Transcendence

This current body of work is a continuing investigation of alternative world views held by various cultures around the world. These alternative views provide a stark contrast to the Eurocentric corporate, and, capitalist model. Specifcally this work investigates the Esoteric perspective on materiality, immortality, and spirit. By examining Esoteric history and symbols, a foundation will be laid to track the revival of Esoteric Sciences and what it offers contemporary society. By investigating the teachings of Helena Blavatsky, Magical Sciences (light & shadow), the Material Laws and material processes, some insights will be provided into the mysterious world of the Occult .
This piece is a continuation of my previous work at OCAD working with paper mediums for their reusable material quality and its connection with the concept of material cyclical progression. This work focuses on the role of the viewer as it gets them to engage with the work. The word Esoteric is derived from the Greek word eso meaning "within", referring to inner change or progression of an individual. The people presented in the piece are not imaginative or implied but defined by actual physical presence with the object. The installation will mainly consist of hand made paper in the form of an eight foot pyramid illuminated from the interior with detailed cutouts adorning the surfaces. The pyramid shape plays a vital role in the over all concept of the piece as it is symbolic of transcendence from one state into another. The viewer interacts with the piece in real time and cohabits the space giving the object purpose and, the scale of the object creates a sense of intrigue and intensity as it dominates the space. This piece is a type of figurative art, in the sense that it places the viewer at the center of the work. The interaction between light, matter and shadow creates a trinity; a fundamental element in Esoteric philosophy. Light filters through matter creating life and thus creating shadow in balance. Light allows humans to perceive their physical environment and here the environment is broken down into symbolic shapes which the viewer is meant to interpret while confronted with their own bodies acting as a barrier and a surface [Rosenthal Pg. 77-89]. Allowing the viewer to act as a surface makes them an active participant within the artwork.
The Tarot is often used as a tool for introspection and guidance. The origins of the Tarot are shrouded in mystery though roots in Europe are trace to Venice in the 15th century. The cards are separated into two decks, the Major and Minor Arcana. The minor deck is divided into four suits, names vary based on geographical location and culture but the meanings are relatively the same. In Western decks the suits are usually Staffs/Wands, Coins/Pentacles, Cups/Chalices and Swords/Knves. Each suit representative of an element Fire, Earth, Water and Air respectively. Each element is also assigned a direction South, North, West and East respectively, each containing a unique set of interpretations and influences over daily human activity. The minor deck acts as a support to the 22 cards of the major arcan; which is the focus here. Set on a premise of the archetypal hero's journey, the Tarot shows the user a path to growth through a language of cross cultural symbols representing all facets of human experience.
The Tarot is based on the individual's pursuit to achieve spiritual growth or transcendence. This project looks at the intersection of three concepts; light, shadow and matter, put forth by the Tarot is a system used to understand transcendence. Squares represent the Earth; solid and stable. Triangles illustrate the trinity and the spiritual. According to Tarot symbolism a person will travel through several combinations of these symbols which are reflective of their daily life. When everything is in its natural order, we can see the Earth below and the spiritual rising up and above towards the stars. This is associated with the idea of transcendence symbolized by the pyramid. The pyramid shows the building of the many into the one. Beginning with a broad base we work towards a point of refinement where and when illumination and therefore, transcendence occurs. Ruling these elements are the forces of the Solar and Lunar energies, or, the Male and Female respectively. The Solar force represents the masculine, conscious, logic and light, while the Lunar energy depicts the feminine, subconscious, creativity and shadow. Each force plays a vital role in creating balance in the life of an individual, together the two create our reality. The idea of interconnectivity is a holistic theory that proclaims all objects are united because everyrhing contains energy derived from the same singular source [Leon Pg. 10-13].
Many scholars have taken up the call to investigate the origins of this belief system, one being Helena Blavatsky, an influential Eastern European mystic living in the late 19th century. Blavatsky was a self proclaimed medium collaborating in seances and performing rituals. She explained that her teachings came from a secret brotherhood that kept sacred knowledge, or, what Blavatsky referred to as, the ancient "wisdom-religion". During her time she traveled extensively through Asia, the Indian Plateau and Tibet looking for information as to how to dispense or reveal this wisdom-religion. After an extensive time in Tibet and India Blavatsky claims to be instructed in the secret doctrines of the ancient sages. Traveling to America she settled along the East coast in New York City, where she wrote her controversial book Isis Unveiled in 1875. In this book she describes this ancient wisdom-religion as the parent to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaic beliefs, Hinduism and the Occult. She saw in this a universal truth of connectivity and believed that this was the religion of the future, that the ruling beliefs would "recede before the facts and Knowledge" [Goodrick-Clarke Pg 9-10].
This knowledge that she spoke of can be referred to as the Magical Sciences. There are many misconceptions about what magic is and if it truly exists. In this case the word magic is a way of thinking or a philosophy, more than the witch with the broomstick. The word magic refers to an inherent internal power that emanates from all matter. In objects where matter is highly organized, meaning a brain is present, this power can be utilized. The mind is the gateway to fully understanding what humans are and to what extent they can push the boundaries of their environment. In order to process this environment the mind is divided in two parts. There is the conscious mind which is active while we are "awake", it controls our logical and culturally normative behavior. In contrast, though in balance, there is the subconscious mind which is the portal into our dreams. Dreams are a very important part of an individual's existence. Drawing on images captured by the waking mind, dreams speak to an individual in a symbolic shadow language. Unlike the conscious mind where the individual is presumably in control, the subconscious can be inaccessible and seemingly uncontrollable. In this shadow realm what is logical can seem turned on its head and symbolism may be viewed as obscure or inaccurate, yet the subconscious co-exists with the conscious mind. Understanding the co-existence and balancing these two states of mind is crucial in our spiritual development, and is a cornerstone to understanding the abstract principle of transcendance.
Humans consist of energy and matter. Our physical selves are constantly in a state of flux and our bodies are designed to regenerate through certain cycles such as cell regeneration, which occurs in our bodies, every seven years. To animate matter, energy is required; something has to fuel the cyclical progression. Going back to Helena Blavatsky, she believed that humans were "a divine fire wrapped in matter" traveling through seven world cycles on involutionary and evolutionary arcs. The first three worlds are 1st astral, 1st mental and 1st spiritual and are evolutionary which describes the creation of matter in our universe. This system can becompared to current scientific theory regarding the ‘big bang’, which states all energy was unified, but, for still undetermined reasons, a huge explosion sent energy outwards. Expanding elements cooled and began to form the first astral bodies of matter. This process continued until more complex molecules formed during the cooling process creating more complex matter which eventually produced stars and planetary bodies which gave rise to life. Beings with the ability to create mental constructions and impose them on their environment formed. Like all natural organisms these mental constructions formed into more complex systems leading to tools, language, creative expression, culture and spirituality. When these initial steps have occurred Blavatsky explained that it will crystalize, meaning in a fourth physical world. At this point we are currently existing in this fourth world centered around materialism and will eventually pass on into the last three worlds of involution back to the astral source of pure energy or being.[Goodrick-Clarke Pg. 15]
Around this material focus, humans are consumed by their environment, and obsessed with material resources. It is apparent in a Western consumer based society, where the amalgamation of wealth and material goods are among the top priorities. As the world continues to become technoligically networked, the separation between man and machine blurs. Machines are purely materialistic, physical objects of the fourth world. The more humans become like machines the easier they are to control. Machines take commands, where humans are creative thinkers with inventive minds and instincts. What this knowledge offers is a creative way to perceive the world beyond technological and material ownership, to exist in a place of symbiosis instead of domination. By giving the individual the power to choose their own path, they can grow to their fullest potential; whatever that may be. Forcing people in categories will only serve to keep the individual as a slave in the physical realm. We live in a world that is in balance, though we are not always in balance. With every extreme comes its opposite and through the natural laws of matter, everything is created to be destroyed and recreated.
This cycle of construction and destruction is descriptive of the paper making process, the material choice for this piece. When looking at the uses of paper it is evident that the main use is it to transmit information, but more importantly, taking the raw paper material, turning it into pulp, and then reforming it as paper is a perfect metaphor for the laws of the material cycle. The initial steps of pulp production shows a destructive process by which the hard and brittle material is chemically broken apart. This process take a hard brittle material and transforms it into a malleable pulp that can be manipulated in a multitude of ways. In order to reinforce the principals of the pyramid shape, it must be constructed as the many becoming the one. The sheet forming technique works perfectly, as smaller sheets can be pulled and attached to create larger seamless sheets. These large panels are then detailed with small cuts to represent the symbolic growth every material object experiences. Starting as small clusters, thsee symbols gradually become more refined towards the top, or the point of transcendence. The cuts represent both a constructive and destructive force; material is physically removed and replaced with light, or knowledge, and therefore spiritual growth.
Like all physical objects the paper will eventually cease to exist completing the physical cycle, only to return again in a new form. It is this continuous regeneration that allows humans to exercise their free will, because they know that the contemporary focus on material goods and their acquisition is futile. The acquisition of meaningless goods does not serve to enlighten but merely to keep people trapped in the physical world, not allowing them to transcendent to the next phase of existence.
It can be seen that there is a connection between the inner (subconscious) and the outer (conscious) self. The same light filters from the interior of a being through their body producing an exterior world. We exist in a world constructed by the collective thoughts of all human beings, conscious and unconscious. We shape the world around us, not through pure mental abstraction but by intent and will. The stronger a collective will, the more likely it is grow. Our world is in a constant state of flux of construction and destruction; sometimes controllable and sometimes not. By exerting our own force onto the environment we add yet another influence to a volatile system. How the viewer interprets the work becomes the work, their journey will end only to start again.

"The journey may have stopped for the moment, and it may have transcended the plane on which you started, but the journey of the soul never ends. A new beginning is found in the end, the pieces are in place for a new journey to start, and after that one is completed, another will surely commence. After a glimpse of the Divine you return to manifestation, sure of your convictions and in your ability to someday see the face of God again. The cycle is as endless as the wreath that surrounds the scene, tied together by the ribbons of Divine force, and spiraling around the universe until the end of time." [Rioux]



End Notes

Rosenthal, Mark. Understanding Installation Art: from Duchamp to Holzer. Munich:London:Prestel, 2003 Pg. 33-43, 77-89
Cooper, Philip. Basic Magick. Boston, ME: Weiser Books, 1996. Pg 52-68
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Hellena Blavatsky. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2004. Pg 1-50
Leon, Dai. Origins of the Tarot. Berkeley, CA: Frog Books, 2009. Pg 10-83
Mercier, Patricia. The Mayan End Times. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., 2008 Pg 1-200
Wasserman, James. Art and Symbols of the Occult: Images of Power and Wisdom. Rochester, Vt: Destiny Books, 1993. Pg 20-35
http://www.ata-tarot.com/resource/cards/ James Rioux