View allAll Photos Tagged SELF-UNDERSTANDING
Those who have chosen the path of least resistance in life, who cannot bear to bring themselves to make a stern value-judgment in criticism of their own most intimate feelings, achieve what they deserve: not self-understanding but radical self-superficialization, not a discovered but a self-ascribed identity that explains nothing, reveals nothing, means nothing, and ultimately accomplishes nothing culturally or intellectually.
-- Kenny Smith
The Solitary Tree is a symbol of resilience born of perseverance. Winston Churchill observed that, "Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow big and strong." Living a solitary life can lead to self understanding and awareness. It enables you to find the kindness in your heart.
Image imagined in MidJourney AI and finished with Topaz Studio 2.0 and Lightroom Classic.
"He who attempts to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom and integrity and capacity to love, will not have anything to give others.
He will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centeredness, his delusions about the ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas.”
- Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, p. 164.
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
Thanks for the awesome collab Jack, It was awesome working with you. ♥♥♥ Catch my post @ Saturnine Visage
“A person can only see their shadow if they awaken their eclectic soul. Self-understanding commences by admitting to the shadowy presence of the primordial unconsciousness. The unconscious mind is a magical concoction of logical and irrational thoughts and feelings.”― Kilroy J. Oldster
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
2018,Osaka Japan.
My photos are not complete with just one photo. What matters is the relationship with other photographs. Therefore, I recommend you to view the following series. Please feel the city of Osaka through my photos,”OSAKA STREET FRAGMENTS” www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157719832072690
Would you like to write something about my photos? The flickr "About" page has a corner called "Testimonials."
www.flickr.com/people/153962322@N05/
There, users introduce photographers' photos and styles from a unique perspective. I want to know myself deeply. In addition to dialogue with oneself, the perspectives of others are also essential for self-understanding. In that sense, there is nothing more appropriate than "Testimonials." If you would take your precious time to tell me about me, I would like to say "Thank you!" from the bottom of my heart.
My series, “Something.”
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72177720313290...
Cat portrait series,"Memories of stray cats" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157690113266...
"In explore" www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72
"OsakA"
www.flickr.com/photos/153962322@N05/albums/72157689638422...
Thank you everyone.
As we have seen, the human paradox flares up in a sudden flash of self understanding "at the still point"of Peak Experience. It happens. No effort we could make would earn for us this experience. It is gratis: gratia gratis data-a gift always...
...This is what asceticism is: goal directed, systematic training. And the goal is to discover, again and again, "the still point."
...For detachment is not a withdrawal from love, but an expansion of love beyond desire. Desire is entangled in time, nostalgic for the past, preoccupied with the future. Love expanding desire is "liberation from the future and the past." What remains is the now "where past and future are gathered, "the still point."
-A Listening Heart-The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness,
Brother David Steindl-Rast, pg. 101-102
/*********************************
Date: 05/01/21
On my dog stroll this morning, the wind is blowing and the sky is overcast. On these walks, I usually pray a Rosary…the joyful mysteries today. No beads, just fingers are used to keep count. While pondering the second mystery…it occurs to me how far God is from self understanding-when it comes to the reality of being an infant. How many of us stay in this gap? Sure we gain sophistication in dealing with the objects that surrounds us, but we, maybe from ignorance or by choice, remain seriously under developed in the “deeper” things. I sometimes conveniently choose ignorance, but with age less so.
-rc
Everything man-made is designed. The aesthetic of industrial design through the ages is a window into the science of our self-understanding.
ENGLISH
I think that we, as a humans with consciousness, we need to learn about ourselves from every mistake and forgive ourselves, for live the present in peace and continue moving in life.
The light of forgiveness represent a force that no many humans can reach it by themselves, believing that there is something "on top of their lives ", that can give it to them when they die, thats why I think humans pray. And, its the reason I think why I for the religions exist, but, do we really need them to reach such a big self understanding? In my opinion, the human need to reach a certain level of self awareness, to reach the feeling of forgiveness without enlightenments or religions.
SPANISH
Creo que nosotros, como seres humanos con conciencia, tenemos que aprender sobre nosotros mismos de todos los errores y perdonarnos a nosotros mismos, para vivir el presente en paz y seguir avanzando en la vida.
La luz del perdón representa una fuerza que no muchos seres humanos pueden alcanzar por sí mismos, es la creencia de que hay algo "superior de sus vidas", que puede darles ese perdón cuando mueren, por eso creo que los seres humanos oran y rezan constantemente. Y, es la razón por la que creo existen las religiones, pero, ¿realmente las necesitamos para llegar a tal auto entendimiento?
En mi opinión, el ser humano necesita llegar a cierto nivel de de conciencia sobre su existencia, para alcanzar el sentimiento de perdón sin iluminaciones o religiones.
Die USA waren schon immer eine schwer zu verstehende Nation, die sich größtenteils über das liebe Geld und überzogenes Anspruchsdenken definiert.
Insofern bringt der Tag nach der Wahl keine neuen Erkenntnisse.
PS : Das betrifft nicht zwangsläufig den einzelnen Menschen..... und dennoch setzt sich nie das durch was der Einzelne denkt, fühlt und will !
Diese Widersprüchlichkeit beweist, dass eine Nation nicht die Summe vieler Menschen ist, sondern das Selbstverständnis ihrer Oberschicht.
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The United States has always been a difficult-to-understand nation, mainly defined by dear money and exaggerated entitlement mentality.
In so far the day after election doesn´t yield anything new.
PS: this doesn't necessarily applies to the individual ..... nevertheless in the end it doesn´t matter what the individual thinks, feels and wishes.
This inconsistency proves that a nation is not the sum of many people, but the self-understanding of its upper class.
"`Know thy God' (I Chron. 28:9) rather than `Know Thyself' is the categorical imperative of the biblical man. There is no self-understanding without God-understanding.”
-Abraham Joshua Heschel, (as quoted in Edward K. Kaplan, Spiritual Radical: Abraham Joshua Heschel in America, 1940-1972)
Racism is an evil of tremendous power, but God's will transcends all powers. Surrender to despair is surrender to evil. It is important to feel anxiety, it is sinful to wallow in despair. What we need is a total mobilization of the heart, intelligence, and wealth for the purpose of love and justice. God is in search of men, waiting, hoping for man to do His will.
-Heschel, "The Religious Basis of Equality of Opportunity: The Segregation of God" (1963)
In this image, perception is challenged, and the familiarity is quietly fractured. At first glance, it seems straightforward: Robert sitting on a bench, holding a frame. But once you look closer, you realize his entire pose defies normal body logic. By presenting a view that defies bodily logic, the work asks: Can we ever truly face ourselves? The act of “turning around” becomes both literal and metaphorical — urging introspection, yet trapping the subject in an endless retreat from his own gaze. The frame suggests the constructed nature of identity, while the physical impossibility of his pose evokes the contortions we undergo in pursuit of self-understanding. Here, the self becomes a paradox: always present, yet always just out of view.
:: " reading is...the thrill of sublimity, of heart-stopping beauty, of excited access to a spiritually overwhelming realm...soul making, enlargement of the imaginative sympathy, self-understanding. A necessary component to strength, promise of enlargement, sudden expansion of feeling..." ~ {David Denby} ::
Change the Way You Look at You
Unnoticed? Neglected? Ignored? Not even close—to how God sees you! If you’re feeling unnoticed and under-appreciated, take a look at how God sees you as recorded in 1 Peter 2:9: “You are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession.” Or how about this description from Isaiah 61:10: “He has covered me with clothes of salvation and wrapped me with a coat of goodness, like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding, like a bride dressed in jewels.”
When your self-esteem sags—remember what you’re worth! Remember that you were bought with a price, not with something that ruins like gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, the pure and perfect lamb. Remember that! Meditate on it! Focus on it! Allow God’s love to change the way you look at—you!
From Grace for the Moment
On self understanding -Max Lucado
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Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you.
From The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis
I had the fortune of making it back to the Plitvička Jezera, a UNESCO site in Croatia. There was a bit more water this time, but still the colours and textures are what left my jaw trailing on the ground behind me.
Sometimes you need to visit a place twice. Or even three or four times. A place might speak to you in a way that won't make sense to anyone else. But this goes for more than just places - people, music, food, movies - if you love something, there's no shame at diving in and taking every mouthful you can.
Despite how terribly inconsistent we are, we like to define ourselves by our consistent patterns. I guess that's a form of self-understanding. The one thing we should all strive for.
Endometriosis Awareness Week and International Women's Day
Hi ya all, I am ‘the wife’ and I am here to say a few words about endometriosis. It’s a condition where the lining of the womb migrates out of the womb and attaches itself to any organ with in your body. I had a very common case where I had endometriosis on the back of my womb (between the bowel and womb), over my fallopian tubes and both ovaries. Every month like the lining inside the womb, endometriosis thickens and when menstruation occurs it bleeds, but it has nowhere to go. The pain can be agony and soul destroying but the thing that hurts even more is the lack of understanding from friends, family and even health care professionals. I went through 10 years of this pain, it started only being when I was bleeding but gradually starting to get where I was in pain most days of each month, not to mention the bowel problems. Friends and family got mad with me, “Why are you always ill” “go lose some weight and you will feel better” “you just need to walk it off” I didn’t go out or socialise and a lot of people walked away. Then to make a bad situation even worse my doctors didn’t even take me serious. I had a number of operations to see what was wrong, I had several different pills, coil, implant to help but these only made it worse. I would go and see my doctors who would imply it was all in my head. I did start to doubt myself. However, I had a very supportive husband and two children I had to get well for. After 6 different gynaecologists and many hospital stays, I found my current gynaecologist. Within 6 weeks of our first meeting he had me in for exploration surgery and he found endometriosis. He destroyed what he could but it sadly made no difference to the pain. So on the 10th January 2013, at 30 years old I had a full hysterectomy. I now have no womb, fallopian tubes or cervix but had to keep my ovaries to prevent me going into menopause. It was a mess inside my abdomen. The pathology report also stated I had adenomyosis which is like endometriosis but inside the muscles of the womb. I will continue my fight against the endometriosis as it will probably grow back on my ovaries until I hit menopause. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me or say how strong I am because I am not, I am just like everyone else, but I want people to realise that someone you know could be suffering like me who needs a friend. Read up on endometriosis, understand that they have physical pain but also emotional, they might be suffering with infertility or the prospect of surgery, and understand if they are not their normal bubbly self. Understanding goes a long way, ignorance only leads to hurt. Spread awareness!
www.endometriosis-uk.org/index.html
The aim of Endometriosis Awareness Week is to draw awareness to a condition that often goes unrecognised and therefore untreated in women. So what is it exactly?
The problem arises when the tissue that usually grows inside the womb starts growing in other places in the body. While the tissue in the womb falls away with a period, this tissue remaining on the outside can lead to cysts and scar tissue. For more information and endometriosis support visit the website.
Do you want to help women with endometriosis? Well, you can and in so many different ways! All you have to do is ask for a fundraising pack online and get planning your own event. Host a dinner party for your friends and ask for a donation - or do some spring cleaning and hold a jumble sale! We all have stuff that we don't use or wear hidden away and I bet if you got other people to band together and do the same you'd soon have a great event!
From a Lapland Husky Trail to cycling round India - Endometriosis UK have done it all.
Now it's time to show what you can do!
I chose this shot to raise awareness of Endometriosis Awareness Week and thought it fitting to use the Marilyn Monroe Lego figure as she was just one of the many women who have suffered this debilitating condition. I chose to wait till today for this shot as it is also International Women's Day and the most inspirational women I have ever known is my wife who has batted through thick and thin with this condition as well as others.
I knew it would be about three days before my family drove me crazy. I had finally gotten to an internal peace - a comfort in myself and who I am. I've been very open about myself, my emotions, my sexuality, my lifestyle, and I've gotten comfortable with the parts of me I know, and the parts of me I know I don't know. And Chicago wasn't right for me, I knew that. And Portland was - once. But my biggest fear moving back here is that I'd get to my free, happy city, and find now that my family has moved here, I can no longer be myself here.
It's seeming like those fears are realized. My sister takes me out with her friends. They're nice, but just barely homophobic under the surface. Just enough that I know I shouldn't be open about myself.
My immediate family seems to be trying very hard to deny me the self understanding I've worked so hard to attain. My mother outright denies any homosexuality in me, and has told me I don't have the right to talk about it until I "understand myself better." I told her I do understand myself and offered to explain...and she wandered out of the room - not even an angry stomp out, but an easy exit, like it didn't matter to her at all - like there was nothing to escape.
My cousin is getting married next month. It's a lesbian wedding, in California, a few hours north of Xelia. I asked Xelia months ago to attend with me, and she's still excited about it - we haven't seen each other in months, and an opportunity to be in the same state isn't something either of us wants to pass up. My family is telling me that it's inappropriate to bring her. That my (gay) uncle doesn't want the wedding to be a political statement. That it's presumptuous to assume that my invitation includes a guest, in spite of the fact that my sister is bringing a (hetero)guest - when I call them on this hypocracy, they claim that he's invited because the family knows him. Well how is the family going to ever know anyone I care about when I'm not allowed to bring them to family functions?
I'm just sickened and frustrated by this whole thing. I came out to Portland so I didn't feel like I had to act like anyone but myself....and now I feel more closeted and suppressed than I ever felt in Chicago.
If the gods of time are multiple like Aïon (that of eternity), or Chronos (the god of time, the son of Ouranos), to differentiate from his homophone Cronos (the equivalent of Saturn, who devoured his children), there is one that invites us to seize the moment, opportune, ephemeral...": Kaïros. A mythological figure close to Hermes and Eros, he is a true gift for feeling "the right moment". Unlike that of the Devil ("dividing one"), the function of Kaïros comes under the symbol ("putting together"), allowing to evaluate very quickly what presents itself and what should be done. Because it provides a disposition to discernment, to work in multiple fields (medicine, navigation, rhetoric, etc.), it allows to make a decision, quickly and well, among multiple possible ones. Few iconographic representations have illustrated him: he was a young man whose only tuft of hair on his head had to be grasped when he passed by... in order to seize the opportunity! Without seeing it or doing nothing, we passed by... Relevant to both secular decisive time and sacred time, it has the particularity of being in relation to synchronicity, synchronizing two events without causal link between them where time and action combine. The difficulty is to seize this time in a timely fashion, this time just right. Symbolic tools can help us, such as images, dreams, archetypal representations or other media, such as astrology or tarots. Kaïros is no stranger to astrology, an area that Jung also looked into at the beginning of his research. Thus in Paracelsica, or The Roots of Consciousness, Jung evokes the possibility of raising the patient's theme during his cure. The celestial symbolism of the birth theme can prove to be a formidable road map of the psyche's time. But Kaïros, god of the "right moment", can also be compared to the Tarots de Marseille, whose cards - in a particular draw - present the constellation of the "moment" for whoever consults them: is it time to seize or not what is presented? Far from the predictable linear physical time (Chronos), Kaïros acts on temporality, it mobilizes our ability to evaluate the circumstances in order to act neither too early nor too late. Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the supreme moment). The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos referring to sequential time, and kairos, a moment of indeterminate time in which events happen: mood of universal destruction and renewal...has set its mark on our age. This mood
makes itself felt everywhere, politically, socially, and philosophically. We are living in what the Greeks called the kairos- the right moment- for a "metamorphosis of the gods,"
of the fundamental principles and symbols. We are living in what the Greeks called the kairos- the right moment- for a 'metamorphosis of the gods', of the fundamental principles and symbols. This peculiarity of our time, which is certainly not of our conscious choosing, is the expression of the unconscious man within us who is changing. This peculiarity of our time, which is certainly not of our conscious choosing, is the expression of the unconscious human within us who is changing. Coming generations will have to take account of this momentous transformation if humanity is not to destroy itself through the might of its own technology and science....So much is at stake and so much depends on the psychological constitution of the modern human.
C. G. Jung
“…what is time? Who can give that a brief or easy answer? Who can even form a conception of it to be put into words? Yet what do we mention more often or familiarly in our conversation than time? We must therefore know what we are talking about when we refer to it, or when we hear someone else doing so. But what, exactly, is that? I know what it is if no one asks; but if anyone does, then I cannot explain it.”
-Saint Augustine, Confessions (book 11, chapter 3) (~400CE)
One thing is for sure, whatever the ego thinks time is—whatever spell it tries to cast with its alphabetic magic to capture it—it will almost certainly miss the mark. Whatever time is, we should admit we are mostly unconscious of it. In fact, it seems to me that there is an intimate connection, perhaps even an identity, between time and the Jungian notion of the unconscious, a connection that archetypal cosmology obviously substantiates. Despite time’s unconscious depths and ineffability, I am after all a philosopher, and we love nothing more than to try to “eff” the ineffable.
In the 15 brief minutes I have with you, I want to introduce, with help from the Ancient Greek language, 3 different modalities of temporality, or rather, I want to introduce you to 3 Gods, each with a powerful hand in shaping our experience of time: Chronos, Kairos, and Aion. In concrete experience, each mode appears to me at least to be co-present and interwoven; I only separate them abstractly to help us get a better sense for the anatomy of time. Of course, we should remember all the while that “we murder to dissect” (Wordsworth).
I therefore humbly ask for the blessing of the Gods of time as I embark on this short journey into their meanings. May you grant us entry into your mysteries.
A Brief History of (the Idea of) Time:
1. Plato suggests in the Timaeus that time is brought forth by the rhythmic dancing of the Sun, Moon, and five other planets then known upon the stage of 12 constellations. Through the cooperative and friendly circling of these archetypal beings, eternity is permitted entry into time. Time, in other words, is said to emerge from the harmonious or regular motion of the heavens—motion regulated by mathematical harmonies. Plato’s ancient vision of a perfect cosmic order had it that the motion of the 7 known planetary spheres was in mathematical harmony with the 8th supraplanetary sphere of fixed constellations, that the ratios of their orbits added up to one complete whole, finding their unity in what has been called the Platonic or Great Year (known to us today as the 26,000 year precession of the equinoxes). This highest of the heavenly spheres was the God known to the ancients as Aion.
2. Aristotle critiqued Plato’s idea of time as produced by motion. Aristotle argued that time couldn’t possibly be produced by motion, because motion itself is something we measure using time. Motion can be fast or slow, he argued, but time always flows at the same rate. Time is simply a way of measuring change. Aristotle’s conception of time, then, is chronic, rather than aionic. His was the beginning of the scientific view of time as a merely conventional measurement, rather than a cosmic motion, as with Plato.
3. Galileo’s view of the universe was, on the face of it, a complete rejection of Aristotle’s physics. Remember that Aristotle still held a teleological view of chronological time: an apple falls to the ground, for Aristotle, because it desires to do so, because earth is its natural home; for Galileo, nothing in the apple compels it to fall, it is simply a blind happening working according to mechanical laws. Galileo, like Newton and Descartes, rejected the idea of purposeful, meaningful time. Time became for them merely a function in a differential equation. In a sense, then, though the early scientists rejected Aristotle’s view of teleological time, they only further formalized Aristotle’s view of time as a measure of motion. Time became t, a variable quantity used to calculate the precise velocity of material bodies through space. 4. Einstein’s theory of relativity revealed how time and space are intimately related, since, strange as it may seem, as speed increases, time slows. But still, time is understood not on its own terms, but is reduced to a linear, easily measurable and quantifiable function. The reduction of time to Chronos may have begun with Aristotle, but was carried to new extremes by modern materialistic science. 5. Today we know things are quite a bit more chaotic than earlier thinkers, including Plato, let on: we live in a chaosmos, not a perfect cosmos; an open spiral not a closed circle. The orbital periods of the planets shift ever so slightly as the years pass, and the “fixed” stars are actually not fixed at all. Our universe is very strange, and measuring time is no easy matter. Even merely chronological time is extremely counter-intuitive: A day on Venus, for instance, is longer than a Venusian year. Everything is spinning around everything else. Time is then not a moving image of eternal perfection; rather, time is what happens when divinity loses its balance and gets dizzy. But don’t worry, there is nowhere to fall over in the infinite expanses of space. What is happening when referring to kairos depends on who is using the word. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative, permanent nature. The union of kairos and logos is the philosophical task set for us in philosophy and in all fields that are accessible to the philosophical attitude. The logos is to be taken up into the kairos, universal values into the fullness of time, truth into the fate of existence. The separation of idea and existence has to be brought to an end. It is the very nature of essence to come into existence, to enter into time and fate. This happens to essence not because of something extraneous to it; it is rather the expression of its own intrinsic character, of its freedom. And it is essential to philosophy to stand in existence, to create out of time and fate. It would be wrong if one were to characterize this as a knowledge bound to necessity. Since existence itself stands in fate, it is proper that philosophy should also stand in fate. Existence and knowledge both are subject to fate. The immutable and eternal heaven of truth of which Plato speaks is accessible only to a knowledge that is free from fate—to divine knowledge. The truth that stands in fate is accessible to him who stands within fate, who is himself an element of fate, for thought is a part of existence. And not only is existence fate to thought, but so also is thought fate to existence, just as everything is fate to everything else. Thought is one of the powers of being, it is a power within existence. And it proves its power by being able to spring out of any given existential situation and create something new! It can leap over existence just as existence can leap over it. Because of this characteristic of thought, the view perhaps quite naturally arose that thought may be detached from existence and may therefore liberate man from his hateful bondage to it. But the history of philosophy itself has shown that this opinion is a mistaken one. The leap of thought does not involve a breaking of the ties with existence; even in the act of its greatest freedom, thought remains bound to fate. Thus the history of philosophy shows that all existence stands in fate. Every finite thing possesses a certain power of being of its own and thus possesses a capacity for fate. The greater a finite thing’s autonomous power of being is, the higher is its capacity for fate and the more deeply is the knowledge of it involved in fats. From physics on up to the normative cultural sciences there is a gradation, the logos standing at the one end and the kairos at the other. But there is no point at which either logos or kairos alone is to be found. Hence even our knowledge of the fateful character of philosophy must at the same time stand in logos and in kairos. If it stood only in the kairos, it would be without validity and the assertion would be valid only for the one making it; if it stood only in the logos, it would be without fate and would therefore have no part in existence, for existence is involved in fate.What are the deep stirrings in the collective psyche of the West? Can we discern any larger patterns in the immensely complex and seemingly chaotic flux and flow of our age? Influenced by the depth psychology tradition founded a century ago by Freud and Jung,and especially since the 1960s and the radical increase in psychological self-consciousness that era helped mediate, the cultural ethos of recent decades has made us well aware how important is the psychological task of understanding our personal histories. We have sought ever deeper insight into our individual biographies, seeking to recover the often hidden sources of our present condition, to render conscious those unconscious forces and complexes that shape our lives. Many now recognize that same task as critical for our entire civilization. What individuals and psychologists have long been doing has now become the collective responsibility of our culture: to make the unconscious conscious. And for a civilization, to a crucial extent, history is the great unconscious- history not so much as the external
chronology of political and military milestones, but as the interior history of a civilization: that unfolding drama evidenced in a culture's evolving cosmology, its philosophy and science, its religious consciousness, its art, its myths. For us to participate fully and creatively in shaping our future, we need to better understand the underlying patterns and
influences of our collective past. Only then can we begin to grasp what forces move within us today, and perhaps glimpse what may be emerging on the new millennial
horizon. I focus my discussion here on the West, but not out of any triumphalist presumption that the West is somehow intrinsically superior to other civilizations and thus most worthy of our attention. I do so rather because it is the West that has brought forth the political,technological, intellectual, and spiritual currents that have been most decisive in
constellating the contemporary world situation in all its problematic complexity. For better or worse, the character of the West has had a global impact, and will continue to do
so for the foreseeable future. Yet I also address the historical evolution of Western consciousness because, for most of us reading these words, this development represents
our own tradition, our legacy, our ancestral cultural matrix. Attending carefully and critically to this tradition fulfills a certain responsibility to the past, to our ancestors, just as
attempting to understand its deeper implications fulfills a responsibility to the future, to our children. A paradox confronts every sensitive observer about the West: On the one hand, we cannot fail to recognize a certain dynamism, a brilliant, heroic impulse, even a nobility, at work in Western civilization and in Western thought. We see this in the great
achievements of Greek philosophy and art, for example, or in the Sistine Chapel and other Renaissance masterpieces, in the plays of Shakespeare, in the music of Bach or Beethoven. We see it in the brilliance of the Copernican revolution, with the tremendous cosmological and even metaphysical transformation it has wrought in our civilization's
world view. We see it in the unprecedented space flights of a generation ago, landing men on the moon, or, more recently, in the spectacular images of the vast cosmos coming
from the Hubbell telescope and the new data and new perspectives these images have brought forth. And of course the great democratic revolutions of modernity, and the
powerful emancipatory movements of our own era, vividly reflect this extraordinary dynamism and even nobility of the West. Yet at the same time we are forced to admit that this very same historical tradition has caused immense suffering and loss, for many other cultures and peoples, for many people within Western culture itself, and for many other forms of life on the planet. Moreover, the West has played the central role in bringing about a subtly growing and seemingly
inexorable crisis on our planet, a crisis of multidimensional complexity: ecological, political, social, economic, intellectual, psychological, spiritual. To say our global civilization is becoming dysfunctional scarcely conveys the gravity of the situation. For humankind and the planet, we face the possibility of great catastrophe. For many forms of life on the Earth, that catastrophe has already taken place. How can we make sense of this tremendous paradox in the character and meaning of the West? If we examine many of the intellectual and cultural debates of our time, particularly near the epicenter of the major paradigm battles today, it is possible to see looming behind them two fundamental interpretations, two archetypal stories or metanarratives, concerning the evolution of human consciousness and the history of the Western mind. In essence these two metanarratives reflect two deep myths in the collective psyche- and let us define myths here not as mere falsehoods, nor as collective fantasies of an arbitrary sort, but rather as profound and enduring patterns of meaning that inform the human psyche and constellate its diverse realities. These two great myths in the collective psyche structure our historical self-understanding in very different ways. One could be called the myth of progress, the other the myth of the fall. The first, familiar to all of us from our education, describes the evolution of human consciousness, and particularly the history of the Western mind, as an extraordinary progressive development, a long heroic journey from a primitive world of dark ignorance,
suffering, and limitation to a brighter modern world of ever increasing knowledge, freedom, and well-being. This great trajectory of progress is seen as having been made possible by the sustained development of human reason, and above all by the emergence of the modern mind. We recognize this view whenever we encounter a book or program whose title is something like "The Ascent of Man" or "The Discoverers" or "Man's Conquest of Space," and so forth. The direction of history is seen as onward and upward. Humanity is here often personified as "man," and imaged, at least implicitly, as
a solar masculine hero of Promethean character: bold, restless, brilliantly innovative, ceaselessly pressing forward with his intelligence and will, breaking out of the structures
and limitations of the past, forever seeking greater freedom and new horizons, ascending to ever higher levels of development. The apex of human achievement in this vision
begins with the ascendance of modern science and individualistic democracy. The view of history is one of progressive emancipation and empowerment. It is a vision that emerged fully in the course of the European Enlightenment, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though its roots are as old as Western civilization itself. In many respects our modern consciousness is so fully identified with this myth that it has become our common sense, the lineaments of our self-image as modern humans.The first, familiar to all of us from our education, describes the evolution of human consciousness, and particularly the history of the Western mind, as an extraordinary progressive development, a long heroic journey from a primitive world of dark ignorance,suffering, and limitation to a brighter modern world of ever increasing knowledge, freedom, and well-being. This great trajectory of progress is seen as having been made
possible by the sustained development of human reason, and above all by the emergence of the modern mind. We recognize this view whenever we encounter a book or program whose title is something like "The Ascent of Man" or "The Discoverers" or "Man's Conquest of Space," and so forth. The direction of history is seen as onward and upward. Humanity is here often personified as "man," and imaged, at least implicitly, as a solar masculine hero of Promethean character: bold, restless, brilliantly innovative, ceaselessly pressing forward with his intelligence and will, breaking out of the structures and limitations of the past, forever seeking greater freedom and new horizons, ascending
to ever higher levels of development. The apex of human achievement in this vision begins with the ascendance of modern science and individualistic democracy. The view
of history is one of progressive emancipation and empowerment. It is a vision that emerged fully in the course of the European Enlightenment, in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, though its roots are as old as Western civilization itself. In many respects our modern consciousness is so fully identified with this myth that it has become
our common sense, the lineaments of our self-image as modern humans. The other view, whose presence has become much stronger in our cultural discussion in
recent years, though it was always present to one extent or another as a compensatory countercurrent to the progressive view, describes this story in quite opposite terms. In the
form this myth has taken in our era, the evolution of human consciousness and the history of the Western mind are seen as a tragic story of humanity's radical fall and separation
from an original state of oneness with nature and with being. In its primordial condition, humankind had possessed an instinctive knowledge of the profound sacred unity and
interconnectedness of the world; but under the influence of the Western mind, and especially intensifying with the ascendance of the modern mind, the course of history has
brought about a deep schism between humankind and nature, and a desacralization of the world. This development has coincided with an increasingly destructive human
exploitation of nature, the devastation of traditional indigenous cultures, and an increasingly unhappy state of the human soul, which experiences itself as ever more
isolated, shallow, and unfulfilled. In this perspective, both humanity and nature are seen as having suffered grievously under a long domination of thought and society associated
with both patriarchy and modernity, with the worst consequences being produced by the oppressive hegemony of Western industrial societies empowered by modern science and technology. The nadir of this fall is seen as the present time of planetary ecological disaster, moral disorientation, and spiritual emptiness, which is the direct consequence of human hubris as embodied above all in the structure and spirit of the modern Western mind and ego. Here the historical perspective is one which reveals a progressive impoverishment of human life and the human spirit, a fragmentation of original unities, a ruinous destruction of the sacred community of being.
cosmosandpsyche.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/revision-rite...
It is time to say goodbye to 2019, to the 2010s.
It has been a crazy year and I think most Hongkongers would agree with me. The police violence we witnessed and experienced in the city the lies from the government were definitely sickening, but the light and hope in the people is a great find indeed.
Aside from what's going on on the city level, 2019 has been special on a personal level too. I finally started my master program in art therapy after so many years of talking. I also continued with my art classes, which surprisingly have been very fruitful and enjoyable. I am getting more comfortable with painting and drawing, although not necessarily getting better. I also learnt that sculpting is not as hard as I thought (using clay), which is nice.
With more time being devoted to my study and art mediums such as clay, drawing and painting, my time taking photos has shrunk indeed. I thought I was being distracted by the amount of gears that I had so I sold some cameras and lenses to try to regain my focus on photography itself. I got a new film scanner in hope to shoot more film (my old scanner, Canon 8800F has served me for 10 years, time to say goodbye). However, I am still quite behind with the development of films and the scanning. This is something that I hope to change in 2020. Well, at least I have been carrying my cameras with me more often in 2019 than the couple of years before.
You don't get to say goodbye to a decade very often. 2010s has been.. I don't know how to describe. There has been a lot of growth but not as much as I would like. There has been many reflection and self-understanding taking place. I grew from a boy who just graduated from uni not knowing anything to become a married man who is starting to realize the importance of planning for future (still not knowing anything). I discovered my passion in 2009 and spent the following decade being in a relationship with it. It has been a very special decade in my short life so far. I will always remember it, not being too happy about it nor being regretful over it with a lot what-if in my head. It is what it is.
2020 is going to be a busy year. I hope I will be able to survive, I hope the city and its brace citizens are going to survive too. Sorry for the utter randomness in this post and how disorganized it is. I wish you all a happy new year and always be joyful in photography. Oh and I hope Flickr won't die.
Photo taken a few days ago in To Kwan Wan, Hong Kong, by my better half.
Ecstasy a theory of embodied emotions that anticipates the role ascribed by twentieth century phenomenology to anxiety and other ‘bad moods’, as possibilities for philosophical reflection and self-understanding. (from Ancient Greek ἔκστασις ékstasis) is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. In classical Greek literature it refers to removal of the mind or body "from its normal place of function."In love, one feels simultaneously vulnerable and strong, united with the beloved and isolated in a heightened sense of self, abased and exalted – delicious emotions that well out of one’s innermost being and gratitude for the splendors of the objective real. Almost the same words serve to describe an encounter with the divine. To most people, the tidal swing of emotion culminating in the ecstasy of sexual embrace is the most they will ever know of mystical union and transcendence. Not surprisingly. World literature and art – notably those of India, China, and the West – have seen fit to conjoin the two. There was then no cover-up, no sense of a split between body and soul, the “low” and the “high”. In the absence of such a sense of split, a body evokes feelings that merge and rise effortlessly to the realm of the spirit. In the West, Solomon’s poetry (Song of Songs) provides an early and familiar model of how a charged erotic language can call forth the passion and mystery of divine union. Again and again, Western mystics and poets have availed themselves of this model, outstandingly St. John of the Cross, whose Spiritual Canticle contains images that could shock even W. H. Auden, a very worldly and modern poet. In sculptural art, the voluptuous forms of gods and goddesses, the transparent identification of sexual congress – the herd girls’ desire for Krishna – with mystical ecstasy, richly adorn the exterior of Hindu temples. Almost as gloriously unselfconscious are works of Western sculpture and painting from classical antiquity to the seventeenth century. Over and over again, the perfectly formed human nude is made to serve as a symbol of spiritual perfection. In medieval times, sculptors saw nothing amiss in using pagan Nereids to represent blessed souls on their way to heaven. During periods of religious fervor, outstandingly the sixteenth century, the line between sacred and profane ecstasy was exceedingly fine. Saints, daringly uncovered, turned their eyes to heaven in bliss. Michelangelo’s drawing of the risen Christ (housed at Windsor) shows him completely nude, with exposed genitals. To the art historian Kenneth Clark it is “perhaps the most beautiful nude in ecstasy in the whole of art.”Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) euphoria. Although the experience is usually brief in time,[1] there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime. A person's sense of time and space disappear during a religious ecstasy forsaking any senses or physical cognizance in its duration. Among venerated Catholic saints who dabble in Christian mysticism, a person's physical stature, human sensory, or perception is completely detached to time and space during an ecstatic experience. In Sufism, the term is referred to as wajd and the experience is referred to as either jazbah or majzoobiyat. The religious ecstacy of Saint Teresa of Avila of the Carmelite Order, here portrayed being pierced a thousand times in the heart by a Putto. The adjective "religious" means that the experience occurs in connection with religious activities or is interpreted in context of a religion. Marghanita Laski writes in her study "Ecstasy in Religious and Secular Experiences," first published in 1961:
"Epithets are very often applied to mystical experiences including ecstasies without, apparently, any clear idea about the distinctions that are being made. Thus we find experiences given such names as nature, religious, aesthetic, neo-platonic, sexual etc. experiences, where in some cases the name seems to derive from trigger, sometimes from the overbelief, sometimes from the known standing and beliefs of the mystic, and sometimes, though rarely, from the nature of the experience. Ecstasies enjoyed by accepted religious mystics are usually called religious experiences no matter what the nature of the ecstasy or the trigger inducing it."
Exclusive and inclusive views Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy. Caravaggio, oil on panel. Religious people may hold the view that true religious ecstasy occurs only in their religious context (e.g. as a gift from the supernatural being whom they follow) and it cannot be induced by natural means (human activities). Trance-like states which are often interpreted as religious ecstasy have been deliberately induced with techniques or ecstatic practices; including, prayer, religious rituals, meditation, breathing exercises, physical exercise, sex, music, dancing, sweating, fasting, thirsting, and psychotropic drugs. An ecstatic experience may take place in occasion of contact with something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy. It may also happen without any known reason. The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually one that is associated with that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions. As a result, an ecstatic experience is usually interpreted within the particular individual religious context and cultural traditions. These interpretations often include statements about contact with supernatural or spiritual beings, about receiving new information as a revelation, also religion-related explanations of subsequent change of values, attitudes and behavior (e.g. in case of religious conversion). Achieving ecstatic trances is a shamanic activity, inducing ecstasy for such purposes as traveling to heaven or the underworld, guiding or otherwise interacting with spirits, clairvoyance, and healing. Some shamans take drugs from such plants as Ayahuasca, peyote and cannabis (drug) or certain mushrooms in their attempts to reach ecstasy, while others rely on such non-chemical means as ritual, music, dance, ascetic practices, or visual designs as aids to mental discipline. Athletes may follow rituals in preparing for contests, which are dismissed as superstition, but this sports psychology device may help them to attain advantage in an ecstasy-like state. Yoga provides techniques to attain an ecstasy state called samādhi. According to practitioners, there are various stages of ecstasy, the highest being Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Bhakti Yoga especially, places emphasis on ecstasy as being one of the fruits of its practice.
In Buddhism, especially in the Pali Canon, there are eight states of trance also called absorption. The first four states are Rupa or, materially-oriented. The next four are Arupa or non-material. These eight states are preliminary trances which lead up to final saturation. In Visuddhimagga, great effort and years of sustained meditation are practiced to reach the first absorption, and that not all individuals are able to accomplish it at all. Modern meditator experiences in the Thai Forest Tradition, as well as other Theravadin traditions, demonstrates that this effort and rarity is necessary only to become completely immersed in the absorptions and experience no other sensations. It is possible to experience the absorptions in a less intense state with much less practice. In the Dionysian Mysteries, initiates used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints, liberating the individual to return to a natural state. In the monotheistic tradition, ecstasy is usually associated with communion and oneness with God. However, such experiences can also be personal mystical experiences with no significance to anyone but the person experiencing them. Some charismatic Christians practice ecstatic states (such as "being slain in the Spirit") and interpret these as given by the Holy Spirit. The firewalkers of Greece dance themselves into a state of ecstasy at the annual Anastenaria, when they believe themselves under the influence of Saint Constantine. Historically, large groups of individuals have experienced religious ecstasies during periods of Christian revivals, to the point of causing controversy as to the origin and nature of these experiences. In response to claims that all emotional expressions of religious ecstasy were attacks on order and theological soundness from the Devil, Jonathan Edwards published his now-famous and influential Treatise on Religious Affections. Here, he argues, religious ecstasy could come from oneself, the Devil, or God, and it was only by observing the fruit, or changes in inner thought and behaviour, that one could determine if the religious ecstasy had come from God.
In hagiography (writings about Christian saints) many instances are recorded in which saints are granted ecstasies. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia religious ecstasy (called "supernatural ecstasy") includes two elements: one, interior and invisible, in which the mind rivets its attention on a religious subject, and another, corporeal and visible, in which the activity of the senses is suspended, reducing the effect of external sensations upon the subject and rendering him or her resistant to awakening. The witnesses of a Marian apparition often describe experiencing these elements of ecstasy. Modern Witchcraft traditions may define themselves as "ecstatic traditions," and focus on reaching ecstatic states in their rituals. The Reclaiming Tradition and the Feri Tradition are two modern ecstatic Witchcraft examples. As described by the Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba, God-intoxicated souls known as masts experience a unique type of spiritual ecstasy: "[M]asts are desperately in love with God – or consumed by their love for God. Masts do not suffer from what may be called a disease. They are in a state of mental disorder because their minds are overcome by such intense spiritual energies that are far too much for them, forcing them to lose contact with the world, shed normal human habits and customs, and civilized society and live in a state of spiritual splendor but physical squalor. They are overcome by an agonizing love for God and are drowned in their ecstasy. Only the divine love embodied in a Perfect Master can reach them."
Total involvement with an object of interest is not an ordinary experience because of being aware of other objects, thus ecstasy is an example of an altered state of consciousness characterized by diminished awareness of other objects or the total lack of the awareness of surroundings and everything around the object. The word is also used to refer to any heightened state of consciousness or intensely pleasant experience. It is also used more specifically to denote states of awareness of non-ordinary mental spaces, which may be perceived as spiritual (the latter type of ecstasy often takes the form of religious ecstasy). From a psychological perspective, ecstasy is a loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness, which is often associated with religious mysticism, sexual intercourse and the use of certain drugs.[2] For the duration of the ecstasy the ecstatic is out of touch with ordinary life and is capable neither of communication with other people nor of undertaking normal actions. The experience can be brief in physical time, or it can go on for hours. Subjective perception of time, space or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy. For instance, if one is concentrating on a physical task, then any intellectual thoughts may cease. On the other hand, making a spirit journey in an ecstatic trance involves the cessation of voluntary bodily movement.
Ecstasy can be deliberately induced using religious or creative activities, meditation, music, dancing, breathing exercises, physical exercise, sexual intercourse or consumption of psychotropic drugs. The particular technique that an individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually also associated with that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions. Sometimes an ecstatic experience takes place due to occasional contact with something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy, or without any known reason. "In some cases, a person might obtain an ecstatic experience 'by mistake'. Maybe the person unintentionally triggers one of the, probably many, physiological mechanisms through which such an experience can be reached. In such cases, it is not rare to find that the person later, by reading, looks for an interpretation and maybe finds it within a tradition." People interpret the experience afterward according to their culture and beliefs (as a revelation from God, a trip to the world of spirits or a psychotic episode). "When a person is using an ecstasy technique, he usually does so within a tradition. When he reaches an experience, a traditional interpretation of it already exists." The experience together with its subsequent interpretation may strongly and permanently change the value system and the worldview of the subject (e.g. to cause religious conversion). In 1925, James Leuba wrote: "Among most uncivilized populations, as among civilized peoples, certain ecstatic conditions are regarded as divine possession or as union with the Divine. These states are induced by means of drugs, by physical excitement, or by psychical means. But, however produced and at whatever level of culture they may be found, they possess certain common features which suggest even to the superficial observer some profound connection. Always described as delightful beyond expression, these awesome ecstatic experiences end commonly in mental quiescence or even in total unconsciousness." He prepares his readers "... to recognize a continuity of impulse, of purpose, of form and of result between the ecstatic intoxication of the savage and the absorption in God of the Christian mystic." "In everyday language, the word 'ecstasy' denotes an intense, euphoric experience. For obvious reasons, it is rarely used in a scientific context; it is a concept that is extremely hard to define."For over three centuries, western science – and in particular, psychiatry – has tended to pathologize ‘mystical experience’, to reduce it to a delusion or mental illness. In the Enlightenment, natural philosophers called it ‘enthusiasm’, and blamed on an over-active imagination or an over-warm brain. In the late 19th century, psychiatrists labelled it ‘hysteria’. In the 20th century, spiritual experiences were (and still are) reduced to brain disorders like schizophrenia or epilepsy. The consequence of this long pathologization of ecstasy is that there’s a taboo around such experiences. As Aldous Huxley put it: ‘If you have an experience like this, you keep your mouth shut, for fear of being told to go to a psychoanalyst’, or, in our day, a psychiatrist. And the result of that taboo is that western culture has become spiritually flat, afraid to let go, stuck in our heads and our egos, lacking a window to transcendence. In the last few years, however, a consensus has begun to emerge in psychology and psychiatry that ecstatic experiences – moments when we go beyond our ordinary ego and feel a connection to something bigger than us – are often good for us. Scientists can’t agree on what to call this sort of experience – it’s variously studied as self-transcendence; flow; mystical, religious, spiritual or anomalous experience; altered states of consciousness; or (my preferred term) ecstasy. But scientists do agree that it’s an important human experience that can be very healing. This is a big shift for western science, and western culture. Ecstasy is good for us because it gets us out of our head. Emotional disorders like depression, anxiety and addiction are perpetuated by rigid and repetitive patterns of thinking, feeling and acting. We get stuck in loops of negative rumination, endlessly thinking about ourselves and our imperfections. We can free ourselves from these rigid mental habits by using rationality to unpick our beliefs – this is what Cognitive Behavioural Therapy does. But we can also get out of these loops by shifting our consciousness. To use the terminology of the New Testament, we can have sudden epiphanies which break us out of the tomb of our egos, giving us the experience of being born again. Being reborn – suddenly reconfiguring the self – is a fundamental human capacity, not found only in followers of Jesus. There are shallower and deeper forms of ego-loss. At the lighter end of the spectrum, there are the sort of ‘flow’ states which we might find each day or week, where we lose ourselves in reading a good book, or walking in the park, or going for a run. These activities settle and absorb our consciousness, taking us out of the loop of rumination, helping us forget ourselves in the moment (here’s an interview I did with flow psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi on flow and ecstasy). We are anxiety-ridden animals. Our minds are continually active, fabricating an anxious, usually self-preoccupied, often falsifying veil which partially conceals our world…The most obvious thing in our surroundings which is an occasion for ‘unselfing’ is what is popularly called beauty…I am looking out of my window in an anxious and resentful state of mind…Then suddenly I observe a hovering kestrel. In a moment everything is altered. The brooding self with its hurt vanity has disappeared. There is nothing now but kestrel. Nature is the most reliable route to this sort of ego-dissolving wonder. When we go for a walk, run, ride or swim in nature, we might discover what Wordsworth called ‘the quiet stream of self-forgetfulness’. We get into the ‘reverie’ that Rousseau wrote about when he went walking, feel a mind-expansion at the beauty of the landscape, and this breaks the loop of rumination. Here’s a 2015 study on how a 90-minute walk in nature reduces rumination. The arts can do something similar – absorb our consciousness so that we lose ourselves in the moment, in the book, poem, play, painting, song, cathedral etc – and this shift in consciousness breaks the loop of rumination and takes us somewhere quieter, better, more spacious. A 2016 mass survey by Durham University found reading and nature were our favourite ways to rest – and switching off the restless ego-mind is an important part of that. Likewise, meditation and prayer can help us find the space between our ruminating thoughts. Many of us use sport as a way to get out of the noise of our head and into our bodies. Such moments of absorption can be very socially connecting. Suddenly, we’re taken out of our ego-loops and joined in what social psychologist Jonathan Haidt called ‘the hive mind’. That’s a great antidote to the chronic western affliction of loneliness. We might get that experience singing, dancing, marching or playing music together, which studies shows helps to synchronize people’s breathing and even heart-beat. We might get collective flow from playing or watching sport together, or participating in a concert or political rally. Or – the oldest route – we might get it by worshipping the divine in some form or other. And then there are deeper moments of self-transcendence, which the mystics call ‘ecstasy’, in which one becomes so absorbed in a moment or activity that one’s identity and conception of reality are radically altered, perhaps permanently. Such moments are rare, but they can be life-changing. At this deeper end of what I call the ‘continuum of absorption’, one finds experiences like strong psychedelic trips, moments of deep contemplation, spontaneous spiritual experiences, and near-death experiences. Take spontaneous spiritual experiences. In surveys, between 50% and 80% of people say they have experienced a moment of ecstasy, where they’ve gone beyond their normal sense of identity and felt a deep connection to something greater than them. Here’s one example: During my late 20s and early 30s I had a good deal of depression. I felt shut up in a cocoon of complete isolation and could not get in touch with anyone…things came to such a pass and I was so tired of fighting that I said one day, ‘I can do no more. Let nature, or whatever is behind the universe, look after me now.’ Within a few days I passed from a hell to a heaven. It was as if the cocoon had burst and my eyes were opened and I saw. Everything was alive and God was present in all things….Psychologically and for my own peace of mind, the effect has been of the greatest importance. In a survey I did, agnostics and atheists also reported moments where they felt a deep connection between themselves and all things – indeed, arch-rationalist Bertrand Russell had a mystical moment where he suddenly felt profoundly connected to everyone in the street. He said that experience turned him into a pacifist. We might make sense of such moments of connection differently, but they seem very common, and on the whole good for us. Psychedelics are similarly effective at giving people a sense of spiritual connection and oneness. Comedian Simon Amstell has spoken of how a psychedelic brew called ayahuasca, found in the Amazon jungle, helped him overcome depression: ‘Before I left I felt broken. After I came back, I didn’t feel broken anymore…I felt like I was part of the world, not disconnected from it.’,After 40 years in the wilderness, psychedelics are rapidly returning to the mainstream of western medicine. Just this month, the Lancet published a trial showing the effectiveness of ketamine at treating chronic depression, while BBC One’s main daytime TV show, Victoria, had a segment on the benefits of LSD microdosing in managing emotional problems. Other trials have found psychedelics effective at treating depression and addiction. One of the most powerful forms of ecstatic experience is the ‘near-death experience’. Thanks to improved resuscitation procedures, NDEs are increasingly common and there are several academic research units studying them. They seem to share common features, particularly an encounter with a white light and a sense of being profoundly loved. People typically return from NDEs less afraid of death, because they no longer think it’s the end. I had an NDE myself when I was 21 – that’s how I became interested in this topic – and it helped me recover from PTSD. After five years of feeling my ego was permanently broken, I realized there was something within me bigger than my ego, which was loved and OK.
Other forms of ecstatic experience seem to work in a similar way – they take people beyond their constructed ego and give them a sense of love-connection to some greater whole. In the trials I mentioned at the start of this article, psilocybin seemed to give the participants an NDE-type experience. Here’s the report of one participant in the NYU study:
For the first time in my life, I felt like there was a creator of the universe, a force greater than myself, and that I should be kind and loving. I experienced a profound psychic shift that made me realize all my anxieties, defences and insecurities weren’t something to worry about. Now, this poses a challenge for western science. It appears that moments of ecstasy or ‘mystical experiences’ can be very therapeutic. But are they true? Are we really connected to all beings and the universe in some kind of psychic love-connection? Is there really a loving God beyond our ego? Tucked away in the formal language of the Johns Hopkins study is the comment that one psychedelic trip increased people’s belief in the afterlife (see the passage below), and this was one of the factors in the reduction of death-anxiety.St. Theresa of Avila was a Spanish nun, mystic and writer during the Counter-Reformation. Some sources suggest that as a girl, Theresa was willful and spoiled, and chose to enter the Carmelite sisterhood instead of marrying a wealthy hidalgo based on the mistaken belief that as a nun she would be afforded more freedom. Upon entering the convent aged 19, Theresa became seriously ill (she has now become a patron saint for the infirm), possibly depressed and subjecting her body to self-mutilation. By the time she reached her forties, Theresa had settled down to her new spiritual life, when one day, while praying and singing the hymn "Veni Creator Spiritus," she experienced the first of the episodes that would accompany her for the rest of her life: a rapture. In her writings, Theresa describes how she would feel suddenly consumed by the love of God, feel the bodily presence of Christ or of angels, and be lifted to an exalted state of ecstasy. Although in her own lifetime Theresa was sometimes ridiculed for such claims, or even accused of communing with the devil, she became a prominent figure in the church. Theresa was one of only three female church doctors and was finally canonized in 1622. Bernini's famous sculpture was commissioned by Cardinal Federico Cornaro of Venice in 1647 for his burial chapel in Santa Maria della Vittoria, replacing the previous sculpture showing St. Paul in Ecstasy. The Cardinal hired an already famous but down and out Bernini (his reputation was tarnished after his bell tower for the façade of St. Peter's had to be demolished in 1646) for the fantastic amount of 12,000 scudi (roughly $120,000), a price unheard of at that time. The Ecstasy of St. Theresa is considered by many as the apogee of Bernini's oeuvre and is notable for the following qualities; Bernini's St. Theresa is often described as a gesamtkunstwerk (a German word meaning "total work of art") for the artist's incorporation of a variety of elements: sculpture, painting, and lighting effects all presented in a theatrical setting. The Ecstasy of St. Theresa is not just a sculpture, but a total environment: Bernini designed the entire chapel, creating a veritable stage set complete with sculpted audience members. Although some art historians insist that Bernini could not possibly have intended to imbue this subject with an erotic energy, as that would have been inconceivably heretical for that time, in reality the concupiscent implications of this work are unmistakable: the beautiful, bare-chested young angle gently opens Theresa's dress, preparing to penetrate her with his arrow, while the saint throws back her head with an expression of ecstasy. The sensuality of the piece is directly inspired by St. Theresa's own writings, in which she describes her mystical experiences in overtly erotic terms; "... Beside me, on the left hand, appeared an angel in bodily form... He was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest rank of angels, who seem to be all on fire... In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times ... and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one's soul then content with anything but God. This is not a physical, but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it-even a considerable share ..." Even more so than in his previous works, in The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa Bernini takes the principles of the Baroque (drama, emotion, theatricality) to unknown heights. Note the emphasis on the dramatic qualities of light, as well as the virtuoso and utterly fantastic mass of fluttering draperies.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecstasy_(emotion)
In der Kapelle der Burg Trifels wurden im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert mehrfach die sogenannten Reichskleinodien verwahrt. Vereinfacht ausgedrückt war das der Kronschatz des Heiligen Römischen Reichs deutscher Nation. Sein wichtigster Bestandteil war die Reichskrone. Sie wurde in der zweiten Hälfte des 10. Jahrhunderts angefertigt, möglicherweise in einer Kölner Werkstatt. Getragen wurde sie von deutschen Königen und von deutschen Kaisern. Ihr erster Träger könnte Kaiser Otto I. im Jahr 960 gewesen sein. Von da an blieb sie bis zum 6. August 1806 in Gebrauch, als Kaiser Franz II. sie als Reaktion auf Napoleons Kaiserkrönung niederlegte. - Die Reichskrone ist ein überaus symbolträchtiges Kunstwerk. Ihr achteckiger Grundriss greift christliche Zahlenmystik auf, denn Acht ist die Zahl derjenigen Menschen, die die Sintflut überlebt haben und nach der Katastrophe einen neuen Bund mit Gott eingegangen sind. Nach mittelalterlichem Selbstverständnis war das Heilige Römische Reich der diesseitige Teil vom Reich Gottes, weshalb sich die gewählten deutschen Könige in Rom durch den Papst zum deutschen Kaiser salben lassen konnten. Als König wie als Kaiser trugen sie diese Krone. Das später hinzugefügte Kreuz betont den Stellenwert, den der christliche Glaube in der Reichsidee einnimmt. Der Bügel weist die Krone als mögliche Kaiserkrone aus. Er ist eine Reminiszenz an die Helmzier früherer antiker Herrscher und Feldherren, in deren Nachfolge sich die deutschen Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reichs sahen. In die Krone sind 240 Perlen und 120 Edelsteine eingearbeitet. Beide Zahlen sind durch 12 teilbar, um an die zwölf Stämme Israels aus dem alten Bund und an die zwölf Apostel aus dem neuen Bund zu erinnern. Die Krone war sakrales und politisches Symbol zugleich: Kein Herrscher durfte Macht über das Reich ausüben, wenn er nicht im Besitz dieser Krone war. - Das Original der Reichskrone befindet sich heute in der Kaiserlichen Schatzkammer in Wien. Auf dem Trifels ist eine Kopie der Krone ausgestellt.
Imperial Crown (replica)
During 12th and 13th century the German crown jewels were kept several times inside the chapel of Trifels Castle. The most important piece of them was the Imperial Crown. It was made in the second half of 10th century, presumably in Cologne. It was worn by German kings and emperors. The first bearer of this crown may have been Emperor Otto 1st in the year 960. From then on the crown remained in use until August 6, 1804 when Emperor Franz 2nd resigned because of Napoleon's coronation. - The Imperial Crown is a very symbolic piece of artwork. Its octogonal base picks up Christian numerology: eight refers to the number of people surviving Great Flood and establishing the new Covenant with God. According to medieval self-understanding the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation was the earthly part of God's Kingdom. That's the reason why German kings were in Rome anointed by the Pope to become German Emperors. They wore this crown both as kings and as emperors. The later added cross on the front points to the high priority of Christian believe in the ideal of the Holy Roman Empire. The single arch linking the front plate with the rear plate makes this crown to be an Emperor's Crown, reminding to the crest of Roman generals and sovereigns. Integrated into this crown are 240 pearls and 120 gems. Both numbers can be divided by 12 in order to remind to the twelve tribes of Israel from Old Testament and the twelve Apostles from New Testament. The crown was a sacral and a political symbol: No sovereign was allowed to rule, without being in possession of the crown. - The original of the Imperial Crown nowadays is preserved in Vienna. On Trifels Castle a replica of the crown is exhibited.
The Truth is in Here!
I think that the structure of my self is rather like that of "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" (Trailer,Trailer #2). I think I contain a fantasy of a controlled, hollow, abused Lisbeth/Nikita woman who works as the medium, or intermediary for a man with super-sight, who is trying to be a detective. The most horrible thing about the structure is that since these roles take place inside me (no wonder Lisbeth looks pissed off), it is also auto-erotic transsexualism, and then some. For this reason I think that the super duo of Lisbeth and Cal Lighthouse in the above photo, are generally accompanied by a sex criminal in many of the detective series in which detectives and their intermediaries feature. [Why is it that about 10 million Americans watch sex criminals get their come-uppance a week on one series, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, alone?]
First to recap, there are many US mystery series featuring men, and more frequently recently women, who are in contact with supernatural phenomena (The Dead Zone, The Listener, , The X-Files, Seeing Things, The Medium, Tru Calling, Ghost Whisperer), of women that act as intermediaries for men whose power of perception is almost supernatural (Lie to Me, Monk, The Mentalist, Millenium, The X-Files), and there are recently an increasing number of Nikita type violent, abused, hollow women controlled by men (Nikita, Nikita, Dark Angel, Alias, Dollhouse, etc). Many of these heroes kill or put greedy, especially sexually greedy, criminals behind bars.
In the USA there are many more types of television series. Here in Japan, these three genres stand out as being particularly well represented. I am of the opinion that these genres are well represented because they are the most popular in the US, rather than their being particularly popular in Japan.
The reason why I think that these television series may have something to do with the structure of myself is because I have seen them both. The structure of myself was far more horrifying and icky that even the nasties scenes in The Girl with a Dragon Tatoo, so I will try and be theoretical first.
The Self in Social Psychology
Factoring in William James, George Herbert Mead explains how the human self is formed, from three parts: the I or consciousness, the me, the idea we have of ourselves with whom we identify, and the internalised "generalised other" from which perspective we see the "me."
The first and second of these elements (consciousness, and my idea of me) are fairly easy to confirm. Mead's "generalised other" (Freud's "super ego", Bakhtin's "super adressee", Lacan's "Other," Adam Smith's "Invisible hand" and "impartial observer") is much more contraversial.
That there is consciousness, even if I can say nothing about it, seems pretty clear. When I am awake there is not nothing. When I dream, the lights come on as it were. I may be able to say very little about this "great blooming, buzzing confusion,” but I feel that I can not deny it. Generally speaking I am more inclined to think of consciousness as the world, or evidence of the world -- the lights, sounds, hot and cold -- but at the same time perhaps, especially but not only, as a child, "consciousness"may also be said to be who "I" really am.
And at the same time I have notions of who I am very separate from consciousness - a bald old Englishman living in Japan, which a certain age, family, house, and face. That is "me."
What is the "generalised other," and where is it hiding?
First of all Mead argues that in order to gain an idea who "me" is then I need to take an objective view point upon myself. Mead argues that unless we are carrying a mirror, or permanently in front of an audience, our ability to gain an objective idea of ourselves depends upon our ability to express who we are in language and understand our language from the point of view of other listeners.This ability to hear ones own self-referential, self addressed language, such as "I am bald" as said to myself, and to know when one has not said the truth, allows us to form a linguistic model of who we are. Language, Mead presumes, provides us with a mirror of internalised other. Mead argues, as do Hermans and Kempen (who base their analysis on the Bakhtin's linguistics), that we are always speaking to others in our heads. People talk to their friends, their family, their workmates, and all those that they are likely to meet, in their heads all the time. And we are able to judge when these our imaginary friends would not agree with what we are saying. In the complete absence of any audience, real or imagined, I could claim that "I have loads of hair", or anything, even that "I am Elvis Presley," and it would not matter because there would be no one there to disagree with me. But since we do speak to others even if they are imaginary others, we imagine our audience's understanding of our words, their reaction, and know when we are speaking bullshit.
But while many of us may accept that we often imagine that we are speaking to, or thinking to other people, what of the *generalised* other. As far as I am aware Mead only explains the need for a generalised as a cognitive requirement. If we see ourselves only from the viewpoints of our friends, then we will see ourselves as rather nicer than we are from the point of view of our enemies. If we see ourselves from the point of view of our enemies, we see ourselves rather more negatively than our friends see us, and rather more negatively than we in fact are, because presumably we are that person at the intersection of these various viewpoints rather than as understood from any one subjective position.
So far so good. We may be able to accept that we address ourselves to a variety of imaginary friends. And that unless we understand our self speech from the point of view of a view from an objective, generalised position then we will not have an ongoing objective understanding of ourselves. However this explanation would not prevent us from "generalising" after the fact, or "off line". In other words we might model the understanding of our friends and family, our detractors and various people in the street, and perform some sort of averaging only afterward. Is it clear that we need to model a generalised other, in real time?
Bakhtin argues that even as we are speaking to real or imaginary friends and all manner of second person addressees, we also imagine that there is another person listening to what we have to say, since otherwise our meaning would be limited by the understanding of our real or imagined listener. Being so limited to specific others (be they real or imagined) would be, he argues, hellish. We would be trapped in web of relationships unable to be anyone but that which our others understand us to be. To escape from this hell, which is other people, we continually model a super-addressee (Bakhtin, 1986. p126) which corresponds I believe to Mead's generalized other.
Bakhtin's "hell" starts to sound more persuasive but all the same, phenomenologically where is the generalized other in my head? I can feel myself simulating my friends. Why can't I feel myself simulating a generalised other?
I think that theists may find the answer to this question very easy. Theists typically feel that they are addressing a generalised other, who sees them from an objective viewpoint, in the form of their God. Of course for a theist it is not a question of simulating a generalised listener, but rather that there is one, and as such perhaps theists are always conscious of the meaning of their words, truthfully and honestly in the understanding of an ever present "impartial spectator." This latter term was that used by the economist (of Lutheran upbringing) Adam Smith. This is all very well for theists but, when I am not dabbling in theism, and even when I do, I do not find myself aware, or strikingly aware, of a God as generalised other, impartial spectator, or super-addressee. If this super-addressee was felt ever present, then for instance, would there be so many atheists and agnostics, and would they be so militant in their denial of God? If a super-addressee were clearly ever present in our psyche then the atheists among us would be more likely to say "Oh, yeah, that. (S)he is only my simulation of a generalised other, not any supernatural being." Calling that entity God or a mental simulation would become almost a question of nomenclature. It seems to me however that most atheists are not aware of any such "super-addressee," listening in on their thoughts, modelled by themselves, far less directly and supernaturally bugging their brain.
To Bakhtin's "hell", and Mead's need for objective self awareness, I think that there are a couple of other reasons why we need a generalised other and why it should be something that we are commonly unaware of it.
First of all applying Arimasa Mori's cultural theory, it may become clear that a generalised other is a requirement for my identification with my "me". That we should identify (and it is not clear what "identify" means) which any idea or conception that we have of ourselves is strange. Why would anyone identify with a self-concept if they are aware that it is a conceptualisation?
This kind of question has been asked for instance by philosophers and psychologists in the field of narrative psychology. It is clear that we do narrate ourselves, do think to and narrate ourselves, about who we are and what we are doing, but why should we, or do we, identify with that which is described in the narrative? Why does our self-cognition not remain on the level of self-hypothesis, a fiction about ourselves that may or not be correct. Why do we believe in that our self0narration, or the me therein described is ourselves? Or why do we believe that there is a underlying, ongoing entity that conforms to some static linguistic cognition of self?
Arimasa Mori argues the way in which first person pronouns and first person self-representations depend on the second person of Japanese speech - that there is no "third person" (Mori's word for the generalised other), results in an absence of self on ongoing and independent self among Japanese. IF being is to be understood, and self-understanding is dependent upon other understanding, then in the radical absence of others would, not our ability to identify with an ongoing independent self be switching on and off. Hence, if we believe in an ongoing self independent of social situation, then this may imply the presumed presence of a "third person perspective."
Here ends my attempt at theoretical analysis.
Finally, while the connection is somewhat tenuous, the structure of the television series outlined above remind me of my experience of the structure of my self, which fell apart and became visible about a quarter of a century ago when I felt (and I think I did) go mad. I have written this before, but I think that it is a good idea to write it again.
My experience was momentary and my memory is not as good as it used to be, but I still find it instructive. I think that I should have tried harder to share the experience with other people. The reason why I have not blogged or otherwise written about the experience is because I found the experience particularly disgusting. As I said above, and this is the first part of the analogy between "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the structure of myself, they both appeared to have very harrowing elements. The movie was stressful, but watching the movie was a walk in the park by comparison to my experience of the parts of myself. After that fleeting experience 25 years aog, I found myself traumatised for about 6 months afterwards, and indeed for the rest of my life. Here I am an old man, still talking about an experience I had when I was about 22. And at the same time, the reason why I am still talking about the experience was because it was, and to an extent remains, so difficult, so disgusting as to make it difficult to talk about.
Of course, my experience may have been of only the structure of my particular self, but as I see these often extremely violent, and sexually twisted television series and movies proliferate I wonder if, at last, my experience was more universalisable than I had initially thought. I thought I was just simply a mad **** at the time. But here lies, the most important thing about what I have to say: it is possible that the self appears to be a unity to most people, and its structure indivisible, and invisible, because that structure is, or would be, to most people, so utterly disgusting. Far more so than the worst scenes in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."
So here is my experience again. I find it easiest to explain my experience with the analogy of a ventriloquist since in retrospect it seems very similar. When my self fell apart, into its parts, I felt that I was experiencing a ventriloquism act with the following parts: (1) an enormous consciousness of proportion so vast as to be other-worldly (2) a listening persona (2) A speaking persona.
I felt the enormous consciousness, for a flash of an instant, to be my true self. It seemed that this enormous consciousness was engaging in something similar to a ventriloquism act in that he was throwing his voice and pretending to hear that voice from the perspective of a third person.
When looking at a ventriloquist's stage act we can forget that ventriloquists are pretending to be two people. ventriloquists fabulate two people. We notice that they are "throwing their voice" and giving their dummy a life of its own. We may forget however, even as we are watching a ventriloquist, that the real stage performer is usually pretending to be not only the dummy, but also pretending to be another persona by putting on feigned belief in the dummy, and fabulating or feigning a character that listens to and banters with the dummy's remarks.
The experience thus far can largely be understood by reference to one of Nina Conti's ventriloquism acts, where she makes it clear that one need not use a dummy to perform ventriloquism, and even suggests that the dummy-less-dummy or voice, is as real as the listener.
And so it was with my experience. It was *not* that I became aware of the "dummy". The "dummy" or rather just my interior narrative was myself, the self that I generally (these days and then) thought myself to be. I heard myself speak/think in much the same way as I always speak/think. The difference was that I suddenly realised who I was speaking to and why. I became aware of the act that the massive ventriloquists putting on, the listener that feigns interest. The worst part about it was the act that I was performing, for myself, "in my head", was auto-erotic, transsexual, and then some -- it was also incestuous.
"The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo," stopped short of portraying real incest and of course the incest that I discovered in my head (my soul/psyche/self) was not real. Lisbeth was a ward of the state and she was raped by her guardian. The Lisbeth-gardian parent-child relationship was in name only, but their sex was real. I found that I was chatting up a woman, not unlike a Listbeth or Nikita, that I was simulated in my head who was clearly based upon my own mother. I was cross-dressing as it were mentally and feigning a female listener to my self-narrative. While this listener never spoke, her (my) unspoken reaction to my self speak was clearly sympathetic, loving, in a mother-child and at the same time romantic way. I felt like the murderer in the famous Hitchcock movie, Psycho except that instead of dressing up as my mother, I was creating her in my brain.
The enormous consciousness that was witnessing the whole event was entirely aware of what was going on and he was disgusted, with me the speaker that I guess he was also inventing. Somehow, strangely, in that experience the blame fell on the narratival voice (me) despite the fact that, presumably, it was the consciousness that was pulling all the strings, and behind all the parts. Nonetheless that enormity was disgusted and angry with the nasty little voice and the hollow woman that he had in his mind.
That was most of my experience. Does my experience have anything other than one warped individual, or does it bear any similarity with the structure of the programs I am analysing, other than the fact that popular television series often have sexually twisted antagonists?
The greatest similarity for me between my experience and the television series is not the detectives but the women as mediums, intermediaries and Nikitas. The woman that I was fabulating, as my internal listener, was disgusting only because she turned out to be myself. I loved that fantasy with an expectant longing brighter and purer than the sun. It was only when she turned out to be myself that the passion and purity of my love, precisely because it was felt to be so passionate and pure, that the whole thing became so disgusting. My internal doll, my cranial perfect woman, had a distinct similarity to the characters portrayed in my previous blog posts -- to the Lisbeth's and Nikita's of modern fiction. It may help a little, perhaps, that I remembered my mother as a young woman as a rather spiky, depressive, and in some senses dark individual. The important point is not the reality but how I fabulated my mother. I think to a large extent I fabulated her as a Nikita, killa, wild, abused, fighting girl. In my experienced I realised that my listener was a fantasy and in that sense, hollow, programmed, a sort of doll, or robot, or alias, like many of the Nikita types that are seen on TV.
It seems to me that I have identified in my experience of 1/4 of a century ago, a sort of sex criminal and a hollow, programmed intermediary of a Nikita type figure.
Finally what of the super-sighed genius "Monk," or "Patrick Jane." To an extent the giant person that I discovered was a bit like that, the all seeing consciousness, the supernatural being (supernatural only in so far as he was not a voice-puppet) upon which Nikita was superimposed upon as a mask, that Nikita acted as a "Medium" for that entity which Nikita hid, just as she alone saw.
So I wonder if anyone else has a psyche as disgusting as mine, or whether I am just seeing coincidences where there aren't any.
Addendum
Having reread it seems to me that there is no way that I am going to persuade anyone that my self-structure is anything but an anomaly unless I give more reasons as to why it should be universal for theoretical reasons and or by seeking links between the genres of video that I am analysing.
There are several things that do not match up.
My female fantasy listened rather than spoke, but the female Medium or intermediary is often the spokesperson for the super or supernatural male.
The sex-criminal in my self-fantasy was felt to by speech (made human) or perhaps my giant consciousness self. The criminals in US television series do not necessarily speak, the Monk-like all seeing consciousness like detectives do not involve themselves in sex at all.
The other thing is, that my experience of the breakdown of myself was accompanied by my realisation that I was gay. I assumed therefore that non-gay persons would have different persona in their selves. I thought that heterosexual men might be modelling their father rather than their young, Nikita-like fantasy mother. The fact that I felt myself to be gay at the time I had my falling apart experience may reduce the applicability of the structure that I became aware of. I am not sure how.
The take-home conclusion of this post is, imho, we watch so many TV series about hollowed out abused girls, who are mediums and intermediaries for super savant males, that kill sex criminals because The Truth is in Here.
I have had another idea about why the woman is a murderer based upon Graham Swift's novel "The Light of Day," another book in this genre. Obvious really.
Images are copyright their respective copyright holders. Please please comment below or contact me via nihonbunka.com to have my remove any of these images.
Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. (V. W. McGee, Trans., C. Emerson & M. Holquist, Eds.) (Second Printing.). University of Texas Press. pubpages.unh.edu/~jds/BAKHTINSG.htm
Addendum (Big Mistake)
"My head" is inside my narrative and field of view, not the other way around! This is a very important point and the danger of the scientific worldview. The scientific world is a product of our narration as even some scientists a vow (Wheeler, Mach). Our head is also something we see in our field of view in mirrors, or our nose and brow directly. Our perceptions (including of our whispers) are not inside "me" or my body. To think so would be double death.
The teaching about guardian angels is not a myth; certain groups of human beings do actually have personal angels. It was in recognition of this that Jesus, in speaking of the children of the heavenly kingdom, said: "Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones, for I say to you, their angels do always behold the presence of the spirit of my Father."
Originally, the seraphim were definitely assigned to the separate Urantia races. But since the bestowal of Michael, they are assigned in accordance with human intelligence, spirituality, and destiny. Intellectually, mankind is divided into three classes:
1. The subnormal minded—those who do not exercise normal will power; those who do not make average decisions. This class embraces those who cannot comprehend God; they lack capacity for the intelligent worship of Deity. The subnormal beings of Urantia have a corps of seraphim, one company, with one battalion of cherubim, assigned to minister to them and to witness that justice and mercy are extended to them in the life struggles of the sphere.
2. The average, normal type of human mind. From the standpoint of seraphic ministry, most men and women are grouped in seven classes in accordance with their status in making the circles of human progress and spiritual development.
3. The supernormal minded—those of great decision and undoubted potential of spiritual achievement; men and women who enjoy more or less contact with their indwelling Adjusters; members of the various reserve corps of destiny. No matter in what circle a human happens to be, if such an individual becomes enrolled in any of the several reserve corps of destiny, right then and there, personal seraphim are assigned, and from that time until the earthly career is finished, that mortal will enjoy the continuous ministry and unceasing watchcare of a guardian angel. Also, when any human being makes the supreme decision, when there is a real betrothal with the Adjuster, a personal guardian is immediately assigned to that soul.
In the ministry to so-called normal beings, seraphic assignments are made in accordance with the human attainment of the circles of intellectuality and spirituality. You start out in your mind of mortal investment in the seventh circle and journey inward in the task of self-understanding, self-conquest, and self-mastery; and circle by circle you advance until (if natural death does not terminate your career and transfer your struggles to the mansion worlds) you reach the first or inner circle of relative contact and communion with the indwelling Adjuster.
Human beings in the initial or seventh circle have one guardian angel with one company of assisting cherubim assigned to the watchcare and custody of one thousand mortals. In the sixth circle, a seraphic pair with one company of cherubim is assigned to guide these ascending mortals in groups of five hundred. When the fifth circle is attained, human beings are grouped in companies of approximately one hundred, and a pair of guardian seraphim with a group of cherubim is placed in charge. Upon attainment of the fourth circle, mortal beings are assembled in groups of ten, and again charge is given to a pair of seraphim, assisted by one company of cherubim.
When a mortal mind breaks through the inertia of animal legacy and attains the third circle of human intellectuality and acquired spirituality, a personal angel (in reality two) will henceforth be wholly and exclusively devoted to this ascending mortal. And thus these human souls, in addition to the ever-present and increasingly efficient indwelling Thought Adjusters, receive the undivided assistance of these personal guardians of destiny in all their efforts to finish the third circle, traverse the second, and attain the first.
"Welcome to Ulm, the twin-town of the Banat Swabians, and host of the Banat Swabians' Landsmannschaft (association) for more than three decades!" With these words, Ivo Gönner, Mayor of Ulm, welcomed the several thousand participants of the Banat Swabia's hometown day event at Pentecost 2010. In addition to the head of the city of Ulm, representatives of the state, the federal government and also the Romanian government were present. In the early afternoon of May 22nd a "festival parade to the emigrant monument on the Danube bank" accompanied by traditional costumes, a memorial service with a wreath-laying ceremony at the emigrant monument and an "appearance in historical costumes with a disembarkation on an 'Ulmer box'" on the Danube took place.
On 13 September 2008 invited - this time the team of the Danube Swabians from Yugoslavia - to a large "commemorative and anniversary event" in the same place. It was associated with a national costume festival in the context of the hometown day Baden-Württemberg. The focus was a "commemoration at the ancestor emigrant monument on the Danube Swabia shore". With a wreath-laying ceremony and a "Greeting to the Danube with wreath delivery" was commemorated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the monument and the expulsion of the Danube Swabians from Yugoslavia after the Second World War. Also this time, city and country were represented here at a high level.
These are just two of the most recent of a series of comparable events of all Danube Swabian associations - the Danube Swabians from Yugoslavia, the Hungarian Germans, the Banat Swabians and the Sathmar Swabians. Ulm and the Danube provide more than the indispensable backdrop. The focal point here is the emigrant monument on the edge of the old town, but outside the city walls between Wilhelmshöhe and the banks of the Danube. On the several meters high, composed of four limestone blocks, a stylized boat is attached to the front. In the boat stands a man who puts his arm protectively around the shoulders of his wife sitting on a piece of luggage, on whose lap a child sits. Out of the boat rises a tall, slender cross. The inscription is attached to the stele: "From Ulm, German settlers moved on the Danube to the southeast of Europe in the 18th century. Their descendants, expelled from their homeland by fate after the Second World War, returned to the land of their fathers. "
With its location, imagery and inscription, the monument is the carved in stone and cast in bronze memory of a history comprehending more than three centuries. It has become both the epitome of Danube-Swabian self-understanding and part of the self-image of the city of Ulm and the country. This significance of the monument is the result of recent developments. The history to which the monument refers is more differentiated than that which evokes the monument and its inscription. It is the history of several migrations to be distinguished, their consequences and their specific interpretation.
„Herzlich willkommen in Ulm, der Patenstadt der Banater Schwaben und seit mehr als drei Jahrzehnten Gastgeber der Heimattage der Landsmannschaft der Banater Schwaben!“ Mit diesen Worten begrüßte Ivo Gönner, der Oberbürgermeister der Stadt Ulm, die mehreren tausend Teilnehmer des Heimattages der Banater Schwaben zu Pfingsten 2010. Neben dem Ulmer Stadtoberhaupt waren Vertreter der Landes, des Bundes und auch der rumänischen Regierung anwesend. Am frühen Nachmittag des 22. Mai fanden ein von Trachtengruppen begleiteter „Festumzug zum Auswanderer-Denkmal am Donauufer“, eine „Gedenkfeier mit Kranzniederlegung“ am Auswanderer-Denkmal und ein „Auftritt in historischen Trachten mit Ausschiffung auf einer ‚Ulmer Schachtel‘“ auf der Donau statt.
Am 13. September 2008 lud – dieses Mal die Landsmannschaft der Donauschwaben aus Jugoslawien – zu einer großen „Gedenk- und Jubiläumsveranstaltung“ am gleichen Ort ein. Sie war mit einem Landestrachtenfest im Rahmen der Heimattage Baden-Württemberg verbunden. Im Mittelpunkt stand eine „Gedenkfeier am Ahnen-Auswanderer-Denkmal am Donauschwabenufer“. Mit einer Kranzniederlegung und einem „Gruß an die Donau mit Kranzübergabe“ wurde des 50. Jahrestages der Errichtung des Denkmals und der Ausweisung der Donauschwaben aus Jugoslawien nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg gedacht. Auch dieses Mal waren Stadt und Land hochrangig vertreten.
Dieses sind nur zwei der jüngsten aus einer Reihe von ver gleichbaren Veranstaltungen aller donauschwäbischen Landsmannschaften – der Donauschwaben aus Jugoslawien, der Ungarndeutschen, der Banater Schwaben und der Sathmarer Schwaben. Ulm und die Donau liefern dafür mehr als die unverzichtbare Kulisse. Dreh- und Angelpunkt ist dabei das am Rande der Altstadt, aber außerhalb der Stadtmauern zwischen Wilhelmshöhe und dem Donauufer gelegene Auswanderer-Denkmal. Auf der mehrere Meter hohen, aus vier Muschelkalksteinquadern zusammengesetzten Stele ist an der Front ein stilisiertes Boot angebracht. Im Boot steht ein Mann, der seinen Arm schützend um die Schultern seiner auf einem Gepäckstück sitzenden Frau legt, auf deren Schoß ein Kind sitzt. Aus dem Boot ragt ein großes, schlankes Kreuz empor. An der Stele ist die Inschrift angebracht: „Von Ulm aus zogen deutsche Siedler im 18. Jahrhundert auf der Donau nach dem Südosten Europas. Ihre Nachfahren kehrten, vom Schicksal nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben, in das Land ihrer Väter zurück.“
Mit seiner Lage, Bildersprache und Inschrift ist das Denkmal die in Stein gehauene und in Bronze gegossene Erinnerung an eine mehr als drei Jahrhunderte umfassende Vergangenheit. Es ist sowohl zum Inbegriff donauschwäbischen Selbstverständnisses als auch Teil des Selbstverständnisses der Stadt Ulm und des Landes geworden. Diese Bedeutung des Denkmals ist das Ergebnis von Entwicklungen der jüngsten Vergangenheit. Die Geschichte, auf die sich das Denkmal bezieht, ist differenzierter als die, die das Denkmal und seine Inschrift evozieren. Es ist die Geschichte von mehreren zu unterscheidenden Migrationen, ihren Folgen und deren spezifische Deutung.
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Javanese dance (Indonesian: Tarian Jawa; Javanese: ꧋ꦠꦫꦶꦗꦮ) is the dances and art forms that were created and influenced by Javanese culture in Indonesia. Javanese dance movement is controlled, deliberate and refined. Javanese art often displays a finesse, and at the same time a serene composure which is elevated far above everything mundane. Javanese dance is usually associated with courtly, refined and sophisticated culture of the Javanese kratons, such as the bedhaya and srimpi dance. However, in a wider sense, Javanese dance also includes the dances of Javanese commoners and villagers such as ronggeng, tayub, reog, and jaran kepang.
Javanese dance and its discipline has different styles and philosophy compared to other Indonesian dance traditions. Unlike vigorous and expressive Balinese dance or cheerful and slightly sensual Sundanese dance, Javanese dance are commonly involving slow movements and graceful poses. Javanese dance have somewhat a meditative quality and tends to be more self-reflective, introspective and more oriented toward self-understanding. Javanese dance is usually associated with Wayang wong, and the palaces of Yogyakarta and Surakarta due to the nature of dance being a pusaka or sacred heirloom from ancestors of the palace rulers. These expressive dances are more than just dances, they are also used for moral education, emotional expression, and spreading of the Javanese culture.
TYPES OF JAVANESE DANCES
Javanese dance reflects the stratified hierarchy of Javanese society, and roughly can be identified within two mainstream of traditions:
Court dances (tari kraton)
Commoner dances (tari rakyat)
Court dances (tari kraton)
The courtly Javanese palace dance is the type of dances that developed, nurtured and fostered by Javanese Kratons, mainly Yogyakarta Sultanate and Surakarta Sunanate, the patrons of Javanese Mataram culture. Javanese sultans are known as the patron and the creator of Javanese court dances.
Kraton dances employs sets of rules about certain dance movements, body and hand gestures that requires discipline to learn. Gamelan orchestra is the prerequisite for Javanese court dance performances as well as for other Javanese art forms such as Wayang performances. The serene elegance, slow pace and constrains of its movements gave Javanese dance a meditative traits. Javanese court dances were heavily influenced by Javanese Hindu-Buddhist legacy. As the result the costumes, jewelry and story, often reflects or based on Hindu epic tales of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
There are three basic types of courtly Javanese kraton dance
Beksan putra – These are the dances for men, which serve two purposes: a military close-order drill and highlighting martial skills. Dancers may learn beksan putra dances to familiarize themselves with the movements for narrative dances.
Beksan putri – Putri is the Javanese word for female, and these dances include courtly dances designed for royal events with very precise movements and distinct staging with subtle layers of meaning. Such dances were often used for entertainment or courtship.
Beksan wayang – These are narrative dances from epic poems, and usually are named after the characters in them, usually an alus-style hero and a gagah-style villain.
WIKIPEDIA
Meet Zio, a stranger that I met on a London street.
I was walking down Brick Lane and passed an artist working on a mural on the side of a restaurant. I had to stop and watch- the way he produced his work with great speed yet such precision was really captivating.
After a few minutes I approached him and he was kind enough to stop for a few minutes and talk.
Zio is an artist who comes from San Francisco. He is over in London doing some work, having just come from Italy and will soon to be on his way to NYC.
His work is characterised by almost organic shapes, often B&W, and I was amazed that he had produced the entire wall so far that day.
Zio is heavily featured on the net, and has a site that is well worth checking out:
In this he writes about his art:
"Painting is my attempt at self-understanding. I create an experience for the viewer that parallels my own search in creation. This process, my examination, is a constant balance between reason and intuition. I make in order to understand, rather to explain what has been made.
Whether I am painting on a public wall or in my studio, my craft is a vehicle that shows me how to turn every crisis into an opportunity. The naiveté and freedom I see and admire in the physical world directly influence the most primitive aspects of my work. My materials are the tools I use to try to understand my human condition. The paint, surface, and subject matter parallel my subconscious call to action and often manifest themselves in the same forms; however each form displays varying levels of emphasis, color, line and pattern. I paint how I feel, not how I see. Rather than finding a concept and executing it in a linear fashion, I react to my questions, life and awareness. My work is not about a final product, rather the process that helps me solve a problem."
It was a pleasure to meet you Zio, and I wish you all the success that your talent deserves.
A Haiku Note:
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Some books on Yoga
check Google for some reviews
then the library
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Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation.
The yoga widely known in the West is based on hatha yoga, which forms one aspect of the ancient Hindu system of religious and ascetic observance and meditation, the highest form of which is raja yoga and the ultimate aim of which is spiritual purification and self-understanding leading to samadhi or union with the divine.
(Apple Dictionary App)
"Obviously something is wrong with the entire argument of 'obviousness'."
– Paul Lazarsfeld
"Science can only be comprehended epistemologically, which means as one category of possible knowledge, as long as knowledge is not equated either effusively with the absolute knowledge of a great philosophy or blindly with scientistic self-understanding of the actual business of research."
– Jürgen Habermas (1971) "Knowledge and Human Interests", p. 4.
"Science is for the laboratory. Other men, who stand alone and face the elemental forces of nature, know that science as a shining, world-conquering hero, is a myth. Science lives in concrete structures full of bright factory toys, insulated from the earth's great forces. The priesthood of this new cult are seldom called upon to stand and face the onslaught."
– Hammond Innes, "Atlantic Fury" (1962), Chapter II.2.
For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding: it is the deepest part of autobiography.
- Robert Penn Warren, novelist and poet (24 Apr 1905-1989)
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Money is not everything self understanding is!!! I am now true to myself in all I do and I think this shows!
It was the morning of the dojo Karate tournament. I arrived early to allow my children a chance to warm up before the other competitors started to crowd the floor. A small area of chairs had been arranged where observers were permitted to view the goings on. One person was sitting alone who had arrived prior to my arrival. Since I didn’t already know her, I introduced myself. I am at the dojo several times a week, and am acquainted with most families who have students training there. Somebody new is an easy mark. We had 15 minutes before the noise level would become unruly, so our conversation started naturally.
Meet Maureen, 21/100 in my Strangers project.
The moment she began to speak, I was pleasantly astounded to hear a familiar accent; one that is uncommon to Albuquerque because it comes from more than 2200 miles/3688 km away. Though she was born in New York City, Maureen had later lived in a city North of Boston named Lynn, Massachusetts for 20 years, before relocating to 'Burque. I grew up in a small town with only one other municipality in between us and Lynn. My own accent is far less distinguishable although I use a few expressions in common speech that reflect an upbringing from that same area, known as Boston's North Shore. We had a serendipitous connection. It was one of those wild, "It's a small world," moments.
Maureen is a retired Psychiatric nurse who used to work at Lynn's Union Hospital, a small facility now part of the North Shore Medical Center. She was involved with the care of schizophrenic and dually-diagnosed patients. After she finished graduate school, she divorced and a friend invited her to move to Albuquerque for a change of scenery.
“Why not? I can always go back,” She thought. Never did she move back east; she has remained here. Her adult children now also live in Albuquerque and they have given her the pleasure of nearby grandchildren. She pointed out two boys in belts of yellow, the first level that beginners may test into. They were going through some basic movements. Those were her grandchildren and she was excited to watch them compete.
In 1996, Maureen decided to learn Shotokan Karate, and in fact, she studied under the same Sensei with whom my own children are now students. She became a black belt at 60 years old. While it gave her a sense of confidence in her surroundings, she has never used martial arts to defend herself in the world outside the dojo. Around ten years ago, she had to quit her Karate practice. She had been a long time cigarette smoker, and was diagnosed with lung cancer.
“I’m all clear now,” she said, “But a large portion of a lobe of one of my lungs was removed.” Since the operation, Maureen finds it frequently challenging to breathe at our high altitude; we live a mile high (1.6 km) above sea level. She is planning a move to Florida, which is sea level, where breathing should be easier for her.
I asked if she had any thoughts to impart to other strangers:
“To live in the moment. Self-discipline leads to self-understanding, but living in the moment is the way.”
Once she retired from Karate, she enrolled in art classes. She has learned oil painting and clay sculpting. She is now taking drawing classes and acrylic painting to enhance her appreciation of form. Her opinion is that her work in 3-dimensions improves by creating in 2-dimensions.
After all of this candid sharing, I asked if she would allow me to photograph her for the 100 Stranger project. She wanted to hear more about it. I then shared my own images of the other strangers already in my set. I told her that I would appreciate being able to include her, and we would still have time before the competition started.
In agreement, we walked outside and she paused in a few areas underneath the roof line where I could find indirect sunlight. I wanted to avoid the glare that I experienced while making my 17th portrait since this was being taken in the same location.
When I finished her photo session, we returned to our original seats. I asked her if in addition to her portrait, she would want me to take a few photographs of the grandchildren while they were called on to compete. She thought that was a grand idea.
A day after she received the pictures, Maureen replied and told me her portrait, and the action shots of the boys, were all great. She told me, "my son-in-law 'practically demanded copies.'" I enjoyed a way to share something extra with Maureen after her time with me. I found her to be quite remarkable.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
Entry in category 1. Object of study; Copyright CC-BY-NC-ND: Philipp Foehn
The Robotics and Perception Group of University Zurich not only allows robots to see using camera-based algorithms, but also researches the aerodynamic phenomena acting on the drones in fast and highly agile flight regimes. This allows drones to have a better understanding of their own motion model, fly more precisely at higher speeds and do more work in less time. Philipp Foehn and Elia Kaufmann work on the intersection of machine learning and model-based optimizations to improve the drones self-understanding, autonomy and flight performance. Our picture, taken by our student Leonard Bauersfeld, shows a drone flying at a high speed and angle through fog from dry ice. Visualizing the airflow and acceleration of the air around the drone allows for a better understanding of the resulting aerodynamic effects.
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The difference is that divination is the term used for predictions considered part of a religious ritual, invoking deities or spirits, while the term fortune-telling implies a less serious or formal setting, even one of popular culture, where belief in occult workings behind the prediction is less prominent than the concept of suggestion, spiritual or practical advisory or affirmation.
Historically, fortune-telling grows out of folkloristic reception of Renaissance magic, specifically associated with Romani people. During the 19th and 20th century, methods of divination from non-Western cultures, such as the I Ching, were also adopted as methods of fortune-telling in western popular culture.
An example of divination or fortune-telling as purely an item of pop culture, with little or no vestiges of belief in the occult, would be the Magic 8-Ball sold as a toy by Mattel, or Paul II, an octopus at the Sea Life Aquarium at Oberhausen used to predict the outcome of matches played by the German national football team.
There is opposition to fortune-telling in Christianity, Islam and Judaism based on scriptural prohibitions against divination. This sometimes causes discord in the Jewish community due to their views on mysticism.
Terms for one who sees into the future include fortune-teller, crystal-gazer, spaewife, seer, soothsayer, sibyl, clairvoyant, and prophet; related terms which might include this among other abilities are oracle, augur, and visionary.
METHODS
Common methods used for fortune telling in Europe and the Americas include astromancy, horary astrology, pendulum reading, spirit board reading, tasseography (reading tea leaves in a cup), cartomancy (fortune telling with cards), tarot reading, crystallomancy (reading of a crystal sphere), and chiromancy (palmistry, reading of the palms). The last three have traditional associations in the popular mind with the Roma and Sinti people (often called "gypsies").
Another form of fortune-telling, sometimes called "reading" or "spiritual consultation", does not rely on specific devices or methods, but rather the practitioner gives the client advice and predictions which are said to have come from spirits or in visions.
Alectromancy: by observation of a rooster pecking at grain
Astrology: by the movements of celestial bodies.
Astromancy: by the stars.
Augury: by the flight of birds.
Bazi or four pillars: by hour, day, month, and year of birth.
Bibliomancy: by books; frequently, but not always, religious texts.
Cartomancy: by playing cards, tarot cards, or oracle cards.
Ceromancy: by patterns in melting or dripping wax.
Cheiromancy: by the shape of the hands and lines in the palms.
Chronomancy: by determination of lucky and unlucky days.
Clairvoyance: by spiritual vision or inner sight.
Cleromancy: by casting of lots, or casting bones or stones.
Cold reading: by using visual and aural clues.
Crystallomancy: by crystal ball also called scrying.
Extispicy: by the entrails of animals.
Face reading: by means of variations in face and head shape.
Feng shui: by earthen harmony.
Gastromancy: by stomach-based ventriloquism (historically).
Geomancy: by markings in the ground, sand, earth, or soil.
Haruspicy: by the livers of sacrificed animals.
Horary astrology: the astrology of the time the question was asked.
Hydromancy: by water.
I Ching divination: by yarrow stalks or coins and the I Ching.
Kau cim by means of numbered bamboo sticks shaken from a tube.
Lithomancy: by stones or gems.
Necromancy: by the dead, or by spirits or souls of the dead.
Numerology: by numbers.
Oneiromancy: by dreams.
Onomancy: by names.
Palmistry: by lines and mounds on the hand.
Parrot astrology: by parakeets picking up fortune cards
Paper fortune teller: origami used in fortune-telling games
Pendulum reading: by the movements of a suspended object.
Pyromancy: by gazing into fire.
Rhabdomancy: divination by rods.
Runecasting or Runic divination: by runes.
Scrying: by looking at or into reflective objects.
Spirit board: by planchette or talking board.
Taromancy: by a form of cartomancy using tarot cards.
Tasseography or tasseomancy: by tea leaves or coffee grounds.
SOCIOLOGY
Western fortune-tellers typically attempt predictions on matters such as future romantic, financial, and childbearing prospects. Many fortune-tellers will also give "character readings". These may use numerology, graphology, palmistry (if the subject is present), and astrology.
In contemporary Western culture, it appears that women consult fortune-tellers more than men. Some women have maintained long relationships with their personal readers. Telephone consultations with psychics (at very high rates) grew in popularity through the 1990s but they have not replaced traditional methods.
AS A BUSINESS IN NORTH AMERICA
Discussing the role of fortune-telling in society, Ronald H. Isaacs, an American rabbi and author, opined, "Since time immemorial humans have longed to learn that which the future holds for them. Thus, in ancient civilization, and even today with fortune telling as a true profession, humankind continues to be curious about its future, both out of sheer curiosity as well as out of desire to better prepare for it."
Popular media outlets like the New York Times have explained to their American readers that although 5000 years ago, soothsayers were prized advisers to the Assyrians, they lost respect and reverence during the rise of Reason in the 17th and 18th centuries.
With the rise of commercialism, "the sale of occult practices [adapted to survive] in the larger society," according to sociologists Danny L. and Lin Jorgensen. Ken Feingold, writer of "Interactive Art as Divination as a Vending Machine," stated that with the invention of money, fortune-telling became "a private service, a commodity within the marketplace".
As J. Peder Zane wrote in the New York Times in 1994, "Whether it’s 3 P.M. or 3 A.M., there’s Dionne Warwick and her psychic friends selling advice on love, money and success. In a nation where the power of crystals and the likelihood that angels hover nearby prompt more contemplation than ridicule, it may not be surprising that one million people a year call Ms. Warwick’s friends."
CLIENTELE
In 1994, the psychic counsellor Rosanna Rogers of Cleveland, Ohio explained to J. Peder Zane that a wide variety of people consulted her: "Couch potatoes aren’t the only people seeking the counsel of psychics and astrologers. Clairvoyants have a booming business advising Philadelphia bankers, Hollywood lawyers and CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies... If people knew how many people, especially the very rich and powerful ones, went to psychics, their jaws would drop through the floor." Ms. Rogers "claims to have 4,000 names in her rolodex."
TYPICAL CLIENTS
In 1982, Danny Jorgensen, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida offered a spiritual explanation for the popularity of fortune-telling. He said that people visit psychics or fortune-tellers to gain self-understanding. and knowledge which will lead to personal power or success in some aspect of life.
In 1995, Ken Feingold offered a different explanation for why people seek out fortune-tellers: "We desire to know other people’s actions and to resolve our own conflicts regarding decisions to be made and our participation in social groups and economies. … Divination seems to have emerged from our knowing the inevitability of death. The idea is clear - we know that our time is limited and that we want things in our lives to happen in accord with our wishes. Realizing that our wishes have little power, we have sought technologies for gaining knowledge of the future...gain power over our own [lives]."
Ultimately, the reasons a person consults a diviner or fortune teller are mediated by cultural expectations and by personal desires, and until a statistically rigorous study of the phenomenon have been conducted, the question of why people consult fortune-tellers is wide open for opinion-making.
SERVICES
Traditional fortune-tellers vary in methodology, generally using techniques long established in their cultures and thus meeting the cultural expectations of their clientele.
In the United States and Canada, among clients of European ancestry, palmistry is popular and, as with astrology and tarot card reading, advice is generally given about specific problems besetting the client.
Non-religious spiritual guidance may also be offered. An American clairvoyant by the name of Catherine Adams has written, "My philosophy is to teach and practice spiritual freedom, which means you have your own spiritual guidance, which I can help you get in touch with."
In the African American community, where many people practice a form of folk magic called hoodoo or rootworking, a fortune telling session or "reading" for a client may be followed by practical guidance in spell-casting and Christian prayer, through a process called "magical coaching".
In addition to sharing and explaining their visions, fortune-tellers can also act like counselors by discussing and offering advice about their clients’ problems. They want their clients to exercise their own willpower.
FULL-TIME CAREERS
Some fortune-tellers support themselves entirely on their divination business; others hold down one or more jobs, and their second jobs may or may not relate to the occupation of divining. In 1982, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen found that "while there is considerable variation among [these secondary] occupations, [part-time fortune-tellers] are over-represented in human service fields: counseling, social work, teaching, health care." The same authors, making a limited survey of North American diviners, found that the majority of fortune-tellers are married with children, and a few claim graduate degrees. "They attend movies, watch television, work at regular jobs, shop at K-Mart, sometimes eat at McDonald’s, and go to the hospital when they are seriously ill."
LEGALITY
In 1982, the sociologists Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen found that, “when it is reasonable, [fortune -tellers] comply with local laws and purchase a business license.” However, in the United States, a variety of local and state laws restrict fortune-telling, require the licensing or bonding of fortune-tellers, or make necessary the use of terminology that avoids the term "fortune-teller" in favour of terms such as "spiritual advisor" or "psychic consultant." There are also laws that forbid the practice outright in certain districts.
For instance, fortune telling is a class B misdemeanor in the state of New York. Under New York State law, S 165.35:
A person is guilty of fortune telling when, for a fee or compensation which he directly or indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as being able, by claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give advice on personal matters or to exercise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses; except that this section does not apply to a person who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement.
Law-makers who wrote this statute acknowledged that fortune-tellers do not restrict themselves to "a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement" and that people will continue to seek out fortune-tellers even though fortune-tellers operate in violation of the law.
Similarly, in New Zealand, Section 16 of the Summary Offences Act 1981 provides a one thousand dollar penalty for anyone who sets out to "deceive or pretend" for financial recompense that they possess telepathy or clairvoyance or acts as a medium for money through use of "fraudulent devices." As with the New York legislation cited above, however, it is not a criminal offence if it is solely intended for purposes of entertainment.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also bans the practice outright, considering fortune-telling to be sorcery and thus contrary to Islamic teaching and jurisprudence. It has been punishable by death.
SKEPTICISM
Fortune-telling is dismissed by the scientific community and skeptics as being based on magical thinking and superstition.
Skeptic Bergen Evans suggested that fortune-telling is the result of a "naïve selection of something that has happened from a mass of things that haven't, the clever interpretation of ambiguities, or a brazen announcement of the inevitable." Other skeptics claim that fortune-telling is nothing more than cold reading.
A large amount of fraud has occurred in the practice of fortune telling.
WIKIPEDIA
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RELEASE INFO: After a festival run spanning 17 cities and 11 countries, Broderick Fox’s award-winning documentary The Skin I’m In will be released internationally on October 1, 2013. Stream and download available on iTunes; DVD available via Amazon.
ABOUT THE FILM:
In 2005, filmmaker Broderick Fox was found on the Berlin subway tracks with his head split open and a lethal blood alcohol level of 0.47. Strangers pulled him to safety, giving him a second chance at life and propelling him on a global journey to explore the limits of body, mind, spirit and art. Spanning Germany, Canada, Japan, Kenya, and the United States, Fox’s journey includes collaborations with Canadian First-Nations artist Rande Cook and African-American artist Zulu, who help him memorialize his experiences in a full back tattoo. In our digital age where personal confession and self-exposure abound, Fox instead transforms his experiences into art, making a film that is both innovative and accessible.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
“US filmmaker Broderick Fox was always uncomfortable in his own skin, so he created a whole new one to live in.”
–ABC Radio’s Conversations with Richard Fidler
“Gory detail after crazy event is unspooled before our eyes, and like good voyeurs we gobble it up breathlessly awaiting the next barking mad beat that, in his rendering, becomes completely normal… This is a documentary that will be talked about!”
–Santa Fe Film Festival
" Fox the filmmaker knows how to take the stuff of memoir and fashion art."
–Edge Magazine
“Fox narrates his own story as he skillfully peels back layers of himself, many long-suppressed. It reveals a human work-in-progress—scars, bumps, bruises and all.”
–Victoria Times-Colonist
“It offers courage and hope for all individuals to chart their own path towards self-understanding and social ease.”
–Echo Net Daily
“An exhilarating story of spiritual transformation.”
–Out Takes Film Festival
Today's FGR group is in my secret life. I have seen many hilarious examples of what people's secret identities are. I struggled all day with coming up with an appropriately zany secret identity. As the day wore on, I realized that many people were coming clean with serious issues. Finally... I decided to do the same.
I've struggled with an issue in my life that manifested when I entered college. In short, I would suddenly pass out with no reason. At first, people had me convinced that it was because of my excessive drinking. That made sense. Drink more than a lot/wake up in the Red Cedar or the girl's dorm.
But then I began to understand that there was more to it. Sometimes I could win at quarters and have no problems, but other times I would pass out at a block party.
I decided to seek help. After much testing, my roommate's girlfriend's best-friend's other-friend's roommate (a nursing student) properly diagnosed me with an allergy to a specific color.
I am allergic to porraceous colors. When I view them, I experience uncontrolled hypersomnia.
Of course, with this new self-understanding, I was able to enjoy the remainder of my college career unfettered with a fear of excessive alcohol consumption. As long as I avoid colors in the prasinous family while doing so.
Since college, I have had only a few recurrences of this dreaded malady. A New Year's Eve party here, a wedding reception there. Just a few.
I'm glad to finally release my secret into the public domain. I hope you will continue to support me.
This is my three hundred fifty third self portrait for 365 Days.
7 November 2007
The fluorescent desk lamp was used as a modeling lamp to assist focusing. The 430EX was used remotely as the main light to add a pop of brilliance and catchlights.