Illusions

In the words of Robert F. Thurman; "... voidness does not mean nothingness, but rather that all things lack intrinsic reality, intrinsic objectivity, intrinsic identity or intrinsic referentiality. Lacking such static essence or substance does not make them not exist - it makes them thoroughly relative."

I was asked a question about my art, but at the time I lacked the necessary presence of mind to apprehend the attitude which was its origin. I answered as best I could. However, the question remained with me, lodging in my subconscious, resonating with an uncomfortable disharmony that called for resolution. Initially it had seemed trivial enough and I mightn't have given it more attention, but for the marked fervor with which it was asked, remaining like a residue, an enigma, a sign post I had rushed by all to quickly, missing something of significance. “Are your photographs real or are they computer enhanced?” The authenticity of the work seemed to hang on this question. There was a moments silence and I could feel the air charged with anticipatory tension. The work had obviously affected X on some emotional level but her experience was incomplete, tempered by reservations symptomatic of the criteria against which she alone measured the work. The quality and authenticity of the images, and therefore the validity of X’s experience of them, was dependent on the answer to this question. I explained that the vibrancy and wash of colours was achieved by a long exposure which contributed to the saturation of light, creating the ethereal quality that I wished to convey. There hadn’t been any computer enhancement. ‘I took these photos after sunset. The camera is on a tripod. I leave the shutter open for about 30 seconds.” As I imparted this information a strange visual flashback seemed to rush in through X’s widening eyes. The suspension of her belief was released in an impassioned expletive. She was now prepared to believe that her experience of the work, whatever that had been, was indeed REAL!
X’s extended process of engagement beyond her initial exposure aroused my curiosity with regards to the multiple and variant layers of thought that inform our visual perception and shape our understanding of the world. Contemplating the curious impression this exchange had made upon me it later occurred that all my photographs are manipulations of reality, whatever reality is, and that ones experience of reality is always filtered through ones “reducing valve,” as Aldous Huxley called it. The philosophical bases of Huxley’s assertions are given voice in his essay “The Doors of Perception,” and derive from the eastern philosophical notion of Emptiness, that there is no objective reality, only constructed representations that we experience depending on our cultural and individual conditioning. Whether the photos were the result of manipulation by computer or camera is only relevant as far as an investigation of mechanics is concerned. Regardless of the process, the images remain no more or less real than anything we may choose to focus our gaze upon. Illusions! By this I mean that one person may experience the same photograph, as they may experience any given phenomena, in an infinitely varying number of subtle and profound ways depending on their previous experience, cultural heritage, and individual idiosyncrasies. X’s experience of the work (a fascinating example of this philosophical premise) had been unique to her, and characterized by her own value judgments.



Emptiness
Emptiness is a key concept in Buddhist philosophy, or more precisely, in the ontology of Mahayana Buddhism. The phrase "form is emptiness; emptiness is form" is perhaps the most celebrated paradox associated with Buddhist philosophy. It is the supreme mantra.

Sunyata
Widely misconceived as a doctrine of nihilism, the teaching on the emptiness of persons and phenomena is unique to Buddhism, constituting an important metaphysical critique of theism with profound implications for epistemology and phenomenology.

Śūnyatā signifies that everything one encounters in life is empty of absolute identity, permanence, or an in-dwelling 'self'. This is because everything is inter-related and mutually dependent - never wholly self-sufficient or independent. All things are in a state of constant flux where energy and information are forever flowing throughout the natural world giving rise to and themselves undergoing major transformations with the passage of time.

This teaching never connotes nihilism - nihilism is, in fact, a belief or point of view that the Buddha explicitly taught was incorrect - a delusion, just as the view of materialism is a delusion (see below). In the English language the word emptiness suggests the absence of spiritual meaning or a personal feeling of alienation, but in Buddhism the realization of the emptiness of phenomena enables liberation from the limitations of form in the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth.

Rawson states that: "[o]ne potent metaphor for the Void, often used in Tibetan art, is the sky. As the sky is the emptiness that offers clouds to our perception, so the Void is the 'space' in which objects appear to us in response to our attachments and longings."[4] The Japanese use of the Chinese character signifying Shunyata is also used to connote sky or air.

Emptiness in Physics
Ernest Rutherford invalidated the billiard ball theory by conducting an experiment, which suggested that atoms have an internal structure. He established that atoms have a nucleus containing most of its mass and that electrons orbit the nucleus. Moreover, he established that the nucleus of an atom is only about one ten-thousandth of the diameter of the atom itself, which means that 99.99% of the atom's volume consists of empty space. This is the first manifestation of emptiness at the subtle level of matter.

Not long after Rutherford's discovery, physicists found out that the nucleus of an atom likewise has an internal structure and that the protons and neutrons making up the nucleus are composed of even smaller particles, which they named quarks after a poem of James Joyce. Interestingly, quarks are hypothesised as geometrical points in space, which implies that atoms are essentially empty. This is the second manifestation of emptiness at the subtle level of matter.

The terms "quarks" and "points in space" still suggest something solid, since they can be imagined as irreducible mass particles. Yet, quantum field theory does away even with this finer concept of solidity by explaining particles in the terms of field properties. Quantum electrodynamics (QED) has produced an amazingly successful theory of matter by combining quantum theory, classical field theory, and relativity. No discrepancies between the predictions of QED and experimental observation have ever been found. According to QED, subatomic particles are indistinguishable from fields, whereas fields are basically properties of space. In this view, a particle is a temporary local densification of a field, which is conditioned by the properties of the surrounding space. Ergo, matter is not different from space. This is the third manifestation of emptiness at the subtle level of matter.

A manifest particle, such as an electron, cannot be described in terms of classical mechanics. It exists as a multitude of superposed "scenarios", of which one or another manifests only when it is observed, i.e. upon measurement. Therefore, matter does not inherently exist. It exists only as interrelations of "empty" phenomena whose properties are determined by observation. This is the fourth manifestation of emptiness at the subtle level of matter.

Emptiness of emptiness.
In The Art of Living (2001) the 14th Dalai Lama says, "As your insight into the ultimate nature of reality is deepened and enhanced, you will develop a perception of reality from which you will perceive phenomena and events as sort of illusory, illusion-like, and this mode of perceiving reality will permeate all your interactions with reality.

Sunyata