One of the obsessions of modern science is to show the similarities between mankind and animals. There have been some humorous speculations in this field of study. I recently read of some researchers claiming that monkeys doing dances at waterfalls were an expression of awe and wonder at the beauty they witnessed. It seems to me that although these researchers may be experts in animal behavior, they have little understanding of human behavior. The truth is that the entire study of human reactions to beauty is only now just beginning. If science cannot explain mankind’s reaction to beauty, or even why they find something beautiful, how can they claim to find these answers in the reactions of animals? This seems to be a great example of the arrogance of modernist thinking.
You are probably not going to learn the human reactions to beauty from books or research journals. This is the realm of painters, sculptors and other artists, not academics.
Mesa Falls was only a few miles from our home in Eastern Idaho. Over several years, we were able to witness hundreds of people from differing cultures, nationalities and backgrounds stand at the precipice of the falls overlooking a panorama of beauty and wonder. The beauty was much more than visual. There was the thundering of the river crashing on the rocks, the smell of the forest, and the feel of the misty spray of the river on the skin. Their reactions might surprise you. It was silence. No outburst of joy or silly dances; most people would stand expressionless while contemplating the great beauty before them. They received nothing from the falls and no physical needs were met. To the people standing there, the falls were completely useless. But as many have said before, there is nothing more useful than something that is completely useless.
Whether some people think they can perceive the reaction of awe and wonder in animals is inconsequential. The point is that evolutionary biology has no explanation for the useless that mankind, for its entire existence, has seen as so useful.
Awe and wonder help us see past our physical senses and see what man has seen for thousands of years.
Job said over 3500 years ago…
But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind? Job 12:7-10
Faith Unfeigned 