The Final Journey.

I watched a body carried off the train tracks between Sion and Geneva. Zipped into a bag the person was now reduced to a masked body. The train slowed like car drivers on the motorway as they pass the aftermath of an accident.

The final act of life had vanished, zipped into a body bag. Perhaps no one had even seen it happen. It was as if the journey had superseded death, the destination that had now passed. The train continued.

I couldn't separate this sight of death from our recent Ouroboros performance (and the entire exhibition). The mass of energy and preparation that had led to three days of performances had ended. To some degree I felt as if this process was an embodiment of the journeying represented by the performance itself, not dissimilar to feelings experienced after Existere. This time the journeying seemed to have swallowed the endpoint or the performance.

The body on the train track punctuated the moment of death, the point at which the person separates from the body. I imagine the museum chancellery as the last performer left the room similarly emptying of sound and life. The vacant room, like the body, now taking on a different meaning.

This departure from life signified by death is often thought of, as the soul’s final journey, a journey on which it needs protection.

In ancient Egypt the dead pharaohs had death masks made to cover their faces, to protect them from evil spirits on their path to the afterlife. In other traditions black mourning ribbons are hung over mirrors or paintings of landscapes, people or the fruits of the field, so as not to distract the soul on its final journey.

Perversely the act of masking can be used to protect the living from death. I read a while ago that the government had bought a stock of ‘incident screens’. The idea behind the use of the screens is to conceal an accident from passing motorists and thereby reduce the possibility of further accidents.

It is surprising that for different reasons two antithetic approaches to death employ such similar tools for protection.

I found these concepts of the final journey and masking interesting. I was wondering what the significance is of this idea of a final journey and what the motivations are behind masking death and what it is that is being protected?

Guys, I had to collect my thoughts and reflecting on Sion seemed the best place to begin. There are other thoughts but I guess we need to begin somewhere.  

library of babel & investigation into essence of being

Borges ‘library of Babel’ is fascinating. I had heard about it in a different context, in relation to Quantum computing. The aim to calculate all possibilities from a given amount of variables (like the alphabet, or numbers) is a driving force behind quantum computing. It is also paints a picture of how information is may be increasingly  be processed in future.

In medieval times knowledge was precious, books often hard to access, kept in secret libraries like hidden treasures (I think of The Name of the Rose). Modern communication pushes us to create worlds through editing variables that are already out there, like the books in ‘The Library of Babel’. The journey to the modern utopia has changed. It is as if everything is in reverse, we start with huge amounts of information and slowly sift through it. In the process there is a chance we loose ourselves. Distractions along the way and the the search of saluting a ‚perfect world’ (or at least a better world) draws us away from ourselves.

We dream of Utopia but with all the variants of different possibilities we also forget what it means ‘to be’. I am particularly interested in this because I hear both your voices saying that we can’t go beyond the black space before we try it. I wonder what comes before black? Perhaps even before Existere?  I am not talking about ‘nothingness’, ‘choice’ or even the discussions based on meaning. Whilst we may need the black space to go beyond the questions we ask, we can make an enquiry into the space from which these thoughts originate.

White always seems to come back to me but this non colour is something personal. I think of consciousness in it’s purer form, presence, a canvas that we build upon.

It is the essence of experience without distortion, to the things themselves. In some way it is the opposite of the utopia you speak of. It is not based on a system outside of itself, it is devoid of meaning and meaninglessness whilst at the same time all these things grow from it. And to feel it we simply need to become aware of a certain kind of presence, this often happens though a small change. 

Borges library is based on human creation. The universe is finite only in relation to human perception and the way we limit our minds. Borges library is restricts itself by only allowing each letter in the alphabet to be used once. We narrow down our possibilities to better understand and make sense of the world. In reality we do not really know how the universe works or how it is.

We cannot really know anything for sure. One could argue that meaning is a human invention created through logic as a way of developing or ‘surviving.’ Perhaps this process is no longer necessary in the post-modern world in which it is accepted that contradicting truths can exist at the same time. Yet we still create meaning to suit our everyday needs. For example we believe that paper money is worth something. But there is not enough gold to turn all the notes back into the precious metal. Even the value of Gold itself (and that of art) is fictional. If everyone stoped believing that money was worth what it is, then it would indeed be meaningless. The whole financial system would collapse, the consequences catastrophic.

Something can have a ‘useful’ meaning as long as we believe in it. Meaning also serves as a platform for exchange, community.  Even if we know that this meaning is based on fiction and we may never know the ultimate meaning behind something, we continue to believe in many things in order to simply function better.

As you suggest, the visualisation of the broken stairs, hallways & corridors is a really interesting visualisation of these kinds of thoughts, hopes and even endpoints.

However, it is what you said previous to that which interests me the most. Both the narrator in Borges's essay and Ivan in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov suggest that it might be enough to live in the knowledge that meaning does exist in the universe despite having no hope of finding or understanding what that meaning is.

It is an investigation into the essence of being rather than meaning which I think interesting.

Searching; Dogs Chasing Tails

The promises or suggestions of the infinite (and of a utopia), of an answer or an origin, seem important. These promises or suggestions stimulate thought and the search. Where does that search lead and end? Are we no more than dogs chasing our tails; obsessed with a destination that we will probably never reach? 

What is the object of the search? Does it matter if the search does not result in the outcome we are searching for? Is it important where that search ends? What if the dog eventually catches its tail only to realise that it has caught nothing more than itself; it's own tail?

This idea of searching, of travelling outwards, only to be in fact really travelling inwards or returning to yourself is noticeable in this extract from an ancient Sufi poem "The Conference of the Birds".

Come you lost Atoms to your Centre draw,

And be the Eternal Mirror that you saw:

Rays that have wander'd into Darkness wide

Return and back into your Sun subside

The poem describes the enduring search performed by the birds of the world for their king, the legendary Simorgh. Eventually, after an epic journey, the search leads the birds to a lake in which they only see their own reflection; a reflection of the thirty birds.  

'Simorgh', the name of the legendary king and the object of the birds' search, is a word play which written in full refers to a mysterious bird of Iranian mythology but written as 'si morgh' means 'thirty birds'. It's a beautiful literary embodiment of the 'search'. The mystical bird and object of the search being the 'thirty birds' themselves. 

Despite the likelihood that the 'search' will never arrive at the promised or suggested endpoint, the suggestions and promises of the endpoint necessitate the 'search'. In other words the dog needs to have a tail in order for it to be chased. 

Stairs, Broken Stairways and Corridors / The Library of Babel

I think the thought that we are in search of a meaning, not just of 'nothingness' but of existence, is very interesting. The psychological repercussions of such a 'search' is equally intriguing.  

Borges's The Library of Babel is fascinating in the context of man searching for certainty and meaning. Ultimately pursuing utopian ideals. 

The scenario is that of an infinite library of books each of which includes a unique variation of characters, full stops, commas and spaces. Many of the books are impenetrable and seem incoherent.

However, there is an answer to the apparent riddle which turns the perception of the library on its head. The books and the library are not infinite, in fact they are finite. This is established by recognising that each book despite being unique in it's combination of characters, full stops, commas and spaces is simultaneously limited by virtue of the fact that there can only be a certain number of combinations of these tools of language. There are books that are coherent but because there are so many variations there are many, the majority, which make no apparent sense. 

This revelation that the library is finite suggests that there exists, among the vast incoherent books, a book which decodes the meaning of each other book. In other words information exists in our universe to make better sense of our reality and our lives. 

This kind of goes back to thoughts on the Tower of Babel and the concept of constructing a heaven on earth.    

There is a problem with the library however. Knowing that books exist which will demystify our reality leads to a search for these books and knowledge. Psychologically this searching is a destructive journey. The searching consumes one's life and one's life becomes an unfulfilled search.

Borges visualises the journeying and searching by 'stairs', 'stairways', 'broken stairways' and 'corridors' and 'hallways' which I think is really interesting, particularly in the context of our previous discussions. I suppose at one point every stairway will break or end and most will halt before they reach their end point. We seem to be conditioned as humans to search for meaning, it is perhaps a psychological necessity.

Both the narrator in Borges's essay and Ivan in Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov suggest that it might be enough to live in the knowledge that meaning does exist in the universe despite having no hope of finding or understanding what that meaning is.

'Stairways' and 'corridors' seem to promise something, to suggest a destination or endpoint. 

Unfortunately I didn't have much head space to think about your thoughts.

It's not easy for me to think along your lines, especially I don't want to go back into our nothingness debate and this seems to happen with the last contribution.

I do like the idea of the tower of Babel and the history around it. Though may not know much about it and can not argue around the tower of Babel in particular. Yet I think it is very inspiring to reflect upon grand human construction general and the myth around these achievements.

What made me think about, reading your entries, is the idea of Utopia. This fantastic idea of a perfect place and society. An heaven on earth?
It actually made me think of who would like to live there? Where everything is perfect and were you will not experience struggle or pain. Therefore neither love and success!

The tower of Babel - response

The tower of Babel - response

it's a beautiful contrast, the symbol of the tower upside down, heaven on earth glistening towards the sky. The tower of Babel seems to have been based on a real structure, what really happened? Surely the anger of God towards people devouring the sun, the moon, in pride itself, would not have sufficed in him dispersing this great community of people. If God was just and wise, surely he would not sacrifice men’s peace, even for their atheist beliefs.

The biblical story of Babel as well as it’s symbolic meaning must be an invention of man. Just like sickness and pest was always pronounced to be a punishment of God.

Babel is a reminder that the works of mankind are doomed to imperfection. If you look closely at the paintings of Babel (e.g Brueghel’s) it’s often built on a slant, in other words the very basis of it is unstable. I think the idea of a slant is quite interesting.

It’s builders reaching the limits of possibility, never being able to fulfil their perfect vision of the world, were forced to give it up. The reasons must have been political.  Visions and revolutions often produce results contrary to those fought for, as soon as a goal is achieved the groups are formed and eventually people are at war again. Even worse, those who dream up these visions are often misunderstood, their ideas manipulated and sometimes even punished. Dostoyevsky was sent into exile, into a world he was striving against. Even Brueghel’s  famous painting of Babel symbolized how Catholicism was forced onto the Flemish.

An aspect  of Babel reminds me of Existere (the meaning of coming together & falling apart, also failing in some way). Another aspect reminds me of human vices, greed, power to control.

Can we speculate about an author proceeding what ever comes before nothingness? It seems a dead road. Perhaps a god will help people become more moral because of a promised afterlife. And yet religion has seemed to achieved the opposite. Whilst smaller groups may life peacefully and in good faith, the larger groups are at war with each other. I guess it’s all obvious stuff.

As opposed to the thoughts on a author find the concept of nothingness as interesting topic to think about.  Nothingness does not exclude the idea of the author. But it instantaneously drives us to the limits of our own imagination. Perhaps through higher consciousness we are getting closer to a concept or it’s meaning. But nothing still seems a difficult thing to describe as it immediately becomes something. It’s kind of funny that my concept of nothingness is closer associated to the colour white. And yet white seems a fresh canvas onto which we can add something. Can something come from nothing?

For Heidegger, all logic is swept away by the whirlwind of a more original form of question- ing, which we might call metaphysics (in the good sense of the term). The deepest question that humans can ask is “why is there something rather than nothing?” There is no real answer to this question, since Heidegger will not be satisfied with any causal explanation of how God or the Big Bang created the universe. The question is not meant to be answered, but is designed to awaken the fundamental mood of Angst.

Tower of Babel

Dostoyevsky wrote about socialism, describing it as “the form taken by atheism”. He also drew a comparison between socialism and atheism and the tower of Babel, describing it [socialism / atheism] as “the question of the tower of Babel built without God, not to mount heaven from earth but to set up heaven on earth.”

I thought this image of the tower working in reverse was quite interesting. There’s a sense of topsy-turviness, where instead of the tower leading up to heaven, heaven is led down to earth. Who needs heaven when we can have it on earth?

In the biblical story the tower fails because of God’s intervention; he creates confusion amongst the builders by introducing different languages and as a result the building of the tower is abandoned. However, in the socialist version I interpret it as ‘we’ (humanity) that confound ourselves in our efforts to realise unattainable ideals. The image is of heaven as a production of humanity rather than the other way round which sees man and woman as the seeds of God.

Perhaps these two versions of the tower of Babel story represent the philosophical debate of existence and its origin; whether there is an author or God, or not? Can we, alone, manufacturer our own existence or does there have to be a higher author? Or maybe even, does it matter whether we have knowledge of a God or not because the outcome is the same?

I realise that this leads back to a similar territory that the black space occupies, in the sense that we are asking existential questions, but perhaps it also adds a question to those previous debates.

In parallel to this I was thinking about ‘experience’ and what it means to experience. Josch also had thoughts about this. I thought that this might be a way of moving on from the black space.  By looking at what is blocking our path forwards (the need to experience) and looking at the language and method that frames that project. 

I’ll add this later, I need to rush to meet Jon before our meeting at Arts Admin...