Comments on: Trusting Ourselves http://storyfieldcreations.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/trusting-ourselves/ For our contributions to the emergence of a new story field Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:14:16 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Laurence J. Victor http://storyfieldcreations.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/trusting-ourselves/#comment-43 Laurence J. Victor Thu, 16 Aug 2007 03:23:30 +0000 http://storyfieldcreations.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/trusting-ourselves/#comment-43 Images of the Earth from space, or global maps can inspire. But they are not the "whole" earth. My desktop background is the earth at night. Wholes can never be experienced because what is experienced is always figure in an unconscious field of context. The "whole" of earth includes each life form, each atom and molecule, and all the patterns and histories, the relationships and flows. There are big pictures, but they are only small parts of "wholes". "Big Pictures" can't be "pictured" (experienced). Can there be aesthetics beyond the sensory? When I finally comprehended Maxwell's mathematical model of electromagnetism, I had a rush of aesthetic appreciation, elegance, beauty. Yet, unlike Faraday and Maxwell I lacked the visual imagery to imagine the changing lines of force fields and waves. The concrete symbols of partial differential equations were perceived by me, over time as I transformed them like sculpture, and I found those experiences deeply meaningful. The patterns of relationships that are critical to human survival/thrival must be accessed beyond the sensory modes - yet the sensory modes are our primary gateways to our unexperiencable constructed worlds. This is one of our challenges, to create artforms that transcend the experienced moment, yet include them. Images of the Earth from space, or global maps can inspire. But they are not the “whole” earth. My desktop background is the earth at night. Wholes can never be experienced because what is experienced is always figure in an unconscious field of context.

The “whole” of earth includes each life form, each atom and molecule, and all the patterns and histories, the relationships and flows. There are big pictures, but they are only small parts of “wholes”. “Big Pictures” can’t be “pictured” (experienced).

Can there be aesthetics beyond the sensory? When I finally comprehended Maxwell’s mathematical model of electromagnetism, I had a rush of aesthetic appreciation, elegance, beauty. Yet, unlike Faraday and Maxwell I lacked the visual imagery to imagine the changing lines of force fields and waves. The concrete symbols of partial differential equations were perceived by me, over time as I transformed them like sculpture, and I found those experiences deeply meaningful.

The patterns of relationships that are critical to human survival/thrival must be accessed beyond the sensory modes – yet the sensory modes are our primary gateways to our unexperiencable constructed worlds. This is one of our challenges, to create artforms that transcend the experienced moment, yet include them.

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