Meditation 1

Drawing Thinking

Thinking is making note of connections between things in the mind, the confluence of memories and observation. We draw links, draw up plans, draw conclusions. The prevalence of the drawing metaphor in speaking suggests a deep level understanding of the visual understructure to thinking. The look of the whole, with all the interrelated patterns that flow through it are structure. Drawing puts emphasis on the qualities and association that caught attention and not the label and category. It brings out the value of the subject for the individual and not generalities about it. The brilliant psychiatrist Alfred Adler thought having art around was important to every child’s education because it was teaching values.

Beyond developing a relationship with reality drawing is a way of mapping the relationships in ideas. Most visual thinking happens in our minds as we live and react to what’s going on around us. Built on the understanding of what to expect from spatial structure, may scientists use drawing to work out relationships and influences. Recently I was looking at Michael’s Faraday’s drawings of magnetic fields at a time when no one had any insight into them. He observed magnetic filings and did drawings that look very much like some of the energy fields in paintings by Alex Grey. Core structures turn up in many different realms. The effort to understand consciousness needs images to encompass to scope of such a big concept. Science long used the idea of elegance, the rightness of an idea felt in its beauty. Paying attention to beauty in a whole scene frees us from the tyranny in the separateness of things and trains insight into what matters. It unifies what language divides. Our innate sense of harmony tells us what fits and what doesn’t. Drawing both develops and utilizes visual sensitivity.

Even doodles show what kind of rhythms and relations are interesting. Most doodles have a fractal order that depends on the motion of the whole for its implications. Vary the size of the elements as you doodle and let the fractal beauty emerge. Denis Dutton in his book “The Art Instinct” suggests that humans have an innate feel for beauty. Nobel prize winning scientist David Bohm called it a sense of what fits. Since so much of our conceptual language depends on comparison to physical spatial relationships like ‘more’, ‘where’ and ‘which’, finding a particular way of drawing that maps personal thought and preference could extend conceptual ability. Because art has been marginalized, treated as something to be done and appreciated by a few, everyone has been denied the development of mental power that comes from conscious use of whole picture thinking.

For me drawings are a way to pose philosophical questions. There is not a verbalized idea but an effort to integrate different worldviews that requires an overarching integration of perspectives. Visual philosophy begins with reflecting on this enlarged big picture and paring it down so some new aspect of the structure shows. Commonality is there in the universal actions of living which we translate into concepts. Using art to become more sensitive to the messages in the look of things is available to everyone whether looking or doing. Just because your school art teacher didn’t like what you did doesn’t mean you can’t draw.

Matter of Densities

Illusion Evolves

Illusionism is the conscious use of illusion to capture attention. It works because where something conflicts with expectations about reality we’re hardwired to look again. The spatial world is a foundation reality for all human beings. We know not to walk out in front of a moving car, that climbing takes more energy than sitting, the full range of behaviors characteristic of being human. Behavior is part of the circuit of perception. What we see is always in flux and as we move there’s a constant bodily adjustment. Walking up the street might involve dozens of small avoidance maneuvers and though much is unconscious it’s a language we understand at our foundation. And it’s visual.

The illusionist works with perception to create a believable impossibility, to have the viewer react as though the illusion is real. And when they recognize their mistake they are rewarded with laughter and all the measurable physical benefits it brings.

Using what’s known about how perception works illusion can be used to attract attention and pose questions. What attracts me to illusionism is working with the concept of truth in relation to human concepts. The history of human thought is a trail of mistaken absolutes, so maybe a good evolutionary step would be to stop the battle for the right idea and focus on how all the different ideas work together and how context affects which ones are most useful. The time and mental energy throughout intellectual history that is lost in the competition to be the one true thing doesn’t recognize the limitations of human intellect. An illusionistic image can make conflicting realities seem equally real and remind us of those limitations. We evolve when we recognize our mistakes. Anything that loosens the clutch of a fixed worldview enables the mind to grow.

Watching a TV show called “The Carbonaro Effect” ( “a hidden camera magic TV show”) always makes me feel connected to all different kinds of human beings. When he creates the illusion that a living creature is inside the museum artifact (One of many imaginative illusions he creates, the show is a candybox full of them) the unknowing subject’s expressions of amazement strip the face down to pure wonder that is beautiful no matter who or what style of person is reacting. Mirror neurons sing with astonishment as intrigue and curiosity grow on their faces. I’m smiling during most of the show feeling true affection for the participants when the persona drops. Like a trompe l’oeil mural, the unexpected revelation that something is not what it seems plunges us into a state of attention pure and in the moment.

    The fact that the interest in illusionism is so widespread reinforces my view that the arts have an important role in the evolution of the human mind. All of the arts train overall judgment and sense of proportion. The additional use of illusion adds flexibility of thought. Using the universal language of space speaks directly to our foundation understanding of the world. In a global society, images need no translation.

Call for Peace

Visual Diet

Today people are generally aware of the relationship between what they eat and their physical health. This opens the territory to consider how what we see and take into ourselves visually may affect our mental health. Our bodies are always responding to the state of things around us. Danger is something we feel in our bodies before it’s translated mentally into fear. Inviting threatening imagery into our psyche could be as bad for our minds as salt or sugar for our bodies. Humans have always used images to express inner life from the ancient mythologies to modern film. Stories from the news or movies are scenarios that evolve and change. What we choose to watch is our visual diet. Brain science tells us that what we experience creates the brain, actually building circuits in relevant areas for new experiences and reinforcing circuits for patterns of behavior we’ve already established. Being aware of how we shape our circuitry by what we see might leading to greater selectivity in what we consume through our eyes.

Through our mirror neuron systems, we feel and experience what we watch on screens as though we are doing it ourselves, it’s how we understand what’s happening. If we could resist being drawn into sensational and violent programming like we resist unhealthy foods, it’s possible we might feel better emotionally. Commercial television offers ridicule and mockery as entertainment so it follows that people would feel anxious about being mocked and ridiculed. Crime is everywhere and the distinctions between news and fictional stories can get blurred. Why wouldn’t people feel a low-grade fear as part of day-to-day living? Whether it’s fiction or not, whatever the brain is given is what it records, its circuits structured by the patterns in the unfolding visual environment. The evidence that it may be affecting brains for the worse is clear in the amount of people supporting Donald Trump who unquestionably appeals to the worst in people. He embodies the practice of putting others down to build himself up, by his own ugly behavior sanctioning ugliness in others. Because of his outrageousness Trump gets all the attention from the press reinforcing repeated negative patterns. Those who watch and admire his flagrant discourtesy build circuits that make it easier to be offensive themselves. Just like I feel improved when watching a great tennis player operating at their peak and want to go out and do my best, I feel degraded if I leave Trump on the screen as long as the station would have me look at him. It can’t be good for my circuitry to see people cheering for the bullying unpleasantness they don’t tolerate in children. We don’t have to let the media manipulate us into mental ugliness. If that dominates what we see it will start to dominate the circuits of our mind. Taking responsibility for the visual diet is just as important as the food we eat. It all goes in and becomes part of us, shaping thoughts and values, and who can say how much it contributes to the prevalence of depression. Modern life programs people to be cut off from each other while maintaining an illusion of connectedness.

   Studies have shown that time with nature is good for the brain. Even if you just look up at the clouds or into the face of a person or animal, you’re seeing nature at its best. Whatever is complex and mysterious will tune us to the presence of mystery, of just how much we don’t understand. Find art that resonates to strengthen intuition. When online, follow up on things that stir interest to increase dopamine and build new circuits. Curiosity creates connection. Building connections is being alive in the world and builds a brain that reflects it.

Tennis Drawings

Top-- "Winner" Inspired by a particular shot by Venus Williams at the French Open
Middle-- "Thinking On The Lawn" , Wimbledon
Bottom-- "Fall and Decline"  , US Open
Very Bottom- "Legends", Australian Open