Phrasebook

Ambient

Brian Eno coined ambient music and wrote that it induces calm and a space to think. ‘Ambient Music accommodates many listening and attention levels without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.’ (Eno, 1978)

Ambient Media

Theorist Paul Roquet describes ambient media as music, video, literature, fashion that allows one to tune oneself to the exterior environment, focusing on mood and emotional attunement.

Cultural pairing

When a historical event prompts a cultural response to balance an ecosystem. The preceding event is usually considered in resistance to the other, but here it is regarded as necessary and complementary.

Cosmic Consciousnness

According to R.M. Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness is intellectual enlightenment on a new plane of existence. In this state, there is a moral exaltation, a feeling of elevation, delight, and joy, which takes precedent over the intellect. It is paired with a sense of immortality, a consciousness of eternal life not desired but already integrated within oneself.

Disinterestedness

Immanuel Kant claims that the pleasurable experience in art appreciation must be disinterested or untethered to ulterior motives or utilitarian purposes. There is no hidden agenda beyond the pleasure of the art experience.

Ecosophy

Ecosophy refers to an ecological theory of deep ecologist Arne Naess. Ecosophy collapses the divide between humans and nature; the two are not opposed to one another but comprise one rhizomatic system. In ecosophic practices, natural, social, and mental ecologies exist in harmony. Examples of ecosophic art include Land art, Sustainable art, Sound walks, Art walks, and Kosmorganic art.

Fractal (natural)

In this context, it refers to ‘natural fractals’ from B.Mandlebrot. Fractals are a geometry of irregular and fragmented patterns found in the natural environment. Scaling occurs in these patterns whereby iterations of parts retain their statistical character. Shapes seen as one scale are similar to the forms seen in detail at another scale. Natural fractals are non-uniform. Examples of natural fractals are plant growth, crystals, snowflakes, cloud formation, coastlines, waves, mountain ranges, and river flow.

Frequency Bathing

A type of artistic healing practice that is related to sound healing and a key aspect of Kosmorganic aesthetics. It is the physical immersion in frequencies in the form of sound and light, frequency. When a harmonic frequency is translated into proportions, specific harmonic geometry can elicit healing aspects. It is often found in Kosmorganic architecture and media installations. [ see Frequency Bathing ]

Global Age

Global Age refers to sociologist Martin Albrow’s description of a global vision post-1960s. Five concerns spark the Global Age: climate change, weapons of global destruction, global communication systems with the internet, and the globe, not nations becomes the frame of reference. Kosmorganica sprung from the Global Age. (Albrow, 1996)

Harmony

Harmony is used two ways in Kosmorganica. Harmony as in peaceful or a balance between elements and people. Harmony, as in music when a combination of musical notes that produce chords, has a ‘pleasing’ emotional effect on beings.

Harmonic attunement

Harmonic attunement is social cohesion through an invisible field between individuals. It draws from the Pythagorean idea of harmonic affinity. Synchronization occurs through vibrational resonances or frequencies when living things are in proximity of one another. [ read more ]

Holism

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Systems are viewed as wholes. In logical holism, a concept can only be understood in its entirety.

Inner science/
intelligence

Inner science or intelligence refers to intuitive, psychic, spiritual, conscious, contemplative, introspective awareness.

Kosmorganic

Kosmorganic is a portmanteau of ‘Kosmos’ and ‘organicism.’ Kosmos with a ‘K’ refers to the physical universe and the patterned nature of all domains of existence from matter to mind to an ultimate supreme being. Organicism upholds the notion that the universe and living entities as an integral system. It emphasizes social relations that rely on natural self-regulating harmony between parts of living entities.

Manifesto (art)

A public declaration on a personal or group opinion and perspective of art. Historically art manifestos, such as Futurist, Dadaist, and Surrealists were made to challenge orthodoxy and hegemonic voices of art interpretation.

Mystical

Denotes aspects of religious traditions that emphasize an unmediated experience of oneness with an ultimate reality

Outer science/
intelligence

Outer science/intelligence refers to rational, analytical, linguistic intelligence. It is the knowledge that is based upon empirical evidence.

Panpsychism

The Presocratic, Milesian school proposed that everything in the universe has consciousness. It does not separate mind from matter. ‘Everything is in everything’ (Anaxagoras c. 500–425 BCE) Spinoza and Leibniz elaborated on panpsychism and believed mind and matter are attributes of the infinite divine. Proponents of panpsychism are Spinoza, Lieibniz, Fechner, Schopenhauer, Schiller, and Whitehead. Panpsychism intersects with organicism, although the former is all-encompassing and attributes consciousness to all matter of the universe.

Pantheism

Its roots are ancient, but the term was coined in 1705 by John Toland. It upholds the idea that God is interchangeable with the cosmos. Nothing exists in the universe that is not God. World spiritualties, Advaita Vedanta school, varieties of Kabbalistic Judaism, Celtic spirituality, and Sufi mysticism are pantheistic in nature.

Religion

‘Religion is a means whereby humans, recognizing the limitations of phenomenal reality, undertake specific practices to effect self-transformation and community cohesion within a cosmological context. Religion thus refers to those cosmological stories, symbols systems, ritual practices, ethical norms, historical processes, and institutional structures that transmit a view of the human as embedded in a world of meaning and responsibility, transformation, and celebration. Religion connects humans with a divine or numinous presence, with the human community, and with the broader earth community. It links humans to the larger matrix of mystery in which life arises, unfolds, and flourishes.’
[ Mary Evelyn Tucker ]

Resemblance Organicism

Works made by living entities in the universe that by design imitate nature. Artworks made by humans or nests made by birds are considered alive and intelligent. Although these manifestations are not considered biologically alive, they are considered having a life, intelligence, and included in the whole universal system.

Sacred geometry

Cosmological interpretations of proportions and architecture apply to structures oriented in specific directions that align or focus on celestial systems, stars, moon, planet, and sky. It is also known as geomancy. Feng shui is an ancient Chinese practice of geomancy that harmonizes individuals to their built environment using a Bagua instrument. [ e.g., megalithic structures, Angkor Wat, Great Pyramid ]

Spirituality

Interior life of an individual not the outer life of a ritual. It also encompasses contemplative and introspective practices.

Sublime

Sublime is a serene experience of infinity, expansiveness, and a divine presence. It was commonly attributed to American Transcentalist painters and writers of the late 19th century in line with European Romanticism. [ e.g., Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, James Whistler, William Turner, Casper David Friedrich
John Constable and Thomas Cole ]

Tabula rasa mindset

Mind that is unbiased, non-dualistic, and un-tainted by exterior social forces. It is a state of awareness where mental constructs dissolve.

Universalist aesthetics

An amalgamation of Eastern and Western values based upon Fenollosa’s vision where inner science (intuition/metaphysical) synthesizes harmonically with outer sciences (analytical/rational.)