"Why be just in a universe that is largely unjust?"Lawrence Kohlberg
(October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987)
"Our Guernica" (detail, "This is Art")© 2006
Interactive Mural (currently located at Sanctuary Bar, Charlotte, NC)
Visual dialogue between artists Tom Schulz and Isaac Schulz.
Kohlberg used the idea of a child's proximodistal development (from the center outward)
to illustrate the concept of a human relatedness
that might ultimately evolve into the individual's
consideration of the welfare of others.
Many years earlier, Galileo developed a similar model of our solar system, but his heliocentric constructs were condemned by the Roman Inquisition in 1632.
to illustrate the concept of a human relatedness
that might ultimately evolve into the individual's
consideration of the welfare of others.
Many years earlier, Galileo developed a similar model of our solar system, but his heliocentric constructs were condemned by the Roman Inquisition in 1632.
Now, Stephen Hawking refers to this awareness of centrality to be the birth of Modern Science.
Such is the spiral of human awareness.
"Mosaic" (installation view)© 2007
Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH
We ache to discover a center.
The center is our Point of Beginning - from which the measure of all interactions may be calculated.
"At the Zoo" © 2006
From "The Systemic Amazement Factorial"©
As many centers as there are tears.
And that these centers overlap in the big moment.
"Fractal Fireflies #12 (Prayer Abacus)"© 2009
From The "Spidey-Hole Series, Fractal Fireflies Subset"
It is in the intersections of these overlapping centers that reside
the most complex pattern of human relatedness.
Here, the interactive connectedness of kindness may take hold,
Here, we may find solace in the invigorating comfort of shared narratives.
For within this tapestry of histories is tenderly woven our own particular story.
Our story that need be shared to be heard.
"The idea here is to give people a new vocabulary, to speak in terms of resilience."
DR. MARTIN SELIGMAN, on a new Army program requiring that all 1.1 million of its soldiers take training meant to head off mental health problems.
NY Times 8/18/09
Where is your center, human?
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3 comments:
I've been waiting for this one.
I have thought of this kind of connection, also, as chain mail (not the emailed version, but the armor type, although the overlap in concept is tempting). Carefully constructed links, interweaving, each circle essential to the strength of the garment, protecting our very hearts. Each circle alone is easy to pry apart; and without one circle, there's a dangerous opening leaving us vulnerable.
Mary,
You are so right - once the pattern as a whole is interrupted, then the system itself is capable of collapse. I'm thinking that our fear of Chaos keeps us actively repairing and repairing. That in itself may make us vulnerable, since in the busyness of maintenance, we may not allow for the possibilities of a new system.
Your comments are succinct and provocative, as usual.
Thanks for bringing your voice to The Conversation.
WHY BE JUST IN A UNIVERSE THAT IS UNJUST? Because...[from the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:8
(37a)]:
"Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."
"If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"
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