HABITAT PROFILE The Marriage of Science and Art By Mark Balfour

Above: Robert Pope and his painting titled "Measuring the Life Force Energy ". Left: "Infinite Mind". On the left is a symbolised human. In the centre, an orbiting satellite and to the right, a glowing red sun with planet symbols towards the edge. "Mind" or "consciousness" is seen by the artist as universal energy or "pure light". ALL PAINTINGS ARE REPRODUCED WITH THE KIND PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST. TRANSPARENCIES SUPPLIED BY MARK BALFOUR

The world is now too dangerous for anything less than Utopia Buckminster Fuller Our technological society has been structured upon a predominantly mechanistic world view which sees the universe as a purely clockwork system consisting of separate and distinct parts. Each part is seen as being totally explainable by reducing it to its fundamental physical components. Such a world view also regards humans as being separate and apart from nature. Life and "consciousness" are held to be products only of bio-chemical, energetic interactions. Newtonian science Inadequate As valuable as this "Newtonian" or "reductionist" view of reality may be in determining how a large percentage of the physical world functions, it is inadequate in successfully accounting for those more essential aspects of human nature such as feelings, emotions, desires, imagination, creativity, etc., which remain outside the scrutiny of any microscope. Nor has the materialistic approach been able to answer how living things are able to maintain their forms through continually changing conditions or how growth is planned and organised. For thousands of years, Eastern schools of wisdom have taught of an all pervading universal energy ­ a synthesis of all the known forces ­ as being the responsible agent for form and growth patterns throughout nature. The Hindu seers called this energy Sakti ­ the female, creative "energy of the Gods", symbolised throughout time by the hooded serpent of Cobra. Today, there are luminaries in the scientific vanguard echoing that same concept. David Bohm, the American theoretical physicist, author of Wholeness and the Implicate Order and Rupert Shelldrake, the English biochemist, author of A New Science of Life are among a host of researchers who see a non-physical, formative cause as providing the appropriate answer to the riddle of the creative process. Mechanism, however, still dominates most of our sciences, despite rapid sociological changes, environmental breakdown, ecological upheaval, violence, crime, drug abuse, suicide, etc., which force us to question the viability of Newtonian concepts. Consequently, a vast number of people through confusion, anxiety and disenchantment with the system are clutching hard at alternate ideologies, many of which are equally as incapable as mechanistic science of providing intelligent, meaningful answers to persistent questions relating to personal identity, human values and quality of life. The Impact of too much information The vast amount of data being churned out for humans to absorb conforms also to the mechanistic credo and by its sheer impact as well as its nature, becomes amtagonistic, often alien to natural, healthy growth which requires a more balanced flow of information; one that nourishes the spirit as well as the physical senses.

Robert Pope, philosopher and artist, sees this condition as a destructive cancer and believes that unless a higher global consciousness arrests its activity it will move swiftly into its terminal stage. Twenty years ago he envisaged the term, "creative physics" to label his life's work. He later formed the Science/Art Research Centre in South Australia, a body which seeks to establish a powerful new direction for art by investing it with intellect and scientific precision. The aim is to take advances from the forefront of scientific research and render them comprehensible to art lovers as well as ordinary people. Pope believes that a broad absorption of important scientific issues that shape our world can only be achieved by the integration of science and the humanities. the projection of ideas via the arts becomes a direct line of communication to awareness and recognition. Pope maintains that today's distinction between the sciences and the arts did not exist in classical times. He feels that in those times the human mind and spirit was nurtured by a harmony, elegance and beauty of form embodied in the geometries of the sublime art and architecture of past civilisations in India, Egypt, greece during its "Golden Age", and the Gothic period in Europe. According to Pope, the creation of these treasures was the result of a deep insight into the true workings of nature which have often been termed, "the Divine elements". Today, he believes, this essential knowledge and understanding has been lost. Science for ethical ends Attempting to forge a resurgence of those classical aesthetics and a "science for ethical ends", Pope's paintings project an inner vision, a sensitive insight into those gentle, life-giving "feminine" forces that nourish nature herself. His rich, abstract images on canvas serve as vivid metaphors that effectively transpose his vision into harmonious forms which touch the more sensitive and intuitive centres of our own consciousness. His view of the future, however, is one of optimism. "The world today", Pope says, "is urgently in need of a philosophy based not on negativity, but on a more elevating, intuitive awareness of the true nature of the life process. The benevolent, loving female energies must be harnessed and utilised to induce that desirable condition ­ for these are the energies that feed our higher centres of cognition. We must learn to harmonise with nature, respect her and our environment: not antagonise. A new, creative, non-agressive technology and a state of balanced, less stressful progress can ultimately be a means of creating a society in which each individual can further realise his or her potentialiaties in a more positive manner: a self actualising condition wherein the quality of life will walk hand in hand with the quality of our minds." Mark Balfour is a photojournalist with a strong interest in the relationship between ancient and modern metaphysics. His articles have appeared in Simply Living, Nature and Health and a number of other publications.

Habitat, August 1988, Pg 37-38