Seeing ‘Patterns in Nature’ … a random taut
September 26, 2009
Recently finished reading Marshall McLuhan’s collection of essays & lectures compiled by his daughter, ‘Understanding Me’. That guy was so far ahead of his time it’s kinda mind-boggling.
But also encouraging, cuz if HE could SEE and understand back in the 1960’s & 70’s what was going to happen to children of mass media , so CAN we project & understand what will happen to our grandchildren in the next 30 or 40 years, with a little cogitation … no?
Example, he talks a lot about PATTERNS, recurring patterns, and how our minds not only SEEK them, but MAKE them, neurologically.
This got me thinking … Here a a few images to amplify this notion. LOOK at these images and what do you SEE – ?
Collectively – they kinda make the mind go ‘whoooop’.
Words can’t really ‘get there’.
It’s a visual RECOGNITION of similitude. They show ‘a pattern’.
It’s a visual TRUTH. Something we haven’t quite been able to articulate properly. Something we haven’t quite GRASPED. Yet.
Do you SEE what I’m saying here -?
While musing on this whole notion I stumbled upon some art work by Mrs. Brown’s grade 3 students. They too were asked to explore ‘patterns in nature’ …
That’s the first image in this post. Nice & natural, and TRUE, ain’t it?
(p.s. FYI, the image beneath the water droplet depicts man-made debris floating around our planet.)
September 27, 2009 at 11:37 am
Great post – i love the work by the children – so truthful and spot on.
McLuhan is one of my early heroes. I too have lived my life seeking out patterns, and various visualizations of them gives me a jolt of pleasurable recognition. One can’t help but see patterns everywhere one goes – in everything. Patterns help to underscore the interconnectedness of all phenomena we are touched by. What a wonderful thing it is to be alive and witness all this! G
C replies: thanks G, yup, McLuhan felt strongly that it is precisely this ability to recognize patterns that gives meaning to ‘the chaos’ of life. I don’t know if you use ‘Cooliris’ on your desktop, but it’s a real treat to google ‘patterns in nature’ and pull them up in that app. Kinda makes me giddy to see such a plethora-! Equally as interesting is the work of Benoit Mandelbrot, one of the first to ’scientifically’ codify ‘patterns’ thru his ‘invention/observation’ of ‘fractals’ …