The Visionary Mathematician Speaks To His People of Math and Love

Here's a taste of the Among Trees event we hosted next to Veblen House earlier in the summer. Organized by actor Vivia Font, many local writers, including kids from an elementary school class, submitted poems and other nature writings, which were performed by local actors. Music was provided by some excellent local musicians. 

In this video, actor Yuval Boim performs a piece that channels mathematician Oswald Veblen. The Veblens donated Herrontown Woods to the public in 1957, and the Friends of Herrontown Woods formed 56 years later to restore Herrontown Woods and realize the Veblens' vision. Exemplifying the Veblen tradition, Among Trees brings people in the community together to make beautiful things happen.  

The Visionary Mathematician Speaks to His People, of Math and Love 

By Steve Hiltner, president, Friends of Herrontown Woods 

We're going to do a lot of things. Lots of really small things. And they're going to add up, to something. Something larger than ourselves. It's called addition. Yes. And we're going to subtract things, too. Resentment. We're going to subtract resentment from our repertoire. Resentment corrodes relationships. And hate. We're going to subtract that, too. Because it takes way too much energy to hate. Wasted energy. We don't want to waste. In nature there is no waste. 

People ask us: Are we going to divide? No! We're going to bring people together. Love them just as they are. Because this is that kind of place, and that's what we do here. Love is additive. Totally additive. The more of it you give, the more of it you feel. The more you spend of it, the more you have to give. It's a miracle! Love is its own miraculous economy. 

Some people subdivide, but we're going to undivide. We're going to bring parcels of land together, and share them. Then bring people together, to enjoy nature and each other's company.Yes, and we're going to multiply. Probably not sexually. That's way too slow. We're going to multiply asexually, like some plants do, until there's a zillion of us, all doing good things, little things, quintillion zillion little things that add up. To something. Something good. 

Thank you.