Dreams of Reality - The View, and the Point of View

Written by Sam Vaknin


Continued from page 1

Roberto: Admittedly, if we mix that powerful imagination, anarchy, with a superior order, then we surely will encounterrepparttar superior works of art: Shakespeare, Cervantes, Velazquez, Goya, Beethoven, Ernst Junger, Borges, Goethe, Leonardo, Brunelleschi. But it is not a necessary condition.

Art does not depend on anything. It has nothing to do with order or anarchy, with politics, with technical conditions, with perfection... with nothing. None of all this affects Art. It deals withrepparttar 122436 deepest reality. Withrepparttar 122437 sense that is hidden beyondrepparttar 122438 Wall of Time. Withrepparttar 122439 secret of human beings, their inextricable condition of being inrepparttar 122440 middle between matter and energy. That is what touches our heart like a knife when we see a superior work of Art: it’s a promise, a shared secret. It isrepparttar 122441 View of Something, that artist, going uprepparttar 122442 Wall of Time , sharing this with us. It doesn't have to do withrepparttar 122443 "mundane", it’s just its opposite,repparttar 122444 other side ofrepparttar 122445 coin. It’srepparttar 122446 view which transcends "materia".

You said that feeling is incommunicable, but there is a kind of collective memory- aka Jungian archetypes. This seems quite correct. And, of course, it’s a plastic land, with degrees. But there are leaps - for instance,repparttar 122447 genius. There exist some basic points:repparttar 122448 mystical,repparttar 122449 religious,repparttar 122450 feeling of art. This isrepparttar 122451 reason for allrepparttar 122452 persecutions: Christians, Albigenese, Eleusians, Jews, Buddhists, Palestinians, Macedonians, etc... Here, sadly, cold alienated facts contravene you. Mystic questions are very nearrepparttar 122453 line that separates human beings and causes massacres.

When you talk about drugs, you talk fromrepparttar 122454 mundane side of things. You can talk about drug-addicts, their problems, you can talk aboutrepparttar 122455 effects of drugs on humans but you should never talk about drugs. The Shu´ar men, commonly known as Jibaros, orrepparttar 122456 head-shrinkers, experience time completely differently from Western people. It is impossible to explain it in brief, it has to do with a change inrepparttar 122457 direction ofrepparttar 122458 flow of time, with dreams and future-past. But, one ofrepparttar 122459 consequences is that they don’t knowrepparttar 122460 meaning of luck. And, if we believe anthropologists, it seems to be impossible for them to understand its meaning. Same goes for drugs, orrepparttar 122461 mystical experience.

Art can make possible this miracle, to search deeper inside us to meet these unknown feelings provoked byrepparttar 122462 artist. To look below our surface, to take stock of childhood and its innocent anarchy, to access collective memories and dreams, whererepparttar 122463 material is already indivisible.

This, and no other thing is, if we may say so, what defines Art. The capability of getting trough matter to show us what is behind it. Here, there is no possible agreement. Not to see Art that way is not to see Art, period. It’s like music, if you don’t dig what it is about, that inextricable thing: "the real thing", then, it’s like eating onlyrepparttar 122464 skin of a banana, letting go of its flesh. Here lies my fanaticism, inasmuch as we all are fanatics: I do believe in Art.

Sam: This was a long dissertation in favour ofrepparttar 122465 possibility to communicate fromrepparttar 122466 vantage points of private languages. Onrepparttar 122467 one hand, you admit that we are all trapped in our private hells, unable to communicate with each other except through massacres motivated by atavistic collective archetypes. You say that some experiences (drugs, for one) can not be communicated torepparttar 122468 uninitiated. Than, in a magnificent reversal, you say that Art isrepparttar 122469 communicative bridge. It is through it that we, poor, isolated, humans can march to meeting points where a deeper sort of information is provoked byrepparttar 122470 artist inrepparttar 122471 art consumer. Moreover, you seem to claim that Art contains both a functional sample ofrepparttar 122472 world andrepparttar 122473 rules of language (of connecting objects to its idiom). In other words, you seem to be saying that art is monovalent, it will provokerepparttar 122474 same emotional reactions in its consumers regardless of their identity. This is to say that Art is a universal language. Wittgenstein said as much about natural languages. He deniedrepparttar 122475 possibility that private languages with privileged access exist. He wrote that evenrepparttar 122476 speaker of a private language will not be able to understand it. Your version is softer: we all do have semi-private languages and a modicum of privileged access. But Art isrepparttar 122477 great dictionary which containsrepparttar 122478 vocabulary ofrepparttar 122479 human condition. Trapped as we are betweenrepparttar 122480 spirit andrepparttar 122481 flesh, between energy and matter, angels and demons, heaven andrepparttar 122482 hell which is our lives – Art comes to our help. It bandages our wounds, it talks to us inrepparttar 122483 ancient, unintelligible sounds of our collective archetypes, it soothes us as our mothers did. It then continues to offer to usrepparttar 122484 possibility to communicate with each other through its objects, really throughrepparttar 122485 person (or shall I say, persona?) ofrepparttar 122486 artist. Art, therefore, to you, is a liberating act. It breaks throughrepparttar 122487 glass containers of our very private existence which otherwise cannot be communicated benignly. I must say that I share your views with one modification, introduced byrepparttar 122488 “scientist” in me: there is no way of ascertaining that Art works.

That Art provokes emotions is undeniable. That it, therefore, must be connected to our private languages (=largely, our emotions) follows. To interact with our private languages it must gain access to what hitherto has been a shrine accessed by a priesthood order of one, ourselves. Art demolishesrepparttar 122489 privileged access maxim. Still, can we be sure that it MEANSrepparttar 122490 same to all its worshippers? Of course not. Rather it would be safer to assume that an object of art would mean different things to different people. Art resonates with our private languages precisely because it is a private language (ofrepparttar 122491 artist). The affinity provokes empathy andrepparttar 122492 latter is misinterpreted as understanding. Art is as unintelligible as any other private language. Its relationship torepparttar 122493 emotions that it evokes in its beholder – is equal torepparttar 122494 relationship between a trigger pulled and a wounded, aching soldier. It resounds, it reverberates through us, inrepparttar 122495 process wounding us because it reminds us how IMPOSSIBLE it is to communicate, how absurd our existence is, how LONELY we are, how privileged our access is to a language which even we do not fully grasp or understand. Yes, we are sealed off from ourselves as well. This is what we discover through Art. The echoes of our very own languages perishing inrepparttar 122496 caverns of our minds.



Sam Vaknin is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He is a columnist for Central Europe Review, United Press International (UPI) and eBookWeb and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Web site:

http://samvak.tripod.com/


Honoring Your Life's Purpose

Written by Francoise Rapp


Continued from page 1

Focus your attention by followingrepparttar steps below: *Be still andrepparttar 122435 here and now. *Ground your mind by visualizing yourself "sitting" in your head. *Feel. *Pay very close attention torepparttar 122436 essence which animates your body and spirit *Open and awaken your heart. How does it feel? *Ask yourself what your gift is, and stay still. *Keep a journal to write downrepparttar 122437 different images or messages you envision while usingrepparttar 122438 blend.

Everyday you should ask yourself what your talent is and how it can help others. Express it without fears and wonder. This is what will bring yourepparttar 122439 most joy.

To preparerepparttar 122440 following blends, addrepparttar 122441 essential oils to a 10-ml bottle and fill with organic vegetable oil.

******** Awaken Your Life's Purpose ******** -2 drops Jasmine otto -4 drops Sandalwood

******** Trust in Your Life's Purpose ******** -1 drop Rose -5 drops Frankincense -4 drops Cedarwood

******** Act According to Your Life's Purpose ******** -4 drops Cypress -5 drops Sandalwood -3 drops Jasmine otto -3 drops Frankincense -2 drops Patchouli

******** Melusine Alchemical Perfume http://www.aromalchemy.com/perfume.html ******** Use this fragrance daily to align your chakras and open yourself to who you really are and what you wish to accomplish.

In Good Health, Francoise Rapp www.aromalchemy.com

(c) Francoise Rapp, 2001. Discoverrepparttar 122442 life-transforming power of aromatherapy! Internationally renowned aromatherapist and alchemist, Francoise Rapp, shares her expertise through her informative web site, in aromatherapy classes designed for working adults, and in her free weekly ezine, The Arom'Alchemy Newsletter. All this and more can be found at www.aromalchemy.com.

Internationally renowned aromatherapist and alchemist Françoise Rapp was trained in the sacred ancient arts of anointing and practicing alchemy by priests and alchemists in France more than 10 years ago. Her talents have been featured in many national media outlets, including RedBook Magazine, New Age Journal, Self.Com, and the nationally televised program "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." Visit her on the web at www.aromalchemy.com.


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