West and East perspectives

Today was a magnificent day.
It started with birds waking up as the sunrise slowly dissipated the shadows of the night. There was no breeze and you could hardly hear the sea, as it was quiet like the surface of a lake. The water was unusually clean and a bit cool. Hundred meters further on the beach, a young buffalo was eating some green leaves from the bushes. And his presence attracted four dogs who came barking aggressively to him. They went on barking for a while, then got tired since it was clear that he wasn't at all impressed by their noise. And the quietness returned. The day was hot and it felt good to stay in the shade.

In the evening the sunset on the sea was particularly spectacular. Not these bright red skies with blazing clouds that photographers crave for.
No, just a ball/disk of intense yellow light, falling down towards the sea, its color shifting gradually to intense pink. It was exactly above the little island. This intensity went on fading slowly and the ball/disk disappeared behind the small island, leaving a sky empty, without a single cloud.

The economic crisis the world is facing, is also quite spectacular. One can read numbers like " one trillion of dollars", " 48% of unemployment in the country", " big resort hotel having just two rooms booked" etc...
How did we come to that situation?

Well, since this blog is NOT the place to analyze, speculate, explain and fill our mind with more blah blah blah, we will leave the question open :o)

Nevertheless, it feels appropriate at this point, to play a little game. A game relating the economic crisis with art...

Please remember that we are not economists, experts in finance, but simply human beings Looking , Listening and Learning.
Learning by insight.
We won't take things too seriously, we are just looking at it from an artistic perspective, in a playful way. After all, why not?
Ok, let's start.


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Question: which (graphic) artwork is the most popular in the world?
( Please, don't search the Guiness Book of Records...)

Well, one start to think, "most popular?", " in the world", a painting? a photography? an advertising poster?
Perhaps the " Mona Lisa", or a Marilyn Monroe portrait, or ...

Ok, here is a little hint: it is so popular that people look at it every day, often many times a day and even at night. Practically all your (thinking) life...

Oh, oh, maybe the portrait of the Christ ( if you happen to be very devout from this particular religion)
Or Krishna, or Buddha if you are from another.

Another hint. This artwork is so popular, that it is reproduced in millions of copies, and people would do anything to get it. In fact millions of people, and probably more, just dream, pray and crave for this artwork. When they look at it, very often a big smile take place on their face, and quickly their brain start to think about what they will do, next.

Still not guessed?

The artist who produced this artwork must be a celebrity... Picasso, Van Gogh ?

No, not a celebrity at all, in fact, almost no one know his/her name.

Give up, I give up...Please tell me!

Well, well.
Then click on these links ( in another tab) and the mystery will dissipate.
Why didn't you think about this?

link1

link2

link3

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Now, let's have a look at this video below, and observe the differences between a bank note from the West, and one from the East part of the world. You will immediately recognize their country of emission. Different cultures, different religions, different geographic locations, etc...

The key is perhaps in the center. (just like a keyhole???)
In the Western culture, you see that the center is occupied by the important man. The personality, the portrait, the ego. All this is in the center. You can't avoid seeing it. It's as clear as a black spot on a white face. Every day, it's in our hands, reminding us the importance of being at the center.

In the (far) East, what do we see in the center?
Just plain paper (ivory). No ink, no portrait, no name, no symbol, NO THING. This void, emptiness, in the center of the rectangle of paper, contrast sharply with the one from the West. Here, no ego, no Me, nothing important.
( Of course, there is a portrait of some important person on the side, but we are at the moment interested in the center, not the periphery).

So, every day, during most of their life, people like you and me, being from the West, the East and in between, look at this little image and get a message repeated millions and millions of time, without being even aware of it.



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Ego, selfishness, is everything but a holistic way to Look at Life.
There is not place for every one at the center/top of the world.
Is there any center in Life?

People have listened or read the words of the Pope decrying selfishness in this huge economic crisis.
But we knew that already, didn't we?

The human brain has learned to translate Life into words. Isolate more and smaller fragments of Life and put a label on each. Drawings become symbols, symbols become characters (letters), letters are combined into words, words are put together to form sentences, and sentences pile on top of each other to produce long paragraphs, texts and stories.

But the brain, also can be an expert in other fields of language. Verbal language (words) is not the only form of thinking, even if, for most of us, we have been intensely trained since our young age, to concentrate on words, speaking, writing, reading etc...
Ask to a banker, a accountant, a business man, or a mathematician, and they will tell that their brain is very, very busy with numbers. Calculating, evaluating, measuring almost constantly. Everything or almost everything can be put in a formula, an equation, and defined by measured parameters.
These very complex calculations ( why do you think, man invented the computer? to play games?) are at the center of space exploration, wars, society regulation, and economic stability.
Or... instability.

What about musical language?
For a long period of time musicians have been considered, somewhat minor elements of the society. Their music, if pleasant, is usually just good at bringing sweet "rêveries' to our mind, relaxing from our tensions, and also exciting and stimulating to work hard or to go to war.
Yet, only recently, the musical brain and the complex processes involved, have been the focus of some researchers who try to translate it into words to remove part of the mystery.
Artists, graphic artists, painters, have also a proper language, non verbal. A language of colors, forms, textures, relationships etc...

To try to translate one language into another can prove to be very hard. And inadequate.
In fact, Art, Music start perhaps where words end. Poetry flowers freely, when calculation and measurement stops. A computer works at its best, when it has ( of course) no emotions coloring, interfering with its calculations.

It can be very challenging to look at a landscape without thought starting to put words on it.
Or listen to a music quietly without escaping into mental imagery and memories.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing.

The brain can learn to function in different fields and be inspired. Inspired and perhaps inspiring. Different dimensions. Different perspectives.
This diversity makes Life so full, so rich.
Rich?
Yet the small rectangle of paper with a very, very familiar image on it, has be, day after day, the very center of our focus, and today we miss it...

Yes, missing more than one trillion of $...






Economic crisis?
And what if, deeper, it was a profound spiritual crisis revealing its symptoms?



L'Homme d'Art