Goethian Wholeness

"In following Goethe's approach to scientific knowledge, one finds that the wholeness of the phenomenon is intensive. The experience is one of entering into a dimension that is the phenomenon, not behind or beyond it, but which is not visible at first. It is perceived through the mind, when the mind functions as an organ of perception instead of the medium of logical thought. Whereas mathematical science begins by transforming the contents of sensory perception into quantitative values and establishing a relationship between them, Goethe looked for a relationship between the perceptual elements that left the contents of perception unchanged. He tried to see these elements themselves holistically instead of replacing them by a relationship analytically. Ernst Cassirer said, 'the mathematical formula strives to make the phenomena calculable, that of Goethe to make them visible."

- Henri Bortoft (1938 - 2012)

The Wholeness of Nature

Deep Infinity

“Deep, deep infinity! 

Quietness. 

O dream away from the 

tensions of daily living; 

to sail over a calm sea at 

the prow of a ship,

toward a horizon that always recedes;

to stare at the passing waves and listen to

their monotonous soft murmur;

to dream away into unconsciousness ..."

- M.C. Escher (1898-1972)

Hidden Meaning

"Everything in the world has

a hidden meaning. . . .

Men, animals, trees, stars,

they are all hieroglyphics.

When you see them you

do not understand them.

You think they are really men,

animals, trees, stars.

It is only years later

that you understand."

- Nikos Kazantzakis

(1883 - 1957)

Mystical Perception

"It is to a practical mysticism that [...you...] are invited: to a training of ... latent faculties, a bracing and brightening of ... languid consciousness, an emancipation from the fetters of appearance, a turning of ... attention to new levels of the world. Thus ... become aware of the universe which the spiritual artist is always trying to disclose to the race. This amount of mystical perception—this 'ordinary contemplation,' as the specialists call it—is possible to all men: without it, they are not wholly conscious, nor wholly alive. It is a natural human activity, no more involving the great powers and sublime experiences of the mystical saints and philosophers than the ordinary enjoyment of music involves the special creative powers of the great musician."

- Evelyn Underhill (1875 - 1941)

Mysticism

Innocence of Vision

"The only provable reality of a photograph is its physical existence — a flat piece of paper with some smudges on one side...Most adults have to regain the ability to experience pictures directly and deeply. Contrary to their convictions that they understand everything, most people have to reestablish the ability to let a photograph speak for itself. And paradoxes abound, one has to earn the innocence of vision — by hard effort, by serious and deliberate search for meanings in photographs."

- Minor White (1908 - 1976)

Aperture Magazine Anthology:The Minor White Years, 1952-1976

Deciphering the External World

“Art is not what we see;

it is in the spaces between."

"The creative act is not

performed by the artist alone;

the spectator brings

the work in contact with

the external world by

deciphering and interpreting 

its inner qualifications and thus adds 

his contribution to the creative act."

"The spectator makes the picture.” 

- Marcel Duchamp (1887 - 1968)

The Mind is Simply Aware

“There is no ideal in observation.

When you have an ideal, 

you cease to observe, 

you are then merely

approximating the 

present to the idea, 

and therefore there

is duality, conflict, 

and all the rest of it. 

The mind has to be in the 

state when it can see, observe. 

The experience of the observation 

is really an astonishing state. 

In that there is no duality. 

The mind is simply - aware.”

- Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895 - 1986)