flies miles above my head, and yet I find it priceless and trance-inducing!
Somehow, it appears less perplexing than it actually is, I guess, mostly because I do not have to understand it for an exam. Rather, it leaves me with a sense of awe (for the depth of its content) and beauty, as if watching an airplane fly above my head 😉
Funny, it seems poetically beautiful, even though its meaning evades me!
I think while beauty stirs interest, meaning conjures discovery. Each has thrill of its own 🙂
Perhaps beauty and meaning could be likened to two valuable pieces on the chess board of life, strengthening each other when moved with vision, although I always thought meaning was mightier than any other!
I still wonder if beauty could ultimately originate only from a deeply associated meaning, which may be often obscure (rooted in our instincts and conditioning). In case of the algebraic text, perhaps my appreciation of the novel/complicated jargon lent it meaning from my conditioning (for liking of advanced technical description), and thus made it beautiful for me, overriding any additional desire for its comprehension.
I am drawn to conclude that beauty is a child of meaning (apparent or elusive), while meaning may remain independent of beauty.
Are you drawn to agree with the supremacy of meaning over beauty too?
I would love to know!
meindeshvidesh 
Mathematics has a inner beauty all of its own, especially looking at it from the formula standpoint.
Hello Randall, only recently have I started getting to know more of the magic of maths, and I agree its beautiful, breathing a life of its own, alive with logic, axioms, paradoxes, proofs, patterns, conjectures, functions, operations, sets, what not 🙂
In my very humble opinion, the converse is true.
Beauty, in its widest sense, is just a synonym for order. We are drawn to it because biological life, civilisation and technology, the very things we depend upon, are all examples of complex and highly orderly systems. The conscious mind, seeking to penetrate the appeal of beautiful things and concepts, goes on a quest for something commonly termed “meaning”. While from the standpoint of the universe, neither beauty, truth nor “meaning” have any weight whatsoever (only existence does), within the sphere of humanity (where alone they are known to matter) beauty appears to predate and actually enable meaningful connotations in the first place.
Dear PEW, I like your observation that survival is the name of the game for all of creatutes, with notions of truth, beauty and meaning being valued really only by mankind.
If I understand your perspective correctly, it implies that only the appeal of beauty or a sense of order could move us to find meaning, which often is true (eg: we find beautiful places ideal for relaxing, meditating or getting in tough with ourselves).
I however see scenarios contesting this as the sole origin. Sometimes even lack of beauty, pain, chaos and ugliness (such as that resulting from a war, natural calamity or a tragedy) also moves one on some level to seek out deeper meaning of life and its purpose.
So is meaning triggered by stimuli like beauty and sorrow? But there are also cases when meaning triggers beauty or sorrow. May be it is a chicken and egg problem after all!