Anthuriums – at Flower Nursery
While sitting in a cafe with friends there was a moment when all of us were on our “smart phones†at the same time. When the server noticed she told us she wasn’t going to get into using a smart phone because “it will be the downfall of our abilities to communicate with one another.â€
It just happened that each of us at that table was looking up something to share with the others to enhance our conversations.
Our smart phone technology may just have the potential for “re-wiring†our own internal hardware for building peaceable and compassionate communities, especially with the imagery that we see and create with them. Creating and engaging with imagery we can nurture the right side of our brains.
Rows of 2×2 Succulents – blurred edges
The proposal of Leonard Shlain’s book, “The Alphabet Versus the Goddess – the Conflict Between Word and Image,†is that, when the alphabet was created, with its venerated focus, it over-nurtured the left side of the brain. When driven to primary left-brain thinking cultures shifted from egalitarian community to patriarchal misogynistic patterns.
Shlain argues that “learning to think without resorting to images is indispensable to alphabet literacy. ‘Make no images’ is a ban on right-brain pattern recognition. All who obey it will unconsciously begin to turn their backs on the art and imagery of the Great Mother and, reoriented a full 180 degrees, will instead seek protection and instruction from the written words of an All Powerful Father.”
Goddess in Light – herchurch
I agree with Shlain’s “optimistic appraisal that the proliferation of images in film, TV, graphics and computers is once again reconfiguring the brain by encouraging right hemispheric modes of thought and bringing about the reemergence of the feminine.†– Hungry Mind Review.
Canon, Nikon, … iPhone … lets have at it. The more engaged we are with imagery the more possibility there will be for a paradigm shift from patriarchal domination to egalitarian compassion! I think the succulent and anthuriums are with us on this one.
“Oh Great Spirit, earth, sun, sky and sea. You are inside, and all around me.”