AESTHETICS IN GEMOLOGY
Poetry as an Expression of Aesthetic Subjectivity
By Ron Ringsrud
Submitted for participation in the American Society for Aesthetics meeting
April 2-4, 1998 in Pacific Grove CA
Abstract
Gemology's scientific approach is interdisciplinary, accurate and essential for the important role it plays in the gem industry. There are times however, when the allure of a gem requires more than an objective, scientific description. In this article, the role of poetry is discussed as being useful and valid when gems are appreciated for their mysteriousness, their fineness and as tokens of love. This article shows how the aesthetics of fine gemstones can be expressed with poetry and how the highly subjective nature of poetry can provide a balancing effect in disciplines like gemology that are often too heavily weighted in objectivity.
The experience of beauty is universal and non-verbal: it is subjective and spontaneous. The objective analysis and definition of beauty, however, is left to the trained intellect of the aesthetician. Ideally, aesthetics will balance the subjective and objective aspects. In the gem industry, however, the trained intellects of the professional gemologists dominate completely the objective side of the gem world. The subjective side of gemology is often ignored or taken for granted and equilibrium suffers as a result. The high subjectivity of poetry is seen as a means to balance this apparent over-emphasis on the intellectual objectivity found in gemology.
During the perception of an object of beauty or a fine gemstone the intellect is surrendered or let go - the aesthetic experience is beyond the boundaries of intellectual discrimination. This experience of aesthetic rapture is accompanied by no intellectual activity (except perhaps an "ahh" or "eureka") but rather a simple state of surrendered awareness. Only after the experience is over can the intellect return to enter into analysis, categorization and definition of the experience. It is the repeated alternation of the letting go and then analysis, the surrender of the intellect (pure subjectivity) and then the return to intellectual analysis (pure objectivity), that evolves or cultivates the mind into a seasoned aesthetic instrument.
Gem experts know that there are no young connoisseurs simply because connoisseurship comes only after viewing and owning many fine gems over the course of years. The difficulty of connoisseurship is evident by the fact that apprenticeship is common in the industry in order to achieve full gem knowledge. The aesthetic study of art, beauty or gems is noble because it transcends the boundaries of normal intellectual inquiry and cultures the mind, senses and being. The wisdom of knowing when to cease intellectual activity and surrender to an experience is the highest wisdom and sometimes it takes a very rare and fine gem (or perhaps a poem) to arrest the ceaselessly inquiring intellect and bring on the simple state of pure subjectivity.
It is the author's opinion that gemology has emphasized too strongly the objective analysis and ignored the importance of balancing that with the quiet surrender of subjectivity. Often a gem dealer or jeweler enthuses over a gemological laboratory certificate outlining the color saturation numbers and proportion percentages while the gemstone sits ignored in it's stone paper. In order to push the mind back to a more balanced ratio of surrender vs. intellectual inquiry the author suggests using poetry for expression of aesthetic experience. Good poetry uses words in a very apt and zen-like manner to trap the intellect, keep it from dominating, and strip the mind to remind it of its original, basic, and necessary state of surrender.
As much as the intellect excels at understanding the properties of gemstones, the actual subjective experience is devoid of objective intellectual activity - it is the being of the observer seeing itself in the object. Greek philosophers and medieval thinkers saw all objects as being alive and endowed with being. They did not separate science from religion and philosophy. The universal principles of unity, being, and becoming were central to all disciplines throughout the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries BC. Although Democratus evolved the idea of matter as being made up of indivisible atoms (a principle that Western thought built so much on) the main focus of Greek attention was in matters of soul, spirit, and ethics.
Objective scientific knowledge is derived from discriminating, categorizing, and comparing; it is as if we are 'deconstructing' the huge machine in order to see how it works. The progression of natural science from geology to mineralogy to gemology is typical of the linear nature of scientific thought. Modern gemology's practical usefulness is a result of this scientific approach.
The advent of quantum physics, however, brought out the limitations of the scientific way of thought. Werner Heisenberg expressed that in the new, sub-planck scale world of quantum measurements, "every word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability." In the same way, gemology suddenly seems inadequate the moment that the gemologist gets captivated by the beauty of a fine colored stone. Even the best efforts of clarity and color nomenclature fall short when describing gemstone aesthetics.
Of all the sciences, gemology tends to involve much more than just the usual analytic, deconstructive and intellectual phases of which science concerns itself. While science avoids subjectivity and aesthetics, gemology's object of study, the gem, is nothing less than a thing of beauty, allure, timelessness, rarity, uniqueness, wholeness, perfection of color, and fineness: all immeasurables - all beyond the realm of science. Some of the world's best gemologists know this to be true and are able to use that to their advantage.
One such scientist is Eduard E. Gubelin, a world-renowned gemologist who habitually goes beyond the scientific boundaries to wax poetic when talking about the color or internal features of a gemstone.
Gubelin's contribution to the science of gemology is broad and undisputed. Also, his contribution to the subjective aspects of gemology is recorded in the numerous uniquely descriptive and poetic phrases that adorn both his published papers as well as his laboratory certificates. While appreciation for his objective/subjective style of gemology is universal, the gemological institutes of the world do not teach the art or poetry of Gubelin's approach, they only teach the science - for this sensitive and delicate subjectivity cannot be taught; it is only cultivated and developed by seeing, in the lifetime of one's career, thousands of gems, rare and unique, whose beauty and allure touch one so deeply that it inspires the poet inside to express in words the immeasurable.
From his book The Internal World of Gemstones (Zurich, 1979), Doctor Gubelin describes the inclusion features of emeralds in poetic detail:
" The saturated green of a crystal clear green mountain lake is the image of the most beautiful emeralds. Such a peaceful mountain lake magnetizes our gaze into its depths. As we sink into it we attain a world where, in the shimmer of a distant greenish light, fronds of weed cast shadows, rigid growths stretch their limbs like chandeliers... This green landscape has long been familiar to jewellers as 'garden' and fine gardens with delicate ornamental plants are highly prized".
The same man who wrote those words is also skilled in taking spectrographic readings from minute inclusions deep within a gemstone: that is testimony to the breadth of Gubelin's gemologic talent. As a gemologist myself, my experience with fine emeralds has caused me to seek all available knowledge that pertains to this alluring stone. That search has led beyond science, into aesthetics, and finally, poetry.
Aesthetics pointed the way to poetry rather than being an end in itself. This is because philosophical discussion about beauty and perfection will always stand subordinate to the object of beauty itself. An aesthetic discussion about the beauty of a particular gem, if not beautiful itself, will entertain the senses only for a moment. While aesthetics stays close to the coastline of objective philosophical convention, poetry heads straight out into deep ocean, either sinking or surviving on it's own merit. For this reason this author feels that good poetry can be a useful tool and a laudable goal in gemology aesthetics.
Aesthetics states that beauty is universal and endures over time. Painter Agnes Martin has stated that the "classic" is all that is true and good in art. "True art work," she states: "is responded to by people of all cultures in the same way. Consider the pyramids, Ming pottery, German music, Greek architecture..." A fine gemstone can also fall into this universal category. She emphasized that the way of the artist is "surrender" or to go beyond that level of awareness which is concerned with everyday thoughts.
Modern gemology will satisfy the intellect but the heart must find sustenance as well. For knowledge to be complete the intellect must be transcended and the poetic sensiblilties must be brought to bear. Therefore I have enlisted the efforts of two poets, an American and a Colombian, to appreciate deeply the form, color and attraction of fine emeralds (common and world class) and to then write about the experience. The poets were asked to simply write about the experience that viewing the gemstone created.
The two poets are Nancy Berg of Santa Monica, California, winner of the National Endowment of the Arts 1992 Poetry Fellowship as well as a writing Fellowship from Stanford University. She is currently a member of the California Poets in the Schools program. From Bogotá, Colombia is the poet and writer Sergio Alvarez whose book, Poemas de Amor y Desamor has been recently published. His short stories have won national contests and have appeared in Dell Comic Books as well as Colombian television dramas and comedies.
What follows are two poems that have been inspired by the subjective experience of gazing into several fine emeralds. The first poet, Nancy Berg was fortunate to see a rare cat's-eye emerald.
Blessing of the Cat's Eye Emerald by Nancy Berg
Now that the want cook
has you stalking
holy mist
on a green mountain lake;
now that you haven't slept
once all summer,
trailing one's streamer
of restless
light;
now that you orbit
a cat's eye emerald,
sweeping through sacraments,
weak-limbed with love;
know that this radiance
will never leave you -
once you are blessed
you are blessed to the bone.
Poet Alvarez's attention was captivated by a fine trapiche emerald cabochon.
Aparición Aparition: a poem to explain the Trapiche
by Sergio Alvarez
Oprimo hacia dentro I squeeze towards the center
como un puño verde like a round green fist
buscando su ilusión seeking one's vision
y destrozando and destroying
el alma negro de la noche the black web of the night
apretando la luz squeezing with my might
y alumbrando and bringing green light
oprimo I compress
hacia dentro inwardly
aprendiendo que vivir remembering that to live
es soñar is to dream
fundirse to forge oneself
extasiarse find bliss
y un instante despues and one instant later
cristalizarse to crystallize
Chilean Pablo Neruda, on a 1970 visit to Colombia was inspired by an emerald to write these words:
When everything was high,
high,
high,
there waited the cold emerald,
the emerald gaze:
it was a vigilant eye
at heaven's center,
center of the void:
the emerald that looked on:
unique, hard, immensely green,
as if it were an ocean-eye,
an immobile water-eye,
drop of God,
cold victory,
tower of greenness.
(From Skystones, Maria Jacketti translation)
In the first poem I envision a green mountain lake with a phenomenal holy mist. The second poem brings images of masculine gods squeezing green light in their dirty fists, leaving the dark carbon lines of the trapiche's star. It is obvious that in poetry as well as in scientific explanation the authors have chosen words carefully to convey much meaning. "A streamer of restless light" is certainly no less heavy with meaning than "depletion of beryl atoms during formation". It may even be said that poetic metaphor gets created and tested (through reading, hearing, feeling and publishing) just as rigorously as scientific theory - which is a form of metaphor itself.
In the conclusion of his essay 'On the Sense of Beauty in Natural Sciences' Werner Heisenberg makes it clear that even in the 'hard' science of physics there is a place for subjectivity; indeed it is the subjectivity that is sensitive to discovering Truth:
"Certainly, rational thought and precise measurement belong to the work of the natural scientist just as a hammer and chisel belong to the sculptor. But in both cases they are instruments and not the inspiration". Gemologists only have to gaze at a fine gem to have the same realization: that specific gravities and Refractiveindexes are but the tools of a discipline whose inspiration, the gem, penetrates to the heart's core.
Bay area poet and writer Susan Griffin (The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender & Society 1996) feels that in modern society the status of poets should not be inferior to the status of scientists. Poetic metaphor is just as important a way of seeing reality as scientific metaphor. "You could say that in a certain sense poetic metaphor is more precise than scientific metaphor because poetic metaphor includes the mysterious. And it is often more real too because so often you, the reader, can see the poet seeing. Heisenberg's Principle, a late development in science, was early in poetry." (from Poetry Flash Apr.-May 1996 'Twice Beautiful').
CONCLUSION
The aesthetic qualities of a gem: beauty, allure and timelessness, have been shown to require something more than just standard gemology to validate them. Poetry is offered as a means to go beyond the boundaries of objectivity and to approach that timelessness. Gemologists who have mastered their professions are encouraged to turn their attention to poetry for a new level of validation and appreciation of gems.
There are places where gemology is taught without mention of the romance of gemstones. The Gemological Institute of America, however, maintains a rightful place in their course material for the romance and lore of colored stones. Perhaps in the future, the standard gemological laboratory will have not only gemologists creating certificates for the validation of the objective qualities of a gem (Refractive Index, Specific Gravity, Spectrographic readings etc.) but also have poets on hand for validating the subjective aspects as well. The poems thus created at the lab would follow the gem from owner to owner, decade after decade, as part of the complete documentation of the gemstone.
With this end in mind a network of 30 poets nationwide has been created by the author to provide subjective poetic validation for gemstones. A nationwide promotional project beginning this spring will create a demand for this service from jewelers and private individuals. Aestheticians will also participate in this new appreciation of the validity of subjective rather than objective documentation.
The above poetic validation concept is not originally from the author but from none less than the bard himself, William Shakespeare:
...And deep-brained sonnets that did amplify
Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality.
- A Lover's Complaint
REFERENCES
Barriga Villalba A.M. (1948) Estudio cientifico. In Esmeraldas de Colombia, Banco de la Republica, Bogota, Colombia.
Blessington, Countess (1836) Gems of Beauty, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman
Callois, Roger (1985) The Writing of Gemstones, Univ. Press of Virginia
De Goutierre, Anthony, (1996) Wonders Within Gemstones, Gemworld International, Northbrook Ill.
Eco, Umberto (1988) The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Gubelin E.J., Koivula T.I (1986) Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones, ABC Edition, Zurich.
Heisenberg, Werner (1971) Physics and Beyond, Harper & Row, New York
Jacketti, Maria, Trans. (1993) Heaven Stones, Cross Cultural Comm. N.Y.
Neruda, Pablo (1971) Stones in the Sky, Copper Canyon Press
Osborne, Harold, (1968) Aesthetics in the Modern World, Weybright and Talley, New York
Porter, Anthony & Lanna (1992) Spirits in Stone, Ukama Press, Berkeley
Rader, Melvin M. Ed. (1935) A Modern Book of Esthetics, Henry Holt & Co., New York
Sinkankas J. (1981) Emerald and Other Beryls. Chilton Book Co., Radnor, PA.
Subriamanian, A.V., (1988) The Aesthetics of Wonder, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi
Suwa, Yasukazu (1994) Gemstones Quality and Value, Sekai Bunka-Sha, Tokyo, Japan
Webster R. (1983) Gems: Their Sources, Descriptions and Identification, 4th ed. Revised by B. ~ Anderson, Butterworth and Co., London.
back to main page . . . . .. . . . . back to emerald information