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research

"Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror." 

-Kahlil Gibran

As you can read on the pages 'about me' and ‘my path’, I stopped my practice as a visual artist in 2020 in order to devote myself entirely to the convergence of ecological and other crises we are in the midst of. I also tell that story in the video on the home page of this website.

In my 2020 Statement of Intention, I already indicated that in the following years research would be a major part of my activity. Research not only on ecological topics such as the climate and biodiversity crisis, but also and perhaps especially on the worldview that underlies what we do and don't do on our planet.

 

This research, which grew kind of organically from my visual work, has gradually evolved into a rather personal inquiry into a number of domains, which I believe determine our  actions in our biosphere, and which are partly at the root of our current disastrous relationship with our biotope. But conversely, new insights into these domains can lead us to take our place in our biosphere in a way that enables a new harmony and synergy.

 

Below is a brief summary, with a link at the bottom of this page to a more comprehensive reflection on the content of my research. Clicking on any of the underlined titles of the sections will also take you to the more expanded version of the text.

 

The Map and The Territory

This regards our tendency to perceive reality through our model of it, or the way we have come to see the map for more real than the landscape itself, something what philosopher Alfred North Whitehead called the ‘fallacy of misplaced concreteness’.

 

The power grab of the left half

By this I do not mean the political left, but the left brain hemisphere: it is totally focused on analysis, sees only separate parts without connection or meaning, and is very focused on self-interest. This hemisphere of the brain, described by neuropsychiatrist and philosopher Iain McGilchrist as a “little psychopath,” has hijacked our civilization, resulting in the merciless destruction of our biosphere for economic gain.

 

Scientific Materialism

The belief system that defines our worldview: only matter and the elementary physical forces really exist, everything else is illusion or imagination. However, this particularly nihilistic worldview is by no means based on science, contrary to what we like to believe.

A New paradigm

A whole new worldview is emerging in many branches of science, allowing a very different point of view from which to interpret or make sense of the world and ourselves. This paradigm will render scientific materialism obsolete, and pave the way for a very different relationship between us and our biosphere.

 

Entangled Consciousness

One aspect of the new paradigm that is emerging is the groundbreaking research being done on the nature of our consciousness. In the classical paradigm, consciousness is merely a byproduct or epiphenomenon of material processes in the brain; in the new picture, consciousness is seen as fundamental, predating the creation of matter.

 

It's All Magic

Our nihilistic worldview has led us to “de-enchant” the world. We no longer see the universe and our planet as an astonishing miracle and cause for daily joy, but rather as a mechanism without meaning or purpose. But science is beginning to support a very different picture.

 

Bottom Up

The structures of our current political system are not suited to initiate the necessary social change because they are too tied to the economic and other power structures that need to change so profoundly. The change will have to come from the bottom up, that is, it will have to start with us.

The Elephant In The Room

What no one is talking about is the fact that capitalism in its present form is incompatible with a livable planet. Infinite exponential growth in a finite system is impossible. But what can replace capitalism, and how can we create a form of economy that can indeed exist in harmony with our biosphere?

 

You Are a Wonderful Being

We can and must return to seeing ourselves as powerful actors who create our reality, rather than as obedient followers in an economic logic that is devouring our planet and ourselves alive. To do so, we must begin to see and appreciate again the fundamental miracle of our own existence.

Links

I will also share results of my research through links to sites of organizations and people who have already done much work on this path. Many of those thinkers, seers and organizations still remain under the radar of our media and collective consciousness

 

Meditations and Excercises

It is my intention to translate the insights emerging in the new paradigm into meditations and “awareness exercises” , 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.

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