WHO AM I ?

I wonder which wins in a tug of war between being "free-spirited" and transdisciplinary. Or is it a kind of cause and effect, the method of integration leads to spiritual freedom?

I see free-spirited and transdisciplinary as working in conjunction. To be strictly unidisciplinary, i.e. to consciously put myself into one disciplinary focus, may not allow me to taste of other disciplines and what they can offer. I may end up strangling the free-spiritedness of knowing many disciplines. Or, my free-spiritedness prevents me from tunnel vision.

A good case in point is a story my neuroscience friend told, of his visit to a medical conference: a cardiologist, who also researched in neuroscience, was lecturing on how increased stress levels may indirectly cause increased heart attacks. This guy looked at both the heart and the brain. Overhead were "orthodox" cardiologists who replied, "Why look at the brain? Heart attacks happen in the heart! We should only look at the heart!"

But they did not understand that neurotransmitter/hormone control is greatly influenced by, if not directly caused by, the brain, and these NTs/hormones may very well affect not just the heart, but other organs as well.

But I'm not just interested in sciences, I am also a product of the humanities. Hence, my art degree, my (almost) science degree (one year left), and my goal to obtain at least 2 PhDs--- one in science, one in humanities.

That was way more than 10 words. :)

Post 21

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 5:51pm

In other words, you wish to be an integrated being, in mind as well as body...

Post 22

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 6:52pm

Yes, I strive to integrate the best of everything to the best of my ability. I see connections between things everywhere.

Post 23

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 7:26pm

Good - because that IS the way it is....

Post 24

Thursday, April 13, 2006 - 9:38pm

Michael,

=================
I couldn't find your "magnanimitous" but this is what came up for magnanimous: 1: noble and generous in spirit; "a magnanimous conqueror" 2: generous and understanding and tolerant;"magnanimous toward his enemies".
=================

Pardon the foh-paw (foux paux?) -- dammit, I should have taken some French! Magnanimous is indeed what was meant ...

=================
Hmmm...?
=================

... mmm, yeah ...

=================
Me?

I'm radiance formed by colorful complexity of light and dark.
=================

Well, for starters, if you unjoin the "I'm" contraction (to "I am") -- then that's 11 words, but I will practice magnanimity and not fault you for such harmless erroneousness.

And yes, I would agree that you have a certain sort of radioactivity. You emit things. Often onto canvas (or whatever material you appreciate working on).

Ed
[ :-) ]

Post 25

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 5:15am

Ed wrote: "Well, for starters, if you unjoin the "I'm" contraction (to "I am") -- then that's 11 words, but I will practice magnanimity and not fault you for such harmless erroneousness."

Ah, Ed, you don't know artists very well. Undiluted praise is the only way to go. Everything else is insignificant. Which is what I thought "magnanimous" to mean! BTW, what kind of painting were you talking about? It sounded like male anatomy painting.

Michael

(Edited by Newberry on 4/14, 5:21am)

Post 26

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 5:31am

Hi Jenna,

I enjoyed your thoughtful post #20. And you clarified what you meant by "free-spirited" and your example of the doctors was excellent. So at this stage in your life, who you are, is essentially a student? Is it studio art in which you have a degree? What was your art education like?

Michael

Post 27

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 9:42am

Shame on you, Newberry! ...

gutter
=======

mind -------------> out

=======

Ed

Post 28

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 1:29pm

So at this stage in your life, who you are, is essentially a student? Is it studio art in which you have a degree? What was your art education like?

I've been both a professional web designer, and now I'm a student again. I don't have a degree in studio art specifically. My degree was in the Visual Arts and I emphasized on two paths: Photography and Computer Art. So I am a double major, in these two disciplines.

My photography background is self-explanatory. I did black/white, color, lighting, etc. and experimented on a medium format camera.

My Computer Art background covered everything from electronics, programming, digital work, desgin, web desgin, media theory (how it works in art), language/visual theory (how they work to produce a message), etc. My background for all this was film history, video production, photography history, technology/art history, modern art and modern art history.

Since all artist were together in one department and area, I knew some studio artists and film students as well.

Post 29

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 1:34pm

emit things

BTW, what kind of painting were you talking about? It sounded like male anatomy painting.

I'm waiting for which one of you is going to giggle first. ;)

Post 30

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 5:02pm

Ed,

Didn�t you have some kind of Christian background? It comes through loud and clearly. Which probably explains your trouble with adulation. I on the other hand have no trouble with it at all.

Jenna,

There is all kinds of laughter I express, sardonic, good-natured, and I am told I have a great smile but I don�t think I have ever "giggled" in my life.

Thanks for the run down on your past visual art studies.

Michael

Post 31

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 8:19pm

I don�t think I have ever "giggled" in my life.

Oh, for a muse........of fire!

If I missed any of you then you haven�t been sufficiently wicked enough to draw my attention! So please don�t hold back the villain in you; there is a villain in all of us, its just that in some unnamed forums the participants don�t know it. I will reserve for the them the title of Pretentious Pretenders, the Pandering Perverted Psycho Philistines.

Smugly Snickering,

Perhaps thou doth not know my candor;

The "Newberry" doth conceal it's mirth.

Or,doth it truly titter a bit when it/he/she doth confrontith the humors?

If thou has't never giggled, then thou has't never laughed at all.

And if thou speaketh of thyself in the third personage, then thou are't the most giggle worthy of all.

tee-hee! (Me, giggling!)

Sorry Newberry, it is late, I've had some drinkage and I needed a good laugh!

(I know you've giggled, I have my sources!)

gw
(aka....V for Villainy)

ps - Who am I?

The enemy of all that is pretentious.

(Edited by gary williams on 4/14, 8:30pm)

Post 32

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 9:18pm

Giggle: n : a foolish or nervous laugh v : laugh nervously; "The girls giggled when the rock star came into the classroom"

snickering: A snide, slightly stifled laugh.

hahahaha

Post 33

Friday, April 14, 2006 - 9:51pm

Muuahahahahaahahaha!

A worthy adversary! (With access to Dictionary.com)

Oh, foul villain! The games afoot!

gw

Post 34

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 12:55am

New-B,

=============
Ed,

Didn�t you have some kind of Christian background? It comes through loud and clearly. Which probably explains your trouble with adulation.
=============

'Christian background'? Yes'sir.
'Loudly' & 'clearly'? No, really??
'Trouble with adulation' (flattery)? Huh???

=============
Jenna,

There is all kinds of laughter I express ...
=============

And that are one of the kinds of things [that] the management tends to frown upon -- but I here digress into frivolous rivalry (something contrary to my otherwise-stalwart magnanimity).

:-)

Ed
[as experience bears out -- I can (at least) getcha' on grammer]

Post 35

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 11:52am

Ed,

Yes. Yep. For example you equate adulation with flattery�That is a perfect theme for an ex-Christian�s conflict with powerful emotions.

I am blessed that I have not had any religious background to mess up my emotional network. For example exaltation, love, worship, adulation, bliss, joy, I feel in full towards human events, people, introspectively, and in my art.

People that I know with religious backgrounds have nowhere to place those kinds of emotions�its been pounded into them that those feelings are reserved for mystical revelations and it is a grotesque shameless act to place them with anything to do with humans. They short-circuit emotionally when faced with exalted art, love, events. But they still have to feel things and usually tend to compartmentalize them�like feeling horny sex but not together with love and not any of it with companionship, etc...

So that is what was crystal-clear to me�

Michael

Post 36

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 12:08pm

That is an interesting observation, Michael, not one which I have seen mentioned elsewhere - and a very important one to explore more in depth, not just to reference to the aesthetics but to the integrated being as such, as part of 'spiritual visualizing'...

Post 37

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 1:11pm

I've had a 9 month stint in a cult. Therefore, I definitely abhor terms such as "sold out (for Christ)", "convert", "movement", "converted", "worship", "advance", "pray", "righteous", "convicted", "disciple", "evangelize", "share faith", "condemn", "true Christian [or true anything]" and "pure". There's probably other words I avoid too, but those are the ones I could come up with now. Those are disgusting words to me because of my background; they smack of religiosity and I've seen how awful things can be when those certain words (and similar) are used. Religious or not, I avoid any emotional, personal, or intellectual attachment to these (and similar themed) words.

Post 38

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 2:55pm

Hey Jenna,

Yes, my point. For example look what happens when I tell you that I consider myself a pure artist; that I am part of radical new art movement; that I am advancing my medium; that I worship several great artists; that I know what truth is in art; that I mentor art; that I idolize, etc.

None of those things have negative connotations for me because I naturally associate with them positive value-orientated concepts and feelings in the context of human life on earth. Indeed, it is those feelings that make my life worth living. And I have been around the block�and I feel as much joy and passion for my way of life as I always have.

Though it puts me in strange situation with communicating with people with pasts such as yours. I can try to say the same exact thing not using any of those words but then that is total B.S. because it is those romantic concepts, communicated in any form, that rubs people wrong due to their mystical virus. And all your intelligence won�t help you because of your emotional response to those concepts. Until that would change you would probably have a slight feeling that I am some kind of fascist.

I have a Dutch friend who abhors Beethoven 9^th because the music of it was used in Nazi propaganda and that association is forever instilled in his soul. They infused their fascist agenda with the emotional joy and grandeur of Beethoven�the same thing that all religions do with combining religious moral teachings with the spiritual power of art. My friend will never come to enjoy the 9^th.

If our sense of life is the motive for creating and living as a human, and the nature of art is to fuel our sense of life, then it is horrific when humans associate the grandest human and aesthetic states with negativity.

Michael

(Edited by Newberry on 4/15, 2:58pm)

Post 39

Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 3:13pm