267. All hidden truth to bring to light

Art is not a part of things until we make it a part. An artist is some­one with the skill of help­ing oth­ers to see the extra­or­di­nary in the ordi­nary. She finds a sym­phony in nature where oth­ers have heard only noise. The beauty of sci­ence, or math­e­mat­ics is not in mak­ing new truths. They were there wait­ing to be found, and an extra­or­di­nary per­son has shown us where to look. The gift of teach­ing is not in repeat­ing words from books, but in sur­pris­ing stu­dents with the sud­den knowl­edge of their own power to under­stand. Then words half formed, obscurely mut­tered, became per­fect and were clearly uttered. [Odin’s song, the Ice­landic Edda]