Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author

Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit. -Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author (1904-2007)

The phenomenon Arnheim draws our attention to is indeed worth pondering. I think I would draw a slightly different lesson from it, however. Instead of an impersonal "nature," I think about the God of nature and wonder what he has in mind in the design of the minuscule insect. To me it brings to mind the superabundance in God. "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand." (Ps 139:17-18)

---