Human soul
Unbridgeable gulf
Unconscious matter

Positioning all things in the universe as animated, some ancient Greek philosophers were hylozoists. Thales, Anaximenes, and Heraclitus taught that all material objects are alive, without necessarily possessing sensations or experiences. The Stoics believed that a world soul was the vital force of existence. In this way, spirit may be a universal and primordial feature.

“Knowledge is not a passion from without the mind, but an active exertion of the inward strength, vigor and power of the mind, displaying itself from within.” – Ralph Cudworth

Natural Process
Physical phenomena
Encompass interactions

Two simultaneous facts profoundly interpenetrate consciousness. In this way, the temporal orders in which phenomena arrange do not allow arbitrariness. We naturally differentiate present sensation from the remembrance of past sensations. Within the domain of perception, the apprehension of time is relatively unequivocal.

“To doubt everything, or, to believe everything, are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.” – Henri Poincaré

Rigid demonstration
Hidden mysteries
Carefully distinguished

Kant believes that much can be known about the accurate nature of desire without being able to define it. Likewise some valid conclusions, in both metaphysics and aesthetics, can be drawn without an explicit object definition. In this mental process, knowledge and feeling must not be conflated.

“The kind of knowledge which is supported only by observations and is not yet proved must be carefully distinguished from the truth; it is gained by induction, as we usually say.” – Leonhard Euler

Abundant reason
Initial doubt
Inconclusiveness

Given the limits of human capacity, complete understanding of reality must remain indefinite. This significant element of obscurity contributes to the appeal of metaphysics. Open to continuous reinterpretation, knowledge uncertainty promotes endless speculation, a rich source of aesthetic discovery.

“By having intuitions is meant simply that we have reached certain conclusions, but are vague as to the mental processes and reasons which have led us to these conclusions.” – W.T. Stace

Relational conception
Spatiotemporal quantities
Subjective reference

Long before Kant, Parmenides established that human perception of the universe differs from how the universe must really be. From this awareness, it follows that motion is a certainty only from a singular vantage point. As far as comprehending actuality, Parmenides argues that it is rationally impossible that motion can exist as perceived.

“All is motion.” – Heraclitus

Spring precisely
Individual implication
Empirical stance

Here is another installment of the slowly evolving ‘Red Car’ series. Accepting that possible outcomes are unknown, this project always requires quick decision making operative under conditions of uncertainty.

“There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.” – Robert Burns

Vague disposition
Acquired knowledge
Directions involved

Highway movement coordinates vision by transcribing a routine event into the extraordinary. However, does this interpretation describe the extremely normal or soar far above the average? Maybe aesthetics as part of its inquiry goes beyond the exceptional by delineating the essence of the prosaic.

“Thus what is acquired is truly acquired only if it is taken up again in a fresh momentum of thought, and a thought is assigned to its place only if it takes up its place itself.” – Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Complementary process
Equivalent translation
Contraction reaction

Suddenly an old inactive image project is revitalized. It has been four years since my last installment in the “Red Car” series. Not sure what initiated the rehabilitation, but it is now clear that additional work needs to be done. Creativity is frequently impulsive.

“It’s the ride of life the journey from here to there living and loving every moment like we have none to spare.” – Jess “Chief” Brynjulson