The Big Fish. Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space

Anna BONSHEK, Corrina BONSHEK et Lee FERGUSSON, The Big Fish. Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space, Amsterdam/New York, Rodopi (Consciousness, Literature and the Arts), 2007, 396 p.
ISBN 978-90-420-2172-3


SUMMARY

While debate continues in the fields of the sciences and humanities as to the nature of consciousness and the location of consciousness in the brain or as a field phenomenon, in the Vedic tradition, consciousness has been understood and continues to be articulated as an infinite field of intelligence at the basis of all forms of existence. This infinite field of intelligence is accessible to human awareness, being the very nature of the mind and the structuring dynamics of the physiology—from the DNA, to the cell, tissues, organs, and to the whole body and its sophisticated functioning.

This two-part volume, The Big Fish: Consciousness as Structure, Body and Space, considers in Part One the Vedic approach to consciousness, specifically referencing Maharishi Vedic Science, and discusses themes pertinent to the arts, including perception and cognition, memory as awareness, history and culture, artistic performance and social responsibility, observatory instruments as spaces and structures to enhance consciousness, and, beyond metaphor, architectural sites as multi-layered enclosures of the brain detailed in the Shrimad Devi Bhagavatam and, as cosmic habitat or Vastu aligned to the celestial bodies.

Presenting some more general consciousness-based readings, Part Two includes essays by various authors on Agnes Martin and her views on art, perfection and the “Classic”, unified field based education and freedom of expression versus censorship in art, prints from the Renaissance to the contemporary era as allegories of consciousness, the work of Australian artist Michael Kane Taylor as beyond a modern / postmodern dichotomy, the photographic series The Ocean of Beauty by Mark Paul Petrick referencing the Vedic text the Saundarya-Lahari, a Deleuzian analysis of the dual-screen multi-arts work Reverie I, and an account of the making of Reverie II, a single-screen video projection inspired by the idea of dynamics of awareness.

This book, therefore, presents a broad range of interests and reading while offering a unique, yet profoundly transformative perspective on consciousness.


CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Contributors
Introduction

Part One: Infinite Mind/Infinite Body: Awakening & Re-envisioning Consciousness
Anna BONSHEK
Preamble—What is Consciousness?
In Sight: Darshana or Cognition Expanding Artistic Vision
Memory as Smriti—100% Wakefulness The Seat of Creativity & Retrieval
Performance as Yagya or Offering: Socially Responsible Transformational Art
Capturing Light—Inner and Outer. The Maharishi Vedic Observatory as Site Specific Cosmic Structure In the Context of Astronomically Aligned Monuments & Sun-Dependent Art
In Visible Cities: Metaphor? Or Body & Built Environment as Structures of Wholeness

Part Two: Expressions, Visions, Perspectives
Foreword
Anna BONSHEK & Lee FERGUSSON: Agnes Martin on Beauty & Perfection in Art
Anna BONSHEK & Lee FERGUSSON: Unified Field Based Art Education: Toward a Socially Responsible College Art Curriculum
Anna BONSHEK & Lee FERGUSSON: Allegories of Consciousness: Perfection in Printmaking from the Renaissance
Anna BONSHEK & Lee FERGUSSON: Signs of Reconciliation—Prints by Michael Kane Taylor
Anna BONSHEK: Ocean of Beauty In the Mind of the Beholder —A Suite of Photographs by Mark Paul Petrick
Corrina BONSHEK: Deleuzian Sensation & Unbounded Consciousness in Reverie I
Anna BONSHEK: Reverie II: Revelation, Consciousness and Peace
Anna BONSHEK: 1 Stands Out

Bibliography
Part One: Infinite Mind/Infinite Body
Part Two: Expressions, Visions, Perspectives
Glossary of Sanskrit Terms