And so I kept it very loose. [???] to find out what it could become. More than what I would like for it to be.
Bohm
We see reality according to our thought. Wherever you look, it’s the product of thought, right? Buildings, farms, airplanes—everything. Pollution. And our thought is constantly participating both in giving shape and form and figuration to ourselves and to the whole of reality, right?
Reality? Of course it’s all this. Interdependent. You see, without [???] inward existence, something, one thing [???]. See, without other factor it cannot exist. So it’s everything related.
The faster, the quicker the people of the developed countries are taught to understand that it is really in their interest to reduce poverty in the world, the faster our planet will be able to solve that issue.
For Tibetans, the Dalai Lama is Tenzing, the Buddha of compassion. “You need a sense of universal responsibility based on love and compassion” has been the Dalai Lama’s message ever since he fled from Tibet in 1959.
Deep down, you see, it is Tibetan speech. Very strong.
Quantum physicist and philosopher David Bohm was profoundly affected by his close contacts with both Einstein and J. Krishnamurti. Bohm’s theory of wholeness and the implicate order states that there is something like life and mind enfolded in everything.
You can’t, on one little ball like the Earth, isolate yourself.
For influential artist Robert Rauschenberg, art is not half as interesting as life. Rauschenberg promotes international understanding and peace by exhibiting his own artworks in some of the most troubled places of the world. When not traveling he spends his time working on the island of Captiva in Florida.
I recognize that if we don’t—we, the living people right now—don’t pay attention to the total world. And so what we have to do is somehow establish a society, a successful society, that would somehow educate everyone in all parts of the land, so that they would realize that we’re just on this little ball here, and everything that we do—because we have been very extravagant in our developments—and everything that we do makes a difference here and there and everywhere.
Bohm
Well, you see, I think the difficulty is this fragmentation, first of all. Everybody’s all thought as broken up into bits, like this nation, this country, this industry, this profession, and so on, and they can’t meet, right? And it’s extremely hard to break into that. Now, that comes about primarily because thought has developed traditionally in a way such that it claims not to be affecting anything, but just telling you the way things are. Therefore, people cannot see that they’re creating a problem, and then apparently trying to solve it. That is—see, let’s take the problem like pollution, or the ecology. See, the ecology is not in itself a problem. It works perfectly well by itself. It’s due to us. It’s a problem because we are thinking in a certain way by breaking everything up and each person is doing his own thing, right? Now therefore, the ecological problem is due to thought, right? But thought thinks it is a problem out there and I must solve it. Now, that doesn’t make sense, because simultaneously thought is doing all the activities which make the problem, and then there’s another set of activities to try to overcome it. You see, it doesn’t stop doing the things which are making the ecological problem, or the national problem, or whatever the problem is.
Buddhist belief: the one self as a creator. So the future, if good or bad, entirely depend on present shoulder. It entirely depend on our own present behavior, our present action.
Bohm
The Earth is one household, really. And we’re not treating it that way, right? So that’s the first step in economics: is to say the Earth is one household, and all that it depends on—it’s all one, you see? Now, the implicate order would help us to see that: to see everything enfolds everything. Everybody not merely depends on everybody, but actually everybody is everybody in a deeper sense. See, we are the Earth because all our substance comes from the Earth and goes back. It’s wong to say it’s an environment, to say it’s just surrounding us, because that would be like the brain regarding the stomach as part of its environment.
So, you see, in order to change the external thing, first must change within ourself. If we want beautiful garden, first in human mind they say make some kind of blueprint of the imagination, of vision. And then, according to that idea, then, you see, implement. Then the external things will materialize. So first must come in mind. Like that. That’s what we believe.
Right, ladies and gentlemen—please, can you all take your seats!
The whole planet is changing in all its parts, including western Europe, the United States, Japan, Tibet, India, the whole so-called Third World. And it’s not just a small change, it is a radical change. And it is a normal process. You cannot avoid the question whether the kind of society which exists now is coming to an end. Not only socialism, communism, whatever you call it, but also the Western type of society. No existing society is not only perfect at any given time, but the question is whether it is adequate. There’s a lot of groping for power, a lot of fighting for power, a lot of cynicism.
Now, when I’m thinking about our leaders, I think: why not bring in more intellectuals, scientists, spiritual leaders? I think that we should put in charge more people who are able to look far ahead, who are creative. I don’t think it is so dangerous that these people are not professional politicians. I think it’s quite good. And chances are that at least most of these people will be decent, particularly people of art—and I am looking at Rauschenberg. These people, they come to understand quicker than others something that will happen in the future. They even may not know this, you know? But by what Rauschenberg was doing, you know, just spilling water and paint, this is some sign of the future. He feels things that will be coming. He is a magician. He’s the modern magician that shows these things.
Now we wait, and then the other colors set up.
How long does it take?
Well, it… you never know what they’re going to do. So it’s like the erosion that I was talking about before. And I’m using that in my paintings.
Yeah, I can see the problem.
When I started working on the brass I thought that I might be accused of knowing more about what I was doing than I do. And so I’ve kept it very loose. I’m anxious to find out what it could become—more than what I would like for it to be.
So you are following the process
Transcript in Progress