I chose to make a painting because I have some basic skills in art. I cannot play an instrument, sing and dance well, and do poetry, so I taught this would be the best fit for me to tell my story.
The painting depicts a ceiling of a circus tent in the background of the sky. The ceiling is unfolded and is currently attempted to be put on the tent from workers who are not in the painting. On the ceiling there are six triangles, in three of them there are stars, and in the other ones there are, the sign Yin and yang, a sand clock and Jesus Christ.
Why is it so childish?
The Painting is drawn so childishly to show how we as a society, believe in concepts
like time, good and evil (ethics), and the existence of God, the same way a kid believes in the “magic” in a circus show. When you are young and uneducated, it is okay to believe in “magic”. However, when you grow up and start attaining knowledge, you have to start questioning what you are taught. Many people still believe in the “magic” because they have not opened their eyes to reality. That is why I portray them as kids
still believing in the “magic” in the circus, seeing the inside of the tent ceiling and trapped in that tent until they open their eyes.
Religion:
The effigy of Jesus Christ is put on the painting symbolizing the enormous impact religion has had and continued to have on the lives of people around the world. Of course, Christianity is not the only religion that it is referred to; however, it is the dominant religion in the western world I decided to use it. With putting Jesus Christ on my painting I wanted to raise the most obvious question, does god exist? In my opinion, no supreme being of any shape or form exists. First thing first, the world is Agnostic. None of us has enough evidence for or against religion, so everything is based on how we view what is in front of us. Some may say that life is God’s creation, others that it is a coincidental result from the laws of physics and chemistry interacting, but still it is only personal view. There are many theories about the existence of a supreme being, but I will touch only on few. The Cosmological Argument does not make any sense because we already know that time is not linear. Therefore there isn’t the need for God to start time, time is a cycle that is uninterrupted. The argument from design also does not make sense because the laws of physics and chemistry create the order in the universe. For example, the laws of physics make the heavier and denser materials to come closer to the Sun and build the smaller terrestrial planets, and make the outer planets bigger and made out of lighter materials and gasses. Continuing with the space examples, the laws of chemistry make stars to fuse
hydrogen into helium which creates excess energy which we see as light and feel as heat. The only thing that is sometimes remotely making me think that God might exist is the fallacy Appeal to Ignorance. It means that something is true because no one has proven it to be false and vice versa. However when thinking about what is happening in the world further strengthens my belief. The quote “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” by Epicurus summarizes everything. I do not have to explain the quote it speaks for itself if there were an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omnipresent God the world would have been different. In my opinion, there is no hidden meaning for life, life just happened. People secretly want a peruse for their life so they would feel useful in the grand scheme of the universe.
Ethics/Balance:
The Yin and Yang sign describes how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may be complementary to each other. I’m referring with the white or in my case the green the good and the purple to the bad. The colours in the painting were simply changed in contrast to the yellow and blue as well to look more childish (colourful).
In an imaginary world, if all of us were born equal, absolutely everything is the same for everyone (ideal communist society lol) there is not going to be good or evil. What will be the point of stealing if you have the same things? What will be the point of screwing someone ever if you have the equal opportunities? There is no point in doing that. Of course, this is an exaggerated scenario, but my point is that there must be bad to be
good. If that person on the street did not end up there how is the sweet old lady going to help him? If the starving kids are not starving why make organizations like UNICEF to help them? Having all the bad in the world makes us do good things. In modern society, most of our ethics are primarily influenced by religions. Virtue Ethics does not apply because some consequences backed all the ethical guidelines that were set by religions. People know that if they kill they will not go to heaven, so they do not kill. Religions want to set deontology, having a universal law of morality. This will not happen because ethics vary from person to person, and those in power largely dictate them. “Apartheid was legal, Holocaust was legal, legality is matter of power, not justice.” this statement does not apply to all people, however, a lot of the people that lived under the regimes that made these now awful things though they were moral and ethical. Another example now is how women are treated in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia or just 50 years ago right here. People there think that this is normal, but let’s ask a woman from the modern western world if it is ethical for women to be banned from basic human rights in today’s world. Ethics change through time and because of who is in control. I decided to talk about them because many people think that they are this set thing, but they are not.
Time/Progress:
Since Albert Einstein developed The Theory of Relativity, we know that time and length are no longer absolutes. Time and centimetres are not the same on different planets and at different speeds. The twin paradox explains this phenomenon. One 25- year-old twin stays on earth, and one goes in space travelling with 90% of the speed of
light. After ten years the twin in space heads back and by the time she lands on earth 20 years on board has passed. When she steps back on earth, she sees that her sister is now 71 years old. Space travel at incredible speeds, close to one of the speeds of light is also time travel. A laboratory in Switzerland has a machine that makes subatomic particles attain speeds close to that of light and things such as they staying alive for longer periods of time than they should happen. Temporal Causality loop simply explained is that the universe creates something so this thing creates the universe. All time exists all the time. There isn’t past or present; all time is affecting all time all the time. This is the simplest way I can explain it, and I know what you are thinking, that you need a drink, that is what I thought when I researched it ;). Our perception of time is completely wrong, but not a lot of people realize it. Also, this explanation of time contradicts what is written in the Bible, how God created time and the earth in 6 days. One more reason not to believe in God in my opinion.
The biggest influencer for me was Epicurus. We did not study him a lot, and we did not talk about him a lot but simply his quote “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not
able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” summed up my taught for religion.
Plato was another significant influence on me. Even though I did not include The Allegory of the Cave in the description of the painting it certainly influenced my view of
the world. It made me want to question what is real and what is not, and opened my eyes. This further made me question religion and ethics.
Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche also influenced me quite a lot. They set me on the nihilist path. That life is meaningless. There is no preset purpose. Life just
happened because of the last of physics and chemistry. There is no god, which Nietzsche said correctly “God is dead”. Everyone is free to think that they have perused in life, that makes them calm and happy, I do not see the point of that, and similarly to them, I do not believe in the purpose of life.
I think that for this project I deserve a mark in the ring of the high 90s. My painting may look easy to make, but I did put effort to make it and to think of it. There is deep philosophical meaning to everything in it. I used material that we covered in class and corresponding langue for it as well.
Also Die Mannschaft werde den Weltcup gewinnen, so be generous ;). P.S. and I’m your favourite student
Expat Bulgarian Mum 