QQ : NUMBER THIRTY FOUR - OCTOBER 10, 2012

                                                         The Wholly Threesome:


 - the father, son and holy spiggot
 - the Masonic triangle
 - three primary colours
 - three bears,
 - three blind mice
 - three little pigs


The number “three” permeates our consciousness on many levels. In fact, the triangle is the strongest of all geometric shapes.


QQ: 1   A TRIPLE THREAT

Perhaps there are three “divinities” that we can harness to help us navigate our existence.

1. The infinite mystery of One; the unexplainable, the spiritual centre-point of all that is forever beyond understanding.

2. The Environment that with which we interact. I use the word "environment" in a broad sense. The environment includes the earth, the oceans and the heavens. The environment also includes the social structures that man creates and the physical structures that he makes. Within this concept, an earthquake is an environmental phenomenon. Stalin and Hitler created social environments. The internet is an environment as is the space shuttle and the martian Rover SUV.

3. The third divinity is Mankind. What is man but a being in conflict with the other two existential divinities? He must deal with the ultimate mystery which governs his mortality and he must also navigate the environment that is either imposed upon him or the one that he creates.


QQ: 2   AN APPLE A DAY

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve symbolized the triangle of divinities where they faced both the Eternal and the Environmental divinities.

As all humans do, these symbolic characters of our mythology adapted to their environment. They covered their modesty with leaves... triangular leaves.


QQ: 3   THE SANITY CLAUS

What are the tools with which man has been endowed to undertake this perilous journey?

We are mortal, we are vulnerable, we are subject to forces beyond our control... and we are blissfully ignorant. We maintain an unconsciousness of elements about which we know nothing. We make up myths and fairy tales to compensate for these gaps. Perhaps that response should be called “Sanity”.  Socrates expressed this concept in a another way.  He said: "I know nothing but the fact of my own ignorance".

Perhaps the only tool we have been given with which to grapple with the great existential questions... is the ability to make shapes.


QQ: 4   A ROSE IS A ROSE

To suggest that "all we have is shapes" could well be considered outrageous and a pretty narrow way of looking at the universe. Watching a 757 traverse the horizon in the sky, I see a shape made up of other shapes. Most of them are triangles. I sit in my dining room in my house of shapes. I see my table, chairs, windows and blinds as a series of shapes. Man has taken iron from the earth and created the steel knife and fork that sit in front of me. They are shaped for a purpose. The silicon sand that forms most of our earth has been formed into the plate that holds my meal and the chip that runs my iPad.

The mystery, the central divine however, is ever-present. It stands in the vase at the centre of the table. The vase contains carnations of a shape, hue and colour that man cannot and never will be able to create.

In the end...our shape making abilities are limited.


QQ: 5   WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF WATER?

When we adapt to the forces of the environment, we are able to create buildings and bridges that can withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. These structures are made up of shapes. When we navigate the oceans and the skies, we do so in objects of shapes that we create.

The concept delves into the abstract when we consider art, theatre and music. Picasso revolutionized the depiction of life itself when he considered the deconstruction of our pre - conceived notions of shape. He invented a new one.

Bach took the shape of tonal noise, weaved it and out of itself, turned it upside down, inside out, and created musical shapes unheard of before or since.

Frank Lloyd Wright accosted the environment. In a spiritual epiphany, he sent a waterfall through a house in Minnesota and created Falling Water.


QQ: 6   THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

Shapes symbolize the center-points of our spirituality. We have a cross, a star and a crescent. Shapes mark the center-points of our territorial claims. We have stars and stripes, the union jack and a swastika.

Heaven forbid that we should deface or burn these shapes. In some cultures, would condemn us to execution.

Shapes have been given astronomical value. Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch's painting, "The Scream" recently sold for120 million dollars. That's a lot of zeroes for what amounts to a two - dimensional cartoon. A painting by Mark Rothko commands close to that for three rectangles.


QQ: 7   EM CEE SQUARED

Einstein suggested that Space and Time have a shape. Perhaps it was this deeper concept that has propelled me along this winding road. Beyond "shape", what else is there to work with?


QQ: 8   SOMEONE LEFT THE CAKE OUT IN THE RAIN

If we were to acknowledge that we have “Three Divinities” to deal with:
1. The Ultimate Mystery
2. The Environment
3. The Human Condition which battles the other two - perhaps we can better understand our place in eternity. Except for one thing.

What is that one thing that is the exception to our limited ability to make shapes?

Food preparation..


QQ: 9   THE SEDER

Food preparation? Is that it? Humans can make shapes and make toast? How outrageous a concept is that?

Try eating a raw olive. Chew on a stalk of wheat or a grain of uncooked rice.  Bread - how did it get here? Who decided to force feed a goose to make foie gras? Tofu, wine, vinegar and beer.......how did we get there and why?

We embrace aesthetics as they related to shapes. We look at the Mona Lisa and the Pyramids in wonder and awe. Shapes. Wonderful, awesome shapes.

There is an aesthetic and spirituality in the preparation of food that inspires a similar response. We bless bread and pray over wine. Wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus and bread is his body.

We spiritualize food across all cultures and religions with deep, ceremonial significance. The manner in which it is prepared and presented carries deep significance. The sharing of food at symbolic occasions sustains our most important social milestones.

Lets do lunch.


QQ: 10   THE BOOK OF MITT-MAN

Perhaps Anthony Bourdain is the new Messiah. Perhaps God is talking to my wife when she concocts a mixture of almond four, olive oil and lemon zest and creates heaven. There are wines, cheeses and baguettes in Bordeaux that transcend the limits of our culinary imagination. I know places in Los Angeles where there is time-bending Sushi.

Here we find ourselves with a triangle and a pastry watching the presidential debates in abject awe and mystery. Who are these people and why do they not understand?

The “Mitt-ster” has sent us to the emergency room for medical help while he invades Syria, nukes Iran and threatens China. Three strikes and we're out, dude. Your prophet tells us there are three heavens or three levels of glory. I vote that you go to this one:

THE TELESTIAL GLORY. "Those who on earth are liars, sorcerers, whoremongers, and adulterers, go to the Telestial Kingdom", according to your book of fantasy and myth.

On the other hand :The Gospel According to John (Capek- not that other John)
If it doesn't have a universal aesthetic, then ultimately I don't give a shit.

My search for the perfect balance of Cabernet, Camembert and Croissant continues.

I wonder what Mitt ate for lunch today. No Starbucks for the Mitt, though. Starbucks comes from Telestia.




Editing : Batsheva

Etched on my stone tablet.