# data[].attributes.body
gerhard richter

# data[].attributes.body
He feels that Modern Art puts much emphasis on novelty, and that Art should get back to the sentimental, as it transcends all time. As Nerdrum puts it, “the kitsch painter commits himself to the eternal: love, death and the sunrise.”

This painting by Nerdrum is called ‘The Dustlickers.’ It refers to how many people today consume television, social media, celebrity gossip, etc and expect these things to fulfill their desires, but it is as if they are eating dust and expecting to feel full.

# data[].attributes.body
Odd Nerdrum, White Hermaphrodite, Oil on Canvas, 211 x 205cm

These profane and profound paintings reveal a perennial truth. Like our ancient ancestors, like the anxious archetypal figure peering from behind the mound, we are fascinated and frightened by the ambiguity of balanced bisexuality, and ashamed of our fascination and fear. The theater of Nerdrum’s costumed hermaphrodites reveals ordinary hypocrisy, but he is not judgmental. He bears witness to honest humanity.

# data[].attributes.body
Odd Nerdum

as light gets farther from the source it scales through the spectrum from yellow, closest to the light source, to orange, red, violet, and all the way to blue or sometimes green

Kitsch

Kitsch is deep in its superficiality, art is superficially deep.
– Odd Nerdrum

In Nerdrum's vision, the coprophiliac, the necrophiliac, the scatological and the phallic are all disclosed in public. Nerdrum creates a heterosexual world where civilization and technology have wilted as a natural result of their evils against nature, and the tribal society of Nordic peoples that remains, many of them twins or clones, no longer need to keep their bodies, their desires, or their biological predispositions hidden.

Fetishism no longer exists, and has been replaced by Post-Pagan rituals which retain traces of Christianity. Civilization, Nerdrum seems to say, is a set of taboos which can fall away and reveal our authentic passions and spirituality. In the setting of a gallery, a group of Nerdrum paintings also seems to serve as a litmus test which can determine who does or does not belong in the world of the cultural elite. If you like the work, you must belong.

Eugene Carriere and Joseph Beuys (he studied with Beuys in his youth). And what do these artists have in common? An interest in symbolism, spirituality, and an even hermetic interest in the artist as alchemist.

In Sleeping Prophet, he positioned himself as the object of curiosity – not as an enticing and erotic lure, for although the morphology of the painting is similar to the Borghese Hermaphroditus, his image is a bald statement of ambiguity, not sexuality.

# data[].attributes.body
ANNA PARK

Anna Park (b. 1996, Daegu, South Korea) makes charcoal drawings that teeter between abstraction and figuration, with imagery that hones in on the turbulent and frenzied contemporary experience. Beginning each canvas as an improvisational mark-making dance, Park composes scenes that are gestural snapshots of an over-exposed and self-aware human condition—universal moments and interpersonal exchanges she often laces with signifiers of today’s zeitgeist. In black and white works that recall the vigorous energy of the graphic novel and the radical fragmentation of Cubism, moments collapse into speed streaks, limbs grasp for one another, and glimpses of familiar faces emerge.

# data[].attributes.body
Alessandro Sicioldr

He draws from Surrealism the irrationality and the exploration of the human psyche, while he takes the dreamlike dimension from Symbolism. For what concerns the use of colours, light and minute details, he is clearly inspired by Mannerism and Flemish painters. Sicioldr’s works represent his own interiority and subconscious. His paintings are immersed in an either contemplative or chaotic atmosphere, where out of time mysterious figures solemnly fill in the space, which is an undefined “somewhere else”, full of enigmas.

Rules and boundaries are useless when dealing with metaphysics, so I just let my inner world speak without asking questions. These images are important for me and when I think about them I get a particular feeling. They need to be represented and they follow their strange irrational rules. Why do I put an element there, or use that particular color? It is because it should go there, these are the rules of the painting. I don’t think about symbolism because deliberate and intellectual reasoning can spoil the purity of a composition and the result can easily be fake. I recently discovered that a lot, maybe all of my paintings are composed within the rules of the golden section without knowing, I find this incredible but this is how human minds work.

# data[].attributes.body
GEORGE RUOY

creates images on photoshop before painting them.

How they obscure gender by making it more tangible

figures seem viscerally naked

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Melike Kara, where we meet exhibition 2020

# data[].attributes.body
Hybrid identity

Following roots and recollecting

Kara’s new series visualizes firm bonds between otherwise fading roots, as well as the dissolution and recovery of memory.

Process of reification / cementing

Encoded with the energetic sonorities of the etheric body

# data[].attributes.body
Jenny Saville, Self-Portrait (after Rembrandt), 2019, oil on paper, 54 ⅛ × 40 inches (137.5 × 101.5 cm)

# data[].attributes.body
Saville attended the Glasgow School of Art from 1988 to 1992, spending a term at the University of Cincinnati in 1991. Her studies focused her interest in “imperfections” of flesh, with all of its societal implications and taboos.

While on a fellowship in Connecticut in 1994, Saville was able to observe a New York City plastic surgeon at work. Studying the reconstruction of human flesh was formative in her perception of the body—its resilience, as well as its fragility.

Though forward-looking, her work reveals a deep awareness, both intellectual and sensory, of how the body has been represented over time and across cultures—from antique and Hindu sculpture, to Renaissance drawing and painting, to the work of modern artists such as Henri Matisse, Willem de Kooning, and Pablo Picasso. In the striking faces, jumbled limbs, and tumbling folds of her paintings, one may perceive echoes of Titian’s Venus of Urbino (c. 1532), Rubens’s Christ in the Descent from the Cross (1612–14), Manet’s Olympia (1863), and faces and bodies culled from magazines and tabloid newspapers. Saville’s paintings refuse to fit smoothly into an historical arc; instead, each body comes forward, autonomous, voluminous, and always refusing to hide.

Likening the physicality of paint to the feeling and appearance of skin, Saville constructs sometimes horrifying images of contemporary identity.

sex becomes analogous to the visual language of decomposition

# data[].attributes.body
Stanslav Grof subconscious, QRI, synchronicity, sacred geometry

# data[].attributes.headline
A Practical Guide to Unconscious Reasoning

# data[].attributes.subject
A Practical Guide to Unconscious Reasoning

# data[].attributes.body
Conscious/Unconscious reasoning
reasoning is conscious
reasoning is dispassionate and unemotional
reasoning uses a universal logic
reasoning is independent of us and abstract
reasoning is rational

98% of reasoning is unconscious
reasoning depends on emotion
reasoning has its own logic different for everyone
reasoning is embodied in us, it is physical
complex reasoning depends on the irrational

It is well known that the creative capacity of the unconscious, (the part that is automatic and we are unaware of) far exceeds the limitations of our conscious (aware) mind.
The unconscious is constantly working with thousands of memories and experiences, making countless associations between them, converting them into new information: ideas, images, thoughts, sensations and emotions, that we can potentially use.'
Encouraged to 'use the information that lies within the creative experiences your unconscious provides.'

The accessing, understanding, communication and use of these experiences is referred to as 'Unconscious Reasoning.'
What is it?
- the recognition of what your unconscious is showing you. It helps you to see the signs of its workings.
- Generates meanings you might have never consciously thought of
- is the understanding of your experiences that exist entirely in the reality of your imagination
- is the interpretation and communication of these meanings for yourself and others
- trusts you already have the information and answers in you
- is practical and needs a task to solve

Being in this 'place' is considered at best, indulgent and childish and at worst irrelevant.

# data[].attributes.headline
Bentov Through the  Lens of Kundalini and Vedanta

# data[].attributes.subject
Bentov Through the  Lens of Kundalini and Vedanta

# data[].attributes.body
"DALE LEWIS ABSORBS MEMORIES AND EMOTIONS, FILTERING THEM IN THE FORM OF HIS PAINTING."

Carnivalesque figures that are "both humorous and unnerving."

"The line between sexualised and desexualised imagery becomes obscured, left to the viewers' subject responses and associations.'

"Lewis is specifically adept at binding the relationship between his figures and their environments."

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PROCESS OF FILTERING / PROJECTING YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS THAT IS SO 'BINDING'?
IS IT ABOUT HAVING A SET STARTING POINT / MAP (THE CANVAS) AND GIVING UP CONTROL OF YOUR INTERPRETATION SYSTEM TO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS?
WHAT COULD WE LEARN FROM THIS PROCESS OF ABSORPTION AND PROJECTION? CAN IT BE MIRRORED / EMULATED IN OTHER PARTS OF LIFE?

"In their centipede-like form the bodies become genderless." "energetically complex"

# data[].attributes.body
Chetana Gavini

# data[].attributes.body
Debashish Paul
"working in the method of automatism"
His city inspires him to search for deeper connection with the self, his art "a doorway to an ancient past and a speculative future"

"the pain of my own identity or lack thereof is a constant motivation"

His performances "hide the physical body but reveal the internal body" as
"reflections of the inner body"

REVEALING THE INNER LANDSCAPE AS THE FIRST STEP TO DEVELOPING THE EMPATHY NEEDED TO CONNECT WITH SELF AND THEN WITH OTHERS

# data[].attributes.body
Alice Channer

How can sculpture become fluid and vulnerable?
INFUSING A SCULPTURE WITH 'VULNERABILITY' AS INCREASING EMPATHY. EMPATHY AS A VISUAL, INSTINCTUAL, WHOLE PROCESS THAT CAN OCCUR IN INANIMATE OBJECTS BY LETTING YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS PROJECT ITSELF ONTO IT. IS THIS A PROCESS THAT CAN BE TAUGHT/LEARNT?
"The distortions, disruptions and mutations can be quite violent"
A textured surface with "glitches and ruptures like those on my own skin."

"21st Century needs objects that are vulnerable, uncertain, other, alien."

# data[].attributes.body
An internal coexistence of gendered perspectives in an act of spiritual balance. Reminding of the emotional clarity in the aesthetic ill-fitted appearance of a twisted branch.
True observation is dissolving what holds the observer separate from the object.
Not a death to mourn but a loss of one limiting sense of identity.

# data[].attributes.body
Drawing can translate feelings
reveal the images
that fester in fear
noticing their sentiments
and accepting their shapes
releasing their forms
transmuting shame into appreciation
in a process of unblocking
melting tension
letting them be washed away by a creature
who soaks up stutters
nourished with pools of repetition

I will capture an image in a talisman and wear it to remind me that built into my body is breath that can release in the same way as art

# data[].attributes.body
Rolling monster of stuttering tongues
Tesselated lizard

# data[].attributes.body
The apparent form of a pictorial surface can be modulated as can the relative depths of different parts.
The depth in the surface is echoed in the shape that is in depth with respect to it. The carrier pattern is derived from a photograph of stones on a beach.

The desire to produce stereoscopic pictures devoid of monocular depth cues was voiced by Wheatstone but was not realised until Julesz produced random-dot stereograms. The momentum generated by Julesz, particularly by his book Foundations of cyclopean perception, continues to stimulate scientists and artists to seek novel graphical as well as computer graphical techniques for broadening the scope of stereoscopic art

# data[].attributes.body
Through parody, the artist reveals and interrogates constructed images of idealised Western femininity."

"THE ABSURDITY AND VIOLENCE OF A SOCIETY THAT TELLS YOU THAT YOU ARE ONE OF TWO GENDERS WHEN YOU ARE BORN."

"Within Capitalism, extreme representations are always going to be more successful because they're unattainable, and more polarised representations of gender become normalised." Drag is purposeful in it, so also undoes it.

'Exploring science fiction as a productive strategy of queer resistance, imagining futurity that does not depending on existing historical and social infrastructure"
Invites viewers to ENTER INTO A ZONE WHERE BODIES ARE AMORPHOUS AND NOT EASILY READABLE
CREATING WELCOMING SITES FOR ALIENATED BODIES.

Images that pull you in but push back on your eyes so you can feel the sphere of energy they press against
(a gesture ingrained in the stone of your world sheet leaving a humming afterburner stamped in the static of your mind)

# data[].attributes.body
Nicholas Byrne
“It was important to me that the paintings evoked a visual response that was similar to how we appreciate the physical sensation of an object. Untitled (Collar) is small scale and conveys a kind of privacy. You might think of a surrealist tradition of game-play, where bodies cross into objects. I suppose these diamond shapes could be the teeth of a stylus or comb. A feeling of tension might arise, where optically the shapes and colours would promise to fold or collapse. The paintings are presented on architectural supports as I wanted them to demonstrate something physically active.”

# data[].attributes.body
“Drawing is the basis of my work, though I don’t often have one image that I refer to in making something. Each painting is a different thing where an interior develops. I have an aesthetic idea or sensation of what this is, but it’s intuitively led. With Hosier and Cropper I wanted to make illustrations of the ’sinuous line’ which is a constituent element of the Rococo period. I’d read a passage in Jean Starobinski’s The Invention of Liberty that takes a picture of William Hogarth writing on sinuosity, about ’leading the eye in a kind of chase’. From tending to limit himself to writing about the ’pure geometry of the spiral’ Hogarth goes on to confess an erotic origin to his taste for the sinuous line: a childhood memory of a dancer with ’a ribbon entwined around a staff.’ It’s interesting how his desire could be felt in particular distances.”

# data[].attributes.body
At a time when the titles of pictures are rather short (i.e. "Picture No. 1" or "White on White") I call my Hommage to Crick and Watson: GALACIDALACIDESOXIRIBUNUCLEICACID. It is my longest title in one word. But the theme is even longer: long as the genetical persistance of human memory. As announced by the prophet Isaiah—the Saviour contained in God's head from which one sees for the first time in the iconographic history his arms repeating the molecular structures of Crick and Watson and lifting Christ's dead body so as to resuscitate him in heaven.

In a note describing the work, Dalí mused that the double helix is "the only structure linking man to God." This is one of 13 large paintings Dali produced.

On the right hand side there are riflemen arranged to form "cubes of death". Within each "cube of death" their rifles aim at each other's head, thus if one of them shoots it will trigger the reaction of the other three, and they will all shoot killing each other.

"The prophet Isaiah appears at the top left holding a scroll inscribed with the title of the painting—Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid. It combines a string of words that decodes the meaning of the work. The first word in the string is Gala, Dalí‘s wife and muse. The word ―"cid" refers to a Spanish folklore hero, and Allah is the Arabic word for God. The last word in the string is Dalí‘s spelling of the full scientific name for DNA—desoxiribunucleicacid."

It is a molecule of self-annihilation

# data[].attributes.body
Stereopsis is the component of depth perception retrieved through binocular vision. Stereopsis is not the only contributor to depth perception, but it is a major one. Binocular vision happens because each eye receives a different image because they are in slightly different positions on one’s head.

STEREOSCOPIC ART
The term stereoscopic art is assigned to those pictorial works that are dependent on the operation of two eyes in cooperation to yield an impression of depth that is not available to either eye alone.

# data[].attributes.body
Any 2D media piece in colors can be given a 3D effect as long as the color spectrum is put into use with the foreground being in red, and the background in blue. From front to back the scheme follows the visible light spectrum, from red to orange, yellow, green and blue. This means any color is associated in a fixed fashion with a certain depth when viewing. As a result, ChromaDepth works best with artificially produced or enhanced pictures, since the color indicates the depth.

(Natural images diminish the ChromaDepth™ effect because they reflect colors across the full spectrum, creating imaginary contours without explicit contrast. Artificially constructed or deliberately enhanced images exploit the forced color separation.)

Unlike anaglyph images or polarization, creating real-life ChromaDepth pictures without manual enhancement is practically impossible, since cameras cannot portray true depth; most other 3D schemes use the concept of stereopsis . However, this also gives ChromaDepth images a distinct advantage: unlike stereopsis-based schemes that require two images, ChromaDepth contains depth information in one image, which eliminates the ghosting seen in other schemes when one attempts to view them without 3D glasses. Thus, ChromaDepth images can be viewed comfortably and legibly without glasses, even though the 3D effect will not be perceivable without them."

# data[].attributes.body
Look closely, each Modern Mandala explores altered states through the fun phenomenon of pareidolia, which is recognizing faces and objects in a random patterns.

"TAKE A COSMIC PERSPECTIVE"

First, Mixed media paintings form the foundation of my process: each its own universe on canvas. Then, like a telescope looking deep into space, minute regions of the paintings are captured via macro photography, revealing MacroScapes. Finally, these magnified worlds are digitally arranged and brought to life as Modern Mandalas.

From the atoms, cells, planets, galaxies, and beyond - my intermedia process is a visual metaphor for these different levels of magnification and perspective as an art form.

Our own creativity and capacity for pattern recognition is the link between the micro and macrocosm.
THE 'SUBCONSCIOUS' AS THE ROOT OF CREATIVITY

These celestial objects are visual alchemical magick.

“Viewing these mandalas is like taking a journey into the multiverse and/or even different dimensions of perceived reality.”

# data[].attributes.body
Giuseppe Arcimboldo

# data[].attributes.body
Jadé Fadojutimi is a painter who speaks about their process in a way that I really identify with. She ‘breathes onto the canvas” letting her “revisit the moments [she] let go of as a kid.” She uses the word ‘breathes’ as a placeholder for an indescribable process that suggests ease and fluency.  Speaking about her most recent show Jesture, she said ‘I hope that people can find room in the work to breathe,” suggesting a reciprocal relationship with the viewer, in which the interpretations they bring are of equal value to hers. In fact, she herself often sees things in her paintings which give her insight into the state of mind or stage of her life from which they were painted.

Pippy Holdsworth Exhibition: Hypnagogia: state between awake and asleep, "fluid. hyper-associative images are conjured."
Gabriella Boyd: the 'in-between' moments in domestic routines. "Diffused tones and hazy forms allude to the 'given-ness' of objects.'
Fadojutimi: Seees her paintings as gazing into a window: her reflection and the wider context of the surroundings blend into eachother.
Makiko Kudo: "memories 'burned into' [her] brain"

stamps that flow out of you without judgement or obstruction

# data[].attributes.body
https://mymodernmet.com/rafael-araujo-geometric-drawings/

"the platonic search of the illusion of the "Truth" by means of the development of structures which could perfectly be described as illustrated equations of natural subjects"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You don't need to know everything about QRI's memeplex to donate, contribute, or collaborate, but it would be helpful to have some familiarity with it since it contains a lot of novel information and covers a lot of ground.

Here are some resources to get you started:

QRI is a California 501(c)(3) non-profit research institute and so it relies on donations to fund its research. If you would like to make a tax-deductable donation, please visit the page or reach out to donations@qri.org.

QRI's research relies on data from a wide variety of sources.

If you feel like you have data or information that might be useful for QRI's research, please reach out to hello@qri.org. The following is a list of examples of useful data:

Neuroscientific

Survery, EEG, fMRI data from exotic (psychedelic, meditation, NDE, etc.) or blissful/painful states of consciousness (orgasm, cluster headaches, etc.)

Phenomenological

QRI's Guide to Writing Rigorous Reports of Exotic States of Consciousness

Submit phenomological data directly using QRI's Psychophysics Toolkit

Experiences with exotic and extreme states of consciousness (trip reports, recollections, stories, interesting phenomena, brain damage, etc.)

Psychological

The results of meditative, psychedelic, or other interesting therapy protocols or other methods for relief of chronic pain and mental health ailments such as depression and addiction.

Pharmacological

Information about lesser known psychoactive substances as well as recently discovered ones.

Studies on drugs that show promising anti-tolerance, anxiolytic, or anaglesic effects.

If you would like to collaborate with QRI, please reach out to hello@qri.org or fill out the General Application.

To see specific collaborations QRI is actively seeking, please visit the page.

Here are some examples of ways you can collaborate with QRI:

Research

QRI is always open to collaborate with academics and independent researchers on research projects.

Volunteers and Internships

QRI is always looking for volunteers and interns to help with a variety of tasks including fundraising, marketing, and more.

Media

QRI encourages people to write or blog about ideas from QRI's memeplex. Distillations of QRI's ideas, learning materials, critiques, and other forms of media are always welcome.

QRI is open to podcast interviews, presentations, and other interesting discussions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You don't need to know everything about QRI's memeplex to donate, contribute, or collaborate, but it would be helpful to have some familiarity with it since it contains a lot of novel information and covers a lot of ground.

# data[].attributes.body
HR GEIGER
"HEIGHTENED RECEPTIVENESS TO HIS OWN SUBCONSCIOUS' 'HIS ANTENNA WERE BIGGER AND MORE FINE-TUNED"
"CREATED HIS OWN MYTHOLOGY." "DARK PSYCHEDELIA."

"Biomechanical Art". Strange perching mechanical gremlins, seeming fossilised in their geometry.
Made his first paintings on art therapy, channeling his fright from strange dreams, darkness of home fuelled anxieties that he transformed into an artistic way he could handle.
Interested in JUNG's collective unconscious and Ancient Egyptian symbolism.
The occult, sexuality, redemption, power.

# data[].attributes.body
Adham Faramawy

# data[].attributes.body
for others to demand, manipulate, coerce, and force us into situations in which we are expected to disregard our own well-being for the sake of ‘normality.” It keeps far too many people tethered to an existence wherein having sex when they would rather not or enduring sex they do not enjoy is a common and normalised occurrence. We have to acknowledge the damage that is done when we don’t admit that our society views sex as compulsory, as an inescapable obligation, largely because it is viewed as something owed to men. We have to contend with how that contributes to both rape culture and asexual discrimination, which are often one and the same.

Neverland

Compulsory heterosexuality works to frame heterosexual sex as a necessary fixture of adulthood, which leaves all queer people in a space of extended liminality, where our partnerships, relationships, and sexualities are devalued and invalidated because they do not fit into this mould. Queer narratives will always disrupt a chrononormaitivity and an “adulthood” that is defined by cisheteropatriarchal values, and asexual queerness distinctly challenges the idea that we need to “grow up” in the way that cisheteronormativity demands of us. This omnipresent clock and all of its parts have been socially constructed, and we are not obligated to abide by a timeline set before us, nor should we fear the sound of it ticking in our ears. We are allowed to map out our lives according to our own queer desires and aspirations, because queer timelines need not align with the chrononormative mandate of cisheteropatriarchal systems.

UNFIT

Monique Wittig, The Straight Mind

“The consequence of this tendency towards universality is the the straight mind cannot conceive of a culture, a society where heterosexuality would not order not only all human relationships, but also its very production of concepts and all the processes which escape consciousness, as well.”

People who do not perform heterosexuality are a threat, especially women- affirmed or assumed- because the social and sexual control of women is essential to cisheteropatriarchy. Because the social and sexual control of women is essential to cis-het patriarchy. Because the gender categories of “man” and “woman” require heterosexual expression as an authentication of each respective gender, it is useful to question, as Witting does, whether deviation from this expected heterosexuality ultimately means not fitting into these gender categories at all.

Some of the scenarios that could resonate with (questioning) asexuals, lesbians, and other lesbians, an other queer folks coming to understand their socialised attraction to men are as follows:

Being repulsed, frustrated or deeply confused by certain dynamics of heterosexuality that are considered to be the norm or standard behaviours, often regarded as universal and inevitable

Being able to identify things that are merely tolerable about performing heterosexuality, but not necessarily things that are enjoyable or actively desired

Reading nervousness, being flustered, or having ‘butterflies’ as attraction, but later coming to understand these things as manifestations of anxiety desired

Choosing “crushes” rather than genuinely developing them

Mistaking a desire a for male validation for heterosexual attraction to men

Compulsory sexuality and male supremacy teach us that we should accept the barre minimum- ill treatment, poor communication, emotional immaturity, and even hurt, discomfort, and sometimes feeling emotionally or physically unsafe- from heterosexual relations with men. Moreover, those of us who are expected to be attracted to men are sent an array of messages throughout our entire lives, in pornography and otherwise, that “enforced submission and the use of cruelty, if place out in heterosexual pairing, is sexually ‘normal.’

POSSIILITIES

I look forward to seeing others move beyond what I have written here, to consider how compulsory sexuality impacts other aspects of outlives and how else we can use an asexual lens to better understand the world and advocate for needed change- particularly with a racial analysis.

I began this book by saying that I do not believe asexuality to be an orientation defined by “lack.” To lack is to be without, deficient, or not have enough. Not wanting sex- either not as frequently or not at all, or not arriving at sexual engagement via clear-cut attraction the way we are told we are supposed to- is not an experience o flack, but of abundance and autonomy.

Asexuals have shared with me the ways they choose to honour their nonsexual desires, and the joy they find in that in that intention. They speak with warmth and reverence of the space they create to allow other parts of their lives to flourish, particularly in ways that fall outside of social scripts for intimacy, kinship and family-making. Asexuals are actively prioritising nonsexual forms of connection, honouring our capacity to create long-lasting bonds and express love, appreciation, and commitment in various ways.

Lisa Orlando concludes “The Asexual Manifesto” with this statement:

As a result of examining the nature of our sexuality and reclaiming it from the sexist misconceptions surrounding it, we are able to form and maintain relationships in a way which both reflects our values and is effective in our liberation struggle. For us, asexuality is a commitment to defy and ultimately destroy the baseless concepts, surrounding both sex and relationships, which support and perpetuate the patriarchy.

# data[].attributes.body
The Counsellor’s Guide to Parks Inner Child Therapy, Penny Parks

Self-Talk, Kath Teasdale

Every person has three aspects within themselves- the parent, adult and child, which develop as we grow up. The adult is our reasoning part, which gathers information, enables us to manage our life, to make realistic assessments and to be assertive. To do this it needs sound information available. When working well, the parent is our teaching part. Modelled on our memory of our own parents and elders, it monitors our actions, protects us from harm, teaches about life and acknowledges our efforts without criticism or judgement. The child’s job is to be spontaneous, curious, creative and fun, thus enabling us to experiment, innovate and play. Together these parts are intended to function as a balanced team, meeting the challenges of life.

If a person has experienced traumatic childhood events or inadequate parenting the inner messages will be damaged, preventing the team from functioning correctly. The damaged adult will be il;-informed, unassertive, and a poor, indecisive manager. The damaged parent will be full of blame and criticism that disables us and undermines our efforts. The damaged child feel fearful, guilty, angry and become locked in self-sabotaging patterns that leave us feeling helpless and inadequate.

In this way we develop incorrect pictures of ourselves, and others. Our thought (self) talk becomes full of confusion and self-criticism.

PICT acts to reconnect the broken emotional link by correcting the information in the adult, who can in turn correctly inform, support, and love the inner child, correcting mistaken beliefs, freeing the child from fear and anger, enabling it once again to experience the spontaneity and joy it was intended to.

Mistaken beliefs can be developed as a result of an abusive event, or also by less traumatic events which your client may not recall.

You will recognise that a mistaken belief is in place by the fact that your client has an unwanted problem behaviour which they are unable to stop,

i.e. ‘I know I shouldn’t be/feel/behave this way, but I do!’

The original event (which created the mistaken belief) may be out of consciousness, but the unwanted behaviour developed as a result of the mistaken belief will remain.

Exploration may go like this:

“I would like you to to assess or evaluate your answers by saying the first sentence that comes to mind.’

“What is the first negative thought you have about yourself concerning (name the unwanted behaviour)?

“What further negative thought about yourself does that lead you to?”

Continue to ask this question for each answers given whilst you watch for the one with the strongest impact.

Repeat what appeared as the strongest statement and ask if they would verify that themselves.

Once you get used to listening for mistaken beliefs you can recognise them in your clients conversation.

THE WELL FORMED OUTCOME

What outcome do you want from therapy? (Important: to be concise breaking thoughts down if needed, to use positive outcomes and not negatives like not and won’t)

What would having (name the outcome, e.g. inner contentment) do for you?

Having (the named outcome), what do you see yourself doing?

Having (the named outcome), what do you hear yourself saying?

Having (the named outcome), how do you feel?

Can (the named outcome) be initiated and maintained by you?

What would you need to do to make 9the named outcome) happen?

What would stop you from achieving (the named outcome)?

Can you think of any circumstances in which you would not want (the named outcome)?

Is having (the named outcome) worth the cost?

Is having (the named outcome) worth the time?

Does (the named outcome) match your sense of the person you thought you were?

REFLECTIVE LISTENING

Learning to reflect (repeat) what you think you heard, to be sure that it is what was actually meant, would stop many disagreements in the bud,

e.g. ‘So you’re saying that you think I am not interested in what you’re talking about because I don’t look you in the eye when you speak?’

Reflective listening also includes being able to reflect people’s feelings back to them.

Someone tells you the class they signed up for was full and you reflect: ‘You must be feeling really disappointed,’

Rather than, ‘Oh well there will always be another one.’

Most people try to make others feel better with that sort of comment but nothing is less comforting than some cheerful ‘bright side’ statement.

People first need to be acknowledged, we will then be in a position to look naturally for our own bright side. If our feelings are not acknowledged, we often continue pushing or that to happen, which in turn stops us being able to take that next step of looking for the bright side. Just think how much easier family and friend interactions would be if that one skill were in operation.

Reflective listening also includes being able to sum up people’s statements in a sentence or two, to ensure they know they have been heard. When people know they have been heard, the conversation can move along. If this doesn’t happen, they may repeat themselves until they know you have heard them. This is particularly true in disagreements.

Assertiveness teaches this very useful skill.

ASSERTIVENESS CHECKLIST

a. Assertiveness creates adult behaviour and ‘voice.’

b. A strengthened Adult assists the Inner Child to disclose repressed memories.

c. The strengthened Adult has more coping skills and personal power.

d. Reflective learning skills assist Adult communication.

e. A strong Adult/assertive ‘voice’ makes identification of damaged Parent/Child self-talk ,messages easier to monitor and stop.

# data[].attributes.body
Ancient Future: The Teachings and Prophetic Wisdom of the Seven Hermetic Laws of Ancient Egypt, Wayne B. Chandler

The Principle of Gender

It has been said that “The union if man and woman is like the mating of Heaven and Earth. It is because of their correct mating that Heaven and Earth last forever. Humans have lost this secret and have, therefore, become mortal. By knowing it, the path to immortality is opened.”

This axiom embodies the truth that within all things is ever-present the the reality of the masculine and feminine principles, which are constantly extorting their influence on each plane of life . I feel it is important to clarify my usage of terms in explicating this law. My use of terms masculine and feminine do not correspond one-to-one with the terms man and woman since, by the Law of Polarity, masculine and feminine are not necessarily opposites, but simply two shades of gender.

The word gender is derived from the Latin root genre or gener, meaning to beget, to procreate, or to generate. The sexual union of male and female is merely one manifestation of gender of the Physical Plane of Correspondence. Gender, apart from its modern association with sex, is the process of begetting, generating, creating and producing on all planes of creation.

Positive and negative as applied to gender are never antagonistic to one another but work mutually in continuous harmony. One is dependent upon the other in the process of being and becoming; they are compliments, not opposites.

In Ancient Kit, there were Nu and Nut, male and female counterparts of the primeval spirit. The Bambarra of eastern Guinea see this as Pemba and Faro, or Heaven and Earth, whose interaction brings about conservation and change. The Dog identify Amma and Nummo while the Fon of Dahomey identify their principle of duality as mawu-lisa.

Interestingly, this principle of duality is absent in Western culture, most probably due to the entrrernched patriarchal customs and mores of a male-dominated culture and society. The Juedo-Christian tradition attributes the genesis of all creation to a lone male deity, God. In the Christian tradition there is the Trinity of God- three persons in One God- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all of whom are masculine. The absurdity of the Western notion of creation as an exclusively activity can be traced in part to events that took place almost 5000 years ago: “the Indo-European-rruled nations of the historic periods, explain the creation of the universe by the male deity or the institution of kingship, when none had existed previously…”

This forced exclusion of the feminine aspect of creation has wreaked havoc on virtually every individual psyche in all Western and Western-influenced cultures and civilisations. Jungian psychologist Marion Woodman has asserted that because of the dominant influence of patriarchy, our present culture has substituted mater, the word from which we derive the time mother, for matter, the menial expression of our current sociocultural condition, which has created our bind and destructive indulgence into overt materialism. Thus, with respect to mental gender, the feminine or mother aspect has been replaced by a masculine expression indicative of a left-brain, mundane material existence. It is noteworthy that the world matter, though a corruption, is also derived from the word mater. As human beings engage one another with this unhealthy and sometimes perverse perspective of social and mental gender, a myriad of problems are created.