'IDENTITY' a collation of external influences?
“A change is taking place, some painful growth, as in a snake during the shedding of skin-dull, irritable, without appetite, dragging around the stale shreds of a former life, near-blinded by the old dead skin on the new eye. It is difficult to adjust because I do not know who is adjusting; I am no longer that old person and not yet the new.” (Peter Matthiessen, Nine-Headed Dragon River)
Matthiessen's words from the above quote, as well as the serpent and the shedding of its skin as a metaphorical transformative archetype, I feel, holds a very particular poignancy when reflecting on the human experience. I feel one must transition through a form of shedding process, but one that is far more ambiguous in nature than the clearly physical process of shedding a serpent must undergo, but still as erroneous and uncomfortable, If one is to ever acquire any sort of clarity or understanding of oneself or ones existence. I feel that instead of skin, one must begin to shed and dismantle the structures that support ones collated fears, traumas, doubts and mislaid beliefs, that have been predominantly adopted from external sources and the cultural and societal parameters of ones upbringing. It is this transitional experience that has been the integral catalyst to initiate my final major project.
Throughout, I will attempt to outline and delve some what deeper into the key concepts and ideas that shape my body of work and attempt to shed light on the question posed within the title of this post. Firstly, I intend to explore the transformations present within nature, particularly of the serpent, and how they reference and parallel transformations we can experience within our own human experience. I will then go on to address the malleability of the human psyche/ persona and attempt to divulge to what extent ones environmental and experiential influences play on the building of said persona. I will do this while also exploring how the practices of the key artists that have influenced my body of work have been shaped by the environment in which they were developed. Lastly, I will summarise and conclude these points whilst outlining how one may start to deconstruct the seemly overwhelming layers of external influences and cultural and societal programming.
Transformations
Within many ancient cultures, the serpent and the shedding of the serpents skin has come to represent many things, with both positive and negative connotations. Probably the most well known representation is that of the deceptive serpent in the biblical story of Adam and Eve and how human kind was cast from the perpetual paradise that was the garden of Eden due to its tempestuous encouragement:
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”" (Genesis 3 new International Version) (NIV)
However, generally, and most frequently speaking, the serpent symbolises cyclicality, transformation, primordial unity and spiritual striving or attainment, as in the yogic practice
of kundalini. It has also come to represent the predominantly, but not limited to, oriental belief of reincarnation and the spirits transitional process of shedding the entire human form in place of a new one at rebirth:
"For the serpent shedding its skin, to be, as it were, born again, is likened in the Orient to the reincarnating spirit that assumes and throws off bodies as a man puts on and puts off clothes." (Joseph Campbell in Myths to Live By)
For the serpent this regular shedding or sloughing of the skin is a natural and clearly physical occurrence resulting in its representations as a talisman of transformation throughout the ages. Similarly, within what we see and experience as physical existence, change and transformation is the only real constant. Not a thing stays the same and every particle broken down to its minutest counterpart is in perpetual flux, therefore, even scientifically speaking this shedding process is continually taking place within every aspect of our reality, including ourselves. However, in general, it is our tendency as human beings to strive for permanency and to hold on to the aspects within our lives that provide us with some sense of comfort or stability, this includes our preconceived and adopted thought patterns, ideas and beliefs, as it is a fact within neurological science that it takes far more energy and willing to change and adapt ones neural networks and connections as opposed to keeping our biases untouched and intact. This longing for the preservation of very temporary items or entities as well as the comfort one experiences when adhering to and reaffirming potentially mislaid but already held beliefs, I feel, are the route of the majority of all suffering known to human kind and as such, should be addressed and overcome.
The human psyche
"I think, therefore I am."
( Descartes, Discourse on Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking the Truth in the Sciences)
In fact, in my humble opinion, I see the opposite to be true, or true enough anyway, "I am, therefore I think".
The brain is the instrument one uses to process thought, as well as carrying out certain automatic processes that allow one to function. The mind is this instrument in action, it is what the brain does. So if the brain is the instrument for intelligence and mind as well as processing thought, then if one is able to improve the way the brain works or even have the ability to change the mind or learn something new, who is the one doing the improving? One has to assume the answer to be the illusive and undefinable, yet undeniable phenomena of consciousness. The conscious, self aware and free willed individual that is not the body, the brain or the mind.
Within the practice of meditation, this awareness becomes ever increasingly apparent as, over time, one is able to create space between ones awareness and thoughts. One is then able to view thoughts as they spontaneously arise and make a conscious decision whether to interact with them or not. Once this space begins to occur, one is able to regain some
control over the mind which should be consciously guided by ones consciousness, whereas, for most, the mind is a servant to the chemical reactions and urges within the body.
Every time one has a thought, a chemical is produced within the body. If that thought is perceived as positive, the chemical released creates a positive feeling or emotion whereas, a negative will result in a negative emotion or feeling. Learning is repeating something until a new circuit is created within the brain. Memory is sustaining and maintaining those connections. The human brain is made up of around 100 billion neurones and every time something new is taken in, ones brain physically changes, a process named by neuroscience as 'neuroplasticity' whereas one is able to make new connections within the brain. This is extremely liberating as one is not defined by who one thinks they are and the possibilities for change within the human psyche are boundless. The brain receives around 400 billion bits of data per second, of that data, we are only consciously aware of around 2000, of which are directly related to past experiences and the comfortability of the direct environment.
We are walking and talking sponges that, left uncontrolled, are continually absorbing an unfathomable amount of data unconsciously that inevitably includes a vast amount of negative and unwanted information and external influences. When one begins to attempt to take back some control and to reflect on what one is thinking and question why and where it derives, one begins to notice the feelings they are creating. The frontal lobe is the seat of this awareness, it is home to the imagined and collated sense of self. As one begins to think about who one no longer wants to be, the frontal lobe acts as a kind of volume control and begins to lower the volume or strength of the circuits in the brain that are connected to the old sense of self or the thought patterns one no longer wishes to identify or associate with. As it begins to silence those circuits, that section of mind no longer fires with as much force and is eventually dismantled, the circuits are silenced and one begins to biologically break down the circuits, essentially shedding the unwanted aspects of the mind.
In conclusion, I feel that as a serpent we must continually shed our metaphoric skin to create space for the new, that, paradoxically had always been at the core of ones being. By mentally rehearsing the greatest possible version of oneself every single day instead of maintaining and up keeping the usual limiting and a largely negative thought patterns, one begins to create new circuits which are then maintained until they are memory which then becomes the platform to which you identify with and build upon. This mental rehearsal is best done by visualisation meditation. Whilst practicing, one may lose track of time and the body, entering into what is known as the quantum field where, according to neuroscience, we rewire or re-pattern the brain. Within this state, the frontal lobe is most active which in turn quiets the other functions of the brain. If one holds the thoughts we wish to materialise within our lives, the thought creates a pattern and connection within the brain as though we are actually experiencing the thought within the outside world. Once the thought is learnt and recreated over and over, it brings in the cerebellum where the thoughts are stored and this becomes subconscious and part of ones physical being.
It has been this process of shedding or dismantling of the reoccurring an unwanted thought patterns held within my own mind and experience that has been the core inspiration to my practical responses throughout the project, as well as the acquisition of a certain renewed clarity to perception. I have drawn upon reoccurring patterns present within nature as well as reoccurring talismans of transformation held by human kind throughout the ages such as the serpents skin, the cross of divine unity, the circle and the cyclicality of being and the dualistic nature of this physical reality. I have used these archetypes and talismans to construct and formulate a series of personal sacrificial altars to the negative or repressed aspects of my adopted persona.
