{"id":4913,"date":"2016-03-20T21:46:18","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T21:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=4913"},"modified":"2016-03-24T20:33:37","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T20:33:37","slug":"a-dan-duda-science-religion-and-art-eva","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=4913","title":{"rendered":"Science, Religion and Art"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Reviewing the Photographic Insight of Eva Petric<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/?page_id=1134\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> Return to Issue Table of Content<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> \/\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=4624\">Return to the Series Table of content<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Dan Duda and Eva Petric collaborated on the creation of this essay. Eva Petric is a visual artist working out of Vienna, Austria and Dan Duda is a scientific writer living in Lititz, Pennsylvania (USA).\u00a0 This is Dan\u2019s fourth essay for VJIC on photography and Quantum theory.\u00a0 Eva Petric visual dialog is linked from this essay.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4919\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-duda-top.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4919\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4919\" class=\"wp-image-4919 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-duda-top.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-duda-top.jpg 500w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-duda-top-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-duda-top-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 Eva Petric: A glimpse into Spirit Box installation at Karlsplatz Showroom, Nov. 2014, Viennna, Austria<\/p><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/160058531\" width=\"250\" height=\"204.5\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe> Think about time. It\u2019s consistent, right? Time passes at the same rate whether you\u2019re sitting in your office; driving across town; or, flying across the continent\u2014right? WRONG! Einstein\u2019s General Theory of Relativity proved that time is flexible. It bends in gravity. It flows at a different pace for people moving relative to one another. And it would stop completely for any object reaching the speed of light (if that were possible). But wait, there\u2019s more\u2014even the sequence of events can be different for people moving relative to one another. Stranger than that, time is really a fabric that includes space. It\u2019s called the space-time continuum. All these facts have been verified, over and over, by science\u2014but do we really understand them? Do we really understand anything?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em>\u201cFor a hypothetically supersensible being, there would be no \u2018flowing\u2019 of time: the universe would be a single block of past, present, and future. But due to the limitations of our consciousness we perceive only a blurred vision of the world and live in time.\u201d<\/em> [Carlo Rovelli, Italian Theoretical Physicist)<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a bridge on the path to true awareness that we humans seem unable to cross. And artists like Eva Petric help us cross that bridge. According to Caltech physicist Sen Carroll <em>\u201cA hundred years ago we knew nothing correct about the large scale structure of the universe. We didn\u2019t even know there were other galaxies.\u201d<\/em> In my humble opinion, a hundred years from now someone will look back and say the same thing about our understanding in 2016<em>\u2014 \u2018they knew basically nothing back then.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There are three primary ways we have of attempting to come to grips with reality: they are science; religion and art. As demonstrated by Einstein, science is constantly changing because the pursuit of truth is not the acquisition of truth, and true science is constantly changing because it is a never ending search. Since ultimate reality is beyond the paltry reach of our limited senses, religion employs \u201cfaith\u201d\u2014an acceptance of dogmatic notions of the ineffable reality that we\u2019re part of. Einstein considered this dilemma, he asked <em>\u201cHow can cosmic religious feeling be communicated from one person to another, if it can give rise to no definite notion of a God and no theology? In my view, it is the most important function of art and science to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are capable of it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4922\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-cross.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4922\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4922\" class=\"wp-image-4922 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-cross-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-cross-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-cross-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-cross.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4922\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Collective Heart, St. Stephen&#8217;s Cathedral, Vienna, Austria, Feb. 9 \u2013 March 26, 2016 \u00a9 Eva Petric<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Many eastern religions advocate bypassing the five senses and connecting directly to the \u2018ultimate\u2019 through meditation. The human condition, in their view, is one of confusion caused by \u201cduality.\u201d As soon as we give something a name we unwittingly accept the idea that it is something separate from us. And it&#8217;s where our ability to fathom reality falls of the track, because, in their view the whole universe and everything in it is really just one thing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/160123179\" width=\"250\" height=\"204.5\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><strong>Max Planck. <\/strong>Art is a way of expressing perceptions that cannot be communicated with words. It supersedes logic and forges a connection with realities that are beyond a human\u2019s limited ability to reason. The work of Eva Petric is a powerful expression of this process. Let\u2019s start with the grandfather of quantum mechanics, Max Planck.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4924\" style=\"width: 575px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-table.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4924\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4924\" class=\"wp-image-4924\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-table.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"565\" height=\"339\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4924\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Periodic table of shadowed emotions, 2009 \u00a9 Eva Petric<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Through his experiments with black body radiation, Planck was mystified that nature didn\u2019t behave the way science thought it should. Instead of a continuous advance in emitted radiation when heated, a discrete series of steps was observed. The energy was emitted in packets, or \u201cquanta.\u201d Now scientists have found that reality itself presents in quantum form\u2014time, space and matter exist in boxes, not in continuous streams. Eva Petric captures the essence of quantized reality in many of her images.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4937\" style=\"width: 337px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/duda-eva-inbetween.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4937\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4937\" class=\" wp-image-4937\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/duda-eva-inbetween-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"327\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/duda-eva-inbetween.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/duda-eva-inbetween-150x113.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 327px) 100vw, 327px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4937\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">IN between SPACE, Burgkapelle, Museum for Modern Art \u00a9 Eva PetricCarinthia, Klagenfurt, Austria, April 5 \u2013 August 31 2014.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/160124185\" width=\"250\" height=\"204.5\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nA relatively famous thought experiment is called Schrodinger\u2019s Cat. His idea was based on the strange results of detailed experiments which indicate that there is no reality unless someone is there to perceive it. Briefly stated, Schrodinger posited that if Quantum Mechanics is correct, a cat, locked in a box with time delayed poison would be both dead and alive until someone opened the box to look. Several of Eva\u2019s images capture the feeling of this bizarre yet scientifically accepted feature of the universe we live in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Werner Heisenberg.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4935\" style=\"width: 249px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/duda-essay-minding.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4935\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4935\" class=\"wp-image-4935 \" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/duda-essay-minding-226x300.png\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"239\" height=\"319\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4935\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MINDing Collagen, Kro Art Contemproary, Vienna, Austria, Sept. 12 \u2013 Nov.18, 2015. \u00a9 Eva Petric<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Although we live our lives with the acceptance of what we believe to be certain truths, at a fundamental level the universe is a random laboratory. Heisenberg\u2019s Uncertainty Principle <iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/160124749\" width=\"250\" height=\"204.5\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe> proved, through repeated experiment, that you actually can do the same thing over and over and get different results. Einstein blasted this idea in a protracted debate with the Quantum Science establishment in the early 1900s (the <em>Einstein-Bohr debate<\/em>). He said <em>\u201cI like to think the Moon is there even if I\u2019m not looking at it.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s the one debate Einstein lost. Further, we have absolutely no idea what a particle is doing between human observations\u2014or even if it exists at all. Quantum mathematics is based on statistical analysis. It has been 100% accurate in every prediction it makes\u2014but on a statistical basis. Science cannot predict however how any individual particle will behave.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what do we know?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4970\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Personal-UniverseS.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4970\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4970\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4970\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Personal-UniverseS-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Personal-UniverseS-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Personal-UniverseS-150x102.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Personal-UniverseS.jpg 590w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4970\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Personal Universe(S) \u00a9 Eva Petric<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Every time I learn about breakthroughs in our understanding of reality I\u2019m reminded of Sergeant Schultz from the sitcom Hogan\u2019s Heroes. His famous line was <em>\u201cnothing. I know nothing.\u201d <\/em>And as much as I love science, that seems to be the reality of our situation. According to Sen Carroll <em>\u201cA hundred years ago we knew nothing correct about the large scale structure of the universe. We didn\u2019t even know there were other galaxies.\u201d <\/em> In my humble opinion, a hundred years from now someone will look back and say the same thing about our understanding<em>\u2014 \u2018they knew basically nothing back then.\u2019<\/em> But there are bright spots for those of us who are passionate about pursuing this Camusian quest. Science provides a continuous stream of persuasive ideas and information. And artists, like Eva Petric, create beautiful and compelling images to help in our meditations about our ineffable reality.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin-right: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/160126384\" width=\"250\" height=\"204.5\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the immortal words of Isaac Newton <em>\u201cI was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4927\" style=\"width: 236px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-string.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4927\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4927\" class=\"wp-image-4927 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-string-226x300.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Eva Petric\" width=\"226\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-string-226x300.jpg 226w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-string-113x150.jpg 113w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/eva-string.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-4927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Now you go on with the story, 2008 \u00a9 Eva Petric<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewing the Photographic Insight of Eva Petric Return to Issue Table of Content \/\u00a0 Return to the Series Table of content Dan Duda and Eva Petric collaborated on the creation of this essay. Eva Petric is a visual artist working &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=4913\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88893,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4913","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2KsSU-1hf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/88893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4913"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4971,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4913\/revisions\/4971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}