The universe thrives on the edge of a knife. By holding itself on the edge it enables a great beauty to unfold. The Milky Way also thrives at the edge of a knife. By holding itself in the peace of a fecund balance of tensions, it enables planetary structures and living beings to blossom forth. It is the very elegance, integration, and harmony between opposing tensions that makes the cosmos an embodiment of beauty.
Nature takes the shortest route and, while exhibiting exuberant creativity, does little in vain.
For as Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, Beauty rests on necessities. The line of beauty is the result of perfect economy. There is not a particle to spare in natural structures. There is a compelling reason in the uses of the plant, for every novelty of color or form . . . The study of harmony demonstrates why the forms of nature are so beautiful.