If you started a conversation with the question of who am I? you would quickly find the room MT.
The question of who am I? was not only an Indian thing but was also a Jesus thing. In the Bible i gather when Moses asked Jesus who he was, he said: ‘I am that I am.’
And when William James Adams, Jr was asked who he was he said: ‘will.i.am’
And in was also a Greek thing: γνῶθι σεαυτόν: “Know thyself” was inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (4th century BC). “…….. “Know Thyself” has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature. The Suda, a tenth century encyclopedia of Greek Knowledge, says: “the proverb is applied to those whose boasts exceed what they are,” and that “know thyself” is a warning to pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude.” (wiki) (Also inscribed is (μηδεν ἀγαν) – ‘Nothing in excess’)
The question of ‘WHO AM I’ exists in layers in all levels of thinking. Education plays a big part in providing knowledge for understanding but minds can make themselves think that this is the be-all and end-all to education. But one might want to consider it only as a means to an end (not for finding a way to pay your mortgage) but for finding your place in the universe by knowing Thy Self.
The work of the artist is as a result of the ‘self’ working itself out. When abstraction came about at the turn of the last century the object was discarded in finding the greater Truth in Art and its purpose. Knowledge was put aside as it could not any longer provide the answers for discovering what was ahead. Shancked by your mind one had to take a leap, ‘into the void’ to find the Truth. Give up everything. And in the unknown there is no method, no knowledge, no path. No technique. Everything is found from the now as new. And what does that sound like to you: Art. The only medium that is free to create and yet there are still right and wrongs that exists in its midst: because minds puts them there. One might sense a kind of natural right and wrong: sense, one can’t even trust that as how does one know that it is not the remants of it’s conditioned self coming through. Hence the significance of looking into ‘WHO AM I’ and its place in the universe. Jiddu Krishnamurti had said: ‘when there is no more choice in your mind then there is no more conflict” When you know because in silence you have found your natural place then the mind sees all clearly – there is nomore conflict. Knowing is not of learning anymore to know, but just knowing. Its process is ‘pathless’ and it is free like Art is Art. In its essesence it is like the process of making Art. At its best it is always forgetting what you know and finding it again. At its worst it is always looking at your past for your future.
The Theosophical Society has through the ages been an inspiration to some of the pioneers of abstraction, like Kandinsky and Mondrian, to give up the object for abstraction and to look at the ‘self’ again without the object coming in the way.
The talk by the International president of the Theosophical Society Mrs Radha Burnier for the 135th International Convention at Adyar, India was the topic “WHO AM I”.
(summary of the public lecture delivered on 30.12.2010)
Who am I? is a question that could be asked by anybody, and most people will immediately say:”I am so and so, was born to so and so, had my schooling in such and such a school, I have been working as an officer in a reputed organization for many years, or I am …..
(to be continued)