The Spirals of Growth

When we sit down to study an antelope horn for example, we know it comes from a real creature walking around the Earth today. We can study the horn’s spiraling form and measure its dimensions. Chemical analysis can also be done of the horn. We could also witness its growth through all its stages. All sorts of other comparative studies could then be done, for example, of the particular antelope horn with those of other horned creatures.

Studying a hardened discarded antelope horn reveals a great deal about the living creature and the world it comes from. To a lesser extent the same can be said about the fossilized remains of creatures that are no longer walking the Earth. Studying these visible remains we can start to form some notion of what they may have looked like.

The nature of such a study might be called science, but it doesn’t only consist of measurements, it also consists of other types of observations and our contemplations on all the relationships involved. One of the most important of these relationships is our connection to the animal or plant that generated the material we hold in our hands.

Animals have a very important role in our environment. Animals play countless roles in the world and with human beings. Food for others is only one of their roles. They give human beings insight into the workings of other parts of the world including ourselves.