Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.

Dismiss

The Artist's Way of Seeing

49 views

Skip to first unread message

Really Heavy Mind Thing

unread,

Dec 10, 2000, 6:34:17 AM12/10/00

Howdy friends!
I wrote this article earlier this year as a letter to Randy Stark
and figured I'd better get some mileage out of it. It compares and
constrasts Carlos Castaneda's perspectives on shifting between Right and
Left Side Awareness with the neuroscience study's done in the 1970's and
80's on the functionality of the right and left brain hemispheres. Then
it goes on to talk about shifting perception from the analytical left
brain mode into what Betty Edwards calls The Artist's Way of Seeing, the
spatially adept right brain mode.

At the time the studies on right / left brain were very highly
regarded and worthy of the Nobel prize the originating scientist won for
his work. I forget who he was, it's very late. These days, everyone
knows about it already so the right / left brain ideas are nothing new.

But the work that Betty Edwards did with her art classes has been
regarded as revolutionary in teaching anyone at all how to draw like a
professional. Check it out.

v!

P.S. The article is over 2500 words long so don't bitch at me that " ooo
it's soo long..."

you've been forewarned. ;o)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Artist's Way of Seeing
By Vincent Sargenti

I have been reading this book called Drawing on the Right Side of
the Brain by Betty Edwards. I have wanted to tell you about it but have
been holding off while I examined it more closely. I have told you a
little bit about this thing but the more I read it, the more I am
convinced that this book is a perfect segue' for me out of Castaneda's
description of the world and into a more realistic and yet profound one:
the artist's way of seeing.

I realize that this is a big statement to make but I am going to back
it up with some very clear evidence here in a minute. This is why I have
been waiting to write you about this. The book is about drawing but it
covers a lot more ground than that. If you wanted to, you could relate
this to all forms of creative endeavor and to life in general. The
Artist's Way of Seeing has an almost Zen-like or even sorceric quality
to it, but it's not nearly as abstract. It is all about accomplishing a
practical task in the world: seeing what is in front of you. Betty
Edwards deals with all the evidence of modern neuroscience head-on and
spins it in such a way that it begins touching into spirituality and
things like Castaneda's description of seeing. She deals directly with
the crossover between perception, consciousness and neuroscience by
presenting the reader with a practical application, learning how to draw
well. Because her books are about how to harness the creative power
each of us has and use it for a specific task, she makes use of a wide
range of subject areas, which she taps into and draws from in order to
make various points. But at the core, while reading her method, much of
what we learned from Castaneda is still true to a degree although she
gives it an infinitely more practical spin; because you'll start to see
perception from an almost purely physical and scientifically verifiable
perspective. I am referring mostly to the subject of shifting between
the Right and Left Side Awareness.

Her perspective on perception is based predominantly in the hard
science of right and left side brain function and the 1970's-1980's
research work of several scientists in particular. Specifically, she
refers to the work of Dr. Roger W. Sperry, a psychobiologist who won the
Nobel Prize in 1981 for his innovative studies, first published in 1968.
However, the correlation to Castaneda's right and left side awareness is
remarkable and worth a word of note!

Her book is for those who wish to learn how to draw or for those
looking to improve their rendering skills. Her contention that learning
to draw like a professional artist is not so much based in technical
know how as much as it is cultivating the ability to see as an artist
sees. So her book is aimed at teaching the reader how to see from
another perspective and that perspective is the one of the right brain.
The right brain of course controls the left side of the body, so there
is a correlation there; they are one and the same type thing. (although
Cleargreen would probably tell you it's not true.) The main difference
is that you get to see for yourself what the left side of the body is
really all about, not what it's being sold to you as. You make the shift
yourself and you drw your own conclusions, few are implied in this work
other than generally.

So Edward's contention is: to be able to draw like an artist draws
requires a shift in perception from the analytical speaking mind of the
left brain to the silent, intuitive and spatially adept right brain. She
is presenting an image of the hard and fast structure and language of
the left hemisphere over and against the wordless contour and form
oriented right brain. Edwards makes the statement that true creativity
and the ability to see things for what they really are and not through
the filter of our acquired symbology, is best harnessed by shifting from
one state of awareness to another, by a change of state. She doesn't
just point that out and leave you to figure out how to do it either; she
has developed a large number of clearly defined exercises to demonstrate
the shift to you and then to strengthen your ability to consistently
make the required cognitive shift.

She further issues a litany of highly relevant evidentiary citations
from prominent scientific studies that further clarify and support her
position and contentions. As well as the left brained, hard science of
research she also cleverly places dozens of quotes from Aldoux Huxley,
Alan Watts, Krishnamurti and many others. The more I read Betty Edward's
book the more blown away I am that, finally the essence of what we
studied in Castaneda's weird little world, has a real, practical
application in normal, everyday, truly human life. And that application
is not about the art of dreaming either, although it could be used that
way, it really is simply about the art of art... It is about art for the
sake of art and what it is required of us individually to make art for
the sake of art. So what I mean to say is that there is a direct
correlation between "the art of being a warrior" and "the art of being
an artist."

You can make art in whatever medium you choose: make it in dreaming,
make art in science, make it in watercolor or oil. You can make an art
of childrearing, but the fundamental essence of art remains ageless and
true: to make art happen a perceptual shift needs to take place and that
shift always leads away from the speaking mind and more toward the
recognition of another mode of processing incoming perceptual data.

Finally, all of this perception talk has a clear origin and finally
this origin is not obscured in a lot of fantastic hocus-pocus from a
7,000-year-old civilization of disappearing Toltec time travelers. It is
really just a simple way of perceiving the function of the human brain
as it pertains to our consciousness. We have a strong analytical side in
the left-brain, so strong that it takes over dominance to the exclusion
of all else. We've been told this many times before, but always in
regards to reason in general. Learning to draw on creativity requires an
equally strong and sustained shift away from the reason-dominated state.
So when you move into the right brain perceptual mode you are also
moving into the left side of the body, in Castaneda's terms, and if you
are really sensitive, you can feel it as it is occurring and you can
optimize the duration and depth of the shift. You can feel yourself
letting go of worded thought and factual referencing to embrace a more
silent, spatially aware and visually conscious form of processing our
perceptions. I would venture to extrapolate that the perceptual shift
required for artistic vision includes the possibilities of second sight
and many of the elements described in the science of phenomenology,
paranormal psychology and even in esoteric spirituality.

There is no Sorcery involved in having a strong desire to be
creative and to make art. When we move into the artist's state or way of
seeing, we lose track of time, we don't hear what people are saying
around us, our attention becomes highly focused and detail-oriented and
we quiet way, way down. I have noticed that I become so silent and
highly focused on shape and contour that I begin referencing the world
according to this other silent language of image shape, color and
contour. I intuitively do things with my drawing hand that my reason
does not have access to, it just flows from my hand without my being
able to rationalize why. The relationships between objects, shadows and
light, form and emptiness all exude silent qualities that I comprehend
and transfer to the paper. I begin to see negative space as equal in
perceptual importance to its immediately adjacent form-filled
counterpart. I notice that the agony and impatience of my speaking mind
has left me for a time and the desire to placate my reason with worded
concepts about the subject I am studying leaves me entirely when the
L-mode perception fades into R-mode processing. The only thing left is
the moment and the three-dimensional, spatial relationships that are
present in the silent language of the artist's way of seeing.

_____________[Begin Excerpt]_______________________________

"How the Symbol System Developed In Childhood, Influences Seeing"
(Excerpt from chapter 5)
by Betty Edwards

Now we are coming closer to the problem and it's solution. First,
what prevents a person from seeing things clearly enough to draw them?

A part of the answer is that, from childhood onward, we have
learned to see things in terms of words: we name things and we know
facts about them. The dominant left verbal hemisphere doesn't want too
much information about the things it perceives -- just enough to
recognize and categorize. The left brain, in this sense, learns to take
a quick look and say, "Right, that's a chair (or an umbrella, bird, dog,
tree etc)." Because the brain is overloaded most of the time with
incoming information, it seems that one of its functions is to screen
out a large proportion of incoming perceptions. This is a necessary
process to enable us to focus our thinking and one that works very well
for us most of the time. But *drawing* requires that you look at
something for a long time, perceiving lots of details, registering as
much information as possible -- ideally, *everything*, as Albrecht Dürer
tried to do in figure 5-21. (See attached: "Study for the Saint Jerome.
-1521")

The left hemisphere has no patients with this detailed perception,
and says, "It's a chair, I tell you. That's enough to know. In fact,
don't bother to look at it, because I've got a ready-made symbol for
you. Here it is; add a few details if you want, but don't bother me with
this looking business."

And where do the symbols come from? From years of childhood drawing
which every person develops a system of symbols. The symbol system
becomes embedded in the memory, and the symbols are ready to be called
out, just as you called them out to draw your childhood landscape.

The symbols are ready to be called out when you draw a face, for
example. The efficient left brain says, "Oh yes, eyes. Here's a symbol
for eyes, the one you've always used. And a nose? Yes, Here's the way
you do it." Mouth? Hair? Eyelashes? There's a symbol for each. There are
also symbols for chairs, tables and hands.

To sum up, adult students beginning in art generally do no really see
*what is in front of their eyes* -- that is, they do not perceive in the
special way required for drawing. They take note of what is there, and
quickly translate the perception into words and symbols mainly based on
the symbol system developed throughout childhood and what they know
about the perceived object.

What is the solution to this dilemma? Psychologist Robert Ornstein
suggests that in order to draw, the artist must "mirror" things or
perceive them exactly as they are. Thus, you must "turn off" your
dominant L-mode of verbal categorizing and "turn on" the R-mode
processing part of your brain, so that you can see the way an artist
sees.

Again, the key question is how to accomplish that cognitive L -> R
shift. As I said in Chapter Four, the most efficient way seems to be to
present the brain with a task the left brain either can't do or won't
handle.

~~~~~~[edit]~~~~~~~....

The purpose is to strengthen our Observer and increase your control
over the cognitive shift so that you can place yourself by conscious
choice into the condition in which the shift will occur. Once the shift
occurs and the L-mode subsides, you will see more clearly in the
artist's mode of seeing.

___________________End excerpt______________________

"The artist's mode of seeing," to me, smacks of Castaneda's
descriptions of seeing. They even both use the italicized form in the
same sense of the word, to denote an alternative form of perception that
affords one a greater clarity for perceiving the world the way it really
is, as opposed to seeing the world through a kind of filter. Edwards'
book was first released in 1989; I believe, and has since sold over 1.25
million copies worldwide.

Having been one who has experienced this shift in both Castaneda's
and Edwards' disciplines, not to mention just naturally on my own, I
have to say that Edwards clearly has the upper hand in regards to
presenting a scientifically sound piece of work to the world, one that
people can actually embrace without ruining their lives. (Or having to
sew a lizard's eyes shut.) Having studied Edwards' methods I have to say
that my shift in the way I see the world around me has been much more
dramatic than the one I experienced via Castaneda's route. It has been
said that once you learn to paint, you will never see the world the same
again! And I can validate the truth of that statement.

Both were very dramatic shifts in the way one perceives the world
around them but the way Edwards describes the cognitive shift toward the
artist's way of seeing was something that simply just rang very true for
me. It was a confirmation for me, on many levels, that what I had been
doing naturally all along, was indeed correct. I felt that what I was
learning was a way to describe to others what naturally occurs when one
does art. Then, about halfway through the book, I realized that I was
being exposed to more advanced material that I had not yet learned about
drawing and about seeing and being in the R-mode. All previous
experience aside, I was now entering new territory once again, I was
learning new things and embracing new concepts again and it felt
wonderful to me. It felt like the universe was letting me have what I
most needed to know for my ultimate growth and well-being.

In addition to my own previous experience, Edwards offers a very
firm grasp of what the cognitive shift between L-mode and R-mode is all
about and how to consciously control the shift in perception on command.
Not only that, but each time I make my own shift, and practice these
exercises and techniques, I come back with a little more experience of
R-mode processing and sometimes a nice drawing or piece of art. The
problem that I grew to have with Castaneda was that he didn't ever seem
to really want to let you in on what he was really all about. You simply
came away with the nagging sense that he was never really being totally
honest with you and that what he was trying to show the world about
perception was just a way for him to make himself a nice living out of
mystifying people.

By studying all the evidence and learning to grasp the science
behind the right-left brain function studies of the late 1970's and
early 1980's, Edwards distilled a very clear and concise thesis on what
the difference is between the accomplished artist and the person who
can't draw. This doesn't imply that there is nothing to be mystified
about, no mystery left within the subject of art and the like, quite the
contrary, the door merely opens that much wider now, allowing us too see
that much more deeply into the creative process, affording anyone at all
a better chance to harness the creative talents buried beneath the piles
of symbols and analytical facts heaped on us by the leftward mind.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's just, like, a really heavy mind thing! Ya know?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

vic bonds

unread,

Dec 10, 2000, 4:50:49 PM12/10/00

Really Heavy Mind Thing wrote:

> Howdy friends!
> I wrote this article earlier this year as a letter to Randy Stark
> and figured I'd better get some mileage out of it. It compares and
> constrasts Carlos Castaneda's perspectives on shifting between Right and
> Left Side Awareness with the neuroscience study's done in the 1970's and
> 80's on the functionality of the right and left brain hemispheres. Then
> it goes on to talk about shifting perception from the analytical left
> brain mode into what Betty Edwards calls The Artist's Way of Seeing, the
> spatially adept right brain mode.

BICAMERALISM..HE STUDIED WITH INGO SWANN A FRIEND OF MINE..
AND I DID MEET CARLOS AS WELL..IN 97.

>
>
> At the time the studies on right / left brain were very highly
> regarded and worthy of the Nobel prize the originating scientist won for
> his work. I forget who he was, it's very late. These days, everyone
> knows about it already so the right / left brain ideas are nothing new.

THE RIGHT SIDE IS THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
THE FIRST ATTENTION PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE IS ON THE LEFT..
WHEN THE FIRST OVER LAPS THE SECOND YOU HAVE
AN ABILITY TO BE ANALITICAL ON YOUR OWN..NOT THE NEPHILIUM
TRIBAL OR CLAN MIND..THAT WOLF CLAN IMPLIES..
ONE IS ESP PYRAMIDAL ORIENTED.
I AM THE ONE THAT IS NAGUAL OR THE SINGLE SORCERER
OUTSIDE THE GROUP OR THE NEPHIL
THEY ARE DEPENDENT ON ME AND DO RELIE UPON ME TO
FIND THE FOOD..THE LIGHT ..THE MANNA FOR THEIR
DIVERSE BODIES IN ALL THE LAYERS OF THE ONION THAT WE
TRAVEL THRU..THEIR SCOUTS FOUND ME..AND ATE OF ME
BUT I DIE..AND CALL UPON GOD..AND GOD COME DOWN AND
HELP ME AND THE STARVING NEPHIL BEAST OUT..SO
I HAVE BEEN HAVING AN ONGOING COMMUNION WITH THE
BEZZAL BUB OF THE MEN COLLECTIVE OF THE GREEN THAT INCLUDES
CARLOS AT TIMES..
AND, HAVE PUT FORTH PROOFS TO CONVINCE THE MOST REBELIOUS
OF THE IBLIS THAT THEY ARE INCLUDING KY..
THIS IS HOW TRADITIONALLY
PROPHETS ARE MADE AND USED..
VIC

vic bonds

unread,

Dec 16, 2000, 3:39:50 PM12/16/00

Really Heavy Mind Thing wrote:

iT HAPPENS BY THE MYSTERY OF SACRIFICE..IN EVERY JAIN OR GROUP
A MEDICINE ONE IS CHOSEN..AND HE OR SHE..ARE PICKED TO BE
THE FOCUS OF THE COMMUNITY TO JUDGE AND STEER..
THE CHOSEN ONE IS ONE THAT HAS ALOT OF SEXUAL DRIVE AND
IS WAY OUT THERE ANYWAY..BECAUSE THE PARENTS AND SOCIETY
TRIED TO FORCE THE CHILD INTO STUPID WAYS OF EXISTANCE WHEN
THE CHILD HAD MENTORS WHO WERE BECOMING FREE INSIDE..
I HAD DON JUAN AND CARLOS AS WELL AS TOP SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS..
IN MY AREA..OF BARDOS..
OF EUROPEAN ENGLISH WRITING ADVANCED PHILOSOPHIES AND SEERING
INTO THE FUTURE..ALDOUS HUXLEY ETC..
MY MOTHER IS THE DRAGON LADY SOURCE ,
FREYA..THE DRAGON LADY DREAMER OF THE NORTH , NORWIEGEN WOODS
AND THE BLACK FORESTS OF GERMANY..
AND MY FATHER THE JUSTICE
KING ARTHUR SOURCE..TOGETHER THEY SPELL TRUTH.

CARLOS, EDUCATED ME WITH HIS JAIN ABOUT THE RIGHT BRAIN
AND THE LEFT AND BICAMERALISM..INGO SWANN IS PART OF IT
AS WELL AS HARRY PALMER..
OF STARS EDGE..ANOTHER BLACK CROW SUN..

THERE IS SO MUCH DATA I WROTE UP THAT GRAU TAUGHT ME THROUGH
CARLOS CASTANEDA..GRAU IS A PART OF IT..
THE SIDES OF THE BRAIN DO HEMISPHERIC SPINNING LIKE A MOTOR
AND IT IS RIGHT BEFORE THE MARRIAGE OR THE BLACK SUN
STALKING..
WHEN THEY ARE CONJOINED THEN THEY BECOME AN INSTRUMENT
OF THE WILL OF GOD..AND YOU BECOME A BABY PROPHET DESCENDING
INTO THE ABYSS.
WHERE YOU BATTLE WITH YOUR SHADOW..OR WHAT IS WRONG WITH
EUROPEAN WOMEN WHITE ONES..AS A WHOLE..RACE..
CARLOS IS BATTLING WITH MEN..AS WELL AS A WHOLE RACE..
GREEN SHOULD BE BATTLING WITH IT ALSO..INSTEAD OF BATTLING ME
AND CARLOS.
THE WHEELS OF EACH SIDE DO SPIN..AND THEY GO FORWARD OR BACKWARDS..
BACK IN 1997 I WROTE MANY PAGES OR ESSAYS ON THIS TOPIC..
IF WE SPIN THEM FAST WE GET TECHNICOLOR MENTAT ROOMS
AND PLACES WHERE WE CAN STEP INTO...
I AM A MAIN THEATER..
THEY PULL OUR TANTRA UP TO THE BRAIN..AND THEN WHEN WE STOP
WE FALL INTO THE ABYSS, AND HAVE TO MAKE LOVE..IN OUR BED
WITH GHOSTS..OR EACH OTHERS..
AFTER WE DO THAT..WE PRACTICE TENSEGRITY STUDY AND DO
THE SCIENCE OF BARDIC MUSE OR MUSIC..AND BATTLE WITH THE VAMPIRE
BODIES WHO TRY TO STEAL THE NOTES AND SONGS..BECAUSE
THE BARDOS IS SO HUNGRY TO BE FED..THERE ARE HUNGRY GHOSTS
THERE..GREEN MEN, ETC..
THEY EAT MY MUSIC AND THEN BURP IT UP..AND A REPEAT OF WHAT I
DID..THAT WENT OFF THE AIR COMES OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS
AND THEY ARE PROUD..HA..
IT IS FUNNY..
I HAD FOR A YEAR OR MORE IN THE DEEP ABYSS GREENS WHO STAND AROUND
LIKE TREE STUMPS STEALING MY SOUND..BY PULLING ON THE BAND
OF IT..AND TAKING IT OVER TO ABES HOUSE..AND STREAMING IT THROUGH
HIS HEAD..HA..
THOSE GREEN REALLY KNOW HOW TO TORTURE..BUT ABES INTENT
CONNECTS TO MY BRAIN IN ESP AND HE PUTS ME IN KEY..AND HE
HOLDS THE KEY THERE..IN MY AND HIS TENSEG SO THAT , HE IS A MUSICIAN
WHO IS NOT DEAF LIKE I AM..HE ALSO DOES THE TEMPO..HA..
CARLOS THE OVER SOUL REALLY HAS FUN PUTTING HIS SWEETESTS ONES
TOGETHER AND THEY HATE EACH OTHERS..
CAUSE IT IS SO STRESSFUL..BUT THE MESSAGE IS ..THAT THE GOOD
WARRIORS HAVE GOT TO COMBINE AND JAIN..FOR THE VAMPIRES OUT
IN THE ABYSS ARE MANY..SO DAY BY DAY ..HE TESTS US AS MASTER
AND TRAINS US TO BE A BETTER ANGELIC WHITE NEPHILIUM TO BATTLE
AND REFORM THE GRRREEEN ONE..
WHICH IS MORE BLACK BEAST..
AND VERY POWERFUL.
HE IS CONNECTED TO SAO PABLO AND I TO THE BAHAI FAITH..
AND WE BOTH CONNECT TO MANY OTHER CURANDOS..OR MEDICINE
ONES EVERYDAY..
VIC BONDS

encapsulight

unread,

Dec 17, 2000, 4:16:55 PM12/17/00

You are not part of any group anywhere---it is all you alone in a room
talking to yourself and play pretend!!

You do absolutely nothing in life with yourself or anyone else!

You are 100% full of donkey dust!!!

50 of you would not make and whole functional person!!

"vic bonds" <vbo...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:3A3BFAEB...@worldnet.att.net...

>
> iT HAPPENS BY THE MYSTERY OF SACRIFICE..IN EVERY JAIN OR GROUP
> A MEDICINE ONE IS CHOSEN..AND HE OR SHE..ARE PICKED TO BE
> THE FOCUS OF THE COMMUNITY TO JUDGE AND STEER..
> THE CHOSEN ONE IS ONE THAT HAS ALOT OF SEXUAL DRIVE AND
> IS WAY OUT THERE ANYWAY..BECAUSE THE PARENTS AND SOCIETY
> TRIED TO FORCE THE CHILD INTO STUPID WAYS OF EXISTANCE WHEN
> THE CHILD HAD MENTORS WHO WERE BECOMING FREE INSIDE..
> I HAD DON JUAN AND CARLOS AS WELL AS TOP SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS..
> IN MY AREA..OF BARDOS..
> OF EUROPEAN ENGLISH WRITING ADVANCED PHILOSOPHIES AND SEERING
> INTO THE FUTURE..ALDOUS HUXLEY ETC..
> MY MOTHER IS THE DRAGON LADY SOURCE ,
> FREYA..THE DRAGON LADY DREAMER OF THE NORTH , NORWIEGEN WOODS
> AND THE BLACK FORESTS OF GERMANY..
> AND MY FATHER THE JUSTICE
> KING ARTHUR SOURCE..TOGETHER THEY SPELL TRUTH.
>
> CARLOS, EDUCATED ME WITH HIS JAIN ABOUT THE RIGHT BRAIN
> AND THE LEFT AND BICAMERALISM..INGO SWANN IS PART OF IT
> AS WELL AS HARRY PALMER..
> OF STARS EDGE..ANOTHER BLACK CROW SUN..

0 new messages