The next day (Sunday, December 1), I went on a truly-random walk through Taichung, the endpoint of which turned out to be a gigantic metal sculpture of a butterfly outside the National Museum on Natural Science. En route I had passed a closed coffee shop called Café Vanessa, reinforcing the butterfly theme.
Since the museum is not far from a used bookstore I frequently visit, I decided to go there next. On the shelves there, I saw a book with the intriguing title Why Beauty Is Truth on its spine. When I took it off the shelf to look at it, I discovered a cover design strikingly similar to that of The 7 Secrets of Synchronicity.
I am open to correction from readers more entomologically literate than myself, but as far as my untrained eye can judge, the two book covers even feature the very same species of butterfly: the Menelaus blue morpho (Morpho menelaus).
Why Beauty Is Truth is by the mathematician Ian Stewart and has the subtitle A History of Symmetry. Symmetry, from the Greek for "together-measure" is akin to synchronicity, from the Greek for "together-time." Stewart and MacGregor are both Scottish names. (Random thought, not unrelated to the concept of symmetry: If I were a writer named Rob MacGregor, I would find it irresistible to publish under the pseudonym Roger G. Cambor.)
From the Menelaus blue morpho butterfly, my mind turned to the similarly named blue Mormon butterfly (Papilio polymnestor). Besides their shared blueness and the phonetic similarity of Mormon to morpho, both butterflies take their species names from legendary characters associated with the Trojan War. The blue Mormon happens to be an official symbol of the Indian state of Maharashtra, which is home to the Elephanta Caves I mentioned in my last post ("The hand of Shiva").
Late Sunday night, following a link from Adam Boyle, I discovered the relatively new YouTube channel Real Mormonism and listened to their first episode, which advocates the embrace of the term Mormon despite its rejection by current leadership of the Great and Unabbreviable Church.
Near the end of the video, they give a few unwitting shout-outs to a particular Indian butterfly, when they talk about "this idea of being a True Blue Mormon, versus being just a true blue member of our church, or of any church that we belong to."
1 comment:
With Helen of Troy having come up over on my blog recently, it is interesting to see Menelaus mentioned over here.
That author's name for that "Beauty is Truth" book jumped out at me. Translating it into another form, you have John Steward, or John the Steward. It is possible, or at least I've expressed my opinion, that the name "John" itself is also a title or name for an Elias. Jesus is quoted as having referred to John the Baptist as an Elias, at least, and Joseph Smith talks more about an Elias in D&C 77.
Symmetry also refers to an 'arrangement', per Etymonline, as in a harmonious or just arrangement of parts. I've guessed this Elias Steward (the Clerk) will directly be involved in arrangements, not only dealing with stories and truth, but also with the 'inheritances' of the saints whose names are found in the Book.
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