The Map and The Territory​​

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In my work as a visual artist, for several years I had been very preoccupied with the way we perceive - or rather, do not perceive - the world. I was fascinated by the many ways in which we try to describe the world through models (maps, tables, diagrams, classifications,...) and then have come to regard those models as more real than reality itself. We have gradually come to confuse the map with the terrain. Even as an art teacher, I was constantly surprised by the way people who learn to paint or draw from observation, very often draw what they think, rather than what is really there in front of them. We can stare at something without really seeing it, and this is a fact that also troubles us in this crisis of civilization of which the climate crisis is only one aspect.

 

This fascination and research led to (among other things) the series of mixed media works on paper and various other materials called “The Mycological Travels,” “Botanical Studies” and “Thinking Out Loud."

 

In these series I incorporated intuitive ideas about how our mental models get in the way of the real experience of the world, something process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead called the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness”. Rather than really experiencing reality, we filter it through a whole series of concepts and beliefs, which makes for a very distorted view of our world and our place in it.

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The Power Grab of the Left Half

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Our perception is also very distorted by the predominance our left brain hemisphere has gained in our modernity, something that neuropsychiatrist and philosopher Iain McGilchrist has done fantastic work on.  Our left hemisphere is a kind of "little psychopath": it sees only parts without coherence, and is constantly figuring out how to manipulate those parts for self-interest. A function that has played an important role in our evolution, but is now causing disaster as there is no longer a balance with the right hemisphere that sees value and meaning in the bigger picture. Our technological civilization has bet everything on the “left hemisphere”: mere analysis, a misunderstood rationality with no underlying sense of value, breaking up every reality into the smallest possible pieces that can be manipulated, no belief in or feeling for the coherence or sacredness of the whole. This manifests itself in the psychopathological nature of our economic system and our willingness to gradually convert our entire biosphere into money. How can we reconcile back these two ways of being in the world, that of analytical manipulative control and that of reverent and deeply felt experience of the meaning of the whole?

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Scientific Materialism

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Moreover, we have become enormously limited in our perception and experience of the world by the set of beliefs called “scientific materialism”: the idea that only matter and the elementary physical forces really exist, and that all reality is a mere accidental consequence of random interaction between meaningless particles, in a universe without meaning or purpose. This view, far from being based on scientific data or evidence, is nevertheless maintained with religious seriousness as the only “true doctrine” in the scientific community (See also the essay “A Selfie of Planet Earth,” and the musings “Five Sigma (You Are Not Going to Believe This),” “A Wondrous Afternoon With an Extraordinary Scientist, Gentleman and Visionary,” and the blog post “Science and the Emerging New Paradigm."

 

It is an extraordinarily nihilistic vision that very much defines our culture, albeit largely unconsciously. It is also eminently a vision that stems from our limited “left-brain consciousness,” which is fixated on parts and poor at seeing connection and meaning, something the right brain is much better at.

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A New paradigm

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In my opinion, these “fallacies” (that of “misplaced concreteness,” that of our erroneous self-definition as separate entities fundamentally separated from our world and each other, and that of scientific materialism), taken together are the primary causes of the convergence of ecological and other crises we find ourselves in as a species. We live ín our models from the sense of separateness, we see no meaning and connection in the whole, and, because of our limited models, we always assume that we can solve problems from a far too narrow definition of those problems, creating new problems all the time in the domains we have left out. And moreover, the fear of emptiness and isolation drives us to accumulate more and more material possessions as compensation, and to maintain an economic system that eats the planet alive.

 

One of the greatest challenges before us, besides the extremely far-reaching transformations that will be needed in economics, agriculture, transportation, energy and so on, is the transformation to a new worldview, in which we no longer isolate the problems we face from the whole fabric of being, of lived experience and essence of existence, of everything that forms a web of meaning (as systems thinker Jeremy Lent so eloquently called it) that can only evolve as one, like Indra's Net.

 

That we no longer begin to see ourselves as separate “robots of flesh and blood” governed by selfish genes, but as fractal aspects of a wondrous whole whose sacredness we must begin to see and experience again.

 

Having changed my medium, and wanting to help spread information about these and other aspects of the “meta-crisis,” I want to continue this quest, which used to be mostly intuitive and visual, with words (blog, essays and books) and images (the photographic journeys).

 

The research leads to ever-shifting horizons of insights that broaden the panorama of the 'meta-crisis', making it more complex, but also revealing new and often very surprising possibilities for other solutions and other, hopeful futures.

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Entangled Consciousness

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One of the aspects of new sciencific explorations that fascinates me most is the growing understanding that our consciousness, and consciousness in general, is not a consequence or “epi-phenomenon” of material processes (electrochemical activity in our brains).

 

In this new view advanced by a growing group of scientists, consciousness is a non-reducible essence, the ground from which all the universe originates. Consciousness is not byproduct of matter; rather, it is the other way around.

 

This vision, of which “scientific idealism” is one of the expressions, is being put forward by an increasing number of scientists (Bernardo Kastrup, Frederico Faggin, Bill Mensch, Amit Goswami, Peter Russell, Marjorie Woolacott, Eben Alexander, Bernard Carr, Dean Radin, Ervin László, and many others) as a possible new way of understanding that will cast all of our relationship to the world as well as to each other in a profoundly new light. The new understanding of consciousness as something that precedes the world may lead to an revolution in our self-definition that can be compared in scale and scope to the discovery that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than the other way around. Your consciousness, dear reader, is not the result of electrochemical activity in your brain (although there is a correlation). Your consciousness is primary, non-reducible, something that in philosophy is called an “ontological primitive”. That doesn't mean you are primitive, don't feel offended. It means that your consciousness is more fundamental than the body to which it is now connected.

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It's All Magic

This in turn opens doors to very different ways to begin to see ourselves anew as a wondrously part of a magical, living, evolving and intelligent Universe. Scientific idealism shows us a world created by consciousness rather than the other way around, and that has incredibly far-reaching implications. And that, in turn, will enable a path toward a new relationship with the living organism of which we are a part, our biosphere.  A relationship that will be characterized by synergy and emergence, and a shift to a much higher degree of harmony and cooperation with nature, rather than trying to dominate it as we do now with disastrous consequences. From a renewed experience of the sacred in ourselves and the world, and from a different understanding of our consciousness as a fractal expression of a universal consciousness, we can take our natural place in the whole and finally become 'stewards' of our planet, and make our unique contribution to the well-being of our biosphere (if that future seems utopian and impossible to you, that is understandable but unjustified - something my research is making more and more clear to me, and is all the more reason to follow my blog).

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Bottom Up

So this research is a kind of logical offshoot of my work as a visual artist, but uses other media.

 

I share the results of the research in the blog and in the essays, in a way that should be as accessible as possible. I do not wish to write for a specialized audience, but for the widest possible segment of the population, as I believe that the necessary changes we face will have to be driven from the bottom up. The structures of our current political system are ill-suited to respond to the metacrisis, and are too intertwined with the economic power structure that needs to be so thoroughly reformed.

 

So it will be up to us - we, the people. This is why disseminating information is so crucial in these years that will decide what the future of our biosphere will look like: either a dystopia of a disrupted climate, political instability and violence, depleted soils, dead oceans, a collapsing ecosystem, and ultimately a “societal collapse”; or else a path to a very different future based on synergy and harmony between our species and the living being we are part of, our biosphere.

 

The research and blog, and future books, will be my contribution to a movement that is taking shape around the world. This movement is not based on struggle, but on a growing understanding, an increasing reunification of cognition and intuition, and a transition to a new stage of consciousness. It is a movement of synergy and emergence - growing organically toward the new and more beautiful world that is possible, however distant it may seem now.

 

And my ultimate goal, dear reader, is that you too can be inspired and move into your own form of action, from the realization that no one can just stand by and watch. We are all part of the organism “Earth,” and we all have a contribution to make.

 

It is up to us. To whom else?

 

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The Elephant in the Room

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In doing so, it becomes more and more necessary to talk about the sacred cow of our modernity, which is at the same time the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about: capitalism.

 

More and more thinkers are pointing out that a model based on endless exponential growth in a finite system (the planet) is unsustainable. A model that, moreover, already uses twice as many raw materials and “resources” than what our planet can support. An exponential growth of three percent per year, which is necessary to keep that economic system running, leads to a doubling of that system in 25 years. Do the math: within 25 years double the consumption of raw materials and energy as today? Impossible, and if really manifested it would mean the death blow to a biosphere that is already teetering on the brink of collapse.

 

But how can things be done differently? What economic models or systems could be compatible with a living planet, and with a thriving humanity? How can we move beyond growth, and rather toward a well-organized and equitable “shrinking” of the economy? What system could also turn the economic rivalry between superpowers and nation-states into cooperation and synergy?  How can we reconnect economics with respect for the living being that is our biosphere, and with respect for all the people who are part of that economy? What other technologies are possible alternatives to what we now call “money”? How can labor be decoupled from income (because there will be no work for everyone in a sustainable economy, because much less of anything will be produced). How can we purposefully make the economy smaller without that plunging people into poverty or disrupting our society? How can global inequality be addressed? Can we transform transnational corporations into smaller, locally anchored entities in which workers have a majority share? How can we limit the influence of large economic players on the political system? Lots of questions, which also remain part of my research.

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You Are a Wondrous Being

 

In the new worldview emerging from biology, astrophysics, elementary-particle physics, the study of consciousness and other sciences, the fundamental mystery and wonder of existence and of the phenomenon of “life” is reaffirmed, rather than denied. The world is wondrous, and so are you.

 

How many people can still see themselves as a sacred and mysterious part of an equally sacred and mysterious universe, imbued with meaning and purpose and intelligence at all levels? If we could see, experience, perceive ourselves in this way, would we still become addicted to alcohol, drugs, antidepressants, television, gaming, shopping, and so on to such an extent? Would we still worry so much about material possessions or status? Would we still fear death?

 

It is our sense of separateness in a meaningless universe that leads us to bet everything on possession and security. If everything is meaningless anyway, we had better have the best toys for as long as this lasts, and assure that no one is going to take our toys away. Only a renewed awareness of the interconnectedness of everything, and of the immortality of consciousness, can cure us of the existential angst that drives capitalism, resulting in the destruction of our planet.

 

And since everyone is an aspect of a greater whole, everyone is invited to be part of the change that is both needed and imminent. Everyone is a wondrous part of a larger, mysterious whole, and everyone is imbued with a unique gift for the world. Rather than obedient “little” followers of an economic machine that promises us material wealth and security, we can become active and powerful authors of a new reality. You too yes, who else?

 

The idea that each of us can or should only mind “our own business” is outdated and harmful. Our existence becomes complete only in giving our gift, our “genius,” to the world, and our unique potential for bringing about a new world. Just as the cells in our bodies cannot afford to meddle only in “their own affairs,” and do not distinguish between the importance of self and the larger body they are a part of (the alternative is called 'cancer'), so too are we invited to take up our role in the multicellular being that is our biosphere. And in this process we can also find our real identity: mysterious, wondrous and powerful beings who have an important role to play in the evolution of our world.

 

Can you see yourself this way? The separateness between me and you, who are reading this, is an illusion. And we are both part of one whole, which is more wondrous than can be described.

 

Will you accept the invitation?

 

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Links

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In addition to research on the latest science of consciousness, my attention remains on just about every aspect of the 'metacrisis,' undoubtedly the greatest challenge we as a species have ever faced.

 

Energy, agriculture, technical evolutions like A.I. and social media, migration, the planetary economy and the technology of “exchangeable tokens of optionality” that we usually call “money,”.... none of these things can really be viewed in isolation from everything else.

 

There are many great minds working on these issues, and since it is my intention to help spread as much information as possible, on a page that is still under construction, I will provide many links to organizations and individuals who have already done fantastic work in creating a new worldview.

 

I invite you to explore these links, and discover how much is already shifting and changing and moving, albeit under the radar of our media that is focused on very different things.

 

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Meditations and practice​

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It is my intention to translate the insights emerging in the new paradigm into meditations and “awareness practices” , as I experience that mere mental knowledge of our situation is not enough. We must move beyond knowledge to an embodied and felt experience of a different relationship to our living world. As is increasingly understood by all who are engaged in the metacrisis and great transition, it is necessary to arrive at an “embodied consciousness,” and embodied understanding, a felt experience of other ways of perceiving, being and experiencing, in light of the new worldview that is emerging. I plan to develop these exercises in collaboration with my partner Agnes Nagygyörgy, who is an intuition and energetic guide, and has developed many guided meditations of her own. You can find all the info about Agnes on her website.​