Symmetry

I really do not know if a sense of symmetry is innate in human nature .Often I find it very uncomfortable to view things which do not fit into a symmetrical pattern .If someone leaves a book on a table in a slanting position ,that is out of alignment with the four sides of the table I feel pretty uncomfortable and cannot rest till the position of the book is restored to a position which fits into the shape of the table space.A similar discomfort is experienced if I see a picture or a painting on the wall out of alignment with the border of the wall with the ceiling . I often experience acute discomfort if the design of a building incorporates a slanting roof with a skewed intersection of the two sides of the roof .While photographing the horizon has to be necessarily kept in alignment with the plane of the image ;otherwise the picture leaves you pretty uneasy,whatever be the artistic merit of the photograph.

I keep speculating if the symmetry of the type we are talking about here is ingrained in our nature. If a building has one minaret on the right side ,it follows logically that there has to be another one on the left side and likewise it has four corners it follows logically that two more minarets have to be provided at the back.Symmetry is not only felt as a necessary quality in all products of human endeavours but it is felt we cannot do without a conscious feel of symmetry in our environment. Why do we not stay in circular rooms  or rooms shaped as irregular polygons and instead choose to stay in square or rectangular rooms ?Is it because we need constant reminders of symmetry around us in our daily life ?

 We cannot bear ugliness -  which means that we cannot bear asymmetry .Can we say that ? We are implying here that lack of symmetry is ugliness. It is a bit far-fetched to think that  structural proportionality alone makes for beauty .Actually beauty is something more than symmetry. But certainly asymmetry detracts from beauty .In real life we find it extremely uncomfortable living with loose ends hanging say for instance in electrical cabling. We find it equally disturbing to see a painting or a picture hung on the wall out of alignment with the border of the wall with the ceiling.In photography we insist on the plane of the image in alignment with the horizon .In daily life we find the most banal of experiences causing uneasiness because somebody down there has not taken care to ensure that the basic symmetry of form is incorporated in the design of the object. Something is jutting out somewhere or something is missing where it should be .We find in our homes half open doors of wooden shelves,drawers pulled out ,curtains rolled into balls and loosely lying about  and bed sheets coming out of the matresses and such other other experiences .

The obvious question that comes to our mind is whether beauty flows out of symmetry or rather lack of symmetry implies ugliness.We do not see in nature a design towards achieving symmetry but the beauty there is intrinsic and flows dnamically even in its.changing forms .I need to think why .

On the full moon day

The moon fluttered atop God’s flagpole
A thousand oil lamps smelt of God
Scattering birds in the tree’s darkness.

 

Thinking in pictures

I have been thinking lately if I can do some of my thinking ,including praying, in images.Of course the assumption here is that thinking actually takes place in language.In order to test this out I have tried to break the thoughts midway to check whether I have been using language ,whether it is my mothertongue or the English lanuage.Some use of the language no doubt is there but it is mostly where conceptual thinking takes place.While praying I have been trying to re-enact the temple scenario as though it is a dream I am recalling on the next day.Thinking or leading up to thinking can always be accomplished by re-enacting a past experience and through a chronological recall of the past experience especially the major events or signposts.But this is not thinking in images in the strict sense of the term because images are essentially representational and a recall of the chain of events may not necessarily mean thinking in images.

By images we mean a series of mental pictures which need not have common thread running among them but those we think up representing the reality through the use of analogy or language symbols highly suggestive of the underlying thought processes.Thought is accomplished through complex linkages between disparate representationalities ,all the while with focuss on the process of leading up to the central thought. Images further the complex thought progression through a recall of the sensory experiences associated with the central thought