Betty Luceigh had a long career as a scientist, always using scientific proven theories. After a few years as a researcher, she taught organic chemistry at UCLA.
Then at age 39, she had what she calls an extraordinary vision of the Light of Beauty, which marked a dramatic shift in her spiritual awareness.
She has written a book “Is It Beautiful?” about her journey to blend science and spirituality, and will discuss the book and hold a book signing at the Brandon-Mitchell Gallery during the First Friday art walk on February 2 from 5-8pm.
Luceigh earned her PhD in organic chemistry at Stanford University. She was all about facts, testing by scientific method.
“I had a mindset of rational thinking,” she said. “But things like ‘goodness’ don’t have a molecular form to them.”
After her vision, she started exploring other realities.
She increasingly valued creativity and compassion. She studied natural healing and got out in nature. She bought land in Three Rivers.
“Some spiritual people thought science was ‘heartless.’ And vice versa. So keeping the two separated was survival.”
But eventually she realized the awe in the complicated structures of chemistry.
“I thought, how can anything this complex even be here? I saw the Beauty in it.”
Today she hopes her book can be helpful in healing divisions in the world.
She asks, “How can we go from division to unification? What must we transcend in order to transform?”
The Brandon-Mitchell Gallery is located in the Center for Spiritual Living, 117 S. Locust, Visalia.
Also on display at the gallery are photographs by members of the Visalia Photography Group.
For information, call 625-2441 or www.cslvisalia.org.