Nigel, once again I agree with you in a big way. Here's some more random thoughts... I love your talk about the harmony of colours:
"Out of my window there are a million greens, and none clash. There’s also oranges and purples, and those don’t either. Poets have said as much."
I've noticed that one with patterns too. Look at, say, the stones on a rocky riverbed. Don't they make a beautiful pattern? (I think so!) Pick one up and then cast it down again randomly on the ground. The pattern's changed slightly but its beauty remains the same. It would take prolonged, concentrated effort to rearrange the stones in a way that spoils the beauty of the pattern. And nature is full of such patterns - the leaves on trees etc. Not sure if I'm trying to say anything here except "Wow, man"!
I know what you're saying with "It’s Man that ruins the view, not God/Nature". I kind of agree. I live in a very beautiful place - indeed, its a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. If you travel about three miles from here, though (over the VERY carefully positioned boundary of the AONB) then you will see, nestled into the verdant valley floor, a bloody great big grey cement works (currently disused) complete with huge phallic chimney. Places like this are strong evidence in support of what you're saying. I have just one hesitation, and that is that I find beauty in strange places. Have you ever seen Bladerunner? The opening shot of that film describes exactly what I mean. The city in Bladerunner is a vision of hell - its dark, dirty, polluted, overcrowded, all the rest of it. But that opening shot is a vision of beauty that thrills my soul, the city lights glistening in the darkness, jets of (horribly polluting, I assume) fire shooting into the sky. Ridley Scott (a northern soul) took his inspiration for his vision of the city of the future from a landscape really quite near to my home - the industrial hell around Hartlepool, Redcar & Cleveland. Jah Wobble's Deep Space recently did an album (Largely Live in Hartlepool & Manchester) whose cover is a picture of the British Steelworks at Redcar. Have a look...
http://www.30hertzrecords.com/largely.htm
That's the kind of beauty I mean. Those clouds of (probably hideously polluting) smoke with the coloured lights shining through them. From one perspective its as ugly as it gets, when you think about what its actually doing. But just look at it aesthetically - its beautiful. Ever walked through a city street crowded with traffic after dark in the rain? I'm sure you have - its like walking through fairyland, at times, don't you think? Coloured lights dancing over the glistening asphalt. Its like Grufty Jim wrote in his blog recently:
"Stand atop Parliament Hill at midnight, and look out over London... it's absolutely majestic. Shimmering and twinkling, and tranquil in a way that 8 million people living together shouldn't be.
The cool air is still,
o'er this jewelled landscape. Night -
on Parliament Hill."
http://www.cloud23.net/blog/
(sorry Jim, if you were trying to keep out of this!)
continued...