Joy of Health and Jackson Pollock

Continuing to read Joy of Health this morning (Kathy Oddenino's first book, ca. 1988-89), and prompted to think about fractal patterns again. I pulled out an old beginning of a story I started a year or two ago called, then, Eyes Wide Open. I began it while thinking of Jackson Pollock, of all people, and his continually refining method of dripping paint in patterns. (Discover Magazine wrote a piece on this, among others, years ago.) One comment went something like this - we humans prefer subtle variations on a recurring theme rather than patterns that are too regular, like test bars on a TV, or too random, like a snowy screen.

What came to me when I began writing Eyes Wide Open was this:

subtle, ruffling of the wind
to the freight train force of a tornado, whipping vortices into hungry funnels

We strive to become aware of what we like, what we want, what pleases us on a basic human level. (Enter Jackson Pollock.) This is the beginning of happiness, a refinement beyond the basic survival sense. Then we learn to refine and consciously recreate the patterns that please us. This is a definition and display of learning (living).

In our desire, our motivation, to relive these sensory pleasures, we recreate (repeat) them. When we consciously set in place structures or patterns to repeat them, these became our habits and/or rituals. Our interpretation of these rituals and their purpose became fragmented as the rituals themselves became the purpose rather than the refinement (civilizing, evolution) of our senses. The repetition becomes the purpose and worship becomes the "sense" - we reinforce our fear as "adoration" which we misinterpret as love and thus "obeying." True love is suppressed rather than acknowledged and honored in its energy flow of life and the refinement of the mind coming to know itself and all of life.