SixtyFour Kōans
09_36 (Die die Verfinsterung des Lichts)
125 x 125 cm (50" x 50")
Acrylic/Canvas, 2009
An intentional approach to the I Ching: the image is just a gateway towards the idea; once you have captured the idea, you forget the image.
One can gain insight into things in two ways: through extensive reading and subsequent reflection, or by contemplation.
The I Ching (i), the "Book of Changes", is the oldest of Chinese classical texts and describes the world in 64 images. Originating from the shamanistic oracle tradition it is used as a wisdom book and for divination until today.
The world view that underlies the I Ching is rooted in Taoism(ii) (Daoism). The basic idea is a primordial unity from which creation emerges: it gives birth to duality (yin and yang, light and shadow), which in return create our world by continuously shifting, moving and interplaying. The ethical teachings of Taoism advise man to learn about the principles of this world by observation and to realize the Tao by adapting harmoniously to the steadily evolving nature of phenomenal manifestations.
This concept of the flowing, ever-changing nature of our environment is found as "panta rhei" (iii) also in European philosophy: everything is in constant flux, everything flows and it is impossible to make general statements about the permanently varying world of perception (Heraclitus (iv), Plato (v)).
It was against this background that Plato developed his Theory of Ideas (vi) (Theory of Forms): genuine, existing, unchanging, but sensually imperceptible, archetypal principles, over which the "good" (agathón) (vii) floats as the highest authority. The I Ching substantiates this concept of archetypal ideas through 64 unchangeable images, which in turn are rooted in unity: the Tao.
Plato shows very clearly the relationship between the world of ideas and the world of senses:
"In stark, unbalanced contrast face each other the "pure", absolutely immutable being of the Idea, and the constantly changing, pseudo-existence of the phenomenon "behaving itself in all ways": that one the "being, which always is", this one "tossed and turned by growth and decay". (viii)
Wang Bi (ix), a Chinese philosopher, wrote about the relationship between ideas and their substantiation through the 64 images of the I Ching:
"The images are derived from the ideas. The words make the images clear. To express the ideas fully, there is nothing better than the words. The words are result of the images. Therefore, one can see the images by examining the words. The images are dominated by the ideas. Therefore, one can see the ideas by examining the images. The ideas are fully covered by the images and the images made clear by the words. This is why the words are intended to explain the images; once you have captured the images you forget the words. The images are intended to explore the ideas; once you have grasped the ideas you forget the images. Similarly, the purpose of tracking the trail of a rabbit is to get hold of it. Once you caught it you forget the trail. The purpose of the fish-trap is to get hold of the fishes. Once we have caught them we forget the trap. Well, the words are the trail towards the images. The images are the trap for the ideas. Whoever, therefore, stops at the words will not capture the images, and who remains with the images will not capture the ideas." (x)
The images drawn with words in the I Ching, the Book of Changes, are therefore only an aid to capture the abstract and immutable ideas. It is an approach dominated by intellect, an approach that requires reading and subsequent reflection.
I personally find the words of the I Ching very hard to understand - even in the very good 2007 translation by Georg Zimmermann (xi). I attribute it to the fact that the original text (and a translation remains a transcription of the original and not its interpretation) comes from a context which is spatially, temporally, and in relation to the individual's life reality very far from ours.
As a result, I decided to approach the 64 immutable ideas of the I Ching in two ways. The first is - just like the Book of Changes itself - noetic: In my project room "no2DO" (xii) I attribute present-time life situations to the archetypal idea and describe them; then I name frequent, just all too human response patterns and finally suggest alternative ways to deal with the situation according the Taoist teachings: instead of fighting changes it is advisable the accept them as guidance and to use them for ones own life path.
In the series "SixtyFour Kōans" I travel a different way. Just as in a blind study I assigned hidden titles and paint images without knowing which of the 64 ideas I am specifically working at. Instead of extensive reading and intensive reflection (as in "no2DO") I am using an intentional cognitive process.
The approach of assigning hidden titles to paintings might seem arbitrary at first glance, and it certainly is as long as our conventional world view (xiii) based on Newton's laws is taken as a starting point. However, extending the paradigm and integrating the "inconsistencies" of quantum mechanics (xiv) creates an environment where the human mind (xv) may very well influence the physical world by intention. Additionally to the conventional physical contexts, there is quite obviously yet another kind of consciousness beyond causality and a linear timeline which exists and operates. (xvi).
All this results in paintings and titles that work like like Kōans (xvii): A seemingly paradoxical combination where the goal is not interpretation or explanation, but helping the viewer to transcend conceptual understanding and allow a leap onto another level of understanding.
Or, to paraphrase Plato:
"Realization of what is [the ideas] occurs in the latest not through language but where someone manages to touch with the soul the nature of the individual being in what it is." (xviii)
In "SixtyFour Kōans" it is thus the observer himself who, by his own intuitive approach to painting and title, wins insight into the idea behind the image.
The image is just a gateway towards the idea; once you have captured the idea, you forget the image.
Annotations
(i) It is believed that the principles of I Ching go back to Fu Xi (about 2852 BC - 2738 BC),
one of the first legendary rulers, who is said to have discovered the trigrams.
The I Ching originated in a refinement process during the Han Dynasty (around 200 BC).
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching
(ii) Taoism (Chinese: "Teaching the Way", and "Daoism") is a philosophy, but
is also seen as China's sole and genuine religion. Its historical origins are
secured in the 4th Century BC, when the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching, Tao Te Ching)
of Laozi (Lao Tzu, Lao-tzu) was created.
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
(iii) The formula panta rhei ( "Everything flows.") is an aphorism ascribed to the
Greek philosopher Heraclitus, but created much later.
see also: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panta_rhei (no English version available)
(iv) Heraclitus of Ephesus. 540/535 BC - 483/475 BC;
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus
(v) Plato, 428/427 BC - 348/347 BC;
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
(vi) see: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideenlehre;
English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Forms
(vii) ee: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideenlehre;
English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Forms
(viii) Natorp, Platos Ideenlehre, p. 18;
see: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideenlehre
(ix) Wang Bi (Fu Si), 226 - 249 BC
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Bi
(x) Georg Zimmermann, I Ging
(xi) Georg Zimmermann, I Ging - Das Buch der Wandlungen
(xii) see: http://www.no2do.com (German only)
(xiii) "Our paradigm determines what we can see, how we think and what we do. We do not
question its accuracy, since we are usually not aware of its existence... We are not at
a sufficient distance to be able to discern whether our perception is affected. ...
We only become aware of them when we encounter paradigms that differ from ours."
About the modern paradigm: "Beginning in the 17th century and lasting until today.
The age of analysis, of individualism and of mechanism, of physics. Significance and
meaning are projected onto nature by the human mind. Mechanistic causality is the only
way things can change or move. The guiding metaphor is the machine. Time is linear."
"Near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, telepathy, clairvoyance or
"remote viewing"... are just some of the anomalies that challenge prevailing
explanations of the world's laws. However, we also note a remarkable convergence
of discoveries at the boundaries of science which seem to support the ancient wisdom
of the existing spiritual traditions. We learn for example from quantum physics how
certain aspects of reality step beyond our ordinary understanding of time and space and
learn from neuroscience and consciousness studies about remarkable connections between
body and mind. Phenomena such as "quantum, non-local relation" and as the power of mind
and emotions influencing the body (and other parts of the physical world) do not fit into
a common view of how the world works.
Very gradually the purely mechanical and physical views are being replaced by the
really incredible findings of quantum physics, system theory and computational
complexity theory, the psychoneuroimmunology, and other mind-body studies in consciousness research."
Institute of Noetic Sciences (ed.),
Bleep StudyGuide
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoneuroimmunology
(xiv) Quantum mechanics is the "most commonly used scientific method to describe physical
reality during the last 70 years. So far, all their experimental predictions manifested
with an amazing degree of accuracy."
"The image of a reality drawn by theory of relativity and quantum mechanics is so far
from common sense that it entails problems of interpretation . The mathematics of
these theories is accurate and the predictions are working perfectly.
But to translate the mathematics into human terms - especially with regard to
quantum mechanics - is extremely difficult."
"The competing interpretations of quantum mechanics [eg, the Copenhagen interpretation /
principle of wholeness / many worlds / quantum logic / neorealism / reality by creating awareness ...]
differ from each other mainly in which assumptions of common sense must be sacrificed."
Institute of Noetic Sciences (ed.), Bleep StudyGuide
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics
(xv) Mind involves more than just intellect, which only describes our ability to obtain
knowledge and insights by means of thinking.
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind
(xvi) The influence of intention on physical systems does not necessarily obey our usual
time continuum and may very well take place beyond the linear timeline.
The psychologist William Baud has conducted numerous experiments that suggest intentions
"directed backwards in time" can influence the past.
see: http://integral-inquiry.com/docs/649/transcending.pdf
Even Princeton's Anomlies Engineering Research Laboratory (PEAR) has found
anomalies that were influenced by intentions expressed long before or after the
experiment itself: "These anomalies can be demonstrated with the operators ...
exerting their efforts many hours before or after the actual operation of the devices. "
see also: http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/human_machine.html
(xvii) A Kōan (Japanese or Gong'àn in China) is an object of meditation, often in the
form of a short story or sentence that defies any solution using the tools of reason.
It is used especially in Zen Buddhism. The most famous Kōan, which has since become
commonplace in the West, is the question about the sound of a single hand clapping
(Sekishiu Hakuin, of Master Hakuin Ekaku).
see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dan
(xviii) Gadamer, Truth and Method, p. 119;
see: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideenlehre
