 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Authors: |
King, Mike. | |
Title: |
'Consciousness and the Prior Given of Space and Light' | |
Keywords: |
consciousness, light, virtual worlds, Thomas Traherne, Douglas Harding | |
| click here to download the full paper | ||
Abstract: |
Most Oriental spiritual traditions
value the absence of thought as the prior condition to knowing; this contrasts with the
Western focus on ratiocination as the prior condition to knowledge. This difference is a
clue to the radically different understandings of consciousness in the East and the West,
a difference that is eroding under contemporary paradigm shifts in science. This paper
examines the role of the visual arts in non-verbal mediation between the finite mind and
the infinite essence. As art deals with space and light it is effectively engaging with
the prior given of consciousness --- that which comes before mind, and that which comes
after. The electronic arts practitioner has a uniquely powerful tool with which to explore space and light directly, a virtual world constructor that uses the electronic prior givens to excavate the primal conscious interplay with that great prior given: the physical world. Animals, which exist prior to thought, engage with the physical world through space and light, and we observe that the young of all mammal species enjoy this interplay through their bodies. Mystics, who exist after the silencing of the inner bedlam of thought, also enjoy this interplay, but through consciousness itself. The artist, part animal and part mystic, mediates between the worlds above and below the human, between the physical and the spiritual. (The 'pre-trans fallacy' of Ken Wilbur is useful here as a reminder that society often confuses the true mystic with the merely naive). This paper explores the relationship between consciousness and the prior given of space and light, through a visual presentation using ray-traced imagery by the author. The role of light in spiritual metaphors will be discussed, and the presentation will draw on two great British mystics (separated by some three centuries in time): Thomas Traherne and Douglas Harding. N.B. See http://web.ukonline.co.uk/mr.king/graphics/post.html and linked pages for examples of imagery to be used in presentation. |
|
| King, Mike.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/mr.king/ kingm@lgu.ac.uk Reader in Computer Art and Animation,
London Guildhall University 1975 BSc Honours (London External) Physics and Chemistry,
Oxford Polytechnic. 1984 MSc Software Engineering, St. Cross College, Oxford University
1986 PhD Computer Graphics, Royal College of Art, London 1997 MA Studies in Mysticism and
Religious Experience, University of Kent at Canterbury Recent Publications 'Concerning the
Spiritual in Cyberspace', in Roetto, Michael (Ed.), Seventh International Symposium on
Electronic Art, Rotterdam: ISEA96 Foundation, 1997. p. 31-36. ISBN: 90-90 10 13 0-6
'Artificial Consciousness - Artificial Art', in Mealing, Stuart (Ed.) Computers and Art,
Exeter: Intellect, 1997, p.33-53 Conference Report 'Towards a Science of Consciousness
1996 "Tucson II", in Digital Creativity, Vol. 8, No. 1, April 1997, Exter:
Intellect, p. 34 - 35 Virtual Reality Review, review of Osmose, in Digital Creativity,
Vol. 8, No. 2, April 1997, Exter: Intellect, p. 83 - 84 'Virtual Reality: Give Us a Visual
Clue' in Proceedings of the First Split Screen Conference, July 1996, Chicester Institute
of Higher Education, pp 180-187, 1997 Screen Grab, article for CGI magazine, Vol.2, issue
9, 1997 'Concerning the Spiritual in 20th C Art and Science' Leonardo,Vol. 31, No.1,
pp21-31, 1998 'We are the Consciousness Musicians - Electronic Art, Consciousness, and the
Western Intellectual Tradition,' in Consciousness Reframed II conference proceedings,
Intellect,1988 |
||