The Reptile vs. The Lotus

Above:  THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN, ©JoyKREVES'06

I've got to start 2010 (HAPPY NEW YEAR!) with a postscript to my last blog post:  I found this pertinent little item of information in the New York Times last week:  Van Gogh art scholar Martin Baily has discovered that "the artist inflicted injury on his ear after learning that his brother, Theo, was about to get married.  Vincent saw the marriage as a threat to his brother's continued emotional and financial support."  So we now know the famous ear incident was not an accident, after all. In other words, Vincent van Gogh acted out of that most primitive human instinct, FEAR.

Fear and rage are governed by our oldest and smallest, "primitive" or "reptilian" brain.  I first learned about our three brains when I read Robert Bly's woonderful book, LEAPING POETRY, many years ago, and I remain fascinated by this fact:  our oldest brain-part is identical to a reptile's entire brain.  We have evolved two other, newer brains over this first, innermost one.  Why do we have three brains?  Evolution!  Our more recent brains overlay the primitive one, and take charge of much more sophisticated tasks.  The reptilian brain functions from a basic, survival mode.  These ideas led me to create my TurtleBaby series.

Left: Original TurtleBaby, ©JoyKREVES (circa 1984)

Basic emotions related to survival, love, hate, fear, etc., all emanate from this first stage of our brain.  Yes!  I do believe in evolution; even our brains prove to us that it is real.  Over millions of years, layers of more sophisticated reasoning have laid structure upon our "primitive" brain, so that we are now capable of complex rational thought (unlike a reptile).  Humans have evolved, not only in our brain's physical structure, but in our intellectual capacity.  We have incorporated our older brain into our newer brains.  When someone is out of control with rage or fear, like Vincent van Gogh was when he cut his ear, they react in non-rational ways because they have ceded their rational thinking in favor of their reptilian brain-based emotions.  This is why school children are taught to take some deep breaths and count to 10 when tangling with each other.  Sometimes that can turn off the reptilian instinct to fight, and let better and more creative thinking take over.  This is what TurtleBaby symbolizes:  we are ancient creatures in regards to our primitive tendencies, but we are infants regarding our potential. 

I suppose the opposite of reacting from the reptilian brain, the lowest consciousness, would be to express "the sublime", or the brain's most complex workings.  This is what Robert Bly referred to as "leaping" in his book.  It is that moment when people can experience thought that transcends what is written on the page.  It seems to be true that practices like meditation can make the brain more receptive to the sublime by gradually altering its physical structure to have enhanced capability for the experience.  Indian art is full of images of the lotus flower as an ancient symbol for the sublime.  I've tried it out as an image in my artwork, too, though so far I've found the lowly dandelion to be generally more available and interesting.

Below:  LARGE DANDELION BOWL, ©JoyKREVES

Our brains will continue to evolve, if we survive long enough as a species.  Perhaps in our far future we will have five brains, the fifth one equipped for functions so complex that...well...it has been found that learning affects the physical state of our brains and like most parents, I am convinced that the younger generation has already evolved a brain more sympathetic to a  technology-enhanced lifestyle! 

Dandelions are like the reptiles of the plant world.  They lack the thrilling fragrance and refinement of other flowers and take over like bullies.  Even their leaves resemble the plates on the back of a stegosaurus.  People eat those leaves as a cleansing spring tonic, traditionally fighting their bitterness with an addition like salty ham.  (Not me, I'm a fish-atarian").  I've done a series of artworks with the UNevolved dandelion plant as my subject.  I've tried to see the order in what is a rather disorderly plant.  In some pieces I've tried to impose more structure on it.

note:  This week I have two pieces on the theme of dandelions in "15 YEARS - ALL TOGETHER NOW",  opening Satu. Jan 9th at the Artists' Gallery in Lambertville, New Jersey. The reception is Saturday, January 16th, 6-9pm. http://www.lambertvillearts.com/event_description.php?mo=0&yr=2010

It occurs to me just now, that dandelions are a bit like Van Gogh's sunflowers- wild, sturdy, and a bit unruly, but full of primitive energy!