The Lesson of the "Unseen"

Humans often believe only in what they can see.  However, I wish to show that we see is only a very limited version of the real world out.  For instance, visible light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, and is the only part of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can see.  Figure 1 below shows the electromagnetic spectrum, and highlights the visible light region.  (Note that visible light only makes up a small part of this spectrum.)  Interestingly, bees cannot see the “red light” part of the visible light, but they can see all other parts of visible light plus ultraviolet (UV) rays.  

Figure 1.  The Electromagnetic Spectrum

(Source: www.www.antonine-education.co.uk)

Because bees can see UV light they see a world a little differently than we do.  Take for example the flower “Arnica angustifolia vahl”, or the “narrowleaf arnica” from Alaska.  When we see this flower we see just a plain, characterless yellow flower.  However, if we look at this same flower in UV light, suddenly this flower becomes a little more interesting.  Now we see a flower that is a luminous white with a startling scarlet pointing toward the precious pollen inside (see Figure 2 below).

Figure 2. Arnica angustifolia vahl (the narrowleaf flower).  Left is the flower in normal light. Right is the flower in UV light.

(Source: Science Photo Library) 

The lesson of the “unseen flower” is two-fold.  First, it proves that we only see a small part of our world.  Therefore, believing only what we see limits us and makes us narrow minded.  The second lesson is that often the most beautiful sights remain unseen.  As a result of this, we should not focus our efforts on the beauty of the seen, but the beauty of the unseen. 

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal."

-2 Corinthians 4:18