In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it. The above quote comes from German educator Ernst Fischer. His view of art’s purpose and place in society closely…
Category
Theory
Suppressing Feelings Doesn’t Make Them Go Away
Over the last 50 years, we have learned a lot about what helps children grow up to be psychologically healthy or unhealthy. Chief among those is the emotional climate in a family or simply put, the way parents treat their children and each other…A key element is listening with empathy. When parents learn to listen…
The Sacred Geography of 21st Century
Imagine zooming out to geosynchronous orbit and watching a map of light points rippling like the chromataphores of a cuttlefish as the location of everyone feeling love/thinking about the future/playing jazz pops up, illuminating the cloud-hidden coastlines. Art and Science, both children of Magic, made love and gave birth to Creative Data Visualization, which makes…
Why technology may be killing your soul and ability to think freely. | Art by Robert The
In her 1993 book New Maladies of the Soul, philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva wrote about how the psychological ailments she found in her patients differed from those uncovered by Freud a hundred years previously. In particular she noted: “Today’s men and women – who are stress-ridden and eager to achieve, to spend money, have…
One book, printed in the hearts own wax, is worth a thousand in the stacks
“For those early writers, a trained memory wasn’t just about gaining easy access to information. It was about strengthening ones personal ethics and becoming a more complete person. A trained memory was the key to cultivating judgement, citizenship and piety. What one memorized helped shape ones character. Just as the secret to becoming a chess…
An Epistle About Parenting
Just a follow-up to our discussion on parenting, which I really liked; needless to say, it’s a subject that I’m consumed with at the moment. I wanted to send along a link to a blog post I wrote on authoritarianism in parenting, and a link to the book I was telling you all about, Parent…
Diseases of The Rich–Spirit level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
The book argues that there are “pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, (and) encouraging excessive consumption”. It claims that for each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and…
Ignorance is Bliss: Is It Valid to Feel Hopeless About Occupy Wall Street?
Research shows that a more accurate notion of one’s powerlessness can result in a greater feeling of helplessness and is associated with depression. Several classic studies show that moderately depressed people are more critically thinking than those who are not depressed. Researchers Lauren Alloy and Lyn Abramson, studying nondepressed and depressed subjects who played a…
Live in A Corporatocracy Much?
“A Corporatocracy within society, denotes a system of government that serves the interest of, and may be run by, corporations and involves ties between government and business. Where corporations, conglomerates, and/or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country, including carrying out economic planning (notwithstanding the “free market” label)” (Wiki)
Wucius Wong and Interpreting The Visual Language
There are numerous ways of interpreting the visual language. Unlike the spoken or written language of which the grammatical laws are more of less established, the visual language has no obvious laws. Each design theorist may have a completely different set of discoveries. … We must not forget that the designer is a problem-solving person….